24 Hour Party People hits the theatres on August 9th in America.

24 Hour Party People, the new movie from Michael Winterbottom, shown at the Cannes Festival, will be show in New York City on August 9th 2002.

The movie will be shown next in a limited list of cities accross the United States of America starting August August 16th. Here are the theatres:

Opening 8/9:
Landmark Sunshine- NY, NY
AMC Huebner Oaks- San Antonio, TX

Opening 8/16:
Laemmle Sunset- LA, CA
Laemmle Monica- Santa Monica, CA
Laemmle Playhouse- Pasadena, CA
Regal University- Irvine, CA
Landmark Embarcadero- San Francisco, CA
Landmark Shattuck- Berkeley, CA

Opening 8/30:
Angelika Film Center- Dallas, TX
Landmark Greenway- Houston, TX
Angelika Film Center- Houston, TX
Landmark Lagoon- Minneapolis, MN
Landmark Hillcrest- San Diego, CA

Opening 9/20:
Reading Tower- Sacramento, CA
AMC Castleton- Indianapolis, IN
Marcus Westgate- Madison, WI


In the USA, the movie is rated R for strong language, drug use and sexuality.

You can view the trailer by clicking on the links below.

56kbps / 100kbps / 300kbps
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24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE
Production Notes


June 4, 1976, Lesser Free Trade Hall, Manchester: Cambridge-educated Tony Wilson (Steve Coogan), currently working as a television host, is at a Sex Pistols gig. With him is his wife, Lindsey (Shirley Henderson). Also in the crowd tonight are The Buzzcocks, a young Mick Hucknall (later the singer of Simply Red), and the band members of The Stiff Kittens, soon to become Joy Division. “There are just forty two people in the audience, but every one of them is feeding on the power and strength and magic,” says an inspired Wilson, who watches in awe as the Pistols exude their raw energy to a wired crowd. Motivated by this pivotal moment in music history, he heads to the home of his friend Alan Erasmus (Lennie James). Together the pair concoct a plan that, over the next two decades, will change the face of popular music as we know it – and put the city of Manchester firmly on the pop-culture map.
Wilson and Erasmus start with their own club night at Manchester’s Russell Club, where they provide a live platform for their favorite local bands. Here they cross paths with band manager Rob Gretton (Paddy Considine), who, with a mutual interest in semiotics, strikes a chord with Wilson. Together the three men set up Factory Records. With a contract written in his own blood, Wilson signs Gretton’s band Joy Division, James, Durritti Column, and A Certain Ratio, all of whom will go on to become influential artists of the 1980s.
Fronted by Ian Curtis (Sean Harris), Joy Division breaks musical boundaries with its debut album, Unknown Pleasures, and the singles “Atmosphere,” “Transmission,” and “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” Following Curtis’ suicide in 1980, the band goes on to become New Order with Bernard Sumner (John Simm) taking the lead alongside bassist Peter Hook (Ralf Little). In 1983, New Order releases “Blue Monday.” Packaged in the most expensive wrapper ever put on a record (designed by Peter Saville), Erasmus tells Wilson that with every copy of the record sold, Factory will lose 5 pence. Wilson replies, “Exactly. And how many are we going to sell? Fuck all, that’s fuck all times 5 pence, a small price to pay.” “Blue Monday” goes on to become the biggest selling 12” single of all time, an incident that encapsulates the very essence of Factory Records.
Not content with just their own club night, Wilson and his entourage take a step up, purchasing premises in central Manchester where they build their own club. The Hacienda opens for business on May 21, 1982. It goes on to become one of the most famous dance clubs in the world, as much a mecca for clubbers as NYC’s Studio 54, and a venue at which they applaud the DJ – not the creator, not the music, but the medium. As Wilson says, “This is the moment when even the white man starts dancing.” At a Hacienda Battle of the Bands night, Wilson is impressed by a loose, shambolic set by an unknown band called the Happy Mondays, fronted by Shaun Ryder (Danny Cunningham). Factory signs them, and the Happy Mondays go into the recording studio with prolific yet erratic Joy Division producer Martin Hannett (Andy Serkis) at the controls. The band sets new highs (or lows, depending on how you look at it) in the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. Bringing an innovative style of dance music to the forefront, their albums “Hallelujah” and “Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches” take the music into the charts.
However, the party doesn’t last. A tale of music, sex, drugs and larger-than-life characters, 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE chronicles one man’s vision to allow freedom for his artists – which, in turn, becomes his ultimate downfall. Graphically depicting the music and dance heritage of Manchester from the late ’70s to the early ’90s, 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE documents the vibrancy that made Manchester “Mad-chester,” the place in the world that you would most like to be.
United Artists presents, in association with The Film Consortium, the Film Council, and Film Four, a Revolution Films production in association with Baby Cow Films – 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE. Directed by Michael Winterbottom and produced by Andrew Eaton from a screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce, the film stars Steve Coogan. The talented cast also includes Keith Allen, Rob Brydon, Enzo Cilenti, Ron Cook, Chris Coghill, Paddy Considine, Danny Cunningham, Dave Gorman, Sean Harris, Shirley Henderson, Lennie Jamies, Peter Kay, Ralf Little, Kate McGowan, Paul Popplewell, Rowetta, Paul Ryder, Andy Serkis, John Simm, John Thomson, and Raymond Waring. 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE’s production team includes production designer Mark Tildesley, editor Trevor Waite, director of photography Robby Müller, co-producer Gina Carter, line producer Robert How, executive producer Henry Normal, and costume designers Natalie Ward and Stephen Noble.
A HISTORY OF FACTORY RECORDS

Manchester was the first industrial city in England. There had been factories in the northern city since the eighteenth century, but there was one Factory that mattered more than any other.
Factory Records was the proud purveyor of a distinct sound and a distinct look. Factory Records was also a marvelous knot of contradictions as high-minded artistic and political ideologies were distilled and recycled into mass entertainment – an enabling force that ushered youth culture through years of change. From punk to post-punk to acid house, one label in one city embodied the zeitgeist and made time for fun along the way. For all the chaos scribbled in the margins of Factory Records’ history, with hindsight one can see that there was a roadmap, that there was order all along.
Tony Wilson, who founded the label with Alan Erasmus, has written that Factory was built on “anarchic sentimentalism about the role of popular art.” They took inspiration from various movements, but most conspicuously from the Situationist International, a band of libertarians who argued for play at the expense of work. The appeal of such an ideology to citizens of an economically depressed city – especially those enamored of punk’s do-it-yourself ethos – should be obvious. Luckily, Factory’s embrace of such rhetoric was backed up with an enthusiasm and determinism that bordered on the insane.

