An Introduction to "THE 51ST STATE"

Ronny Yu's $28 million Liverpool-set action comedy "51ST STATE (2001)" starring Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Carlyle is the biggest British action comedy of the year. The film also features some of Britain's hottest acting talent including rising star Emily Mortimer (Scream 3 (2000), kid, The (2000), Love's Labours Lost (2000)), Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill (1999), kevin and Perry Go Large (2000)), Ricky Tomlinson (The Royle Family, mike bassett: England Manager (2001)) and Sean Pertwee (soldier (1998), Event Horizon (1997)). Musician, singer and actor Meat Loaf (fight club (1999), spice World (1997), crazy in Alabama (1999)) completes the line-up.

"51ST STATE (2001)" is the story of Elmo McElroy (Jackson), a streetwise American master chemist, who heads to England to set up his last big deal - the introduction of a new designer drug to the European market. McElroy soon becomes embroiled in a web of double-dealing as he's escorted around Liverpool's underworld and rave scene by rabid local hood Felix (Carlyle), who hates all things American.

Samuel L. Jackson is one of the industry's most respected and sought-after actors. His recent credits include, Shaft, Rules of Engagement, Episode I of George Lucas' Star Wars trilogy, as well as unbreakable (2000) with Bruce Willis, Caveman's Valentine (2001) and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002).

Robert Carlyle first rose to prominence as the psychopathic Begbie in Danny Boyle's hugely successful Trainspotting (1996). Since then, he has consistently garnered acclaim for his performances in Beach, The (2000), the Bond movie world is not Enough, The (1999), the box office smash Full Monty, the (1997) and Alan Parker's angela's Ashes (1999).

"51ST STATE (2001)" was shot entirely on location in Liverpool in the autumn of 2000, under acclaimed Hong Kong-born director Ronny Yu (bride Of Chucky (1998)). The film is based on an original screenplay by Stel Pavlou, who wrote the initial draft whilst working in a liquor store in England. Pavlou is now a full-time writer with a debut novel, Decipher being published in 2001.

"51ST STATE (2001)" attracted top creative technical talent including award-winning cinematographer and long-time Ronny Yu collaborator, Hang-Sang Poon, who recently completed work on Pavilion of Women with Willem Dafoe; production designer Alan Macdonald (nora (2000), love is the Devil (1998)) and editor David Wu.

"51ST STATE (2001)" is an Alliance Atlantis presentation of a Focus Films, 51st Films, Alliance Atlantis production, in association with the The Film Consortium.

Produced by Andras Hamori (sunshine (1999), Existenz (1999)), Samuel L. Jackson, Seaton McLean and Jonathan Debin. Focus Films' David Pupkewitz and Malcolm Kohll are producers and Mark Aldridge is co-producer. Executive Producers are Artist Management Group's Julie Yorn, Eli Selden and Stephanie Davis. Alliance Atlantis Pictures International is handling worldwide sales of "51ST STATE (2001)" and Alliance Atlantis Motion Picture Distribution are handling the Canadian release. Momentum Pictures will distribute the film in the UK.

The roots of "51ST STATE (2001)". ..

Screenwriter Stel Pavlou came up with the idea for "51ST STATE (2001)" when he was still at college in Liverpool in 1994. A lot of the characters are loosely based on friends:

"I was McElroy, Sam Jackson's character, my mate Stuart was Felix, Robert Carlyle's character and Aldo (Mark Aldridge) who is a co-producer on the film was Iki - Rhys Ifans. That was part of the motivation and interestingly, at that time, there'd been no British gangster movies like Lock Stock and I don't even think Pulp Fiction (1994) had been released".

"There was also a distant family member of mine, who was something of a black sheep in the family. He got involved in some very naughty stuff, but died, strangely enough, trying to do a drug deal. It inspired me to look at that side of life. When I found out more about his character, it transpired that he thought he was the coolest thing going. This made me laugh and the more I found out about him, the funnier it got, so the script naturally became funny instead of dark".

