Actor Charlie Woodward stars in upcoming flick The Krays: Dead Man Walking set to be released next month. He opened up about his role in an interview with us.
What is the film about?
It tells the story of Frank ‘The Mad Axeman’ Mitchell’s escape from Dartmoor in 1966 with the help of the Krays twins which led to the largest manhunt in British history.
How did you get involved?
I met Jonathan Sothcott through my dad who’s also an actor. They’ve worked with each other a few times in the past and completely coincidentally this was at the same time they were casting for the film. I’d just left drama school and Jonathan asked if I’d like to audition for Teddy Smith. I jumped at the opportunity, I loved the script and knew I could do something with the character. I guess he thought so too because here I am!
How was the experience of making your first feature film?
Great! As I said, I’d just left LAMDA where I spent three years training, so I felt pretty well prepared for the actual job of filming and giving it my absolute all. I’ve spent a fair bit of my life on sets and around actors so I knew what to expect. It was the start of my professional career so that’s exactly what I tried to be, professional. That being said, nothing can prepare you for the type of energy required on set. Needing to maintain the same level of intensity on and off camera, often with hours between, takes can be exhausting emotionally and physically but there’s something about the frantic energy and the fact that everyone is working hard to create the same thing that I absolutely love and wouldn’t trade for anything else.
What sets The Krays: Dead Man Walking apart from other movies about the Krays Twins?
Well for starters, this is about a specific part of the Kray twins lives. It also happens to be a part of their story that no one has really told before and not a lot of people know about nowadays, which I find odd because it was such a big moment in their history!
What I liked about this script was that it shows them differently to most others. The temptation nowadays is to show them as archetypal bad boys, local legends with whacky character flaws but this one is different because it shows them more as they were, as real people, real criminals. Yes some thought they were legends and perhaps they are now, but it’s easy to forget that an awful lot of people were absolutely terrified of them. So that’s what I think this shows, the real people.
What was your favourite scene to shoot?
That’s a really tricky one. Partly because I don’t want to give too much away and also because most of my scenes were on the same set so they all sort of blurred into one for me. There’s a scene I shot with Rita Simons where the curtain is lifted a bit for a second and you see ‘Teddy the young man’ rather than ‘Teddy the gangster’. That was my favourite on a personal level, again because it reminds us that he’s a real person with real emotions. At the same time, it is pretty fun when you get to swan around and pretend to be a gangster. So a balance of the two!
Another moment I’ll remember for a long while was when myself and Chris Ellison were sat in an original 1960s Rolls Royce on Highgate Hill on what must have been the coldest day of they year. There was no heating or brakes in the car so we were sat there, freezing cold, knowing that at any second we could start rolling down highgate hill never to be seen again.
How were the other cast members to work with?
Absolutely brilliant! Working with Rita and Chris was fantastic. They’ve both done so much work on British TV so as a young actor, watching them work is quite the education in screen acting. I learnt a hell of a lot from them. They knew it was my first job as well and were incredibly supportive, Rita really took me under her wing. Josh Myers was great to work with also, he has a very intense perfomance. And I got to watch Guy Henry act which was a great bonus, he’s brilliant!
