Dominic Brunt used his 'Emmerdale' connection to convince John Henshaw to star in 'Wolf Manor'.
Dominic Brunt has revealed how Emmerdale helped him cast John Henshaw in his new movie Wolf Manor
The 52-year-old actor - who has played Paddy in the ITV since 1997 - worked as the director on the British horror, which stars the 'Early Doors' actor as a pub landlord who warns a vampire film crew heading to an abandoned house in the English moors to leave while they can.
The writers Joel Ferrari and Pete Wild suggested Henshaw, 72, for the role at the start of production on the werewolf flick and so Brunt called up his former 'Emmerdale' co-star to convince him to take the part with the promise of a driver and an easy day's work.
Henshaw played Ezra Dingle - Zak Dingle's brother - on the series back in 1999 when Brunt was a couple of years into his still on-going stint as vet Paddy.
Brunt said: "John Henshaw was brilliant. We would have liked to have got him in more.
"I knew John from years ago when he was a Dingle, he played Ezra Dingle, so I went, ‘I know John, I’ll just ask him.’ I said, ‘If we get you a car from your house in Manchester and get you down here for the night, get your stuff filmed, you’ll be back in bed that same night.’ That was really lucky."
'Wolf Manor' also stars James Fleet - famous for his roles in 'The Vicar of Dibley', 'Father Brown' and 'Kevin and Perry Go Large' among other parts.
Fleet, 70, portrays Oliver Lawrence, an aging stage and screen actor who became famous for playing a vampire in several low-budget horrors which have achieved cult status in east Asia, a fact which the fictional film crew are trying to cash in on.
Brunt admits that he and the writers instantly thought Fleet would be the perfect performer to bring Lawrence to life and they were delighted when they were able to land their first choice actor for the role.
He said: "James Fleet was the first person they thought of and he was the first person we asked and he said yes straight away, it usually doesn’t work like that at all.
"They kept saying, 'We need somebody like James Fleet.' So I was like, ‘We should just ask James Fleet.’ I really liked the script when I read it, I thought it was really funny, and I knew why they were thinking of James Fleet."
As well as Fleet and Henshaw 'Wolf Manor also stars Jay Taylor and Thaila Zucchi, with Morgan Rees-Davies playing The Beast, a killer lycanthrope on the hunt.
It is available on DVD and as a Digital Download now.
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