Gangland style
ONCE UPON A TIME IN LONDON I Brit cinema’s best-kept secret unleashes his inner Leone…
Ben Wheatley, Joanna Hogg, Jonathan Glazer, Peter Strickland, Clio Barnard, er, Christopher Nolan… there have been a lot of column inches dedicated to the most talented British directors who have emerged this century. But one of best, and certainly most distinctive, is Simon Rumley.
Simon who? Exactly. Well, that might be about to change, as Rumley, an auteur of captivating curios (see sidebar), has now made an epic gangster movie that’s the missing link between Peaky Blinders and Legend, by way of Sergio Leone.
“Peaky Blinders had the Sabinis, who were real-life London criminals and are in the beginning of our film, and Legend is all about the Krays, who are at the end of our film,” nods Rumley. “But between them there’s almost 20 years of Machiavellian crime action.”
Set from the mid-’30s to the mid-’50s, Once Upon A Time In London tracks the rivalry between underworld titans Jack Comer (Terry Stone) and Billy Hill (Leo Gregory), its two-hour running time crammed with heists, racing tracks, prostitution rackets, corrupt cops, sharp suits, torture scenes and WW2.
“I thought of the American classics, Once Upon A Time In America and The Godfather trilogy; the family aspect to
these films, the camaraderie and even bonhomie,” says Rumley. “These are truly epic films, spanning many timelines and whole lives. We strived for similar colour palettes – [Godfather DoP] Gordon Willis’ overbearing blacks; clothes with drab colours
– and I was keen to recreate the classic formalism in the filmmaking.
So yeah, I was trying to channel my inner Leone and Coppola, but with a smaller budget!”
So might this be Rumley’s breakout? “I’m very proud of the films I’ve made but
I decided it was time to try something more ‘obvious’,” he smiles. “Hopefully, Once
Upon A Time In London will reach a bigger audience.”
ETA | 19 APRIL / ONCE UPON A TIME IN LONDON OPENS IN THE SPRING.