An independent Irish gangster film, which has a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score, was shot in just two weeks and was very nearly never made.
Not only that, but the flick only cost £340,000 to make, which is pretty impressive considering it's received such brilliant reviews.
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Cardboard Gangsters, which was released back in 2017, follows the story of Jay Connolly (played by co-writer John Connors) and his group of low-level drug dealers in Darndale, Dublin, as they set out to rule the area's illegal drug trade.
Unfortunately for Jay and his gang, the set of people at the top of Darndale's drug trade have been in power for decades, and they aren't willing to let the Cardboard Gangsters take control of the scene without a fight.
All this makes Cardboard Gangsters quite a tense watch, and the film has a particularly bleak ending.
People have been loving the movie, but actor and co-writer John Connors, who starred in the film, said it was almost never made.
You can watch the trailer below:
It turns out that the movie almost didn't get the funding it needed. In fact, it took three years before production even started.
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“We had four and five-star reviews and the biggest box office of the year for an Irish film by far but we got all these ‘Nos’ from people," he told the Irish Mirror.
"We got no because it wouldn’t be commercial, because it wouldn’t be this and it wouldn’t be that, but we proved all of them wrong.
“I feel great now and not just about the numbers. It’s about the general public watching the film.
“You don’t just make films that will be seen in some festival or some dark corner of the world."
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Connors explained that one problem with securing movie funding is that those giving out the funds aren't 'creative types'.
He continued: "You want people to go and see the film and take something from it. It was nice we got bums on seats and people responded very well to it.
“Our response over social media was just mad. A big problem with funding is a lot of the people giving out the money are not creative types. They are business types and I don’t think that’s the best scenario to have.
“Also, they are from the same class of people. If you have a group of people from the same class you are not going to get diverse storytelling because they are going to fund what they can relate to.”
The movie ended up being made for $400,000 (£342,000) and took just 15 days to shoot, which is around half the time usually taken.
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You can watch Cardboard Gangsters on YouTube and Amazon Prime now.
Topics: TV and Film
Lucy Devine