Making his movie debut leaves popular comedian feeling social
MOST of us would have seen him pop up on our Facebook feeds with one of his comedy sketches, but the last place many would have expected to see Arron Crascall was around Llanelli.
The social media comedian, one of the UK’S most popular with 8.7 million followers on his Facebook page alone, turned many heads as he was spotted around the town over the course of five days earlier this month.
His visit came through working with Pontarddulais’s very own social media comedian Tom Rix, who met Arron whilst working with Manchester-based company It’s Gone Viral.
Arron, 39, is in partnership with the company, so Tom asked about the possibility of featuring in a video with Arron. It led to the pair collaborating on around five videos together, shooting footage in Canterbury, in Kent. A conversation during their meeting led to the star’s trip to Wales.
Tom, 30, who has been uploading his own sketches to entertain his nearly 34,000 followers since 2016, said: “I told Aaron that I had been asked to play a role in a new Welsh film called Wales Tales. He asked whether I could get him a part as he really wanted to make his acting debut and he was well up for visiting Wales.
“I told the guys in Llanelli that Arron wanted a part in a film and they casted him. He came down to Llanelli, done his five days filming and he smashed it. He came down on October 2 and left on October 6, and he was staying at The Diplomat Hotel in Llanelli.
“We went out on the Saturday night around Llanelli – he liked the area in general and he’s had a good trip. We went to Met Bar, Clockworks, Bar Luna, The Vine.
“People were mobbing him for photos, they couldn’t believe that it was him.
“I was grateful for him doing me the favour. He wanted to make his movie debut, we were all chuffed he agreed to do it.”
Wales Tales, starring Tom Rix, Simon Emmanuel, Ben Evans and James Morgan, and made by Tim Lewis, Rish Mustaine and John Sjogren, tells the story of a group of cocklers who stumble upon a lost consignment of narcotics that the trafficker desperately needs back because it’s one of a kind, so they visit Llanelli to hunt it down.
Mr Lewis said: “It’s a low budget movie but we’ve got on board some major cast members. We started filming around the first week of September and we’ve got about ten days left until we wrap. It will definitely be released by next summer in the cinemas.
“We’ve used one or two locations in Swansea but everything else is filmed in Llanelli. We’re bringing Hollywood over to Wales.”
■■You could still have an opportunity to feature in the film as an extra. If you would like to be part of a scene next week, email walestalesmovie@gmail.com