'This film is about camaraderie and friendship, somewhat of a traditional friendship that is kind of dying out,' says director and co-screenwriter, Lexi Alexander.
A former World Karate and Kickboxing Champion, Lexi Alexander found her calling to become a filmmaker while travelling around the world competing and teaching martial arts seminars. Born in Mannheim, Germany, Lexi dreamed of eventually moving to Hollywood and made it a point to attend every karate tournament that took place in the United States. Finally, at age 19, after winning the Long Beach International Karate Championship, Lexi decided to stay in California, equipped with nothing more than two duffel bags and a pair of boxing gloves.
Pursuing her dream of becoming a filmmaker, Lexi enrolled in the renowned Joanne Baron Studio of Dramatic Arts and the Piero Dusa Acting Conservatory while simultaneously taking classes in directing, producing and writing at UCLA. To finance her education and living expenses, Lexi worked as a stuntwoman specializing in martial arts, giving her the opportunity to learn about the filmmaking process from a practical side as well. Her short films, Pitcher Perfect, about the struggle of a teenage baseball prodigy, and Foolproof, another teenage comedy, as well as several school projects, opened the door for many commercial assignments, most notably for extreme sports companies.
After co-producing her first feature film Wheelmen, Lexi combined her extensive knowledge of boxing with her passion for filmmaking in her third short film, the 2003 Academy Award Nominated Johnny Flynton.
'I've always been attracted to stories like that - about camaraderie and friendship. It happens a lot in war movies but this one was contemporary so that's what really attracted me to it. There's a lot of action in it but it is much more about the love between these guys and their dedication to each other. Basically they'd give their life for each other and they live in an environment where that sacrifice can be required.'
She continues, 'I first thought about the idea when I was studying to become a filmmaker and thought about what stories I would like to tell. I think it's related to my contact with hooliganism and the feeling of family and buzz that I had when I watched it happening in my own youth. Of course I wasn't doing that thinking 'one of these days I'm going to direct a movie about it', but then once I was a filmmaker I immediately thought back to how amazing this environment is and how I would love for more people to know about how it feels and why these guys do it. I know it's a controversial subject, but I didn't set out to make a film or write a script in order to push somebody's button, absolutely not. I wanted to tell a story that was touching and about love and that hasn't been told and I definitely wanted to make it authentic. I think that was the most important thing to me - not make it an after school program and not make it 'Hollywood', I wanted to do it the way it really is. But it is about the drama and the relationships - it's not a hooligan-fest. If people are just watching it because of the violence they are watching if for the wrong reason and they are missing the point of the film.'
Producer Deborah Del Prete feels that filmmakers have a duty to present controversial subjects on screen. I think it's our job to let people know about things that are happening all around us and that we may not necessarily be aware of or comfortable with. I don't think that we should ever shy away from controversy nor do I think that we should do things just to be controversial. With 'HOOLIGANS' we're telling a story about something that really happens. Young males get involved in these very violent fights and the worst case scenario is that it can destroy their lives. It can enhance lives to be part of something but it can also be very destructive if you are into something that goes so far. I think that we have a responsibility to show those things so that people are aware of them and maybe it will give somebody pause to think. Controversy means making people aware of something that makes them start talking and thinking about it. That can only ever be good. It's when people are ignoring things that they get worse.'
The environment in which the film is set is one that Lexi Alexander knows well. 'I'm a big football fan. I went to my first match in Germany when I was five years old, mainly because my brother had to babysit me. But consequently I grew up in it. It just happened to be something that I really loved and so I ended up going to almost every game. The team was Mannheim - they used to be in the Bundesliga but now they're quite small. I've been following them for over twenty years now.'
Lexi continues 'I've observed hooliganism in Germany and that's where I found out about why these guys do it and what's so attractive about it. And I'll admit that I've even felt it myself. I remember as a teenager being really attracted to the idea that you had to figure out the streets of the town that you're going to next Saturday because you want to catch the other firm. There's a big adrenaline rush and it's very adventurous, there's almost a romance to it, to the feeling of running with a gang and having that kind of power to be with a bunch of people that you know will all stand together.'