Part of Pavlou's college course touched upon the history of the slave trade and its connection to Liverpool and he decided to explore the idea of slavery in modern language being drugs, " I knew the slave trade came out of Liverpool and the rave culture was also just starting. I saw it as history repeating itself - the idea being that Sam Jackson's character, McElroy was trying to emancipate himself"

"Black guy in a kilt. .. why not" says Pavlou "I'd always seen lots of movies like Rob Roy (1995) and highlander (1986), but there's never been a reason for a black guy to wear a kilt, so part of my reasoning was to find an excuse".

"The film doesn't glorify drugs at all. People sort of give their lives over to it, but everybody involved in the drugs business in the story ends up dead. That's the subtext, but it's very buried in the script, it's a buddy movie now, so you've got to let the comedy and the action take over".

Stel Pavlou was unemployed when he wrote the first draft of "51ST STATE (2001)" and took a part-time job in a liquor store to finance himself.

He and his close friend and business partner, Aldo (Mark Aldridge) soon realised that a trip to the Cannes Film Festival could get things moving, but they hit a stumbling block when Cannes red-tape meant they needed an official company stamp on their application. Ingenuity saved the day. "I told Aldo to find a potato and naturally, he asked me what the hell I was talking about! I told him to get a sharp knife, cut a big letter F for our company logo in a potato, drop it in some ink and stamp the accreditation form. He did it, sent it off and within days we had producer badges".

The humble potato marked a turning point in Stel's fortunes. "We spent a week at Cannes, hooked up with Focus Films, who put up the development money and we haven't looked back since".

Pavlou originally budgeted the film at around £1 million, "I was going to take on the world, but the script ended up becoming bigger than me really quickly. I wanted to direct it, but it became apparent that when we started sending it out to actors, if I stayed at the helm, we weren't going to get any money. So, I stepped aside and took a co-producer credit and got to keep some input - much more than a writer normally would".

After being attached to the project for over five years, Samuel L. Jackson also held a producer role on "51ST STATE (2001)". "Sam was on this project when it came to us" says fellow producer Andras Hamori, "he's the one who brought it to us and remained with it for almost five years. His is not one of these courtesy or vanity credits as some actors do, this is a real credit".

"I actually suggested Ronny Yu for the film" says Jackson, "I'm a huge Hong Kong film fan and had watched a lot of Ronny's stuff. He has this great sense of humour and great sense of style in terms of action. You can see from his previous films, that this is the perfect action comedy for him and he was born to do it".

Following a long five-year haul, "51ST STATE (2001)" was finally budgeted at $28 million, with financing coming from Canada and the UK via Alliance Atlantis and The Film Consortium.

Director Ronny Yu found himself in a lucky position, as the whole casting took on a kind of organic process, "In the beginning, I just had Sam, then I came over to London and met Bobby Carlyle, sat down with him and talked about the character of Felix. We clicked immediately".

Top London casting director Nina Gold then came on board and Producer Andras Hamori and Ronny got to thinking about the rest of the cast. "We'd been looking around for quite a long time, then all of a sudden these brilliant actors appeared" says Ronny.

"Bobby Carlyle was over at my house one day" says Hamori, "he said I should meet Ricky Tomlinson. I took a look at Ken Loach's Riff Raff and thought he was hysterical in it. We told Ricky he could have any part he wanted in the film".

Hamori had the original idea for Meat Loaf as the bad guy, which Ronny Yu found a truly inspired piece of casting, "Andras was walking through Soho one night and happened to spot a book featuring Meat Loaf. There was suddenly this spark…

Hamori takes up the story, "It was like double take in a movie. We were walking along and talking about casting The Lizard and as I passed this bookstore I suddenly stopped and turned around. There was this book in the window, Back From Hell, with Meat Loaf's picture on the cover. He was larger than life. He was The Lizard".

Samuel L. Jackson relished the idea of working with Robert Carlyle, as he's long been an admirer of his work, "I was really anxious to work with him. I'd seen a lot of his work and had a lot of respect for what he's done and his approach seems very serious. He knows how to get inside a character and make it live and breathe. I like guys I feel I can trust when I see them on screen. Bobby felt like that to me before we'd even met. We had pretty much the same approach and both had working class backgrounds and strong family lines - he with his father and me with my grandparents and my Mom".

