The Making of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Guy Ritchie:
The London gangster movie hadn’t been done very well since The Long Good Friday, so I thought we were due for another one. That was the only reason I was attracted to it. It was just a genre nobody had capitalised on with any significant effect in recent years. So there seemed to be a niche there, and I wanted to fill it.

Dexter Fletcher:
My agent sent me the script early on when Guy wanted to get some actors together to get an idea of how it sounded. He’s got the same agent as me, and I was just one of the actors doing the read-through. I just seemed to make it through to the finished product.

Guy Ritchie:
Financing was challenging. We nearly gave up because we got the money pulled from us four days before shooting. That was a blow I could hardly bear, especially after all the other blows we’d had running up to that period. So we got left with £200,000 worth of debts, everyone hated us, and we couldn’t show our faces in public for a month. We got shat on from a great height, and consequently, all the people working for us out of the goodness of their hearts and without payment got shat on as well. But we finally got it together.

Jason Flemyng:
Because of the problems getting the film funded, the script came to me about two years before. I read it, loved it and met everyone involved, but it fell through and was put on hold for six months. I didn’t fall out of the project entirely because I loved it and wasn’t doing anything else. I was lucky I wasn’t working when it came back again.

Nick Moran:
Guy interviewed a mate of mine, who foolishly said, “You should see my mate Nick”, which is probably the dumbest thing he’s ever done in his entire life. And so I went in and auditioned, and I hadn’t even read the script, but Guy liked me. Then when I did finally read the script, I thought, ‘Hang on a minute, this is fucking brilliant!’ So I went to see Guy again and pulled out all the stops. I said, “Listen, mate, if you give me this job, I’ll work like a bastard. I’m the man for the job.”

Vas Blackwood:
Guy Ritchie had seen a lot of my work and suggested to the producer Matt Vaughn that he find me by all means necessary. Matt did that, and I got a copy of the script.

Jason Statham:
I used to be a high-board diver and was represented by Storm, this model agency. I ended up doing this ad campaign for French Connection, and at the time that he was casting, Guy Ritchie saw me in the French Connection store window. So he says to the wife of (French Connection owner) Steven Marks, who happens to be one of the investors, “Who’s that chap you had in your shop window?’ And she says, “That’s Jason Statham.” She knew me from working on the job, and she knew I’d been a street trader – I used to work moody perfume and jewellery and all kinds of shit. So she said, “I reckon you should see him.” But initially, it was him seeing me in a fucking window. Right place, right time, I reckon.

Guy Ritchie:
I’m not at all familiar with the East End. I’m familiar with the ways of human nature, and I’m more than aware that naughty things go on. I’m certainly not a villain or anything, but I’ve heard many stories. I know a few lively characters, and I’ve always been very interested in listening to their stories.

Jason Flemyng:
I’m more familiar with the East End than I was a year ago, that’s for sure. I’ve been asked to do some stuff for World AIDS Day because I did a film called Alive and Kicking, which is about a gay ballerina. One of the guys involved said that the chat and atmosphere on the Lock, Stock set must have been very different to Alive and Kicking. It must be said; that there was a very different atmosphere.

Dexter Fletcher:
My mum’s from the East End, from Hoxton. She has a few sisters who, at one time or another, have been married to various dubious individuals, second-hand car salesmen and things like that, which is usually a front for something more interesting. So when I was a kid, I always had these uncles who were always a bit ‘Alright boy, good lad’. So my aunts are all very East End girls – ‘ya know what I mean’ – all dropping hundred-pound bottles of Chanel and going, ‘Oh fackin’ ‘ell.’ Plenty of dodgy stuff. So it was a family thing if anything. My Nan lives in Hoxton. Not that I was brought up there, but I know people like that.

Nick Moran:
My old man’s family are from the East End, so I knew everywhere. When me and my brothers were kids, all our clothes, school uniforms, and Christmas presents came from Brick Lane market, so I knew the area well. It’s a sort of second home for me. My old man came down when we were at Smithfields doing Sting’s bar stuff, which is in St John’s Street. He used to work as a meat porter there, so he told Guy a couple of yarns about finding bodies in the offal bins.

