Critical acclaim for Awaydays movie

AWAYDAYS will star Gangs of New York and Snatch star Stephen Graham, and screenings of it in London have already attracted critical acclaim.

Awaydays is about a well- educated 19-year-old called Paul Carty who has recently lost his mother. He yearns for identity and meaning in his life, disguised by a nihilistic search for thrills with an edgy group of young men in The Pack – a group of Tranmere Rovers ne’er- do-wells. The story follows how he is torn between his attraction to The Pack and ties to his family and potential future.

David Hughes, the former keyboardist with Mersey group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, has bought the rights to adapt the book, and shooting began in the former Cammell Laird’s shipyard late last year.

Hughes, who met Kevin Sampson as Wirral teenagers at Eric’s club, on Mathew Street, has said of it: “The ethos is, right across the board, to try and promote new talent and launch a new Brit Pack of actors from this film.

“We want to try and add to the existing and ever- growing pool of film-making talent in the city.

“We’re using great Merseyside locations like the shipyards, Heebie Jeebies’ bar, on Seel Street, and great moody panoramas of the Mersey estuary and docklands.

“But we’re also shooting all over Wirral, from Egremont and Eastham to Ellesmere Port. Some of the action takes place on trains and we managed to find somewhere in Bury that has a train track with vintage 70s trains.”

Hughes has previously won success providing the scores for major films like Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, with John Murphy, and The Batchelor, starring Renée Zellweger.