But 'HOOLIGANS' has been set in England. 'I have to make it clear that hooliganism is something that occurs in practically every footballing nation around the world - I'm not suggesting that it is just a British thing. The practicality of making an English language film and setting it somewhere that it happens led to my choosing the UK. And you can't hide from the fact that the English have some of the more active hooligans!'
Writing the screenplay
Lexi sought the help of Dougie Brimson in order to achieve the authentic background that the drama required. Brimson writes on the subject and co-wrote the script with her, 'I knew only as much as I saw in Germany. I had heard about the English football fans, of course, but I wasn't really clear on the facts so I went on several hooligan websites and chat rooms. That's where I met my co-writer Dougie Brimson who was known for writing these books about hooliganism. I thought it would be good if I would have somebody who could bring more specifically English knowledge to the script.'
'You know it's an interesting thing. I would never have thought we would be making a film about British football!' says producer Deborah Del Prete. 'What really initially interested me in the script was Lexi Alexander, the director. I saw Lexi's Academy Award nominated short film 'Johnny Flynton' which is about boxing. I was incredibly impressed with her talent. It was a stunning debut film and the way she handled the sport elements was very impressive. So it made us willing to take a look at this script.'
The script was initially brought to Deborah's attention by Linda McDonough, SVP of Production and Development at Odd Lot Entertainment.
'When I read it I was just so incredibly impressed with the story. It had a great dramatic arc and I also felt that as an American it was really a great introduction to what football culture was about. Furthermore it was a world that I was just stunned to even know existed! And I'd been in Europe when there were big matches on and saw all the excitement and the crowds and things that were going on. I even remember being in Italy when there was a World Cup and seeing some tremendous sort of demonstration, but I didn't realize how really organised and sophisticated it all was. It was just a whole new environment in which to place the dramatic action and it was very exciting.'
She continues 'After my partner in Odd Lot, producer Gigi Pritzker, and I had read the script, we talked about what really makes a young man get involved in something like this. You're not talking about a disenfranchised group of people, you're talking about people who are educated. In 'HOOLIGANS', Pete Dunham is a school teacher and another member of the GSE is an airline pilot. This isn't the kind of group Americans would immediately think of as a gang. We think of the sort of gangs you get in L.A., the 'Bloods' and the 'Crips', who are basically hardened criminals and drug dealers. But in 'HOOLIGANS' they are just regular guys that all of us know, they are people that we could be friends with and to think that they would be so immersed in this fanaticism about a game and that they would become violent seems astonishing. So it became fascinating to examine this whole culture and how normal people live their lives within it.'
But Deborah reiterates Lexi's earlier point that there is much more to the film than just football culture and the resulting violence. 'You only have to watch the film to realize that the football culture is just the context, the environment in which things happen. The script tells the story of this subculture very well, but it also tells an extremely human story. Brothers not getting along particularly well, a coming of age story, young men learning about the world. And you have a particularly interesting viewpoint here. Matt is an outsider, a young American guy, who has basically turned up in London because his life has fallen apart. He hasn't learned to stand up for himself yet. He is going through life letting things happen to him as opposed to being the one that makes things happen and through his interaction with the GSE he learns a lot about becoming a man. But in the process, he also ultimately realizes the cost of his actions and what not to do. I think that the message of the film is that it's hard to grow up. It's about learning to stand your ground, it's learning to support your friends, but it's also about learning what's really important in life and how to make the right choices.'

Filming Hooligans
'HOOLIGANS' was filmed in London over a five week period during April/May 2004. Alex Buono, Co-producer and Director of Photography, says 'We did some early location scouting in November before shooting began, trying to decide whether we were going to shoot the picture in Glasgow or in London. We always wanted to do it in London, but there was some talk that maybe we could do it in Glasgow because it would be less expensive. It took about an hour to figure out that wasn't going to work. At the end of the day nowhere looks or feels quite like London!'