Guy Ritchie:
There were loads of little stories that I’d heard, but none of them made it into the film. When I was writing the script, everyone went, “Well, Guy, it’s a bit of this, and it’s a bit of that.” So none of them made it in there.

Nick Moran:
I liked playing Eddy because he’s much, much cooler than I am. He’s like your calm, confident, organised alter ego, whereas I’m much more of a sort of flapping wuss. So that’s what I liked about him, but I’m acting, and I was focused on the job, and that’s what I do. It was nice to play someone who has that confidence, ability and clarity of thinking. But, although we look similar, he’s a little bit better looking than me.

Jason Statham:
I suppose my character’s like the muscles of the group if you like, and so he’s gotta remain calm because the others are fucking flappers, aren’t they? Apart from Eddy, who’s pretty cool – but if we all started piling into Eddy for losing all the money, then we’re never gonna solve the problem, are we?

Dexter Fletcher:
My character, Soap, represents the more sensible side of the four, so I suppose that could be me. Out of the four actors in our group, I’m the one who’s married, and sort of settled down. I made sure I went home every evening and made sure I was bright and early the next day. But I don’t cook. I like to wear suits, and he likes to wear suits – maybe we’ve got the same sort of sartorial elegance.

Vas Blackwood:
I loved playing Rory. We talked briefly about people we knew, black guys that were rogues who were known to me, and Guy knew who I was talking about. Which helped. So we based Rory on a couple of guys. I’m not even gonna mention any names. One’s dead, and one’s in prison, you know what I mean? Seriously. Each of these guys could say something to you, and you’d laugh, and then the next thing you know, there’s a knife stabbed in your hand, or they’d blow up your car. Straight away. So Rory was like that.

Jason Flemyng:
My character had to be changed slightly because they were all meant to be hard, and then when I got there, I realised that I couldn’t out-hard anybody on the set. So I kind of went for the goofy, foolish element, and it sort of worked. I decided that there was no way I was gonna try and compete with Vinnie and Lenny McLean. At school, you hit people or make them laugh, so I went for the make-’em laugh angle.

Nick Moran:
The balance and chemistry of it was so unique and sweet, and that’s a very rare thing, especially in British films. And fundamentally, I couldn’t pipe up and say, “Where’s my Winnebago, my tea’s cold, blah blah blah”, cos I would have got knocked out. The soundman was a Tae-Kwon-Do instructor, and the cameraman was a kickboxer. Guy’s a second-dan black belt in Karate – and they weren’t even the hardmen on the set!

Guy Ritchie:
Casting, to me, is one of the most essential elements, which may sound obvious, but it’s extremely important indeed. And the reason I was attracted to this genre is that I thought no one had gone near any credible villains for a long time. And to me, that’s what films like this are all about: characters you can believe.

Nick Moran:
The thing was that all the actors had so much respect for the villains that they just shut up, so there was on-one having Marys and strops. All the villains respected the actors, and they were so nervous about acting that they didn’t shoot anyone. It all merged into a really friendly atmosphere for everyone.

Dexter Fletcher:
It was a bit strange for them, but there was a lot of mutual respect because of the subject matter we were dealing with; they knew 100%. They weren’t trying to imagine it or act it, but at the same time, we were the professional actors, and we were there on a film set. They took the piss out of us, and we all laughed. I mean, tell Lenny McLean to fuck off? I don’t think so.

Jason Flemyng:
I wasn’t daunted working with some of those guys, no. Because although they’re hard, they’re out of their environment. If we were doing a bank job, I’d be daunted because I wouldn’t have a clue what to do, and they’d all be very familiar with it. But when you’re acting, you’re in your own little world. You know the score there, and they don’t. So it evened us up a bit.

Vas Blackwood:
I went to a school which was very tough anyway. I went to school in Warrington Crescent, which is between Camden and Islington, in an area called Somers Town, and Somers Town had a great reputation in those days. So basically, many guys who went to my school have jewellery shops down Hatton Garden. They’re black-cab drivers; some of them are boxers – so I wasn’t really intimidated by that vibe at all.