“Sooner or later – and later was late ’77 – someone was going to have to want a way
to express more complex emotions, but to build to that place
from the simplicity and anger of punk instrumentation.”
—Tony Wilson, 1996

Punk took politics and made it resonate with personal fury. Factory Records used political rhetoric to market personal expression. Punk had cheaply-recorded buzzsaw guitars that sliced through pomposity. Factory Records had impeccably recorded guitars that sliced through the dirge of funereal howls and industrial rhythms. Staff producer (and eventual partner) Martin Hannett was something of a mad genius (fittingly, he’d previously worked in a chemistry laboratory), giving musicians such direction as “play faster, but slower.” Through a revolutionary alchemy of reverb and digital delay, the rich arrangements of Joy Division were transformed into something simultaneously rich and wide-open. Despite meticulous recording that kept each instrument discreet and identifiable, vocals and bass and guitar and drums moved together like a juggernaut. On top of all that, he added the sounds of breaking glass, of slamming doors, of moving elevators, of ambulance sirens. These records were full of emotion, but there was something intellectual that came through as well.
Joy Division wasn’t alone in its innovation. A Certain Ratio, the Durutti Column, Section 25, James, Orchestral Maneouvres in the Dark, and The Wake were only a few of the shining lights of the Factory roster. And the music was only the beginning. Graphic designer Peter Saville stole from decades of art movements (especially Constructivism and Futurism) to create a distanced, even frigid, corporate identity. There were no pictures of band members. Stark images, plain fonts, and (for a while) joyless color schemes were a far cry from the unhinged collage art associated with punk. Instead everything looked like it had come straight from the conveyer belt. The DIY sensibility had never been so professional – or so it would seem. Always more interested in slogans and styles than business plans, Factory lost money on such schemes as the sandpaper-encrusted sleeves meant to destroy adjacent records.
Enhancing both Factory’s playfulness and its connection to industry, everything was assigned a catalogue number. Three of the first Factory releases were posters; later unveilings included stationery, badges, leaflets, matchbooks, brooches, model kits, Christmas cards, doggy bags...and an egg timer. Even the nightclub that would become ground zero for rave culture, the Hacienda, had a number – a conceit that made every undertaking seem as consequential as the next.
The Hacienda, unsurprisingly, took its text from a Situationist text by Ivan Chtcheglov, who railed against the drudgery of modern urban life and imagined a city “set apart for free play.” Manchester would be that city. As the success of New Order conspired with the popularity of Hacienda DJ’s to achieve a synergy of post-punk dance fever, Factory continued to define the era. The Hacienda, in turn, soon became ground zero for acid-house/rave culture. Once you get past the seemingly absurd trajectory from punk to disco, it’s clear that acid house – and the accompanying rush of ecstasy – represented just one more way for people to revolutionize through celebration. Of course, this time there were more drugs (and, by turn, guns), so naturally the celebration wasn’t as pure as the slogans had promised. Manchester became “Madchester,” and the selfish hedonism symbolized by the Happy Mondays made them a perfect band for the times. At such a dangerous pace, the party had to conclude. But Tony Wilson was the host until the end.
Welcome to FAC401, the culmination of 400 previous endeavors.

“I will never interfere with the freedom of my artists. Artists make their own rules. Do you think Pope Julius wanted homoerotica all over the walls of the Vatican?”
- Steve Coogan as Tony Wilson