Lexi Alexander explains 'I really always wanted to use authentic locations and that was very important to me. Plus London is an amazing city with so many famous teams. I would really say it's the heart of English football. And the city has the most football firms, the most experience of hooliganism. I also truly believe that the British are the most passionate nation about football. It feels as though pretty much everybody you meet in London is into it! You go into any office and there will be four or five teams represented. You just start a conversation about the sport with someone in the pub and it can end up in a two, three hour discussion.'
But what was it like shooting in the city? Lexi says 'The experience was quite amazing. There were some obstacles because not everyone was comfortable about getting involved with a film about football violence but many others were very film friendly and co-operative. West Ham Football Club at Upton Park was absolutely incredible, and we know that it was quite an honour to be able to actually film whilst a match was going on. We had a really great time filming there.'
And the 'Hammers' fans turned out to be totally unfazed by the arrival of a film crew. 'I was quite amazed, I think all of us in the filmmaking side expected them to look in the camera and wave but we should have known better because the football was on! That taught us a big lesson you know, it doesn't matter that Elijah Wood and Charlie Hunnam are sitting there, they don't care, their team is playing. We could have bombarded them with lights and cameras and I think they would have kicked us out of the way and still watched the game. That was really great because I think when people see that scene with the boys going to the football match it definitely is the real deal. Even the actors ended up getting so into the match that they forgot they were on camera!'
There was one slightly scary moment though. Lexi explains 'It was very flattering really. The police came up to me during the match saying that my guys were too real and that the other people didn't necessarily know that they were actors so they might be starting something. The cast were actually too good at what they were doing and I really thought the police might pull the plug in the middle of me trying to finish the scene! That's a tricky one of course, because we were looking for realism, so I could hardly tell the boys to act less well!'
The look of the film is deliberately gritty and realistic as Alex Buono, who had worked with Lexi Alexander on previous projects including Johnny Flynton, explains, 'I guess you could call it kind of a gritty neo-realism. It's going in a direction that I suppose a lot of cinema is going now which I think is a reaction to what was happening in the mid to late 90's where everything was very slick and very clean. I think that in the last few years there's been a reaction against that, certainly with me there has - I'm sick of seeing everything so it's the perfect grain shot, it's the perfect choreographed movement, it's the most amazing, something that's clearly not lifelike. So this film became a reaction to that which was to make this film feel real, to make this film feel it's got some real texture to it and you're kind of a fly on the wall in this world. That's what we were going after.'
But how did he set about achieving that look? 'I read the script from the earliest drafts and was even then trying to get a real feel for where Lexi was going with the story and what she was trying to convey emotionally. When it came to shooting I just tried to help her convey what she had written about and what she was trying to get across dramatically. Of course, I was trying to do it visually. She was very keen to give 'HOOLIGANS' this raw edge and real authenticity. And she was also very interested in the recurring themes of rage, control of rage and the elements of love and hate, the manifestations of them. So there's a lot of raw emotional tension and my process was to just start at the story and with the narrative and really to decide what it was about, what was the narrative structure etc and transfer that realism into the look of the film and ultimately onto the screen. It certainly wasn't about what's a 'cool' look. I tried to start with something that's more based on the story, more based on the realism of the film.'
Alex also readily admits that his experience of the football scene when he arrived in England impacted heavily on the look of the film. He and Lexi did hang out in the pubs with the fans as well as attending matches. 'It was pretty amazing to have a film that's fiction and yet it walks such a straight line as far as what's authentic and what's real. To be able to walk into that world and experience it and then say now we're going to make a movie! My experience here definitely affected how I visualised the film. We shot a scene in this pub where we re-enacted scenes that we saw in a real West Ham pub. It was pretty exact. It's a fascinating experience, I've never had that kind of thing before - where you can just say okay I'm almost like one of the characters, my eyes are open to it and visually I'm going to try and put in the film what really struck me in a real life experience. I've certainly never worked on another movie where I've had that experience of recreating exactly what I have really seen.'