Bobby Carlyle echoes Jackson's sentiments, "I first got the script about three years ago. Sam Jackson was always attached to it and that was very interesting for me and it was very important for me to work with an actor of his calibre. He's an absolute quality actor, quite diverse in many ways. It's very subtle what he does, but he has a very definite image. He's made over seventy movies and I was flattered that he was interested in working with me".

"Every stage of filmmaking has it's own life, and that's why it's so exciting and that's what's kept me going for the last twenty years

General production information

Liverpool's not just a city, it's a character in the movie.

"The whole city's about attitude" says producer Andras Hamori, hence the decision to film an attitude movie in Britain's attitude capital. "You can't ask a cab driver to take you anywhere without him giving you his opinion about everything - our film, the US presidential elections, the city, you name it, they have an opinion on it!"

Screenwriter Stel Pavlou lived in Liverpool as a student and has a wealth of stories to tell about the place, "Everyone's a performer or has a funny story to tell. It's like a village because everything is interconnected and it's a marvellous backdrop for 51ST STATE (2001), as it's a character-driven story".

"The city has struggled over the years, it's been through massive recession but has come through the other side and re-invented itself and I think that's where some of the power of the story comes from. When you're down and things aren't going right, there's always somebody you can turn to here".

As a film location, Liverpool is experiencing a boom and Lynn Saunders, who runs the Film Office in the city was inundated with projects during
2000, though "51ST STATE (2001)" was by far the biggest. The Liverpool Film Office was the first of it's kind, set up in 1989 along the lines of its New York counterpart. The city has around 10,000 locations on its database and it's Georgian and Victorian architectural heritage means it can provide a backdrop for anything from a period drama to doubling as New York.

Major locations used for "51ST STATE (2001)" include the famous River Mersey and docks - once the hub of industry and shipping, Pier Head, the India Building, Water Street as well as Liverpool Football Club's legendary home Anfield Stadium. Production designer Alan Macdonald used thefilm's production base in Boundary Street to build various sets for interior scenes, as well as a vast disused warehouse space in Blackstock Street.

When director Ronny Yu first visited Liverpool, he was taken around the town by a native Liverpudlian taxi driver, "As a guy from Hong Kong, I was fascinated to hear about Liverpool being the first port in the slave trade. Normally when we think of the slave trade we think of America. The idea of McElroy coming all the way from America to Liverpool to reclaim his dignity and position in society, I just thought it was brilliant".

Samuel L. Jackson was pleasantly surprised by the warmth and character of Liverpool, "It's very beautiful architecturally, mainly because of all the money that was here at a particular time, when it was a big shipbuilding capital and the people built huge edifices to their wealth. The people here have the best attitudes. Everyone's very friendly, people talk to you out of nowhere and that adds to the feeling of this film, about the guy who's a fish out of water".

For Robert Carlyle, "51ST STATE (2001)" marked a return to Liverpool after working on several projects about seven years ago, "It's like home for me. I come from Glasgow and they're similar cities. Most people from Glasgow have some Irish background as do most Liverpudlians. Both cities have been born and brought up on the rivers, we share a lot of industrial qualities like shipbuilding and we share a sense of humour too. I think both the Glaswegians and Liverpudlians have that remarkable survival quality".

Rhys Ifans, who plays Iki has fond memories of Liverpool from his formative years, "I'm from North Wales, so essentially Liverpool's the capital city of North Wales! Liverpool's where all the kids would come shoplifting and partying at Christmas. I've got a very warm relationship with Liverpool and it's great being back here".

"Everyone seems so positive and grateful that a film of this size is being made in Liverpool" says Ifans, "and certainly from seeing the rushes, this film gives Liverpool the grandeur it deserves and it's only 35mm that can do that. I've worked in LA and there can be a tendency for people to be a bit blasé about the fact that a film's being made, whereas in Liverpool and in England generally, everyone from the cast and crew is very excited and the energy levels are different".

"Liverpool's a harbour town, and from the very beginning, has always been a real melting pot of culture" says Rhys Ifans, "there's always been a strong Caribbean community here and since the industrial revolution, Irish, Welsh and Scots descended on Liverpool, so it's like the invisible capital of Celtica!! That generates this unique sense of humour and unique way of looking at life. It's quite a hard place, but it's surrounded in a lot of light and the light is its people".