Sunday night at Leicester Square’s Empire cinema saw the victorious return of one of modern culture’s most revered stars. A man who will never give you up, never let you down and will never turn around and desert you - no not James Bond - Rick Astley was in the house.
“I was big in the 80s,” said Flashbacks Of A Fool director Bailie Walsh by way of explaining Astley’s presence alongside the likes of Lisa Stansfield, Charlene Spiteri, Noel Gallagher, Neil Tennant and the god-like Bryan Ferry. “I used to be a video director, I’ve been directing videos for a long time and a lot of these people are my good mates.”
The roll-call of legendary popsters aside, this was a night to celebrate the release of Walsh’s long-gestating project about a washed-up movie star (played by Daniel Craig) who is forced to reflect on his long-gone youth in a 70s British seaside resort.
“I wrote it six years ago for Daniel and his success as Bond has allowed it to happen,” said Walsh. “I wrote it and put it to bed because the finances wouldn’t let it happen, but then Bond came along and here we are.”
Following such a long time lingering in development hell, did the final product stay true to his original vision?
“It’s better than I originally envisaged it because I thought I’d have to make a very low-budget movie,” he said. “Luckily, I got more money than I thought I could and basically I got everything I wanted – it doesn’t get any better than that.”
The film, which shows Walsh’s commitment to both the project and his best mate Craig, gives us two versions of the same character – the current James Bond as the older man and newcomer Harry Eden as his more youthful self (“Everyone says that we look alike but I can’t see it myself,” said Eden). The role gave Craig the chance to indulge in a character who likes to live life on the hedonistic side, does he share the same character traits?
“I’ve lived a life,” said Craig enigmatically. “I haven’t had such an extreme life as Joe has but we all go through life and it comes out the back and gets us. That’s why the people you love and your family are very important and you’ve got to take care of them.”
It’s a role that’s a million miles from 007, was that a conscious decision when deciding to make Flashbacks?
“I didn’t do this film because it’s a world away from Bond, I did this film because Bailie Walsh is my best friend and he’s a great movie director,” said Craig. “It’s worlds away from Bond. This movie is a small movie, it cost a fraction of what a Bond movie does but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to throw myself into it as much.”
His character’s story arc is all about huge success followed by a massive career nosedive, does Craig ever worry there could be a case of life imitating art?
“It’s part of the profession, you know,” he said. “Who knows what the future holds, it could turn on a sixpence. I think the important thing is that you do look after the people around you and take care of you then you’ll survive.”
Flashbacks Of A Fool goes on general release from Friday.