Guy Ritchie:
You certainly need a few Vinnies and a few Lenny McLeans about the place to give it a degree of seriousness. You know what I mean? If Vinnie snarls, you respond, and I’d found in previous attempts that I just yawn at the Vinnie-type characters who snarl.

Jason Statham:
I can’t speak highly enough about Vinnie Jones. He’s the fucking funniest bastard I’ve ever met. Honestly. Fucking strap yourself in. He gets a lot of bad press and stuff with all his football antics, but the press is there to chop you down all the time. But we spent New Year’s at his house, and he had a big fancy dress party with karaoke machines and a big hog roast. He really does know how to have a good time, you know? And big old Lenny McLean, as you say, he’s a massive legend. He’s a fantastic friend and a terrible enemy, I suppose. But just this big, huge man with a soft heart and a loveable side.

Guy Ritchie:
Vin’s an absolute diamond. I haven’t got a bad syllable to say about him. He was a top fucking bloke from beginning to end. If I go on about him too long, I’ll sound like I fancy him.

Nick Moran:
Lenny McLean was good value – he came out with a couple of yarns. He was pretty ill towards the End of the shoot and was getting very tired. He had a lot on his plate, obviously. Still, especially in the early days of the shoot, he was very funny: “Gissa cuddle. Be a man, gissa cuddle.” He called everyone ‘Short-stuff’, and I was like, “Lenny, you’re only about an inch taller than me.” “Shut up, Short-stuff. Gissa cuddle.” He never knew anyone’s name; it was always ‘son’. “Good boy, son.”

Guy Ritchie:
You won’t get a bad word out of me about Lenny McLean either. He was just brilliant, and if there were two people I could monopolise for a life’s work, it would be Lenny and Vinnie. They were such a pleasure to work with.

Jason Flemyng:
I loved Lenny. It’s such a shame cos his book became number one on the bestsellers list. And the film came out and was number one in London the week he died, which is just a fucking tragedy, it really is. Because he would have had a reserved seat on any film Guy Ritchie ever did.

Guy Ritchie:
The character being drowned by big Lenny at the beginning is our director of photography [Tim Maurice-Jones], and Lenny just wouldn’t do it hard enough. This meant that, unfortunately, in -5ºc, which is what the conditions were, we had to keep re-immersing him. But Lenny said, “If I do it any harder, I’ll hurt him.” So I had to cut it to make it look harder than it was cos he was just too gentle, big Len.

Dexter Fletcher:
There was a video going around of Lenny doing his bare-knuckle boxing championship in America, which was pretty hairy stuff. But he was a man with a great sense of humour, and it’s a tragedy he’s not around to really appreciate the film’s success because he’s a big part of that. He was a very colourful character. You had to watch him. He was always winding us up. We’d believe anything he said, and he’d literally be constantly taking the piss out of us. But he was a very good man.

Jason Statham:
When we were being interviewed on the set, someone came up to Lenny and said, “Have you ever thought of going to drama school?’ And he says, “Look, I’ve been stabbed three times, shot in the leg ten times, and had a thousand bar-room brawls. Ain’t that enough drama for anyone’s fucking life?”

Guy Ritchie:
It’s funny, but many people don’t get Lenny’s first scene. That line – “E’s a fucking fief” – for me sums up it all up, and the way you see him immersing the guy in the water, that whole image to me is very striking, and it’s very Lenny.

Jason Statham:
A lot of the time, the script was so fucking good we didn’t even think about questioning it. Sometimes, because we were having such a laugh, we’d get carried away and try and make things funnier. Guy would go, “Hang on boys; this’ll end up being a slapstick fucking comedy.” So I must say he’s not gospel with what he writes. Some of the stuff was done on the fucking day. The traffic warden scene was written on the day by Guy.

Nick Moran:
That scene was penned on the morning. We went in, Guy’s got us on the back of this low-loader driving around, and the original script was just three lines. So it was like, “While we’re here, let’s do a scene.” So we ummed and ahhed and arsed about and improvised for about ten minutes, Guy swapped it about a bit, and we just did it. It’s never been set to paper, that particular scene. The punch line – “I fucking hate traffic wardens” – was all off the cuff, and it’s one of the best scenes in the movie. It was just one take, one shot, and then we went off and had lunch.