PLANNING THE PARTY

24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE was first discussed by Eaton and Winterbottom whilst the pair were in Canada shooting The Claim. Both wanted to make a film with great music that wasn’t specifically a musical. “We thought it would be fun to have a lot of music but to avoid people bursting into song,” says Eaton. In thinking about it, they were drawn to the influential Manchester music scene, with which both had previous personal allegiances.
“Andrew and I were in British Columbia about five hundred miles north of Vancouver in a logging town in a Country-and-Western bar, and we decided it would be a good idea to make a movie about that music,” says Winterbottom. “After about 30 seconds, we decided Factory was the obvious story and Tony Wilson should be the main character, because he had this strange double life of local TV news reporter and Factory Records and the Haçienda. It just started from that.”
“The music element was a big attraction,” he continues. “As I come from that area, I liked the idea of making a movie about Manchester, and I also liked the period because a lot of the characters in the story are roughly my generation.”
Eaton adds, “We both grew up listening to the music. The first job I had in London was at the Riverside Studios, where we did FAC121 – the week of Factory at Riverside.”
The pair approached writer Frank Cottrell Boyce, with whom they had previously worked. He was immediately excited about being involved. “Michael just rung me up saying ‘Wouldn’t it be good tell a story about Factory Records?’” says Cottrell Boyce. “I said ‘If you do it with anyone else, I’ll have you shot!’ Anyone growing up in the north west feels a connection with Tony (Wilson) because he was this kind of mad magic uncle, the besuited newsreader telling you about car boot sales in Bolton but at the same time the manager of the hippest pop group in the world.”
The first major difficulty in bringing the script to life was deciding on exactly what tale to tell. “There are several very obvious stories,” says Cottrell Boyce. “The Ian Curtis rock ‘n’ roll suicide story, the Happy Monday sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll story. But the idea of doing it all, having everything from ’76 - ’92, that was an act of courage – but for me, dealing with the huge time scale was the attraction.”
Anthony Wilson was also impressed by the proposed time frame for the film. “When he told me they were going to do this two and a half years ago, Andrew specifically said 1976 to 1992, which is what endeared me to the project, because it meant they understood the dawn of punk to the death of acid.”
Compressing two decades of musical and cultural history into 120 minutes was not the only challenge faced by the writer. “The other major difficulty,” says Cottrell Boyce, “is that these are all living people, and they have to be respected, they have to be courted, and they have to be made to feel good. They also have to be listened to, so writing it was nothing compared to going around and reassuring people, listening to them, collecting information, tracking people down. Even during the shoot, keeping the real people happy – the people on whom the film is based – that was difficult.”
He continues, “I think most of them had not realized just how emotional it would be for them. I know Tony has found it very difficult meeting the actors playing Martin and Rob, because both of them are now dead. He has three great adjectives for how he feels. He says ‘I’m flattered, exhilarated and embarrassed.’”
Cottrell Boyce re-read the Anthony Powell novel A Dance To The Music Of Time whilst working on the script. “The way the characters are picked up and dropped and then re-appear is hopefully the kind of rhythm you will see with this film,” he says. “The obvious one is Martin Hannett (Andy Serkis), who is this fantastically exciting character in the first act, disappears for the second act, then re-appears in the third act as this huge, bloated, alcoholic. The make-up for Martin Hannett is just extraordinary – even better than the make-up he is wearing to play Gollum in Lord of the Rings!”

DOCUMENTING THE EVENT

The filmmakers’ next step was to bring award-winning director of photography Robby Müller on board. “I’d talked to Robby about a couple of films before, but it hadn’t worked out,” says Winterbottom. “I think he’s a fantastic cinematographer, from his early work with Wenders to his recent work with Lars Von Trier. He has a great eye and I think his work often seems very simple, very direct, yet somehow he manages to capture exactly the things you want to see on film. So with this one I was lucky. He was free and he was interested in the story, so he came over to talk about it. From that point on it was just a question of working in a way that Robby felt comfortable with.”
In his approach to the filming, Winterbottom was keen to replicate the ethos that had made Factory so unique. “Part of the original idea was that the script would be quite loose. In a way, part of the attraction of making a film about Factory is that when you read about it, it sounds fairly shambolic. Almost the idea of Factory was not to plan things, not to organize, not to work like a company, but to work as a group of people who let other people do what they wanted to do. So the idea was that the film would have the same spirit. That anyone who was working on it would be as free as possible to do what they wanted to do. The whole thing is a bit of a shambles, but hopefully in the kind of way that…” – and here Tony Wilson chips in, “we were!”
“That you were, thank you,” says Winterbottom. “Loads of great things came out of Factory. I’m sure the film will be the same – a patchwork of different bits and pieces.”
24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE is shot entirely on digital video. “I’ve shot films like this before,” says Winterbottom. “Though Wonderland was on film, the filming style was the same. I don’t think it matters so much about the technology as much as the relationship between the cameras and the actors.”
“When we started talking about the idea with Robby,” Winterbottom continues, “the idea was to mix between 35mm and DV. We looked at Wonderland (which I’d shot on 16mm), Breaking the Waves (which Robby shot on 35mm), and then some stuff he shot on DV. In the end, the practical advantages of DV and the actual aesthetic of the film – it was surprising how close the DV was to the film.”
Müller adds, “The quality of DV is so forgiving that you can be a bit more lose on lighting, which helped us, because we didn’t have time for lighting and Michael wanted to see 360 degrees around.”
Commenting on the overall style of the film, Winterbottom says, “The reason we shot the way we did was to allow the performances as much space as possible and to have a sense of recording things as they happen, as opposed to composing and organizing them. It’s not to achieve a certain look or style, but to achieve the best content.”

PARTY GUESTS

“We do things differently in Manchester. We let people make up their own mind.”
- Steve Coogan as Tony Wilson

