Twenty8k behind the scenes

So what's it all about?

2011-10-10T03:55:00.000-07:00

From BAFTA winning writer Paul Abbott, comes a story of power, greed, corruption and lies on the streets of East London in the run up to the Olympic Games.

Parminder Nagra (Bend It Like Beckham, ER) is Deeva Jani, a successful, Paris-based fashion executive who is forced to return home to the UK when she receives the shocking news that her teenage brother Vipon, played by newcomer Sebastian Nanena, has been arrested for a fatal gang shooting in East London. As she and her family are vilified and the dead boy’s violent family threaten retribution against her brother in jail, Deeva turns detective in an attempt to uncover the truth, prove her brother’s innocence and save his life.

Teaming up with youth worker and ex-gang member, Clint, played by Jonas Armstrong (Robin Hood), Deeva soon finds herself up against powerful and unexpected adversaries including the corrupt but highly connected DCI Stone, played by Tony Award-winner Stephen Dillane (The Hours, SpyGame, Welcome to Sarajevo). As events unfold a deeper conspiracy is unlocked involving political corruption, media manipulation, prostitution, murder and power struggles way beyond London’s street gangs, all the way to the heart of the government.

Parminder Nagra, who plays Deeva Jani, on the set of Twenty8k

Sunday 28th August: Copter Shoot

2011-08-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

Twenty8k took to theskies in a postproduction helicopter shoot!

To give the film a sense of scope and to enhance the bigscenes already filmed we enlisted the help of Helicopter Film Services, who are experts in their field. HFS haveworked on blockbusters such asthe Bourne Trilogy and the Da Vinci Code helping to give these films their sense of epicscale. Neil Thompson was lucky enough to keep his feet firmly on the groundduring this shoot, after all someone had to look after the ground crew, butpoor David Kew was sent up in the sky. Although not a fan of heights Davidworked through his fear and demonstrated to all what it means to be a true professional;he got the shots that were needed and under the time limit. All in all it was afantastic day and boy does it look good on screen.

Saturday 14th May: Vulnerable Detective

2011-05-14T08:08:00.000-07:00

We get to see all thedifferent shades in the character of Deeva today; the strong female lead we arefamiliar with and the weaker self doubting character.

Initially Parminder Nagra gotto be a bit of an action star today, sneaking down corridors, following leadsand checking out the crime scene for clues.

A consistently strongcharacter though she may be, it still doesn’t change the fact that she isputting herself into extremely dangerous situations. Her vulnerability washighlighted in our final scene today and although the scene itself was, ofcourse, not pleasant to watch it was good to see a different side to thecharacter. It exposed the contrasting elements that makes Deeva a rounded,believable and deep character.

Wednesday 11th May: Hard hitting journalism

2011-05-11T08:07:00.000-07:00

The character Jude was featured heavily today and we got tosee journalism in a refreshing light. Jude reminds me of the hard hittingjournalists of ‘yester year’, searching for the truth and hungry to expose scandalsand corruption. It makes a nice change from the celebrity obsessed image ofjournalists today. Up and coming actor Alex Lenipekun plays this exciting role andboth he and Parminder Nagra shone together during their scenes today.

Tuesday 10th May, Thursday 12th and Friday 13th: Echo

2011-05-10T08:06:00.000-07:00

Shooting the scenes for the climaxof the film over three days this week, not going to tell you anymore however, asthen I would be giving the game away. What I will say is it’s certainly fastpaced, edgy and presents Londonas a glittering fantastic city. Oh and I will give you this little clue, thefinale requires the assistance of Peter Predaro, who I may have mentioned quitea few times before! For those who didn’t read the earlier posts; he is ourbrilliant stunt co-ordinator. Even on Friday 13^th, which for the superstitiousshould not be a day on which you film, the stunts went smoothly and withoutfault.

