Downhill (2014)

Anecdotes

Downhill is a British comedy film directed by James Rouse and written by Torben Betts about four old friends who reunite to walk the Coast to Coast Walk. It stars Richard Lumsden, Karl Theobald, Jeremy Swift and Ned Dennehy. It was produced by Benji Howell and is noted for its "innovative" release strategy. The film premiered at Zeffirellis, Ambleside, Cumbria. A restaurant and cinema complex in the heart of the English Lake District.

Production

The project first started as a seed idea the producer, Benji Howell, had been working on, based around the idea of "a road movie on foot".

"I really wanted to make a film that was uncompromised by industry demands such as name actors for lead roles. It therefore had to be an idea that could be shot on a very low budget and at the same time not compromised by the size of that budget", says Howell.

During this process, Howell was also making television commercials with the director, James Rouse. The pair begun talking about the idea and both decided it would be a great feature project on which they could collaborate.

Howell and Rouse put together a story outline and roughly sketched character breakdowns and then began the search for a writer. They settled on Torben Betts, a playwright who is particularly interested in character driven pieces. Betts, a former actor, also takes on a cameo role as The Helpful Walker.

Rouse and Howell both financed the development then kick started the finance of the production budget. At the same time they approached Alex Melman, a DOP whom they had worked with extensively in commercials and asked him if he would like to shoot the film. He accepted, but also offered to come on board as a financier and executive producer.

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