Making a film based on the lives of real people was always going to draw attention, both good and bad, from those depicted, from idle tales of Shaun Ryder’s demands for a Hollywood star to play him to cameo appearances by some of Manchester’s finest. Winterbottom admits, “We were really nervous at first. It’s really difficult when you’re making a movie about real people, with their names attached and events from their lives. All we’ve tried to do is to talk to as many people as possible and tell them we’re trying to celebrate what went on. It’s not an attack on anyone and it’s not trying to slag off these bands.”
Over the course of the production, any initial doubts of the city were overcome and the sheer level of contributions illustrated people’s dedication to the film. In addition to Anthony Wilson assisting as a consultant on the film, the production enlisted the help of many other people who were around at the time: from original guitarist with A Certain Ratio, Martin Moscrop (who was bought in as Music Technical Advisor) and DJ Dave Haslam (who returned for the Hacienda club scenes) to New Order’s Barney Sumner and Peter Hook, who provided original musical instruments and other personal belongings to authenticate the film.
Winterbottom is pleased with the support. “I think what we hoped for in the best case is that we made a movie about Factory in the spirit of Factory,” he says. “We’ve been lucky in that most of the people we’ve met and talked to that were involved at the time have felt relaxed enough about it.”
“It’s great when Paul Ryder is acting in the film,” he continues, “and lots of other people have come down and been on set and done little bits and pieces.” In addition to Ryder, other cameos include the Buzzcocks’ Howard Devoto, Clint Boon of Inspiral Carpets fame, the real Vini Reilly, and frontman with The Fall, Mark E Smith. In addition, Christopher Eccleston makes an appearance, as do Margi Clarke and comedians Fiona Allen and Simon Pegg.
Despite casting actors into the roles of real individuals, Winterbottom says the casting for 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE was no different from any other. “You just want to cast the people you think are best for the part,” he says. “It’s incredibly subjective and it’s no more complicated than that really. You look around for people, and when you find someone you like, you cast them.”
Even during their earliest discussions about the film, Winterbottom felt Steve Coogan was the obvious choice for the role of Wilson. “I met up with Steve and tried to persuade him,” says Winterbottom, “but that was about two years ago, before we even started on the script. He always seemed to me to be the perfect person to play Tony. I just really like his work, so I really wanted to work with him.”
Winterbottom continues, “We felt a lot of aspects of Tony’s character within the film, he would be able to do brilliantly. It had to be someone who was used to creating a whole character, and Steve, besides being a great performer, is a brilliant observer of people, which is why his writing is so sharp and funny. Because the whole film was going to be built around that one character, we had to have someone create a real person out of the string of incidents in the script.”
For his part, Coogan says, “If ‘Dave Wannabe Director’ had come up to me and said he wanted to do a film about Manchester, I would have been very, very worried. But the combination of subject matter and Michael and Andrew’s reputation as a company made me want to do it.
“Lots of reasons endeared me to the project,” he continues. “One was that I’d worked with Tony about ten years ago on a local television program, so I knew him from that. Also I’d grown up with him on television and I was aware of Factory. I bought Joy Division’s records. I used to go to the Haçienda and hang out there, like any other young, happening person in Manchester. The subject matter was close to my heart and I felt very proprietary about it.
“Also, I’m proud to be from Manchester myself, and part of it was not necessarily that I wanted to play Tony Wilson, but I didn’t want anyone else to play him. I felt that I could do it better than anyone else.”
For the casting of the bands, Winterbottom acknowledges that the ability to play an instrument was advantageous, but they weren’t necessarily looking for lookalikes. “There was a certain sense of [the cast] not necessarily looking like the real people,” he says, “but having some kind of resemblance, whether it was in terms of behavior or character or just some sort of energy that felt similar. We didn’t want to have four people on stage that looked so different from the originals that you’re just completely distracted, but at the same time we didn’t cast anyone just to be lookalikes because we wanted them to be able to perform.” He cites the actors playing the Mondays as a good example. “A lot of people who have seen the actors play have said they’re amazingly similar to how the real Happy Mondays were. There’s something about them that has the same sort of atmosphere. It’s more than their look – there is something about the way they behave, the way they are. They seem like a bunch of people who know each other and have spent a lot of time together, and that’s a hard thing to achieve when you’re on a film. They’re only together for six or seven weeks, where I think the Mondays were together for three or four years before they even made a record.”

REBUILDING THE HAÇIENDA

“We should open our own club. Run it ourselves. Put who we like on.
Mix it up a bit, you know. Have proper food, clean toilets.”
- Paddy Considine as Rob Gretton

Though the film follows the rise of Factory Records and the bands that were attached to it, the other major focus of the story is about the emergence of rave culture, the beautification of the beat, the arrival of dance music, and the birth of one of the most famous clubs in the world. The brainchild of Rob Gretton, the clubber’s mecca: the Hacienda.
On Friday, March 2, 2001, 1500 revelers returned to the Hacienda to help film the penultimate scenes of the movie. Original Hacienda DJ’s Dave Haslam and Mike Pickering were bought in once again to mix the decks. Old faces were there to enjoy the party. Barney Sumner and Hooky joined the Mondays’ Bez and a host of original regular Hacienda-goers who danced the night away into the early hours.
The infamous club was passionately and intricately recreated down to the last bolt by Production Designer Mark Tildesley and his team.
“Initially I was hoping that we could use the original building,” Tildesley says. “When I was brought on board, the actual Haçienda was still in place, but it had been sold to a property developer. Though we tried some early negotiations about keeping the place alive until we could finish filming, that crumbled into nothing.” They set about rebuilding the club then, and had to work out how much they’d need to replicate to shoot the script. Tildesley says, “we decided we really had to build the main area, the mezzanine, the Kim Philby bar, and the street entrance.”
With not much to go on, the team scaled up a small plan of the Hacienda, and they were able to get onto the original plot to take some final measurements before it was finally demolished. However, much of the recreation was done from a set of photographs from a Manchester post-grad who had done a thesis on the club. Tildesley says what they have created is “a replication of the Haçienda when it first opened in 1984.”
To maintain the authenticity of the set they used some original fixtures and fittings in the reconstruction. “We’ve got some original light fittings in here,” Tildesley says. “We bought some stuff from the sale – a lot of furniture, some of which we we’ve used, some of which we’ve replicated. We have the original shutter doors back at base. But a lot of the stuff we got we bought for reference purposes rather than for construction use.”
Some original fixtures were too precious to risk using on set. As Tildesley explains, "We were going to use the original doors. They’re owned by Peter Hook. He gave us two and the other two are on his garage doors. But because we were smashing into them, we decided to use replications. We also sourced some original Phil Diggle (Hacienda artist) paintings in a gallery, but they’re quite valuable. So the nice thing is Phil himself came here and repainted a set of the paintings. That was really cool.”
Though you would never know when walking on to the set, Tildesley does admit to a few artistic liberties in the replication. “The width of the building (housing the set) was slightly wider,” he says. “In order for us to make our Haçienda work, we had to proportionally spread out some of the things, so you’ll find that the thrust on the front of the stage was four feet longer than the original one. The dance floor is seven feet wider and the mezzanine nine feet wider. We don’t have the flat ceiling in as low as they did, as in terms of filming purposes it wasn’t actually very good.”