Monday 09th May: Five Star Luxury

2011-05-09T08:04:00.000-07:00

A hotel base today, well itcertainly made a nice change to all the recent outdoor shoots we’ve beenhaving. It was dry, spacious and, best of all, glamorous. We had such a varietyof scenes on this set today, one moment its night and we are in a fashionableLondon club and the next its day and Deeva (Parminder Nagra) is doing herinvestigative thing in Francessca's fast paced bustling casino.

Friday 06th May: Chemistry

2011-05-06T08:02:00.000-07:00

Although they have shared theset before today the chemistry and tension between Jonas Armstrong andParminder Nagra took centre stage. I think the attraction between thecharacters was more noticeable as this scene is the first with them together inthe film; its more carefree and open than later on in the film. I think Deeva(Nagra) is surprised by her strength of feelings for him; they have bothchanged and grown up so much since Deeva left for Paris but their mutual attraction for eachother has evidently remained unchanged.

Thursday 05th May: An Interviewers Spotlight

2011-05-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

It’san unusually quite day for our star Parminder Nagra what with only two scenesto shoot but an actors work is never done. As soon as she wrapped on setParminder was whisked up to the Formosa Films office to conduct a fewinterviews about the film. On hand was Martin Carr,producer extroadinar, to help Parminder steer questions away from dangerous ground,particularly anything that might give away the ending or any plot twists. Itwas really interesting to watch actor and producer work along side each otherto create enough intrigue about the film while still keeping their cards closeto their chests.

For the rest of the crewthere was an extreme amount of fun to be had. Peter Pedrero was back on settoday to help the crew execute some violent scenes. Fake knifes and guns wereplayed with and coveted by every male member of the cast and crew. Luckily noone lost any limbs and no blood was shed, cue sigh of relief.

Wednesday 04th May: Comical Ingenuity

2011-05-04T07:56:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard thesaying in film ‘don’t work with children or animals’? Well today we had thelater on set in the form of a black and white spaniel. Ok so it couldn’t followsimple instructions and ok it kept bounding off set up to the crew but whocares, it was uber cute and a tad hilarious.

Also on set and on top formcomedy wise was Greg Chillin, he is definitely an actor to watch out for. Theman has brilliant comical timing. All our sayings around the office have beentaken from his adlibbing during scenes. We were equally amazed at his abilityto switch from comedy to superb naturalistic acting in a heartbeat. Thisingenuity proved extremely useful, he was able to work with the dog and makeits mistakes into comedy or make them appear planned and part of the originalscript.

Tuesday 03rd May: Intrigue in the Shadows

2011-05-03T07:54:00.000-07:00

A derelict factory became ourhome today which is not the most glamorous of settings but I don’t think any ofus noticed as the intensity of the shot took up all of our attention. Deeva’sinvestigation and curiosity takes her deep into the rabbits hole in an attemptto discover the truth but it lands her in an extremely dangerous situation. Whilethe boys ogled the fast cars the girls stood in awe of Deeva’s (Nagra) calm andpoise in the face of mortal danger. Both tense and dark this scene will haveyou on the edge of you seat, so I’ll say no more in case I ruin it for you.

Monday 2nd May: Polish & Shine

2011-05-02T07:52:00.000-07:00

Bromley by bow high streetwas invaded today when we closed it off to the public. In went our ‘DerrickTrotter’ inspired stalls and our innocent bystanders, out went the overflowingbins. As a gang chase rushed through the centre of our realistic market placewe irrevocably shattered the peace of the neighbourhood.

Rest assure this wasall part of the shoot and the gang members were hired actors, we didn’t fallvictim to Londoncrime! The shot will become part of the opening credits and sets the fast pace,high thrill tone of Twenty8k. Southwood beauty bar also got a look in on theaction today when Parminder Nagra, Kaya Scodelario and Nichola Burley took tothe beauty stands in tense and slightly antagonistic scenes.

