BEST LAID PLANS

Year: 2012
UK: Vertigo Films
Cast: Stephen Graham, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Maxine Peake, David O'Hara, Lee Ingleby, Peter Wight, Emma Stansfield, Stuart Wolfenden, Robert Shannon, Robert Stone, Kieran Hardcastle, Mark Strange, Sarah Parks, Nicola Potts
Director: David Blair
Country: UK
UK: 108 mins
UK Certificate: 15 contains very strong language, strong violence, sex, nudity & hard drug use
UK Release Date: 3 February 2012 (Limited Release)


Synopsis

"Some friendships are worth fighting for..."

Two men, a unique friendship, a violent world.

Danny (Stephen Graham) is a scruffy small-time chancer, small in stature, but with a sharp eye for a scam. Joseph (Akinnuoye-Agbaje) is a giant of a man, but with the mental age of a 7 year-old and gentle as a lamb despite his extraordinary strength. Living together in their inner-city flat, this odd-couple are opposites who can’t live without each other: they pull petty thefts, go fishing and drink beer. They’ve been friends for years, but their relationship is about to be pushed to the limit.

Danny is in a great deal of trouble. He owes 10 grand in cocaine to local crime kingpin Curtis (David O’Hara), who wants the money or the gear. Danny doesn’t have either â€" every penny he begs or borrows, he immediately snorts, drinks or spends on prostitutes. To pay off his drug-debt, Danny is left with just one option: to drag Joseph into the terrifying underworld of bare-knuckle boxing.

As the violence escalates during this bleak winter, both men meet women who could offer them a chance of escape. Danny begins a relationship with a prostitute named Lisa (Emma Stansfield), while Joseph stumbles into a delicate romance with the sweet, simple Isabel (Maxine Peake). But in a succession of increasingly savage fights, Danny’s conscience gets more and more battered â€" and so does the powerful but innocent Joseph. Something has to give. In this harsh, emotional drama of bleeding hearts and faces, will Danny and Joseph survive?

BEST LAID PLANS marks the third feature from BAFTA and Emmy winning Director David Blair (TESS OF THE D’URBERVILLES, THE STREET, ACCUSED), from a script written by Chris Green (DESPERATE MEASURES).

BEST LAID PLANS stars Stephen Graham (TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY, PUBLIC ENEMIES, THIS IS ENGLAND), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (TV’s LOST, THE THING, FASTER), Maxine Peake (TV’s SHAMELESS, SEE NO EVIL: THE MOORS MURDERS, SILK) and David O’Hara (COWBOYS & ALIENS, THE DEPARTED, WANTED) in this gritty inner-city drama that goes the distance. Also starring Emma Stansfield (TV’s Coronation Street and Tess of the D’Urbervilles) and Lee Ingleby (MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD, TV’s INSPECTOR GEORGE GENTLY).