“The temple that they built is an empty shell.”
- “Two Worlds Collide,” Inspiral Carpets

The real club having closed in 1992, the reactions to the big club night from those people who had regularly attended were astounding. Andrew Eaton said, “I spoke to Peter Hook, who said it was the biggest nightmare of his life – but at the same time, the biggest orgasm.” John Simm, who was first introduced to his counterpart Bernard Sumner on the night, said, “He was very emotional. He just kept saying ‘It’s exactly the same.’” Winterbottom was pleased with the response. “The crowd seemed to be really happy that the set looked like the real club,” he says, “and the atmosphere was great.”
Though he himself was not present on the big night – “It would have been unbearably self conscious,” he says – Anthony Wilson was equally impressed by the accuracy of the set, so much so that he was reduced to tears when he first set foot inside. “I didn’t cry when they closed it, I didn’t cry when I had nowhere to go at night. I didn’t cry when they auctioned it off. But I did cry when I walked into the recreation,” he says. “It was very emotional. The fact that Tiger and the boys rebuilt it, it’s been very nice for us. We’ve loved it.”
Upon completion of filming, the set was broken up and destroyed. “It was bad enough that I had to watch the Hacienda be knocked down once, but now I’ve had to watch it a second time,” says Wilson. Eaton added, “It was great to have given the Hacienda back to Manchester for one last night. Though it’s a shame that we were unable to retain the set, it’s good that we were able to draw filming to a close on such a high note.”

STRIVING FOR AUTHENTICITY

“I feel so extraordinary, something’s got a hold on me.
I get this feeling I’m in motion, certain sense of liberty.”
- “True Faith,” New Order

With the focus of the film so heavily on the music, it was essential to recreate the live atmosphere that had put Manchester on the map. To achieve this Eaton and Winterbottom brought in Martin Moscrop, guitarist with A Certain Ratio, to oversee the live sets and teach the actors how to play the tunes note for note – some of whom had never picked up an instrument in their lives.
“They first sent me a script because A Certain Ratio are in the film” says Moscrop. “They sent me a script and a release form, and I wrote back saying I’d love to make a cameo appearance, and at the bottom I added a bit about how I could help the film musically. I forgot all about that letter, but that might have been what planted the seed with them.” Moscrop was working at a studio at a local college when he first met Winterbottom. “Michael came down to the studio,” he says, “and just started chatting to me about the studio and stuff. Then Mike and Nic (1st and 2nd AD’s) came to my house to ask me if I could help recruit musicians. So from a few little meetings with people, it just seemed to escalate.”
Moscrop’s role was to ensure the pseudo-bands looked like the originals in their mannerisms and playing techniques. He also had to teach them to play the real thing, to look like they were hitting the right notes, playing the right chords, basslines, drum beats, etc. “There is nothing worse than seeing a film about music when the sound coming out of the speakers bears no relation to what the actors are playing on screen,” says Moscrop. “When musicians watch films, they just pick holes in it” he adds. “I know it’s really petty, but if it’s a film about music, then that aspect of it should be correct.”
Among the live recreations Moscrop oversaw was the Sex Pistols’ first gig at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall, New Order and Happy Mondays gig at Manchester Apollo, Stone Roses and the Mondays in Battle of the Bands at the Hacienda, and Joy Division at The Russell Club. “I really liked working with Joy Division because all the actors were excellent. They were really hard workers, and would do a lot of research and take it very, very seriously. I liked working with the Mondays team, too. And it was great doing Siouxsie and the Banshees, because the gig we were recreating, I was there as a 16 or 17-year-old, so it brought back loads of memories.” Another strange feeling for Moscrop was working with the actors to recreate the live performances of his own band, A Certain Ratio. “That was quite an emotional part of the process,” he says.
Sean Harris, who plays Joy Division vocalist Ian Curtis, studied his counterpart in depth up to and during production. He also perfected Curtis’ infamous freaky dancing from watching video footage of Curtis on stage. “You just kind of soak yourself in all the videos and watch them,” he says. “Of course you can’t do what he did, really you can’t, but you just try and be as close to it as you can. You’ve just got to let yourself go, even enjoy it in a way, which I have done. I enjoyed losing myself – moments of it were just fantastic, actually. As an actor you don’t get many opportunities to do that.”
Having never played guitar, Ralf Little took on the challenge of Joy Division and New Order bassist, Hooky. “I was a bit worried,” he says. “The bass lines were simple enough. I mean ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ – anyone that plays the guitar will just laugh at how un-difficult it is. But when you’ve never played anything it’s a little bit tricky.” Help was at hand in Moscrop, about whom Little can only sing praises. “He’s been great,” Little says, “just this really pleasant fella teaching me to play the guitar.”

PARTY CLOTHES

“I would go out tonight but I haven’t got a stitch to wear.”
- “This Charming Man,” The Smiths

