Jason Flemyng Movies
An actor who is equally adept at donning wigs and machine guns for period dramas and modern gangster films alike, Jason Flemyng is one of Britain's more versatile, unpredictable, and underrated performers. Born in London on September 25, 1966, Flemyng made his stage debut at the age of ten as the Tin Man in a school production of The Wizard of Oz. After studying drama at the National Youth Theatre and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, he was accepted into the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he stayed for three years.Flemyng broke into film and television in 1992, appearing in a number of made-for-TV movies and in John Schlesinger's Question of Attribution, an adaptation of Alan Bennett's play about the 1950s Burgess-Maclean-Philby spy scandal. Supporting roles and a lead in Indian Summer (1996), which cast him as a dancer with AIDS, followed, and in 1996, the actor garnered a measure of international recognition for his work in two films. One, Bernardo Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty, saw him sharing a scene with Liv Tyler, while the searing family drama Hollow Reed featured Flemyng as a white-collared child abuser who beats his girlfriend's young son.
After a turn as an 18th-century composer in François Girard's The Red Violin (1998), Flemyng starred in perhaps his most internationally successful film to date, Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). An incredibly stylish crime comedy set in London's rough East End, the film -- which starred Flemyng as one of a group of friends trying to pull off a heist -- was a surprise hit in both the U.K. and overseas, which resulted in widespread attention for its director and cast. Flemyng re-teamed with Ritchie in 2000 for Snatch, another heist picture. That same year, he also had a number of other projects lined up, including Bruiser, a thriller about a put-upon magazine grunt who strikes back at everyone who has wronged him, and The Body, a religious drama in which he appeared alongside Antonio Banderas and Derek Jacobi. Gaining increasing exposure in such films as Rock Star and From Hell (both 2001), Flemyng would soon re-team with Snatch co-star Vinnie Jones in the The Longest Yard remake Mean Machine (2001) before taking the lead in the comedy Lighthouse Hill (2002) and gearing up to go schizophrenic as the malevolent Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde in the eagerly anticipated comic book adaptation The League of Extrodinary Gentlemen (2003). ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 2008
Inspired by writer/director Eran Creevy's own teenage experiences, Shifty tells the tale of a man who returns to his old neighborhood on the outskirts of London, ostensibly to attend a party but more specifically to check up on an old friend. It's been a long time since Chris (Daniel Mays) left town, and now that he's finally returned, he's eager to check up on Shifty (Riz Ahmed), the lifelong friend he left behind. As it turns out, things aren't going to well for Shifty; not only has he taken to dealing drugs supplied by local heavy Glen (Jason Flemyng), but the constant struggle to keep his activates secret from his self-righteous brother Rez (Nitin Ganatra) has resulted in some serious family tensions. Over the course of the next twenty-four hours, former best friends Chris and Shifty will not only confront the dark secrets that once drove Chris from town, but also work to free the desperate Shifty from a volatile situation that could spell danger for both of them. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rizwan Ahmed, Daniel Mays, (more)
- 2006
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First-time writer/director Scott Burns spins this suspenseful yarn about a nuclear technician who has a curious encounter with a notoriously violent Russian gangster (Nikolaj Lie Kaas). The year is 1995, and Timofey (Paddy Considine) is a nuclear power-plant worker in post-Soviet Russia. After being exposed to dangerous levels of radiation while working to avert a disaster, Timofey discovers that the authorities have deliberately misled him about the severity of his exposure, and that he will likely die in just a few days. Determined to provide for his wife (Radha Mitchell) and young son before he succumbs to the effects of radiation, Timofey absconds with a small amount of weapons grade plutonium, straps the vial to his body, and makes his way to Moscow in hopes of making a quick and profitable sale in the criminal underground. This is the "new Russia," where everything has its price, and Timofey is determined to secure his family's future even if he himself has none. Oscar Issac and Jason Flemyng co-star in a film produced by Section Eight and Beacon Pictures for HBO Films, and distributed by Picturehouse. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paddy Considine, Radha Mitchell, (more)
