Danny Dyer had to cast real son in new film Marching Powder because 'no other kid would do it'

Casually calling people a c**t, asking to watch ‘pansexual porn’, or announcing at the dinner table that you’ve got a ‘semi’ are things most 11-year-olds would get a right telling off for.

They certainly aren’t exactly the kind of things most parents would give their child a free pass to do.

So, with an age rating of 18, Danny Dyer ended up casting his real son Arty in his upcoming film Marching Powder, because ‘no other kid would to it’.

As you might have guessed, the C-word isn’t the only thing flying about in this football hooliganism-filled romcom, as the actor reunited with The Football Factory director Nick Love.

Marching Powder follows Dyer as Jack, a middle-aged dad given six weeks to turn his life around and pack in the fighting at football, kick his drug habit, and save his marriage.

Involved from the beginning, he’s the perfect person to play the character, with Stephanie Leonidas cast as wife Dani. But it was much harder to find someone to play their son JJ, as he’s ‘obviously so young and Nick writes a certain way’.

“So the casting director said, ‘Look, you might have to drop this part, because we're not going to be able to get a child to do this. They just won't allow it,’” Dyer tells LADbible.

Despite his son never having considered acting and having ‘no desire to be an actor’, Love asked the star to see if Arty would be up for it.

Danny and Arty improvised a whole scene together in the film. (True Brit Entertainment)

If anything, his son was up for one big part of it in particular.

“Now, he had a little monologue, and at the end of it, he says the C-word, which he was very excited about,” the dad-of-three explains. “I didn't know if he could even learn dialogue. So I gave him this chunk and I said, ‘learn that, and then I'll see if you can do it'.

“And he came back to me, he learnt it within five minutes, just because he rushed the first few sentences, so he could get to say the C-word just because he’s allowed to say it.”

Assuring that it’s ‘all done in a very light-hearted way’, Dyer explains it’s important for JJ to ‘speak the way he does’ as it’s a reflection of him picking things up from his dad.

Dyer doesn't reckon he could have done it 'with another child anyway'. (True Brit Entertainment)

And 11-year-old Arty’s performance in the film was a ‘revelation’ to Dyer and he cast, as he was ‘so up for it’ despite not really being bothered about acting.

Leonidas says he was ‘so chilled’ on set and ‘loved’ working with him.

“He came, he did it, and he left – he’s not fussed,” Dyer sums up.

“It was meant to be, my son just happened to be the age of JJ, and it worked out well. It would have been a shame to have lost that character.”

The star does get why it was a difficult one to cast though as he adds: “I also understand parents not wanting their child to say certain dialogs and stuff - I get it.

“But, you know, he's my son. He's been brought up around the word – how’d you wanna be?”

Marching Powder is only in cinemas from 7 March.