The costumes for 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE had to span two decades of Manchester culture, from the punk era of the ‘70’s through the rave and house movement of the ‘80’s. Fortunately for costume designers Natalie Ward and Stephen Noble, the brief from Winterbottom was quite loose. “Michael said he wanted us to recreate the look,” says Ward, “but he didn’t care if it wasn’t exactly the same as the original. We weren’t making a documentary, we were making a film, so he wanted us really to just get a feel for it.”
The pair initially set about transforming Steve Coogan into Tony Wilson. “We went to Tony’s house,” Ward says, “and he showed us a few photos. But we also went out for lunch with his ex-wife, who showed us a lot of old pictures of Tony which we were able to take quite a lot from. Tony was quite easy because he was on TV all the time, so his look is well-recorded.” In the film, Coogan can be seen wearing everything from pink tie-dyed shirts and ruffled neck ties, to the trademark Yahji Yamamoto suits that so often adorned Wilson.
The clothes of New Order, Joy Division and the Mondays, were also well-documented, so Noble and Ward were able to create their looks primarily from media pictures and footage from the time. The cast themselves also had some input into their character’s costumes. “Some of the cast were really helpful,” says Ward. “Sean Harris (who played Ian Curtis) took the role really seriously and was reading loads of books about Ian. We had one fitting with him where we gave him a pair of trousers and a belt, and he said ‘Ian never wore a belt.’ It was something to do with his epilepsy. He’d done his research on Ian.”
Having some of the real people around on set also helped. Rowetta from the Happy Mondays plays herself in the film, and would often help out with what the Mondays boys would and would not have been wearing. “For the young Shaun and Paul, we tried to meet up with Derek Ryder (their dad), but were unable to,” says Ward. “We had to use our creative judgement about how the boys would have looked in 1978. Dressing the bands was great, especially the Mondays, as they were a band from my era. To recreate them in our own eyes and know that they looked right was really good.”
The costumes themselves came from a mixture of costume houses and second hand clothes stores. “Quite a lot of the early stuff came from costume houses,” says Ward, “as you just can’t buy ‘70s everyday wear. Once it got into the ‘80s, in Manchester you can actually still buy a lot of the clothes people were wearing ten years ago. There are a couple of great shops in Manchester that provided us with the big baggy flares, and Aflecks Palace was around in the 70’s and still is now, so we got some stuff from there.”
Noble and Ward also had a lot of support from various clothes labels. “We tried to use as many of the labels as possible,” says Ward. “Dr. Martins go right through from the ‘70s to the ‘90s. Joe Bloggs reprinted a lot of old t-shirts for us, as the Mondays wore a lot of their stuff. Kickers were around in the ‘70s and then had a bit of a resurgence in the late ‘80s with the Mondays. And Gola was really helpful. We used a lot of their stuff for the Mondays, as well as for Barney Sumner in the ‘70s, as he went for that old school look.”
Ward feels dressing actors up to look like the real people is harder than dressing purely fictional characters. “Working with characters that people still remember and individuals who are close to people’s hearts,” she says, “leaves you more open to criticism. If you are doing a period drama and something is not quite right, unless you were a costume historian, chances are no one would notice. But with this, people around at the time would know. People are more likely to say, ‘Hooky would never have worn that.’”

ABOUT THE CAST

STEVE COOGAN as ANTHONY WILSON
(Local TV presenter and co-founder of Factory Records and the Hacienda)

“Because you have to improvise it’s very difficult. You have to try and think the way Tony thinks. The way I used physicalities, the way he gestures and talks – there is a slight campyness, a slight foppishness to the way I play Tony. But I feel very comfortable playing him. The only thing that bothers me is I feel too comfortable playing him.”

Multi-award winning comedian Steve Coogan recently made his move into cinema, having written and starred in the forthcoming film The Parole Officer. He also appeared as Mole in Terry Jones’ Wind In The Willows alongside Eric Idle and John Cleese. Making his name on the small screen as creator of comic characters (including Alan Partridge and Pauline Calf), Coogan co-wrote and starred in the award winning TV series’ The Day Today, Knowing Me Knowing You and I’m Alan Partridge (BBC2), among others. His live show The Man Who Thinks He’s It, co-written by Coogan and Henry Normal, sold out a 130 plus date tour of the UK before breaking box office records with a 3-month sold out run in London’s West End. In 1998 Coogan and Normal set up their own production company, Baby Cow, and are currently shooting a new Hammer Horror spoof comedy series, Dr. Terrible’s House Of Horrible (BBC2), in which Coogan stars. That will be followed next year by a new series of I’m Alan Partridge.

CHRIS COGHILL as BEZ (Freaky dancer with Happy Mondays)

“It was weird playing someone who is not only still alive, but someone you bump into in your home town. Bez is such a massive cultural icon. I grew up in Manchester, and this is like the soundtrack to my growing up, the Mondays and the Roses. Going out at the weekend and losing yourself in the music was the best escape you could get, and I think Bez embodied having a good time.”

As a founder member of The Fink On Theatre Company in Manchester, Chris Coghill co-wrote and co-produced Crying In The Chapel, an inside account of the Strangeways Riots, at the Yard Theatre in Manchester last year. He later went on to perform in the play at the city’s Contact Theatre. As a writer, director and actor, Coghill’s additional theatre credits include Somewhat Ropey, The Big Weight, Somewhat Porky and Heart Attack. Coghill’s television appearances include Cold Feet, Emmerdale, My Wonderful Life and Coronation Street (all for ITV). Coghill recently starred in the film Slide and is due to star in the upcoming Molly’s Idle Ways for the Manchester Film Consortium, for whom he is currently filming the lead in Tatty Kex and Charity.

PADDY CONSIDINE as ROB GRETTON
(Manager of Joy Division and New Order and co-founder of Factory Records and the Hacienda)

“What’s interesting about this film is that, unless you were involved in the scene or a fan of the music or whatever, you wouldn’t know about guys like Rob and Alan Erasmus. In this film, their stories are covered also, and they’re quite prominent characters. I found that whole thing quite interesting – they were just as rock-and-roll as actual artists.”

Paddy Considine made his startling film debut as the disturbing Morrell in Shane Meadow’s A Room For Romeo Brass. Since then he has notched up a string of film roles, including the broken, lovesick Alfie in Pavel Pawlilkowski’s critically acclaimed tale of an asylum-seeker, The Last Resort, for which he was awarded Best Actor at the 2000 Thessaloniki Film Festival. He also played a supporting role in Born Romantic (dir. David Kane). Last year he shot a leading role opposite Ioan Grufford and Susan Lynch in the black comedy Happy Now (dir. Philippa Cousins) and a cameo appearance in The Martins (dir. Tony Grounds). He recently completed filming the psychological thriller Doctor Sleep (dir. Nick Willing).

DANNY CUNNINGHAM as SHAUN RYDER (Lead singer/songwriter with Happy Mondays)

“It’s weird playing people who are not just alive, but are prolific characters as well. It’s really hard. The last thing we want to do is an impression of them. Without turning into a caricature, we want to make it as real as possible. I’ve never known a job like it.”