Although Sallyends up divulging some vital information to Deeva (Nagra) the scene focuses onthe strength of the two characters rather than any weakness of Sally’s (Scodelario)and how Deeva manages to use her intelligence to get round Sally’s defences. Itwas a classic inspector investigation scene and it was great to see it beingdone by two women rather than the stereotypical misogynistic policemen.

In thefinal scene we see Deeva and Andrea (Burley) reach some common ground, whichDeeva uses to her full advantage. These were great scenes to see play out, bothhighlighting the strength and growing confidence in the main character whoParminder plays with such ease.

Thursday 28th April: Glittering Skylines

2011-04-28T08:32:00.000-07:00

The sparklingsky scrapers of Canary Wharf formed the backdropof today’s shoot. As they rose magnificently from the water of the docks JonasArmstrong and Parminder Nagra took up their positions at the dockside. Althoughthe scene was relatively short the setting sun, as magnificent as it looked,caused some problems with continuity. We were racing against the clock to getall angles and shots in the can before the natural lighting changed. It was areflection on the skills of the crew that they managed to get the shots in sucha short amount of time while retaining their high standard of work.

Wednesday 27th April: Achieving Realism

2011-04-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

Deeva discoversthe truth today and uncovers a scandal behind the crime. Obviously I can’t saytoo much about what happened on set, otherwise I would be giving the game away,so I will just say that today went fantastically. It’s strange to think thatthese are some of the final scenes in the film and yet we still have threeweeks left of shooting. I always knew that scenes were filmed out of sequencebut I never gave it any serious thought before. In a play it’s easier for theactor to know what stage their character is at during a particular scene asthey have followed the story and their characters progression as the play hasrun its course, its closer to realism as it’s like they are living the story astheir character. Actors in film or television have to be able to pinpoint whichstage they are at in their character’s emotional and intellectual journey. Ittakes a great deal of skill and concentration to be able to demonstrate thesubtle differences in their character that occur throughout the film.

Tuesday 26th April: A Raunchy Ruckus

2011-04-26T07:44:00.000-07:00

It was quite ananxious day today for the crew with a lot of raunchy scenes on the agenda. Wetook all precautions to make the set as comfortable and relaxed for the cast aspossible, the set was closed off and only the director and select crew wereallowed to attend. This helped the actors achieve chemistry and realismduring the scenes which ultimately meant that filming time was greatly reduced.In the end our apprehension for the day was un-called for and the time passedas quickly and as enjoyably as any other day on set.

Monday 25th April The crime in question

2011-04-25T07:40:00.000-07:00

Fast paced,action packed scenes are on the table this morning. Shootings, flashbacks andnightclubs all formed the basis of our filming, each scene as pivotal to theplot as the next. All scenes revolved around the crime in question, shot fromthe different perspectives of those involved, so it was extremely importantthat today’s shoot was executed with tremendous precision.

Sunday 24th April High heels and strobe lights

2011-04-24T08:11:00.000-07:00

As I waltzed onto set it feltextremely different from any other day at work. Instead of heading up to theoffice to resume my usual position behind the desk I headed past the door and straightfor the extras bus. This evening I got to be part of the cast when I donned myheels to be a clubber. I met such a variety of people while waiting for the setcall; it was brilliant and certainly kept me entertained during the wait.

The rumour that therewouldn’t be any music for us to dance to extremely worried me, fears I mightdance out of sync to the rest of the crowd kept surfacing to the forefront ofmy mind. Luckily as soon as we got onto set all doubts were extinguished atonce, it looked like a real club and, best of all, there would be music todance to. Breathing a sigh of relief I formed a tight knit circle near thefront of the stage with a group of extras I’d gotten to know well while on thebus. As soon as the music began to boom I forgot about the cameras and justdanced away, all that was missing was a drink in my hand!

