SPREADING MISCHIEF…
WATCH OUT ON NOVEMBER 3RD AS
SPARKY NEW URBAN FAIRY TALE “MISCHIEF NIGHT” HITS BRITAIN’S CINEMAS
Verve Pictures will release Penny Woolcock’s vivid and exuberant new comedy drama MISCHIEF NIGHT in cinemas across Britain on November 3rd, 2006. Set in the lead up to Mischief Night, Yorkshire's own brand of annual chaos, celebrated on November 4th, the night before Bonfire Night, on this evening, be on your guard, because kids across the county will run riot. A variant of the American tradition of Halloween, Mischief Night has altogether more edge – a licence to commit mayhem………
Executive produced by Charles Pattinson & George Faber, the duo that brought you the multi award winning series “Shameless”, MISCHIEF NIGHT sees the return to the screen of single mother Tina Crabtree (Kelli Hollis), whose chaotic life in the Beeston district of Leeds was previously chronicled in Penny Woolcock’s acclaimed “Tina Goes Shopping” and “Tina Takes A Break’.
Tina lives with her three unruly children, Kimberly (Holly Kenny), Tyler (Michael Taylor) and Macauley (Jake Hayward), on one side of the park, while on the other lives the large Khan family, including Immie (Ramon Tikaram), his stroppy sister Sarina (Sarah Byrne) and his naughty brother Asif (Qasim Akhtar) . As the clock ticks down to Mischief Night, the Crabtrees and the Khans are unaware that their worlds are about to collide.
Writer/Director Penny Woolcock (“The Principles of Lust”, “The Death of Klinghoffer”) describes the film as “an urban fairy tale with its head in the clouds and its feet on the ground”. As in her previous work, Woolcock favoured ‘street casting’ over traditional route, in particular in regards to Tina’s young daughter Kimberley and her Pakistani playmate Asif who would be carrying the story. “I’m not very keen on drama school kids because I prefer actors to just ‘be’ in a natural way,” she explains. Ten-year-old Holly Kenny makes her screen debut as Kimberly, with Qasim Akhtar as Asif. Sarah Byrne, who plays Asif’s sister Sarina, Michael Taylor (Tyler) and Jake Hayward (Macauley) were also discovered through street casting. Kelli Hollis (“Shameless”) and Gwyne Hollis reprise their roles as Tina and her father Don Crabtree, with other adult roles played by Ramon Tikaram (“This Life”) as Immie Khan and Christopher Simpson (“Brick Lane” & “Take Three Girls”) as drug dealer Quassim.
Penny Woolcock wanted an unconventional score for her unconventional film, so she looked to Radio One DJs Nihal and Bobby Friction to compile a soundtrack that would reflect the tone of the film and be what young people, Asian and white, were listening to. With contributions from artists like Juggy D, Lethal Bizzle, Usha Uthup, Ges-E, Jungle Brothers, Raghav, Nitin Sawhney , Outlandish, Swami and UK Apachi & Shy FX, the soundtrack represents the best of contemporary urban music.
A Company Pictures production for UK Film Council, FilmFour and Screen Yorkshire, produced by Abi Bach and Willow Grylls, written and directed by Penny Woolcock, MISCHIEF NIGHT will be released by Verve Pictures on November 3rd, 2006.