A regular face on television screens, Danny Cunningham is probably best known for his role as Fusilier Andy Butcher in the long running drama series Soldier Soldier (ITV). Lead television roles include A Little Bit Of Lippy, Pig Boy and Scandal Of Crookham Court (all for BBC), in addition to performances in Holby City (BBC), Coronation Street, Heatbeat, Kavanagh QC and Peak Practice (all for ITV). Cunningham made his feature film debut playing Lance opposite Thandie Newton in the psychological thriller Loaded (dir. Anna Campion).

SEAN HARRIS as IAN CURTIS (Late lead singer/songwriter with Joy Division)

“There is this thing about Ian and his being a sort of dark grey, miserable thing, but he wasn’t. Everyone you talk to that knew him stresses the fact that he was an intellectual guy with a good sense of humor – just a young lad. He was 23 when he killed himself, married when he was 19, had a daughter – he was just an ordinary person until he stepped onto the stage. That’s when people went ‘Fuck, where does that come from?’ because they knew Ian and couldn’t connect the two.”

Sean Harris’ film credits include the forthcoming The Discovery Of Heaven (dir. Jeroen Krabbe) opposite Stephen Fry as well as Nicotine Yellow (dir. Charlie Fleet), Wet Work (dir. John Hardwicke), Hothouse (dir. Cilla Ware) and Two Halftimes To Hell (dir. Guy Myhill). A regular face on the small screen, Harris’ television appearances include The Hunt and Kavanagh QC (both for Carlton); A Mug’s Game, The Vet, and Signs And Wonders (all for BBC); and Jesus (Andromeda Productions). Harris’ theatre credits include Chatsky at the Almeida, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Leicester Haymarket, and Don Juan, The Pleasure Man and Romeo And Juliet all at the Citizens in Glasgow.

SHIRLEY HENDERSON as LINDSEY WILSON (Anthony Wilson’s first wife)

“The script was very sketchy on Lindsey, and Michael let me bring things I thought were important and add things and improvise. I knew that would happen with Michael, so I was quite happy to enter into the project. Michael just lets the camera run and then he’ll take the bit that’s important to him. That’s great from an acting point of view.”

Shirley Henderson reunited with Michael Winterbottom on 24 Hour Party People, having previously worked with him on both Wonderland and The Claim. Other film credits include Villa des Roses (dir. Frank van Passel), Topsy Turvy (dir. Mike Leigh) and Trainspotting (dir. Danny Boyle). More recently she appeared as Bridget Jones's sidekick, Jude, in the film adaptation of Bridget Jones's Diary (dir. Sharon Maguire). Henderson is perhaps most widely known for her role as Isobel in the popular television series Hamish Macbeth (BBC1), in which she starred alongside Robert Carlyle. She recently completed filming The Way We Live Now (dir. David Yates) for the BBC and the feature film Doctor Sleep (dir. Nick Willing) alongside E.R's Goran Visnjic.

LENNIE JAMES as ALAN ERASMUS (Co-founder of Factory Records and the Hacienda)

“I liked the way Michael was planning to work, because he gave a lot of power to the actors. It was flexing and working on muscles you haven’t worked before. On this one you were working flat out, constantly in character. And you have a bigger responsibility than actors usually have to the final product.”

Probably best known for his role as porn shop owner Sol in Guy Ritchie’s diamond heist movie Snatch, Lennie James’ more recent film credits include The Martins (dir. Tony Grounds) and Lucky Break (dir. Peter Cattaneo). Having enjoyed a varied acting career, James’ television credits include the RTS award-winning drama Storm Damage (BBC) in which he starred and wrote, Cold Feet (ITV), Undercover Heart (BBC), Out Of The Blue (BBC) and Déja Vu (C4). James recently worked with award-winning director Stephen Daldry in This Is A Chair at the Royal Court and is currently in rehearsals for David Lan’s A Raisin In The Sun at The Young Vic.

RALF LITTLE as PETER HOOK (Bassist with Joy Division and New Order)

Ralf Little is best known for his role as teenager Antony Royle in the hit comedy series The Royle Family (BBC), which has run for three series. In addition, Little starred in the TV drama Bostock’s Cup (ITV), Flint Street Nativity (ITV) Always And Everyone (ITV), as well as the recent sitcom Two Pints Of Lager & A Packet Of Crisps (BBC) and Aladdin (ITV) alongside Patsy Kensit and Julian Clary. Little’s previous film credits include Al’s Lads (dir. Richard Standeven) and Harry On The Boat (dir. Menhaj Huda). Little is currently rehearsing Presence at The Royal Court.

PAUL POPPLEWELL as PAUL RYDER (Bassist with Happy Mondays)

“I grew up with all this. It’s the soundtrack to my life. They were heroes to me. I know how it made me feel then, and that’s how I have to make people feel now – that’s what’s really important to me. There’s a whole generation of people that will remember images of these bands, then there’s a younger generation who have heard about it and are probably a bit fascinated.”

Paul Popplewell’s film credits include Michael Winterbottom’s I Want You, the romantic comedy If Only (dir. Maria Ripoll) and the forthcoming films Club le Monde (dir. Simon Rumley) and Movern Coollar (dir. Lynne Ramsey). In 1995 Popplewell was nominated for Best Actor at the Royal Television Society Awards for his role as Simon in the BBC drama Criminal. His other television performances include The League Of Gentlemen, Out Of The Blue and Casualty (all for BBC), Heartbeat and Peak Practice (for ITV). Popplewell’s theatre credits include Bad Weather, The Tempest and Bartholomew Fair for the RSC and Romeo And Juliet, Torch Song Trilogy and the title role in Bugsy Malone, all for the Northern Theatre Company.