Jason Flemyng:
There was room to improvise with what you were doing, but the dialogue, although it looks very haphazard, is, in fact, very strictly written, and I’ve really only worked with one writer who was as strict about what was said – down to inflection and whether you say “and” or “an” – and that was Alan Bennett. Never have I worked for anyone as strict about their dialogue as Alan Bennet or Guy Ritchie. Quite rightly, because it is very well structured, and he doesn’t want some oiky actor fucking around with his rhythms.

Guy Ritchie:
Sometimes we were so pushed for time it was like, “Fuck it lads, Just get on and do it this way.” But at other times, if I wasn’t too pushed and only had to do two or three scenes that day, I’d let them try it this way or that. But it would always come out the way I thought was best, which was usually the original way. There are some lines in there that the lads came up with themselves, and they’re some of the best lines. They’re a bright bunch of boys – it would have been silly not to listen to them.

Vas Blackwood:
Why did my character have an afro? I actually brought the idea to Guy Ritchie, I’m very proud to say, because he knows what he wants. I was pleased that he accepted the idea. Not because he wants it all his way, but because it might do something for the story he’s written. Anyway, I noticed that the four guys playing my minders were all bald-headed, with shaven heads, so I told him it would be really funny if I had an afro. He liked the idea, so we went for it.

Jason Statham:
When I went for the casting, Guy had actually scripted a particular scene, a man on a street corner doing his bits and pieces. When I told him that that’s what I’d done since I was a fucking kid, he went, “Fuck me, that’s brilliant. You don’t have to act.” But he was so intrigued by some of the funnies I came out with that he couldn’t afford not to put them in. So you know, it was a joint effort, but I’d say a good percentage of it was already done.

Dexter Fletcher:
We did the drinking scene in the middle of the day. If we’d been drinking, come the afternoon, we’d have all been shit-faced and useless. So we couldn’t use real alcohol, but it was good fun nevertheless. Guy would say, “Do something” – he wouldn’t say what. You just had to do the first thing that came into your head, so you had Jason Statham sticking money in his ears and setting it on fire and all that silly stuff going on.

Jason Flemyng:
The boozing scene was weird because it was done on a reshoot, and we were all knackered. I’m wearing a hat throughout it because I had long hair by the time we did the reshoot, and they said, “Shave it off,” and I said, “Fuck off. I haven’t worked for six months cos I’m walking around as a ginger bonehead. Which is not the most attractive thing to be…”

Nick Moran:
The dodgiest moment was in Hatchet Harry’s porn shop. Some handcuffs were hanging about; everyone was arsing about with them, and Flemyng accidentally handcuffed himself to this handheld fucking dolly which wasn’t being used, and he couldn’t find the key. So, in the end, he took the railing off and wandered around holding this two-foot H-shaped bit of metal. Eventually, he had to come clean and make a tit of himself, and everyone laughed at him. But finally, we got a set of keys and let him out.

Jason Flemyng:
Where did you bloody hear that, Nick? Shit. Yeah, that wasn’t funny. It was a sort of mistake. I was covering up for someone, who I’ll now out in the shit because it doesn’t matter. On the set, the sound guys handcuffed me to the dolly and then realised they didn’t have the key. So I had to pretend it was a mistake because they’d have got in real shit if I said it was them. Because I was an actor and therefore couldn’t get sacked, I said it was me, making me look really stupid. Still, the fact was I was just being Spartacus and covering up for someone else. And I want that recorded.

Nick Moran:
The only other dodgy moment was when little Steve Sweeney had to have his head thrown through a wall by Dog (Frank Harper). He grabbed hold of Sweeney and threw him through the wall, but he picked the wrong wall. Sweeney went mad. “You fucking useless bastard!” But he kept his cool to a certain extent, considering he was thrown through a wall. He was gonna kill someone, but he finally calmed down, and we did it correctly. They just sat on him and apologised, but it was never going to kick off on that set in a million years.

