Dead Man in a Week or Your Money Back | |
---|---|
Directed by | Tom Edmunds |
Written by | Tom Edmunds |
Produced by |
|
Starring | |
Cinematography | Luke Bryant |
Edited by | Tariq Anwar |
Music by | Guy Garvey, Pete Jobson, Paul Saunderson |
Production company | |
Distributed by |
|
Release dates |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Dead in a Week or Your Money Back (stylized as Dead in a Week (Or Your Money Back) is a 2018 British black comedy film, the directorial debut of Tom Edmunds. The film stars Tom Wilkinson as an aging hitman and Aneurin Barnard as his prospective last contract.
The film premiered at the 2018 Edinburgh International Film Festival and also screened at the Rome International Film Festival, ahead of an exclusive release in Odeon Cinemas UK, by Republic Film Distribution. [1] [2] [3]
The plot follows Leslie, an aging hitman on the brink of retirement, who has not met his annual quota with the British Guild of Assassins. His officious boss, Harvey, sets him a deadline that forces Leslie to resort to desperate measures – hanging out at suicide hotspots to try and pick up some extra business. On the wrong side of Chelsea Bridge, he meets struggling writer William. Leslie offers an unconventional deal: dead in a week or your money back. However, with the deal signed, William finally finds some sense of security, leading him to wonder if the deal is what he really wanted. [4]
The film was well supported on its release in UK Cinemas, backed by Stephen Fry, who became an Executive Producer, [5] and The Samaritans. The critical reception was mixed. The Hollywood Reporter praised Tom Wilkinson's depiction of the hitman "Although Leslie proves quite ruthless and skilled at his evil profession, the veteran actor manages to make him somehow lovable." [6] Perhaps surprisingly the film had a much wider theatrical release in Italy taking almost $700k at the box office [7] The film was also released by Netflix in 2019. [8]
Christopher Eccleston is an English actor. A twice BAFTA Award winner, he has been active in television and film, which includes his role as the ninth incarnation of the Doctor in the BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who (2005), playing Matt Jamison in The Leftovers (2014–2017), and his collaborations with filmmakers Danny Boyle and Michael Winterbottom.
Michael Winterbottom is an English film director. He began his career working in British television before moving into features. Three of his films—Welcome to Sarajevo, Wonderland and 24 Hour Party People—have competed for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He and co-director Mat Whitecross won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 56th Berlin International Film Festival for their work on The Road to Guantanamo.
A simultaneous release, also known as a day-and-date release, is the release of a film on multiple platforms—most commonly theatrical and home video—on the exact same day, or in very close proximity to each other. This is in contrast to the industry standard of having a window of exclusivity between the theatrical and home video releases.
I Wonder Who's Killing Her Now? is a 1975 black comedy movie directed by Steven Hilliard Stern, and starring Bob Dishy and Joanna Barnes. Originally Peter Sellers was to be cast as the lead, but insurance refused to cover him after a recent heart attack, and Dishy was cast as his replacement at the last moment. It was directed by Steven Hilliard Stern, from a screenplay by Mickey Rose.
Nick Moorcroft is a British screenwriter, film producer, director and theatrical producer.
Aneurin Barnard is a Welsh actor. He is known for playing Davey in Hunky Dory, Claude in The Truth About Emanuel, Bobby Willis in Cilla, Tim in Thirteen, King Richard III in The White Queen, William in Dead in a Week or Your Money Back, Gibson in Dunkirk, and Boris Pavlikovsky in The Goldfinch.
Freya Mavor is a Scottish actress. She is best known for her roles as Mini McGuinness in the E4 teen drama Skins and Daria Greenock in the HBO finance drama series Industry.
Monterey Media Inc. started as a home video company founded in 1982 by Scott Mansfield. It was initially financed by Noel C. Bloom, and the titles were distributed by the Family Home Entertainment subsidiary of Caballero Control Corporation. Monterey is the second sub-label of NCB Entertainment, after FHE.
Damien Molony is an Irish actor. He is best known for his television roles as Hal Yorke in BBC Three's Being Human, DC Albert Flight in the BBC's Ripper Street, DS Jack Weston in Channel 5's Suspects, Jon in Channel 4's GameFace and Dylan in Sky One Original comedy Brassic.
Jack Andrew Lowden is a Scottish actor. Following a four-year stage career, his first major international onscreen success was in the 2016 BBC miniseries War & Peace, which led to starring roles in feature films.
Interview with a Hitman is a 2012 British action film written and directed by Perry Bhandal. The film tells the story of Viktor, a professional Romanian hitman who agrees to tell his story to a disgraced film director desperate to discover a unique story that will help him rebuild his career. It was produced by Kirlian Pictures & Scanner Rhodes with the assistance of Northern Film & Media. The film stars Luke Goss, Caroline Tillette, Stephen Marcus, Danny Midwinter and Elliot Greene.
Dawn Wilkinson is a Canadian film and television director based in LA.
Tulip Fever is a 2017 historical romantic drama film directed by Justin Chadwick and written by Deborah Moggach and Tom Stoppard, adapted from Moggach's 1999 novel of the same name. It stars an ensemble cast featuring Alicia Vikander, Dane DeHaan, Jack O'Connell, Holliday Grainger, Tom Hollander, Matthew Morrison, Kevin McKidd, Douglas Hodge, Joanna Scanlan, Zach Galifianakis, Judi Dench, and Christoph Waltz. The plot follows a 17th-century "Tulip mania" painter in Amsterdam who falls in love with a married woman whose portrait he has been commissioned to paint.
The Hitman's Bodyguard is a 2017 action comedy film directed by Patrick Hughes and written by Tom O'Connor. It stars Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson with Gary Oldman and Salma Hayek. In the film, Michael Bryce (Reynolds) must protect Darius Kincaid, an imprisoned hitman (Jackson), who is on his way to testify at the International Criminal Court against a sadistic Eastern European dictator Vladislav Dukhovich (Oldman).
The Goldfinch is a 2019 American drama film directed by John Crowley. It was written by Peter Straughan, who adapted the 2013 novel The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. It stars Ansel Elgort as Theodore Decker, whose life changes after his mother dies in a terrorist bombing at a museum and a dying man convinces him to take a famous painting called The Goldfinch from the museum. Oakes Fegley, Aneurin Barnard, Finn Wolfhard, Sarah Paulson, Luke Wilson, Jeffrey Wright, and Nicole Kidman appear in supporting roles.
The Personal History of David Copperfield is a 2019 comedy-drama film written and directed by Armando Iannucci, based on the 1850 novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. It stars Dev Patel as the title character, along with Aneurin Barnard, Peter Capaldi, Morfydd Clark, Daisy May Cooper, Rosalind Eleazar, Hugh Laurie, Tilda Swinton, Ben Whishaw and Paul Whitehouse.
Radioactive is a 2019 British biographical drama film directed by Marjane Satrapi, written by Jack Thorne, and starring Rosamund Pike as Marie Curie. The film is based on the 2010 graphic novel Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by the American artist Lauren Redniss.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a negative effect on certain films in the early 2020s, mirroring its impacts across all arts sectors. Across the world, and to varying degrees, cinemas and movie theaters were closed, festivals were cancelled or postponed, and film releases were moved to future dates or delayed indefinitely. Due to cinemas and movie theaters closing, the global box office dropped by billions of dollars, streaming saw a significant increase in popularity, and the stock of film exhibitors dropped dramatically. Many blockbusters originally scheduled to be released by mid-March 2020 were postponed or canceled around the world, with film productions also being halted. This in turn created openings for independent cinema productions to receive wider exposure.
Meg Leonard is a screenwriter, producer and director.