ANDY SERKIS as MARTIN HANNETT (Joy Division and New Order record producer)

“Everybody you talk to has very fond memories of Hannett, and yet they were terrified of him. He’s got that very sardonic, left-field, anarchic streak in him, and he relishes winding people up. In real life it’s a very tragic story, but he’s one of life’s great experimenters. It’s a fantastic role to play. He’s constantly in the script needling Tony and doesn’t stand for any of his pomposity.”

Andy Serkis stars as Gollum in the hotly anticipated film adaptation of Tolkien’s classic epic Lord Of The Rings (dir. Peter Jackson). Previously he starred as an eccentric choreographer in Topsy Turvy (dir. Mike Leigh) and a coked-up yuppie in Leigh’s Career Girls. Other major film roles include Mojo (dir. Jez Butterworth), Among Giants (dir. Sam Miller), Stella Does Tricks (dir. Coky Giedroyc), Five Seconds To Spare (dir. Tom Connolly), Pandemonium (dir. Julien Temple) and the forthcoming Shiner (dir. John Irvine) in which he stars opposite Michael Caine. Serkis’ other acting credits include, among others, Oliver Twist, The Jump and Finney for television, and extensive work in theatre, including Mojo and King Lear at the Royal Court and Hurlyburly at The Old Vic. Serkis recently completed filming The Escapist (dir. Gillies Mackinnon).

JOHN SIMM as BERNARD SUMNER
(Guitarist with Joy Division, guitarist/singer/songwriter with New Order)

“I’ve talked to a lot of people who know him and they all say he’s really nice, a really personal, quiet kind of guy. I just hope I do him justice, because I’m a big fan of his music. The Joy Division gigs we did, they were so real. And the Apollo gigs I did with New Order, it was just a dream come true. It was unbelievable.”

Having made his film debut in the black comedy Boston Kickout (dir. Paul Mills), John Simm more recently starred as sensitive young dad-to-be Eddie in Michael Winterbottom’s Wonderland and as Jip in Human Traffic, Justin Kerrigan’s tale of a weekend lost in music, clubbing and ecstasy. Other film roles include Diana & Me (dir. David Parker) and Understanding Jane (dir. Caleb Lindsay). Having made his mark on the small screen as Danny Cavanagh in The Lakes (BBC), Simm also starred in Never Never (C4), Forgive and Forget (ITV), Clocking Off (ITV) and Cracker (ITV). Simm is currently shooting the romantic comedy Miranda (dir. Mark Munden) opposite Christina Ricci.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

MICHAEL WINTERBOTTOM (Director) and ANDREW EATON (Producer) formed Revolution Films in 1994. Their film Wonderland (1999) won Best Film at The British Independent Film Awards, in addition to earning nominations for the Palme D’Or at Cannes and for Best British Film at the BAFTA’s. Their most recent release was The Claim (2000) starring Peter Mullan, Milla Jovovich, and Wes Bentley. Other credits include Butterfly Kiss (1995), Go Now (1995), Jude (1996), I Want You (1998), and With Or Without You (1998). Winterbottom’s additional credits include the Palme D’Or-nominated Welcome To Sarajevo (1997).

FRANK COTTRELL BOYCE (Script Writer) previously worked with Eaton and Winterbottom on their first film, Butterfly Kiss (1995), as well as Welcome To Sarajevo (1997) and the recent The Claim (2000). His other credits include Anand Tucker’s Hilary & Jackie (1998) and Saint Ex (1997), and New York Crossing (1996, directors Fabrizio Laurenti and Vinicius Mainardi). Cottrell Boyce is currently adapting Thomas Middleton’s Jacobean masterpiece Revengers Tragedy for director Alex Cox.

MARK TILDESLEY (Production Designer) has worked with Winterbottom on numerous previous occasions, including The Claim, Wonderland and I Want You. His additional feature film credits include Five Seconds To Spare (dir. Tom Connolly), Resurrection Man (dir. Marc Evans) and House Of America (dir. Marc Evans). for which he won a Welsh BAFTA for Best Design. Tildesley recently completed Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later.

ROBBY MÜLLER (Director of Photography) recently worked on Lars Von Trier’s Palme D’Or-winning Dancer In The Dark (2000) starring Bjork. In addition to having won numerous awards for his cinematography, including NSFC Award for his work on Breaking The Waves (1996, dir. Von Trier), Muller has worked extensively with directors Jim Jarmusch and Wim Wenders.

NATALIE WARD (Costume Designer) designed on Winterbottom’s Wonderland and the forthcoming Heartlands (dir. Damien O’Donnell). Her additional credits include Winterbottom’s Go Now and I Want You, The Beach (dir. Danny Boyle), Twin Town (dir. Kevin Allen), Bridget Jones’s Diary (dir. Sharon Maguire) and Intimacy (dir. Patrice Chereau).

STEPHEN NOBLE (Costume Designer) marks his first feature as designer with 24 Hour Party People. His additional credits include Trainspotting (dir. Danny Boyle) as well as working alongside Ward on Winterbottom’s I Want You, The Beach (dir. Danny Boyle), Rogue Trader (dir. James Dearden), Twin Town (dir. Kevin Allen) and Bridget Jones’s Diary (dir. Sharon Maguire).

LIZ GALLACHER (Music Supervisor) has worked as music supervisor on the forthcoming Resident Evil (dir. Paul Anderson), Once Upon A Time In The Midlands (dir. Shane Meadows), Miranda (dir. Marc Munden) and Bend It Like Beckham (dir. Gurinder Chadha). Her previous film credits include The Full Monty (dir. Peter Cattaneo), Hideous Kinky (dir. Gillies MacKinnon), Goodbye Charlie Bright (dir. Nick Love), The Low Down (dir. Jamie Thraves), Lucky Break (dir. Peter Cattaneo) and The Hole (dir. Nick Hamm). In addition Gallacher worked as Music Consultant to Richard Curtis on Notting Hill (dir. Roger Mitchell).