Jason Flemyng:
Seeing how Nick’s dobbed me in, I’ll tell you a story about him. When we were on the set, there was no status because everyone was simply getting on with it. So anyway, one day – it was a stressful and tiring day – Nick, who was knackered, completely lost his cool and went, “Will everyone please shut up. I’m trying to act here.” Everyone went quiet for about five seconds, and then the whole place just burst into hysterics. The sound guys were going, “Will everyone please shut up. I’m trying to record here”, and the electricians were going “, We’re trying to light here.” Nick smirked and soon realised there was no way you could get away with that sort of stuff on that set.

Guy Ritchie:
There was more love on that set than there is at most raves. There was a lot of respect between everyone. And the advantage of having a few villains around is that people don’t misbehave, and no prima donnas are allowed to blossom. So from that point of view, there was a hierarchy, but not to the extent where it got nasty.

Dexter Fletcher:
Once we saw the first rough cut, we knew it was something rather extraordinary. I mean, you hope it will be when it’s being made because everyone puts in a lot of hard work. But of course, you can never predict these things. you can say, “Oh, let’s get Bruce Willis and a giant meteorite, and it’s gonna be a huge success.”

Nick Moran:
There was a real buzz, and afterwards, I told people, “I’ve done this film, and it’s fucking excellent. it’s gonna be huge.” And they’d say, “Who’s in it?” “Er, Vinnie Jones, Sting…” “Oh, nice one. How’s the career going, Nick?” But I knew. It was just hard trying to explain to people. Not being allowed into clubs, not being allowed into parties, “You’ve done what? Oh, fuck off.”

Vas Blackwood:
I don’t think any of us, not even the producer or director, expected it. But when it was in the can, we all began to think, Boy. We’ve got something here.

Nick Moran:
I’ve done three major cinema features, as terrible as they may be, and about nine short films, and no one gives a shit about any of them. Flemyng’s done about five or six big cinema release feature films, and he couldn’t get arrested. Dexter’s the same. He’s like: “I’ve worked with Al Pacino. Who’d have thought some two-bob, deferred payment, little-cockney-bastard nothing movie would be the one?” Cos he’s heard it all before. Dexter and Jason were more sceptical than me because they’ve both been told the same old shit before. But I just knew from the beginning. We all knew. It’s no surprise that it’s been such a massive hit.

Jason Flemyng:
I had an inkling it would be a success, but Guy Ritchie – the way it’s been cut and the speed it rucks along at – is also responsible for why it’s good. But you’ve got a lot of actors who are not fashionable, or weren’t stylish, doing some of the best work they’ve done for years – and I love that. Everybody’s always been really kind to me critically, But I’ve never made a film that’s made money. And that makes a lot of difference because now people want to work with me.

Vas Blackwood:
Initially, the Americans started to make noise about Lock, Stock. They had some test screenings in the states, and when Tom Cruise was it, he got up and started clapping, making noise and saying, “This film rocks.” And at that stage, they didn’t even have a distribution deal. So it was after Tom Cruise and, I think, Sylvester Stallone and a few others had a private screening of it that the word started to go around Hollywood about it. And then, with the producer putting himself about a bit, the next thing you know, Polygram were banging at his door.

Guy Ritchie:
I thought I was making a film that the man on the street would appreciate. What I didn’t anticipate was middle England getting it – and they sort of did. I think many of them have steered clear of it because they thought it was going to be too laddish, and then they go along and come out going, “Jesus, that isn’t what I expected at all.” So I was pretty surprised by that, and I’m obviously delighted. But I’d still like to get more people in there because so far, there are very few people I’ve met that didn’t like it.

Jason Statham:
I knew all my mates would like it. I knew there was a niche for this kind of film, and most gangster films are taken far too seriously. There’s not a lot of humour in them, and, I mean, fuck, this is entertainment. How successful it was going to be, I couldn’t predict. I’m new in the film industry, but I knew there was gonna be a lot of people out there that would run to go and see it. And it now turns out that people have gone two or three times.

Nick Moran:
What’s nice is the fact that the film’s been such a hit despite everything – despite no one investing in it, despite everyone fucking ignoring it, despite having to film it on the lowest fucking budget possible because none of those British film funds would invest in it. Now everyone has to eat a handful of shit. Which is great.