Two female friends invent a stranger named "Vincent" in order to win back one of the girl's ex-boyfriends, only to find their ploy for jealousy entangled with a plot for murder after one of them is accused of actual homicide. When Faith and Eve invented Vincent, their plan was to use the imaginary hunk as a means of driving Faith's jealous ex-boyfriend straight back into her arms. Trouble is, there's a real Vincent out there, and now he's dead. As the evidence against Faith begins to pile up, she makes a desperate attempt to discover the connection between herself, Eve, and the mysterious Vincent. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melanie Brown, Jason Flemyng, (more)
- 2005
A man with a belief in travel between different realities encounters a woman who seems to be the living embodiment of his theories in this drama. Michael Seraph (Jamie Sives) is an astronomer and author who has a passionate interest in what he calls "quantum cosmology" -- the belief that we exist in one of several parallel universes, and that some people can move from one plane to another at will. Michael has published a book on his theories, and he also works at a state-of-the-art observatory with David (Jason Flemyng, who believes there's merit in his ideas, and Marianne (Susan Lynch), who puts little stock in them. One evening, Michael attends a screening of an art film and meets Caroline (Julie Gayet), a beautiful French woman who takes an immediate interest in him. Michael and Caroline spend the night together, but while he's keen on pursuing a relationship with her, she keeps dropping in and out of his life, and seems somehow different each time he meets her. Michael's curiosity about Caroline grows greater when his friend Hunt (Brian Cox), a doctor, tells him she was once one of his patients -- but that she was much older when he met her years before. Like director Richard Jobson's debut feature 16 Years of Alcohol, A Woman in Winter was shot using digital video technology, and transferred to 35mm film for theatrical screenings. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jamie Sives, Julie Gayet, (more)
Two irascible farmers find their bitter rivalry taking on epic tones in this pitch black comedy starring, written, and directed by Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern. They may spend their days toiling the land, but these two tillers of the soil are far from humble. When their ongoing feud escalates into all out war and both men wind up paralyzed by a tractor, they soon opt to focus their rage not on each other, but on the manufacturer of the machine. Now, as the former enemies make their way to Helsinki in order to exact their revenge, the stage is set for a hilarious confrontation. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Benoit Delepine, Gustave Kervern, (more)
- 2004
True love, motorcycle daredevils, and alien visitation all find their way into this wildly imaginative fantasy, written and directed by Didier Poiraud and his brother Thierry Poiraud, a pair of comic artists who adapted the story from their own work. James Bataille (Jason Flemyng) is in love with Concia (Vanessa Paradis), a chanteuse whose father, Bosco (Jean-Pierre Marielle), runs the only nightspot in the tiny town where they live. The mechanically inclined Bataille attempts to stage an elaborate motorcycle stunt to impress Concia, but when it goes sour, he ends up in prison with a 133-year sentence. Desperate to help Concia and raise some money, Bataille escapes from behind bars to make an appointment to fix the car of music biz tycoon Allan Chiasse (Benoît Poelvoorde). Chiasse's timing may be fortuitous, as Concita is soon to take part in the town's annual talent show, though he's expected to face tough competition from a very unusual dog act. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Devastated by the recent death of his best friend, a successful London publisher travels to the countryside determined to find true meaning in his life. Charlie (Jason Flemyng) is a thirty-something publisher with a high-paying job and a beautiful girlfriend. Yet despite having all the creature comforts, Charlie can't help but feeling something is missing from his life. When his best friend dies, Charlie gets in his car and heads for the countryside. Upon checking into a lonely hotel with a landlocked lighthouse, Charlie encounters a series of extraordinary, everyday people who will change his life forever, including an ethereal waif named Grace (Kirsty Mitchell) who has been awaiting the arrival of her one true prince. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Flemyng, Kirsty Mitchell, (more)
The classic Burt Reynolds football-behind-bars flick The Longest Yard crosses the pond and gets an appropriate British accent in the process in this rough-and-tumble mixture of sports and action-comedy. Danny Mehan (Vinnie Jones) was one of the biggest stars in British football (what Americans call soccer), until he was caught rigging a game during a championship tournament. In the wake of this scandal, Danny's career takes a nosedive and his life spins out of control, until he finally ends up in prison for three years on an assault and battery conviction. Danny discovers there are a number of football fans behind bars who still hate him for fixing the game, but Danny has one powerful fan in this prison. The warden (David Hemmings) is a devoted football supporter with a taste for gambling; he's been trying to assemble a semi-pro team comprised of the prison's guards, but Danny is just smart enough to