Steven Berkoff film late 2000s
The list of minor films continues, with only occasional interest, and Berkoff treating the roles as salary earners. His real work now is solely on stage and in print.
More Russian Berkoff in another Russian mafia film, this one with a love story. Berkoff plays Oleg Rozhin. Jeff Celentano directs. 2007.
A Danish comedy, Ved verdens ende (At World's End), directed by Tomas Villum Jensen. 2009. With Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
The search for a white flower which can give everlasting life.
Steven Berkoff of course plays a villain, Jack Pudovski. All images from the trailer of the film.
The Cottage, how bad can a film be? This is a horror comedy without horror or comedy. The script is about some inept kidnappers, but the film is actually about inept direction (Paul Andrew William- he also did the inept script), inept photography (Christopher Ross), editing (Tom Hemmings) and location (Siam Sutherland)- the film seems to be filmed in someone's large garden. And the acting is abysmal, with the exception of Jennifer Ellison who manages to create a character. Probably the people who did the best work were electrician and generator operator Simon Marsh and catering by Abbey Catering/ Peter Scholes/ Francesa Cooper/ Jake Cieslek.
Steven Berkoff appears for seconds in a non-speaking role after the end credits for a final twist in the plot. In a very short deleted scene he does speak. He must be so happy he didn't appear more in the film and is uncredited.
I have seen the film and the outtakes. I still have to enjoy the commentary, the making of the film and the Easter eggs. Life has so much in store for me. "If The Cottage was incredibly funny we could forget it was badly cast, badly directed and badly acted. But it isn’t" (Chris, Eye for Film, 12 Mar 2008, click here).
The publicity machine couldn't work out what the film was either. All images from the DVD of the film, plus two DVD covers.
44 Inch Chest. A range of established British actors including Ray Winstone, Ian McShane, John Hurt and Stephen Dillane. Steven Berkoff also appeared with McShane in War and Remembrance. 44 Inch Chest is directed by Malcolm Venville, his first feature film, in 2009. The title doesn't refer to the physical size of the characters, but to a cupboard someone is kept prisoner in, and this chest is 44 inches wide.
The lover, a waiter, is snatched from his restaurant and held in a cupboard (the 44 inch chest) waiting for his fate. "44 Inch Chest can be described as six guys sitting around in barely furnished rooms, talking. Actually, one of the six says nothing at all: he sits quietly in the chair to which he’s tied, bruised and bloody and shaking and wondering if or maybe just when the other five will kill him… it is a tribute to the skills of both the writers and the actors that the characters are so vivid and interesting. It would be nice if they had a little more to do” (A.O. Scott, New York Times, Jan. 28, 2010).
Steven Berkoff appears briefly when Meredith (Ian McShane) recalls winning £40,000 gambling with Tippi Gordon (Berkoff).
Berkoff on set preparing for a shot. The script is by the writers of Sexy Beast. The Director of Photography is Daniel Landin, the Editor is Rick Russell. There are a plethora of two producers, ten executive producers and one co-producer.
All images from the DVD of the film and the DVD extras. The extras include good extra footage- five minutes worth- where each main character states what has happened since the film- Old Man Peanut tells us he died two years later. |
click arrows for more pages
www.iainfisher.com / send mail / © 2001-2022 Iain Fisher