Dexter Fletcher:
I think Lock, Stock’s been good for everybody, from the sound department to the actors to everyone else. It’s done a lot of good. And it’s very good for me to break free finally of the sort of ‘kid’ roles I’ve been playing for far too long. I’ve just finished doing Mike Leigh’s ‘Untitled 98’ – it’s a 19th-century period piece about Gilbert and Sullivan. And I’ve also just done a short film in Paris with Jason Flemyng that I wrote and my wife directed. It was really good fun to have the opportunity to do that. So it’s been a fairly busy year.

Vas Blackwood:
The British public has always acknowledged my roles, like Only Fools and Horses, The Lenny Henry Show, and even them Toffee Crisp adverts – people have always acknowledged it. Yeah, Lock, Stock has done something for me, but it’s a quiet storm. The film opens in the states in February, and there are a few little things on the horizon. Obviously, Guy’s doing another movie, and, God willing, I’m supposed to be doing that too. At this stage, I wouldn’t want to be involved in anything other than Guy’s next movie. Because if you get a chance in your lifetime to work with directors like that, you’re gonna take it. It’s like Samual L Jackson working with Quentin Tarantino.

Jason Flemyng:
Since Lock, Stock I’ve had a lot of offers, which has kind of spoiled it for me because I used to work a lot before. Still, I’ve been informed that I’m supposed to be more selective, which is killing me because it means the better you do, the less you work. So I’ve held out, which is totally against my instincts, and now some really lovely stuff is coming my way. So yeah, it’s all looking really good. Instead of it being mediocre films that will pay for Christmas, it’s really cool projects that I’m excited about. But if you speak to me again in a year, I’ll probably be doing Edam cheese adverts.

Jason Statham:
When Lock, Stock comes out in the States, we’ll have to see what kind of offers we get there. Cos it takes so long for British film people – for it to sink into their fucking heads. We’re new kids on the block, if you like, and I don’t think people want to take any risks. I’ve had offers of telly parts, but I’m not interested in that. I mean, I’ve got a great start in a great film, and I don’t wanna take a step down the ladder. But, y’know, it’s no good trying to predict what’s gonna happen – you have to take one day at a time, and I’ve had the best year of my life so far. I can still look back and have this fantastic memory if nothing else ever happened.

Nick Moran:
I’m going straight to Toronto to do a film called New Blood with John Hurt, which is a really dark, vicious, shoot-’em-up gangster thing. Then I come straight back to Blighty on the 10th of December to do a ridiculously over-the-top cameo on Rancid Aluminium, with Rhys Ifans, Tara Fitzgerald and Joe Fiennes – and then I’m slating up my next year. It’s all good. So as long as I don’t make a tit of myself and I’m not shit in any of these other projects, I’ll continue perpetuating the myth.

Guy Ritchie:
My next film will still be in London. It’ll have the backdrop of Hatton Garden, I think. It’s about dodgy dealing again and Fagin-type characters. I was going to do something big and flash and American, but I can’t find anything that’s really suitable just yet.

Vas Blackwood:
I see Guy and Matt very often, and the new script is coming together. So I’m just getting my mind around that, and career-wise, that’s a very good move. If you think about it, Guy’s not just done the one film and gone, “Right, that’s it. Bye-bye. I’m off to Hollywood.” He’s turned down a few offers, and he’s doing another British film. Yeah, his career is flourishing off that. Still, at the end of the day, he’s doing it so the likes of myself, yourself and everybody who goes to the movies can relate and get off on it and have a good laugh. And that’s entertainment.

Guy Ritchie:
After Vinnie, Chris Evans is next on my list [This is the British TV presenter, not Captain America]. He doesn’t know it yet. I’ve got a character in the next film [Snatch] who’s called Bricktop because he’s got red hair. But there’s no one I really want to work with. Vinnie always stuck out to me. It would be a crime not to have used him on something, and I’m certainly using him in the next film. I’m coming close to the casting process shortly. I’m looking for another Lenny, and I had a couple of lively lads in this morning. Oh yes, I’ve met a lot of interesting characters going through this process, I can tell you.