Based on an original screenplay by young British writer Jenny Mayhew, TO KILL A KING  is a dramatic and exciting journey through 17th century England. Shot in an edgy and contemporary style, the film explores how the love and loyalty between two of the most fascinating figures of the English Civil Wars turned to betrayal and political intrigue. 

"I came across a portrait of Thomas Fairfax, or Black Tom as he was known" recalls screenwriter Jenny Mayhew, " he was this very handsome, aristocratic leader, commander of our first national army, a really poised figure and the notes said that he was Oliver Cromwell's best friend".

The contrast between the noble and dashing Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell intrigued Mayhew and sparked her to delve deeper. "Alongside the picture of Black Tom was a little one of Cromwell looking kind of dishevelled and red-faced, he was famously hot-tempered and I thought the contrast was striking.  Everything I'd ever read about Cromwell indicated his disinterest in social niceties and his fervent passion for social change, yet he was best friends with Thomas Fairfax who had a vested interest as a nobleman, in the status quo".

Puzzled by this relationship, Mayhew became interested in exploring it further, "How could you have such an intense friendship between two such seemingly opposing characters.  What was it based on and how painful and how personal must it have been when they fell out over what to do with King Charles I?"

In 1997 Jenny Mayhew met producer Kevin Loader at a screenwriting workshop in Kent, England "When I first proposed the idea of a film about Cromwell and Fairfax to Kevin, I pitched it as a buddy movie.  In my mind, it's always been about friendship first and history and politics second".

One of the things that attracted Loader to the script was that it was a very personal story about a friendship between two men who'd done the extraordinary thing of forming an army, fighting a civil war and winning.  "The fact that their friendship faltered and ultimately fell apart on very real issues about how you organise the nation and state and how you deal justice.  That all seemed inherently dramatic to me" says Loader.

Loader, like Jenny Mayhew was also interested in Thomas Fairfax, who was seemingly forgotten by history. "Around London you see a lot of streets named after Fairfax, so I think in a past era, particularly at the beginning of the Victorian age, there was probably a lot more awareness of him than there is now" comments Loader. "He's a fascinating character and was effectively the general of the first national army this country has every seen.  He was a brilliant soldier who learnt his craft on the continent and having been very close to Cromwell during the three year period where the English Civil War raged, he fell out with him over how to deal justice to King Charles I.  He was  torn between his allegiance to the radical version of what the future held in Cromwell's mind and his aristocratic origins and the desire to be loyal to his family and his class.  It's a personal story that reaches into major issues which makes for great drama".

The long road to fruition saw Mayhew's screenplay go through many changes, the most radical being the decision to start the film at the end of the Battle of Naseby, one of the most decisive battles of the English Civil War.   "It's about the aftermath, it's not about a country going to war, it's about two men. The country is in turmoil and it's the first time there's been a degree of revolution and civil disobedience against the monarch.  The story starts where most people would expect it to end.  The battle's won, but our film opens when the real problems begin… what do they do with the King?  How do they re-establish the country, how do they restore order, how do they achieve peace and more fundamentally who should run the country?".

When Kevin Loader left The Bridge and formalised his relationship with Natural Nylon, the independent production company formed by British actors Ewan McGregor, Jude Law, Jonny Lee Miller, Sadie Frost and Sean Pertwee, one of the projects he brought with him was TO KILL A KING or Cromwell & Fairfax as it was known at the time.  Armed with the project, Loader set about fine-tuning, financing it, finding the right director and casting it.

Loader had previously worked with Mike Barker and considered him to be "a stunning visual director".  "The contemporary sensibility he brings made him absolutely the right director for this film.  He directs very energetically, kinetically and passionately and is a very good director for actors to work with."

Acclaimed Scottish actor Dougray Scott boarded TO KILL A KING over three years ago and as well as playing the lead role of Tom Fairfax he also takes an Associate Producer credit on the project.   "Dougray's been amazing in terms of the research he's done" explains Kevin Loader, "infact I think there was a time when every single library ticket I possessed, had books out on Fairfax and they were all sat in Dougray's study at home piled on top of one another!"

