Tamer Hassan was only paid £15,000 for starring role in The Business

British actor Tamer Hassan claims he was only paid £15,000 for his starring role in The Business.

The 55-year-old - who was cast for the 2005 film by director Nick Love - shared the screen alongside the likes of Danny Dyer, Geoff Bell and Georgina Chapman.

For those unaware, the crime epic follows a young man named Frankie (Danny Dyer) who dreams of escaping London's South East region in the 80s.

After beating up his mother's thug of a boyfriend, Frankie runs off to Spain where he lands a job delivering a package to the dapper Playboy Charlie (Tamer Hassan), a gangster who takes him under his wing.

"Working as Charlie's driver, Frankie is immersed in a world of fast cars and pretty women but all the excess could be his undoing," the synopsis reads.

A year prior to The Business came out in cinemas, the director hired Hassan for The Football Factory - released in 2004 - and the actor says he owes everything to Love for that first big role.

"Back then you're a movie star and you'll need these big cinema blockbusters and these released and they think you're making and you're not," he explained on an August 2022 episode of Anything Goes With James English.

"I think I got paid 15 grand to do The Business."

He added: "But I would've done it for nothing because Nick Love, thank God for him, [saw] the relationship me and Danny had and gave me my first lead.

"So it went from there. So I probably would have give him money to do it."

Considered a cult classic by some, the crime drama has also been dubbed 'Scarface's poor English brother', by others.

"Danny Dyer at his very best. A god awful film, the premis and concept is great, but it falls down in production," one person wrote.

"Mixing BBC's Eldorado and Football Factory, with the production values of Grange Hill.

"Two scenes where Danny Dyer is almost convincing."

A second person wrote: "A so-so film with Danny Dyer playing.. well Danny Dyer.

"The 80's music and style works well, the language is very strong, but there is nothing here which standards out."

Clearly, with a 84 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, fans still rate the film very highly.

"Criminally underrated. A great film throughout, one of Nick Love's best efforts. A real cult classic," another viewer said.

While someone else added: "A rootin' tootin' no holds barred Brit crime thriller, The Business succeeds by sheer thuggish intent."

"Danny Dyer tones down his usual swaggering cockney act and gives a genuinely sympathetic performance - his relationship with Tamar Hassan's Charlie is surprisingly touching," another added.