Saturday 23rd April Stunning Stunts

2011-04-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

Legendary stunt co-ordinatorPeter Pedrero came on board for his second film with us and today was his firstday on set. We are extremely pleased to welcome him back to our sets, not onlyis he a brilliant person to work with but his impressive past work makes him avaluable asset; Pirates of the Caribbean, The Bourne Ultimatum and Harry Potterto name but a few.

The stunt today definitelyneeded his precision and skills to ensure that no one was hurt during filming. Itwas extremely interesting to see the preparation and precautions that had to beput in place to pull this scene off. With the stunt double emerging unhurt fromthe scene the day proved successful and visually spectacular.

Wednesday 20th April A Sombre Affair

2011-04-20T07:58:00.000-07:00

Our cameras visit the sickbed of a main character today and although the scene is sad and full of despairthe atmosphere after takes was shamefully exuberant. With so many differentscenes to film and an energetic friendly crew the day flew by. The actors were fantastic;they were able to deliver such heartfelt performances while maintaining thepositive and happy environment off screen.

Tuesday 19th April Brotherly Love

2011-04-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

One of the most important relationshipsin Twenty8K is that of the siblings Deeva and Vipon. Get it right and viewerswill believe this is a pair who have grown up together and despite growingapart would do anything to protect each other but get it wrong, by loosing thatclose familiarity siblings should have, and the whole film would loosecredibility. To ensure that Sebastian (Vipon) and Parminder (Deeva) achieved aclose relationship we arranged a whole weeks worth of one on one rehearsalsconcentrating solely on the relationship between them.

Today would be a test to thebond we had worked so hard to try and form as Sebastian and Parminder took tothe set for a turbulent and emotional scene. The shoot revolved around Deeva’sattempts to prise the truth from Vipon about the crime he’s accused of. Theirpreviously close relationship is both demonstrated and then put to the test asVipon continues to keep his cards close to his chest. The pair were extremelycomfortable around each other and continued to maintain a relationship similarto siblings even when the cameras were off. Clearly the extra rehearsals were agreat success and we feel extremely confident that this relationship has beenexpertly achieved.

Monday 18th April Stars left, right and centre

2011-04-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

Things on set were as busy asever when three more stars joined our set. Kierston Waering, Nichola Burley andMichael Socha were all crammed into a posh hotel suite today for their firstscene together. Chemistry flew as the clacker marked the beginning of the scene;it was brilliant seeing these characters brought to life for the first time onset. But the office proved just as interesting as today I got to see my firstsnippet of editing. Paul Coe, head of 2^nd unit, was sat meticulouslypiecing together scenes from the Jani house filmed last week. It was amazing to see how much attention to detail he had togive to make the shot look smooth and seamless. Previously I hadn’t realizedjust how jumpy these separate shots are when you first piece them together, toget a sense of continuity Paul was glued to his computer for hours. I now havea new found respect for all editors.

Friday 15th April Flash Cameras and Automobiles

2011-04-15T07:28:00.000-07:00

As we took to the streets outside 3 mills studios today quite a crowd gathered to peer at our bustling set. I can see why we drew so many curious members of the public; bright lights, huge cameras and an A class cast casually meandering around a flash red convertible, it was certainly an eye catching scene. Although by no means our only shot of the day it certainly proved to be the most interesting thanks to the positive attitude from the passers by and the excitement as the crew got to use a steadicam for the day.

Thursday 14th April Bringing Life

2011-04-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

Today the character of Zazou- a bold, zany,eccentric fashion designer was brought to life by new rising talent JamesFrench. Zazou was a tricky character to cast. On the one hand he is thestereotypical over the top character we all picture in our heads when we thinkof the fashion industry. But we also wanted to find someone who could gounderneath all the bravado and flamboyancy, Zazou was real and genuine not justa one dimensional comic character. Straight away we knew that James understoodthis character and didn’t just take Zazou at face value. James has brought thecharacter to life with his suitable and naturalistic acting; he has given himthe diversity that we needed to portray Zazou’s range of emotions.