"Fairfax was a great warrior," says Scott. "He was the creator of the New Model Army although most people are under the impression that Cromwell was.  Fairfax was an extraordinary tactician and had this inner strength and spirituality that got him through the battles.   People who knew him said that he became a different man in battle - growing ten times the size metaphorically speaking.  He was quite a truly amazing man. I've thoroughly researched Fairfax and ignoring him is nothing more than laziness on the part of historians and documentary filmmakers.  He played an extraordinary role in the civil wars and just had different views from Cromwell.  Fairfax was more of a reformer, he wanted to keep the King, not to rule but to reign.  He liked the idea of the Royal Family, whereas Cromwell was far more radical and thought it important to get rid of the figurehead because he thought the King was a corrupting influence on the culture of the country.  The film centres on their relationship, their friendship and their love for each other and how painful it was to discover that ultimately, they'd never be able to be part of the same government".

The role of Cromwell called for a British actor of a certain age, "he was forty-two at the end of the Civil War and we needed someone who could age convincingly to the point where Cromwell  died" says Loader.  "Tim Roth seemed to have all the right qualities.  He's got that kind of outsider quality.   Cromwell  wasn't an aristocrat, he was a gentleman farmer from The Fens and although he wasn't uneducated, he considered himself to be outside of the normal political ruling classes and I think Tim certainly brings some of that both as an actor and in terms of audience perception.   He has this incredible energy about him when you watch him on screen - even at moments when he's not doing anything directly, there's always this terrifying possibility that something is about to happen and he's about to unleash some energy and that seemed very true to Cromwell's character".

"Oliver Cromwell  was a deeply passionate, single-minded man," says Roth. "He wanted to remove the monarchy from the political decision-making of the time and he was highly driven, very religious, very strong-minded and quite belligerent about his beliefs. When I took the role, I was sent a lot of background material to read to prepare for it, but I've really tried to stick to the script as much as possible.  I worked with Mike on what he wanted and essentially we've concentrated on the relationship between Cromwell and Fairfax , the loyalty and betrayal and how they grew apart, but how a bond still kind of remained".

Loader was keen to cast an actor in the role of King Charles I who provided, "the kind of reptilian, manipulative nature of Charles".  With his naturally aristocratic look, Rupert Everett, despite being much taller that the monarch, fitted the bill in every other way.  "Rupert was certainly very keen to try and represent Charles as we know him from portraits and I think he's really managed to deliver that.  At the point of execution, Rupert managed to convey why Charles became such a public martyr.  Just before he was beheaded, he delivered this amazing show of dignity and spiritual strength and I think that was something that attracted Rupert and is something he captured brilliantly on screen".

screenwriter jenny mayhew
Jenny Mayhew spent time living in Sri Lanka, travelled extensively in Central America. She has worked in TV documentaries as well as having an MA in US Asian Diplomacy and an Oxford English degree. Her screenwriting is just as eclectic. In addition to Cromwell and Fairfax, projects in development are: An original thriller for producer Andrew MacDonald ('The Beach', 'Trainspotting'), an adaptation of John Buchan's 'Witchwood' for producer Lynda Myles ('Killing Me Softly'), 'Petticoat War', (Company Pictures), and is commissioned to write Smokescreen, an international thriller for Sonata Productions and Samuelson Productions ('Arlington Road').

screenwriter's note
"The film opens at the final, decisive battle of the English Civil War at Naseby Field, where the forces of the parliamentary army, led by General Tom Fairfax, defeat King Charles I.  After three years of fighting Fairfax and his second in command Oliver Cromwell, survey the victory and plot their return to London. What follows is an exciting examination of the nature of revolution, of how a state can be re-born after years of internal conflict and bloodshed;  Cromwell, the visionary leader, wants fundamentally to realign English politics and is desperate that this battle, like the military ones before it, is fought by him and his closest friend, Fairfax.  Fairfax's aristocratic connections including his wife Anne and his father in law Lord De Vere, wish him to reach a more moderate accommodation with the King than that envisaged by Cromwell.