know this would seal his fate with his fellow prisoners. Instead, he offers to put together a team of inmates, who can play practice games against the guards. A new inmate, Sykes (John Forgeham), gets wind of Danny's idea and arranges an exhibition match between Danny's new team and the guards, though Sykes' motivation is more than just good fun. A powerful bookie, Sykes lost a fortune on the game Danny threw, and expects betting to be heavy for this game. If Danny and his men win, Sykes could make back the fortune he lost, but if the guards come out ahead, Danny's goose is cooked. Can Danny turn a gang of losers, misfits, and violent psychopaths -- including muscle-bound lunatic Monk (Jason Statham), creepy but loyal Billy the Limpit (Danny Dyer), tough guy Massive (Vas Blackwood), pyromaniac Nitro (Robbie Gee), and enthusiastic but out-of-shape Raj (Omid Djalili) -- into a proper team with a fighting chance of winning? Mean Machine was produced by Matthew Vaughn, who was also behind Guy Ritchie's tough-but-stylish crime comedies Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. Star Vinnie Jones, by the way, enjoyed a career as a professional footballer in Great Britain before turning to acting. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vinnie Jones, Jason Statham, (more)
Horror-meister George Romero directs this thriller about a 99-pound weakling who strikes back at everyone who has wronged him in the past. Henry Creedlow (Jason Flemyng) works at a fashion mag called Bruiser for the short-fused, dictatorial Miles Styles (Peter Stormare). Henry spends much of his day fantasizing about killing himself and killing others, particularly his nagging wife Janine (Nina Garbiras). After learning that Miles is shagging his wife and that his stockbroker best friend swindled him out of a stack of money, Henry wakes up the following day to learn that his face has mysteriously been rendered white and featureless. Soon, like a mime with bloodlust, Henry violently dispatches with everyone in his life, save Miles' wife, whose paintings may be responsible for his sudden transformation. This film was screened at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Flemyng, Peter Stormare, (more)
- 1999
This omnibus film is both a tribute to 1990s Cool Britannia and an opportunity for many of Britain's best actors to step behind the camera. Set in the London's underground (AKA the Tube), the film's nine shorts depict England's most hallowed form of public transportation in wildly divergent manners, from gritty to surreal. Jude Law's "A Bird in the Hand" is a quietly affecting tale about an ailing old man, while "Horny", by Stephen Hopkins is an extended sexual fantasy imagined by a sweaty commuter enduring both the dog days of summer and his obvious arousal. Ewan MacGregor's "Bone" is a fanciful tale about a trombonist and his imagined lover on their way home from a concert, while Bob Hoskins' "My Father the Liar" is an emotionally powerful tale about a child who witnesses a suicide. But perhaps the standout segment from this film is Armando Iannucci's uproarious "Mouth", featuring a beautiful, poised woman vomiting on her fellow commuters set to Bruckner's 9th Symphony. Frank Harper appears in a number of these short works as an overly officious subway staffer. This film premiered at the London Film Festival and was later showed on the UK's BSkyB cable channel. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kelly MacDonald, Jason Flemyng, (more)
Thomas Hardy's classic 19th century novel Tess of the d'Ubervilles was expansively adapted to television in this two-part British miniseries. Justine Waddell stars as Tess D'Urbeyfield, the poor relation to the prosperous D'Ubervilles, a rural family. Sent to work on the farm of her distant relatives, Tess stirs up an intense romantic rivalry between her cousin Alec D'Uberville (Jason Flemyng) and handsome "local" Angel Clare (Oliver Milburn). Tragedy ensues when the rapacious Alec "has his way" with Tess, inaugurating a chain of events that will ultimately find the heroine on trial for her life. A production of ITV's London Weekend Television, Tess of the d'Ubervilles was originally presented in one two-hour and one 90-minute installment beginning March 8, 1998. The program debuted in America on September 13 of that same year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Justine Waddell, Jason Flemyng, (more)
- 1997
The family that steals together stays together in this satiric British comedy. After a fire destroys her home, Bernadette James (Helen McCrory) gathers up her four children and leaves Edinburgh for London, hoping to locate her not-especially-responsible and currently-absent husband, Spendlove (John Hannah). Spendlove, as usual, turns out to be in no position to help them and is prepared to give up the marriage when Bernadette, in a fit of pique, robs a jewelry store, using her children as decoys. While the James family is now on the run, Bernadette has finally discovered a skill that can be used to support her children; she soon moves up to stealing cars and pulling daring (and lucrative) robberies in broad daylight, with hubby and the kids helping out. However, Spendlove doesn't have the stomach for a life of crime and wants to bail out, while police detective Julia Armstrong (Toni Collette) is determined to put the criminal family behind bars. Spendlove's brother (Jason Flemyng) soon joins in the James family's life of crime as the police's web tightens around them. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Hannah, Helen McCrory, (more)
