Tamer Hassan in Freerunner
Tamer Hassan has enjoyed movie success on both sides of the Atlantic in recent years and this week sees the release of Freerunner on DVD.
I caught up with the actor to talk about the movie as well as his writing ambitions and what lies ahead for him for the rest of the year.
- Freerunner is about to be released on DVD so for anyone who hasn't seen the movie yet can you tell me a little bit about it?
It’s basically… if I can give you a comparison it read like The Fast and the Furious but without the cars and with freerunners instead.
Myself and Danny Dyer star alongside the wonderful Sean Faris but we actually swapped roles and it’s Danny who plays the villain this time; normally I play the villain and Danny plays the good guy.
The movie follows a group of freerunners who have sixty minutes to get across town for a big prize or they die, so it’s a race for life. It’s very fast paced and it was a lot of fun to shoot I have to tell you.
- You take on the role of Reese in the movie so what was it about the character and the script that drew you to the project?
A lot of the time when I am given scripts we develop the characters as well. I think it was the subject matter really as freerunning is becoming bigger and bigger now and the youth love it but it was a good script and it read brilliantly.
So it wasn’t that I was drawn to the character of Reese because Danny was going to play that character first and I was going to play the villain but we switched out over and Danny was excited to play the villain this time; he is kind of a villain but he is not a villain.
- So why did you decide to make that switch?
This is the sixth outing for myself and Danny and it’s always been… we did a film called City Rats which was a bit of an art house movie but we really wanted to do it and was something that we were really proud of and Danny was portrayed as a villain but he wasn’t as he was a recovering alcoholic.
And then in The Business and Football Factory I have played the villain and the more prominent and nastier character when me and Danny get together, even in Dead Man Running it was the same sort of thing.
But on this movie we talked about switching and I said ’what do you think about it?’ and he was like ’yeah let’s do it’. It was weird when we were on set because there is a scene where he does really bad thing to my girlfriend and I have got to cower down to him and that was a really surreal experience. But he stood up to the mark and he did a good job and he should be proud of it.
- This was the directorial debut for Lawrence Silverstein so how did you find him as a filmmaker?
Yeah Lawrence was good. I have worked with a lot of first time directors and when they are independent and low budget movies there are always some stumbling blocks but he got through them and he was very cool, calm and collected and obviously knew what he wanted. And he worked well with the actors and that is all that you can really ask from an actor.
- You have been in the industry for over ten years now so how has the way that you pick your scripts and your projects changed in that time?
When I got into the industry I always wanted longevity and when I first got into the industry I was immediately addicted to it, my first job was in Eastenders and I kind of did it for a laugh and it was nothing serious.
I learnt a lot from Bob Hoskins when we did Unleashed together and he would always say ‘it’s not about the leading roles son it’s about learning your trade first and get use to it. Make sure the roles are memorable and the work is good, always do good work don’t throw yourself into everything if it’s not going to benefit you’.
Since I started acting the British film industry and the climate of movie making has changed because there are so many of us doing it and so everybody is fighting for work but for me it has always been about taking smaller roles; I have played bigger roles in a mountain of movies.
I read the script and sometimes I have been offered lead roles and I have said ‘no it’s not for me’ because sometimes you get productions who are like ‘Tamer has got some value and he sells units so let’s get him in’ and that is just not right for me.
I have always wanted to work with great actors and great directors and credible movies so form me to take a smaller role in a bigger movie such as Kick Ass; I had worked with Matthew Vaughn before on Layer Cake and he called and said ’will you come in and play this role?’ And I was like ’absolutely’.
It was a great movie, a successful movie and there were some great actors in there and Matthew being the great director that he is. So for me it is about longevity and it’s about staying in the business and not fizzling away but also it’s about not saturating it as I have seen people work and work and work and do lots of really bad work and take the money and run, I understand that because everyone has bills to pay.
I have been lucky as I have not been desperate for money and I have had other businesses that have kept me afloat so I have had that luxury of picking and choosing what I do but a lot of people don’t have that so I am very lucky.
- You have touched on the British film industry so how have you seen it change in the years you have been working in it and what state do you think it’s in at the moment?
I think it’s the same as everything there’s a recession and it’s a global recession, I know from living in Los Angeles that studios are not making as many films as they did because it’s harder for them to recoup their money.
