There are a few factors that I tend to look for when deciding what films to see first at the cinema. One obviously is interesting subject matter. The second is a good cast and last, if applicable, is brilliant source material. If these are the solid tenants of cinematic greatness then The Damned United is going to be incredible.
It deals with the forty four days legend Brian Clough spent managing Leeds Utd. before walking out. This is enticing for both concering a club very close to my heart and a man that makes Jose Mourinho look boring. The time period examined is perhaps the most pure encapsulation of everything that made Clough the man he was; a man driven by challenge, thirsty for sucess, restless for validation and angry at a world that had ended his career when he was in his pomp. Perhaps it is difficult viewing for the Clough family, showing the darkest corners of his ambition and the aspect of his meglomania not reflected in interview induced gobbets.
They have chosen to boycott the film, mainly based on the fact that they took umbridge with David Peace's book of the same name. The novel is a dark re-imagining of the short period in which Clough inherited a squad of players inherently loyal to their erstwhile leader Don Revie. It details their systematic denial of Clough's authority and the manager's hard headed response to dissent he was entirely unused to. Narrated through a jagged, exposing stream of conciousness the football centric plot acts as vehicle for an examination of paranoia, self destruction and vicious male competitiveness. It's an entirely imagined scenario but one that sits well with it's characters. Revie's team had become so synonymous with the "Dirty Leeds" name and were so utterly formed in his image it does not take to great a leap to imagine a man as independant as Clough clashing with men who adored their manager, whose relationship with Clough had been consistently acrimonious. It's an affecting, startling novel that swings for the kidneys and then throws surreptitious headbutts to an audience bewildered by it's style; an audience who feel the acrid smoke in Cloughie's lungs, the searing whiskey on his tongue and the venomous bitterness in his heart
The cast assembled for the Damned United is truly incredible and represents the most distinguished British actors of a generation. Michael Sheen is playing the man himself and if his performance is as impressive as the one displayed in Frost/ Nixon then there will be something closely resembling a doppelganger projected on screen. Jim Broadbent, perhaps the most imperious yet subtle British actor working today, takes the part of Derby chairman Sam Longson with Tim Spall as jilted right hand man Peter Taylor. The iconic role of Billy Bremner, Revie's flame haired enforcer, has been given to Steven Graham who was terrifying as a Skin Head in This is England. It's a cast made up of serious credible actors who take good scripts instead of quick pay days and a film written by The Queen scribe Peter Morgan. These facts suggest a film in homage to the man and the source material rather than something to exploit the obvious popularity of both aforementioned factors.
The stage is set for The Damned United to be brilliant and I hope fervently that it is. There are suggestions that it will be a lighter experience than the novel which may find a more appropriate line between the real man and the grit of the of Peace's imaginings. I think that Ol Big 'Ead would expect a film of quality to be made about him and I don't think The Damned United will dissapoint.
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