Much of the film's drama derives from the battle of loyalty, love and intellect as played out in the mind of Fairfax.  Caught between Cromwell, the King and Anne, his position becomes increasingly impossible.  When Cromwell stages the King's trial and execution, Fairfax defects - only to return, in a final bid to temper what he now realises is Cromwell's extreme zealousness.  Eventually, in what is a high stake political game, Fairfax decides that he will have to remove Cromwell from the scene - a scheme he fails to carry through when he realises that his love and loyalty to his former ally cannot be entirely abandoned.
History is never neutral and throughout history when people have spoken of Oliver Cromwell, they are reflecting their own politics and their own version of events and who he was.   Cromwell is a very unsettling figure because he questioned things that haven't been questioned since.  It's four centuries since England was a republic, we're living in the 21st Century and we consider ourselves to be modern, free-thinking, free-living and fair-minded creatures, but really we're still subjects not citizens and our whole national identity is bound up in the institutions of pageantry and monarchy.

Oliver Cromwell has always excited me as he proved it's possible to change the mindset of a nation - he changed the national identity under his protectorate and abolished the monarchy.  There's an optimist in the Oliver in our film, which isn't necessarily the historical Oliver Cromwell that's been previously portrayed.

TO KILL A KING  will combine the intrigue of Elizabeth with the debate and drama of A Man For All Seasons - a historical drama with contemporary resonance, that explores why England has never sustained a lasting revolution; and a film about friendship, marriage, loyalty and love under fire.

director mike barker
Mike Barker's strong line of work encompasses both film and television projects.  From his beginnings in documentary direction with work including EDDIE AND THE EAST COAST BOUFFANTS and WHEN THE FAT LADY SINGS, Barker has directed episodes of the celebrated television series SILENT WITNESS, the gothic classic THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL, starring Tara Fitzgerald and more recently, the Adrian Hodges adaptation of the Richard Blackmore book LORNA DOONE.   Barker made his film debut directing comedy heist movie THE JAMES GANG with Toni Collette, Jason Flemyng, John Hannah and Helen McCrory.   He cemented his reputation with the crime thriller BEST LAID PLANS in 1999, featuring Reese Witherspoon, Alessandro Nivola and Josh Brolin. 
director's note - mike barker
TO KILL A KING  will be a dramatic and exciting journey through the seventeenth century.  It will combine the scale of films such as Elizabeth and Braveheart, with an emotional and moral core akin to A Man For All Seasons.

From the lonely soldier on the battlefield, his armour rattling uncontrollable with fear, to the scale of one of the biggest battles on British soil, this film gives us the opportunity to explore the personal story of two reformers - Oliver Cromwell and Thomas Fairfax - against the chaotic and terrifying backdrop of civil war and its aftermath.

Fairfax, the Aristocratic General who commanded the Parliamentary armies, finds himself increasingly in conflict with his great friend and comrade, Oliver Cromwell, as the agenda for reform moves into the world of show trial, regicide and a republic built around the ruthlessness of one man.  Fairfax finds himself increasingly stranded between his loyalty to the revolutionary cause and the loyalty he owes his wife, Lady Anne, and his class.  It's a dilemma which is set to explode into the hearts of both men as the film builds to its climax.

Much of the film concerns the dichotomy between public and private, and I intend to combine a fluid style with occasional moments of detailed stillness and observation.  The aim is to create a sense of the paranoia and edginess of politics at this most turbulent of times.  TO KILL A KING  will not be a period film in the traditional Merchant Ivory sense, more something that combines the contemporary edginess of political thrillers with an intimate drama of three people; husband, wife and friend, caught in an appalling situation.

Much of the action takes place in London, and with a careful combination of CGI, existing buildings and sets built in historical locations, we will create a sense of how tight and overcrowded the London streets would have been.  I want to juxtapose the claustrophobia in London with Cromwell's roots in the East of England, with its huge sense of sky and exposure to the elements.

The film will evoke the 17^th Century, but the style in which we edit and shoot will be more contemporary, a more post-modern.  I see the film as an emotional thriller, where we take our audience on a journey, their point of view shifting as we move with our principal characters through the complex world of this revolutionary time.  I want to edit the film in a way which will make it pacy, yet without losing the moments of stillness and emotional punch that will affect any audience.  The camera will be amongst the characters -as the script is - so that the audience will feel connected to these people and their situation in the most direct and involving way.