Danny Dyer was ‘dreading’ snorting fake cocaine in new film and says it ‘confused his brain’
Cocaine, fighting, booze and well, more cocaine. That’s the bulk of what makes up Danny Dyer’s latest film as he returns to the world of football hooliganism.
The star has reunited with The Football Factory director Nick Love for Marching Powder which is less of a reboot and more of an update with romance and comedy in the mix.
“There’s violence in the air this time but it’s quite funny,” the star tells LADbible.
And sure, while there is plenty of the fighting at football, as the title suggests Dyer’s character Jack is on coke for a lot of it, among other drugs. But obviously the actor wasn’t doing actual lines of the stuff on set.
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Part of the magic of film is using alternatives to make things look real, with water and alcohol-free beer used for alcohol. However, Dyer admitted he was ‘dreading’ snorting the fake cocaine by the end of filming, admitting it ‘confused his brain’.
And used instead of the class A drug? Vitamin D.
“I was full of vitamins,” the EastEnders legend jokes, “but I couldn’t breathe. It’s alright at first but we was all dreading them scenes towards the end.
“It was like, ‘Oh no, I’ve got to sniff it again'.”
Playing Jack’s wife Dani, his co-star Stephanie Leonidas admitted she didn’t even realise that’s what the blokes were sniffing up, joking they must have been ‘really healthy’.
But Dyer continues: “It’s confusing to the brain, because you’re sniffing vitamins, and your brain is going, ‘Oh, this is odd.’”
When it came to booze, he opted for ‘bottled of beer with fizzy water in it’ rather than the alcohol-free stuff. However, one thing in particular was actually legit.
“The smoking is real cigarettes,” Dyer reveals. “Unless you’re inside and then it’s got to be herbal cigarettes.”
Although he did clarify those weren’t ‘herbal, herbal’ but you know, ‘the actual herbal cigarettes’.
After appearing as a rags-to-riches business class raking in the big bucks in Rivals last year, Dyer’s performance as Jack is a bit of a revert to type in the best way.
Reuniting with Love once again, the star says he was ‘really excited about working with him again’ after over a decade.
“He's got a way of getting a performance out of me like no one else has, without really saying much,” he adds of the director.
And as comparisons can easily be made to their previous work, he says: “These types of movies haven't been made in a long time, very unapologetic about a culture, about the way working class people interact. So we're just sort of having a nod towards Football Factory in quite a jovial way.”
While Leonidas adds it’s also a ‘beautiful love story’
Warning: This content contains explicit language, alcohol, drugs and violence
Playing the pair’s son, JJ, in Marching Powder is Dyer’s real son, Arty.
The youngster ended up with the role in the drug-fuelled, 18-rated flick when ‘no other kid would do it’.
And while he didn’t sniff up any of the fake cocaine with his dad, he was ‘very excited’ about getting to say c**t.
Marching Powder is only in cinemas from 7 March.
Topics: Danny Dyer, Drugs, Film, TV and Film, Celebrity
Jess Battison