TYRANNOSAUR tells the story of Joseph (Peter Mullan) a man plagued by violence and a rage that is driving him to self-destruction. He is an unemployed widower, drinker and crippled by his own volatile temperament and furious anger. As Joseph’s life spirals into turmoil a chance of redemption appears in the form of Hannah (Olivia Colman), a Christian charity shop worker.  She is a respectable women who appears to be wholesome and happy. At first Hannah seems to be the Joseph’s potential saviour, but as their relationship develops it is revealed that Hannah is hiding a secret of her own.

Hannah has a violent and abusive relationship with her husband James (Eddie Marsan) which eventually gets out of hand. This puts Joseph in a different position, as he is now becoming her source of succour and comfort, instead of vice versa. The movie was written and directed by actor Paddy Considine, who debuted as a director in 2007 with Dog Altogether, and produced by Diarmid Scrimshaw.

The movie was shot in Leeds (UK) and had evolved from the short film Dog Altogether. This was filmed in Glasgow and opens with the characters of Joseph and Hannah (played by the same actors) meeting eachother outside the charity shop. Hannah seems to be a light in the darkness Joseph is residing in. ‘The aim of Dog Altogether was to start a film with a man kicking a dog to death (which has actually recently happened in The Netherlands, which caused a rather big stir), and get an audience to end up caring about him’ says Diarmid Scrimshaw. Eventually the movie won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, a BAFTA and a BIFA for Best Short Film.

‘When making Dog Altogether, I had this character of Joseph that I knew very well and was very close to me, and close to my heart,’ says Considine. ‘And then the female character came from some research I was doing on My Summer of Love [the 2004 film in which he starred with Emily Blunt]. ‘As I was doing my research, I found out about this charity shop, and how people would come in drunk and just vent their anger at the volunteers. One of the women would close the door and pray for them; a lot of the time she’d be afraid but she had this faith that overrode everything. She’d pray for these people and they’d come back day-on-day, oftentimes quite sober and apologetic. That shop became like a haven, and she was the sort of person who attracted these kinds of people.’

Once the movie was finished Considine began thinking more and more about his female character. ‘People were curious about what happened to the characters,’ he says. ‘I think some watched the film and felt that it ended abruptly, as they were so involved in the story. With the short I wanted to know whether I could apply narrative to my ideas. I felt I’d accomplished that. I’d already written another short based on Olivia’s character and was geared in my mind to making that. I was flattered that people were so concerned about where the story could go, so it transformed into Tyrannosaur.’

The movie has travelled to several film festivals and won several prices, such as Best British Indepent Film, Best Debuting Director and Best Actress at British Independent Film Awards. Interested? Our Dutch readers are in luck; we are able to give out 3×2 free tickets to see the movie at different cinema’s (find the full list below). The movie will be released the 5th of January. To win the tickets, please share our facebook post about this movie on your own wall!

Amsterdam – Cinecenter
Amsterdam – Kriterion
Amsterdam – The Movies
Breda – Chasse Cinema
Den Bosch – Verkadefabriek
Den Haag – Filmhuis Den Haag
Groningen – Forum Images
Haarlem – Filmschuur
Hoorn – Filmhuis Hoorn
Nijmegen – Lux Theater
Rotterdam – Lantaren Venster
Utrecht – ’t Hoogt