Enlisting the cast
'I wasn't one of those people who thought while I was writing 'oh this guy would be great, this guy would be good',' say Lexi Alexander. 'I always thought once it was done I would listen to suggestions. There are about eight, ten really, really famous actors but the age group of most of my lead characters was very young. There are not that many young actors out there that you immediately think of because you kind of know that they're fairly new in the business. But in a way that was the exciting process about casting this. I knew that I would have this young fresh cast that maybe people didn't really know about and that this movie could bring them out to audiences all over the world.'
Elijah Wood is an evident exception to this though. Having acted since childhood, his appearance in many celebrated films including 'The Lord of the Rings Trilogy' meant that he was already instantly recognizable to cinema audiences and had his pick of roles. So how did she tempt him to take part in the project? 'When I started the casting process I met Elijah first. His agent had the script and called from an aeroplane to say that Elijah and I should meet up. I'd followed his career since he was eight years old and I always thought he was really quite amazing even in his very early movies so it was great meeting him. But at that time I wasn't really ready to make a decision on the cast so it was three months before we actually signed him. In that time I saw him again, we had kept in touch via e-mail and phone calls and soon every time I wrote something I ended up visualising him in the film. If I did another draft, if I re-wrote a scene, I kept going back to him and what he thought about the project, so when I was ready to go, it was an easy decision. In my mind he had become Matt Buckner.'
Lexi is certain that she made absolutely the right choice. 'It's an independent movie and I knew that I needed the lead to be easy going, hard working and passionate about it. He's been more than I ever expected, he's a great actor, he was such a support and he nailed the role. I couldn't imagine anybody else in the part.'
The film is an ensemble piece and by its nature the lead characters had to be pretty strong. The character of Pete Dunham was the next to be lined up and producer Deborah Del Prete continues the story. 'Matt and Pete are sort of the yin and yang. After we had decided on the role of Matt we looked to the role of Pete. Lexi had spent time looking at all the young actors who are out there and she from very early on had decided that Charlie Hunnam would be her first choice for Pete. She had seen his work and met with him, talked about the role with him and found he was extremely enthusiastic about this film. He really felt that this was a role he could sink his teeth into and as soon as we all met with him, we were equally excited that he would be taking on the part. He's done an amazing job.'
Deborah continues 'The next person on our journey was Shannon. That took us a while because of course we wanted somebody who would be believable as Elijah's sister. It's a hard role because this is essentially a boys' movie even though the heart of it is actually about the family. Shannon's role is pretty central to all of that and it's the only female part. Claire is someone whose work we'd all seen quite a bit of and we really felt she could bring something to it with the really soft emotional side that that character had to have. Another really key member of our cast is Leo Gregory who plays Bovver. He's a catalyst for where a lot of the drama occurs. Leo was an actor that none of us had known before. Lexi had heard about him and had seen a film he made here for the BBC. Once we met with him we just all thought wow! It's always great to discover a tremendous new talent and I think people will be just blown away by the performance.'
Being a film about men in a 'brotherhood' situation, the bonding of the male cast was pretty key to getting the right feeling of easy familiarity on set. The director realized this early. 'They actually bonded right away which was quite interesting because I thought it would take time. But all the GSE cast members met, they had a beer and you couldn't separate them from then on! They were out socialising whenever possible. For me it was great because I was always the one girl in the group and it could get kind of nasty but it was a lot of fun!'
On a wider scale, there were over 100 extras involved, especially for the fight scenes. Many of them were drawn from the football scene and had experienced things for real first hand. Lexi found this very useful in creating the authenticity of events and language. 'They brought their own little habits and ways of talking. Some of them basically grew up in this world and definitely had a lot of knowledge, a lot of suggestions, their own little sayings and first hand experiences from football which we were able to add to the film. On any given day somebody would show up and tell us about a song or tell us about a certain thing that they do that we didn't expect so they were the real people and they really brought something to it.'

The cast talk about their characters
The Visual Design
Training the actors
Author Cass Pennant on Hooligans