Wednesday 13th April, Feminine Strength

2011-04-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

The tension between Parminder Nagra and StephenDillane’s characters stepped up a level today as Stone (Dillane) showed Deeva(Nagra) the growing evidence against Vipon.

Deeva’s strength was also highlighted during thisscene as she would not back down to Stone’s bullying behaviour or hisintimidation.

In many films the female has to be protected by their lawyer duringsimilar situations but Amalesh (Deeva’s lawyer) merely aids Deeva during thisscene and is by no means the sole force protecting her from the might of thepolice.

Deeva stands up for herself, holds her own ground and proves more thanan equal match for Stone.

Judging by the half formed smiles playing on the facesof the crew we were all thinking the same thing; at last, a thriller with atruly strong and independent female lead.

Tuesday 12th April Artistic Performances

2011-04-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

It was an emotional set today as Parminder surpassedherself in a scene depicting Deeva’s desperation and loneliness. Not manyactors can deliver a performance that is both believable yet artistic butParminder showed us why she is one of the hottest actresses in Hollywood bypulling off this balancing act superbly. Take after take she stepped up to themark and gave us a wide variety of takes to choose from.

Monday 11th April A Family Affair

2011-04-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

All hands were on deck as we set up for the firstofficial day of filming. Luckily today’s base was on our front door at 3 MillsStudio aiding a relaxed and smooth transition into production.

We gathered thewhole Jani family together today to shoot scenes against the back drop ofDeeva’s childhood home.

It was imperative that we do these scenes justice asthe house provides Deeva with a safe haven.

Somewhere she can focus herattention on solving the criminal mystery rather than the growing danger she isbeing confronted with.

Safe to say we walked away today happy and, mostimportantly, on schedule.

Friday 8th April 2011 - Picture Perfect

2011-04-08T10:00:00.000-07:00

Every day is exciting and different in a production company and today was no different. Instead of taking to their usual positions behind a desk assistant producer Rosalind and runner Alice Thwaite got to be actors for the day when they featured in an important photo shoot for the 2^nd unit. The picture will link two of the suspects together in Twenty8K and its discovery proves a pivotal moment in Deeva’s investigation.

Thursday 7th 2011- 'Viva La France'

2011-04-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

It’s an extremely early start this morning with the Eurostar leaving at 7am but seeing as this is all in aid of filming in the beautiful and romantic city of Paris, we can’t complain.

The Arc De Triumph, Eiffel tower, Versaille and the Louvre, you name it our team were there to see it. Well from afar at least!

Filming of course took precedence for the day so site seeing wasn't on the agenda for the Twenty8K team.

Some magnificent shots were achieved and the day proved a successful start to the official production.

Wednesday 6th April 2011- 'Rule Britannia'

2011-04-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

Though we’re not yet in full swing of the shoot, today still proved an exciting one.

While Parminder Nagra and Nichola Burley had their screen tests our second unit crew headed by Paul Coe set off to film in front of the Houses of Parliament.

The weather was perfect and I for one am extremely grateful to see a

beautiful building with such historical significance make an appearance; nothing says British like the chimes of Big Ben.

Tuesday 5th April 2011 - 'Gather Round'

2011-04-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

Today was the first official cast read through of the script for Twenty8K. It went fantastically! Starting our read through at 2pm, an hour and a half later we were finished, a reflection on the brilliant writing. The dialogue flowed between the actors and I felt like I was watching a play rather than a simple reading of the script.

Monday 4th April 2011 - 'And So It Begins....'

2011-04-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

Today was a quiet start to the pre-shoot week but a thoroughly enjoyable one. It was a busy day on the 3 Mills film lot but the main event focused on our leading lady, Parminder Nagra, who came in for her first costume fitting. All went well which was a relief for our hard working costume department who have been hunting down fashionable Deeva-esque clothes for weeks. Parminder agrees with their choices and all items fit her perfectly, all in all a positive day.

Nagra heads to set with Producer&Director Neil Thompson in tow