UK film entrances festival

Last Orders: 'Friendship in everyday life'

A low-budget British film that almost was not made because of funding problems, has entranced audiences at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

Last Orders is based on Graham Swift's Booker Prize-winning novel and stars Michael Caine, Helen Mirren, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone and Tom Courtney.

Despite the stellar cast the film, directed by Australian Fred Schepisi, almost collapsed in the early stages.

Swift won the Booker with Last Orders in 1996

"There were financial difficulties," producer Nik Powell told BBC News Online.

"One of our financiers ran into cashflow problems and I had to hastily arrange a rescue loan."

Rivalries

Last Orders tells the story of a group of elderly men who get together to take the ashes of an old friend to be scattered, as requested, off Margate.

The journey for the staunch Londoners proves quite eventful as they drink and reminisce, reviving memories and steely rivalries.

Director Fred Schepisi is best known for Six Degrees of Seperation and Roxanne, his version of the Cyrano de Bergerac story starring Steve Martin.

Ray Winstone (r) plays Caine's scheming son

Powell said it is a faithful adaptation of the popular Graham Swift book and describes the casting alone as "exciting".

"It could have been a disaster, but it wasn't," he said.

But even as a longtime producer of independent films like Mona Lisa, The Crying Game and The Last September, he admited that the funding crisis was unusual.

"I've been making films for 20 years and I hadn't come across quite such a situation," he said.

But all the effort appears to have initially paid off, with hardened critics moved by the performances.

"The director told me the audience were in tears, though it is an unsentimental film about ordinary friendship in everyday life," says Powell.

There are reports that the film may be in the running for the prizes at the prestigious festival.

UK audiences will have to wait until the London Film Festival in November to see the film and a general UK release is planned for January.