LIVERPOOL celebrated its third world film premiere in six weeks with the screening of Kicks at Fact in Wood Street last night.
The 82-minute feature film, which was filmed entirely in and around the city, tells the controversial tale of two teenage wannabe WAGs obsessed with a Premiership footballer who discover that all that glitters is not gold when they decide to take matters further.
The story for the film, originally called Starstruck, was written by Liverpool-based writer Leigh Campbell.
“The original story was written10 years ago by Laurence Coriat and was years ahead of its time because even then we weren’t so celebrity obsessed,” said 41-year-old Ms Campbell, a former pupil at Aigburth Vale, who studied at Liverpool University and now lives in Wavertree with her three daughters.
“The BBC ordered about 22 different drafts and she felt that in the end the original spirit had been taken away so she passed it on to a friend of hers, our producer Andy Stebbing. Ultimately, we kept the three main characters – the two girls Nicole (played by Liverpool-born actress Kerry Hayes) and Jasmine and the footballer Lee – and started all over again.”
Among the area used for location shots were Anfield, Everton, West Derby and the Mersey waterfront – although anyone expecting guest appearances in the film from real Liverpool or Everton players will be sorely disappointed.
“We’ve made it a fictional team which just happens to be in Liverpool: besides I think it has more to do with two girls and their journey rather than football at the end of the day,” explained Ms Campbell,
“I think the film shows that there is a danger in building people up into something that they are not: Jamie is just an ordinary guy,” added Ms Campbell, who is nevertheless a big Reds fan.
The film is the final one of three given a £250,000 budget each under the Digital Departures initiative launched early last year by Northwestvision and Media.