- 1992
Lisa Harrow and Peter McEnery were among the powerhouse performers appearing in the two-part British miniseries Witchcraft. The story concerned the efforts by a detail-obsessed movie director to film the biography of an infamous 17th century Witchfinder. To this end, the director insisted upon shooting at the same locations where the Witchfinder had carried out his atrocities. The "fun" begins when the ghost of the film's "hero" suddenly pops up to wreak fatal havoc upon cast and crew alike. Witchcraft was originally broadcast in 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gareth Armstrong, Judy Campbell, (more)
- 1992
James Fox stars as real-life British turncoat Anthony Blunt in A Question of Attribution. A highly respected art expert (he was Queen Elizabeth's personal art advisor), Blunt was also intimately involved in the Burgess-Maclean-Philby spy scandal of the 1950s. According to this 1992 adaptation of Alan Bennett's play, Blunt tipped his hand while restoring one of his precious Titians. John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy) directed this razor-sharp psychological melodrama. Originally produced for British television, the 90-minute A Question of Attribution premiered in the US on October 4, 1992, as part of PBS' Masterpiece Theatre. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Fox, Geoffrey Palmer, (more)
- Add The Double Life of Franz Schubert: An Exploration of His Life and Work to QueueAdd The Double Life of Franz Schubert: An Exploration of His Life and Work to top of Queue
Like Tchaikovsky and other classical geniuses, Franz Schubert buried a dark and somewhat disturbing lifestyle beneath a myriad of extraordinary musical accomplishments. A notorious rake, Schubert contracted such a severe case of syphilis that he endured a forced hospitalization, yet his difficult recuperation and physical suffering reportedly inspired some of his most glorious works. The documentary The Double Life of Franz Schubert: An Exploration of His Life and Work unflinchingly hones in on this period of development and growth in Schubert's life. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Simon Russell Beale, Jason Flemyng, (more)
When the notoriously evil Chucky doll and his lover gave birth, they had no idea that their spawn would grow up to be a peace-loving kind of guy; however, that's exactly what Glen turns out to be: a gentle soul who is horrified at what he has been told about his family. After hearing the news of a film being made about his parents' murderous legacy, Glen sets off for Hollywood, where he promptly brings Chucky and Tiffany back to life. Far from diving into doting fatherhood, Chucky is seriously disappointed in his son's lack of inherent evil and tries his best to impart his vast knowledge of all things malevolent before Glen becomes some sort of do-gooder. Elsewhere, Tiffany finds that she will be played by Jennifer Tilly in their movie and doesn't hesitate to let her son in on their family's most cherished tradition -- killing sprees. Directed by Don Mancini, Seed of Chucky features Brad Dourif returning as the voice of Chucky, while Tilly plays both herself and Tiffany. The offspring of the evil pair, Glen, is voiced by Lord of the Rings star Billy Boyd. Cult film director John Waters also makes an appearance, as does hip-hop artist Redman. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brad Dourif, Jennifer Tilly, (more)
A mechanic in the British drug trade finds himself caught in the middle of some dangerous circumstances in this crime thriller. XXXX (Daniel Craig) is a nameless go-between in the British mob who buys drugs from underground wholesalers and them sells them to street dealers, keeping the system flowing and making a tidy profit in the process. XXXX is looking forward to getting out of the game, and has displayed both smarts and caution in how he's handled his business, but before his overseer Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham) will let him go, he has a couple of favors that need to be done. First, Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon) is a mob boss whose daughter has gotten hooked on hard drugs and run away from home; Jimmy needs XXXX to find them girl and bring her to him before Eddie's men can get hold of her. Second, Dragan (Dragan Micanovic) is a Ecstasy wholesaler who has had a large shipment stolen by Duke (Jamie Foreman); Jimmy wants XXXX to get the Ecstasy back to Dragan, but Duke isn't eager to sell and Dragan is becoming impatient. Between these two matters, XXXX isn't so sure he'll get out of the business alive, especially after he finds himself falling for Duke's nephew's girlfriend, Tammy (Sienna Miller). Layer Cake marked the directorial debut for Matthew Vaughn, best known as a producer for Guy Ritchie's lad-centric crime movies. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Craig, Colm Meaney, (more)