Also more films are being made for no money, in the British film industry if you have a million pounds to make a movie then you have a healthy budget, saying that we did City Rats for about £150,000 and it returned a lot of money.
The movie industry now is moving towards a business rather than before when it was like ‘oh my god you should see this movie it’s great’. Years ago I use to go and cast and you would get and offer and it would all be scheduled and now it feels a lot more like people getting people into movies so they can sell units and I do understand that as I have just written a movie myself called player and I have gone onto the production side of things, I was a producer on Dead Man Running and I put that movie together, so I do understand.
It’s difficult for me to make that transition to a producer as well as being an actor because I want to cast great actors and I want to discover great talent like I was discovered.
But on the flip side of the coin you have got distribution companies such as Lionsgate and Revolver and these guys are telling you that you need to put this guy in the movie and I am like ’well can’t we discover someone for this role?’ And it’s like ’well no.
So everything is driven by who has value and who will sell units and that is difficult and heartbreaking and I just think that there is so much talent out there that are sitting there with no money and waiting on tables, and LA is the perfect example as they are waiting on table and trying to get that dream.
I want to do a production and I wish that I had my own money to do it but you are up against unit sales, you are up against producers, you are you against distributors and so it is much more difficult.
I am just thankful that I am a place where I have value and it’s much easier for me to get work. But I do promise you that with this movie project I am going to find some really good talent, once you have got the core of the money and the distributors are happy and you have me, Danny and some other stars involved I am going to find some real talent.
- We have seen you move into the production side of things with the likes of Dead Man Running so how have you found that transition? And how much is that an area that now interests you?
It does interest me because you get to the stage where a lot of actors start directing but that has never been an interest of mine however a lot of directors have said to me ‘Tamer you should direct’ - I am good at getting performances out of people and I’m good on set and I know how it works, I am nearly forty movies in.
But the transition has been difficult because as an artist you want to… I love young talent and I want to discover, I have a football club and I like bringing new players through and I like to help and I want to give people a chance.
It is difficult because if you are producing you have people’s money on your shoulders and if you are the lead role again you have people’s money on your shoulders so I think that the way the movie industry is going, just to touch on that again, people are minimising investors’ risks and no one is going to give you tenor fifteen million to make a small independent movie.
It’s a weird transition and I don’t want to have to do it again if I don’t have to as I just want to write and create great movies and then hand it over to my production team and just act and entertain.
- We are also going to be seeing you back on the big screen in Magic Boys so can you tell me a little bit about that?
No, I don’t want to talk about Magic Boys (laughs). It was a comedy with Vinnie Jones and Michael Madsen. I play a transvestite against my will so I am hoping it never sees the light of day (laughs).
When you sign on the dotted line you have to do what is on the page and I did it and it was funny and I just hope people take it for what it is.
- You have made the move to out LA so how are you finding it out there?
I am bored to tell you the truth - the glitz and the glam of Hollywood isn’t what it makes it out to be as it is a tough place to live. I moved out there with my family, my wife and kids, but I have moved them back now.
It was great at the time as I was invited out to LA, I didn’t go out there waiting table there were four of five movies for me to shoot, but you never really shoot movies in LA unless you are shooting in the studios as they tend to shoot in Cleveland, Louisiana or Detroit so it was tough for my wife. So they have moved back now and they are happy but we still have our place out there and I move back and forth between the two.
It’s tough because I am a Londoner through and through and in the two years I was out there I probably came back thirty times, I probably only spent four weeks, but I just missed London and I wanted to come home.
I have been back a few months now and I have started Tweeting and people are tweeting ‘oh the weather is crap’ and I am like ‘don’t complain you are in London’.
When I was going back and forth from London to LA the eight years prior it was fantastic as I would go out there and meet the boys and we would play football and then I would casting and working then you would come home and want to go again.
But when you actually move away from this beautiful town for two years you kind of miss it as there really is no place like home.
- Finally what's coming up for you for the rest of the year?
I have got a film coming out soon being released in November and that is a spy movie with Martin Sheen and Richard Gere called The Double.
I am also in production with Played, which I penned. I am also due to play Joe Barboza’s life story and he was the most notorious hit-men for the La Cosa Nostra in the sixties.
So it’s tipped to be the next big Hollywood mob movie so I am excited about that and I am just waiting for them to put that together.
Freerunner is released on DVD 21st May
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Tamer Hassan