Blackball (film)

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Blackball
Directed by	Mel Smith
Produced by	James Gay-Rees
Written by	Tim Firth
Starring	Paul Kaye Alice Evans Vince Vaughn
Distributed by	Icon
Release date(s)	May 18, 2003 - Cannes September 5, 2003 United Kingdom February 11, 2005 United States
Running time	96 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Blackball is a film about Cliff Starkey (Paul Kaye), a rebellious young bowls player. His dream is to play for his country, but always preferred to play by his own rules, much to the disapproval of the local bowls club. After winning the local bowling competition he is subsequently banned from competing in the sport for 15 years by the head of the local lawn bowls association. Picked up by sports agent Rick Schwartz (Vince Vaughn), Starkey is re-branded as the "bad boy of bowls", turning the normally sedate sport into a glitzy, in-your-face competition.

The film is loosely based on the exploits of real-life bowls player Griff Sanders. On the BBC Two series Comedy Map of Britain, broadcast 3 February 2007, Sanders joked that Kaye was "not good-looking enough" to play him, and that his performance was "crap", while Kaye claimed that Sanders was "annoying" and had been banned from attending the filming because he irritated everyone on set.

Filmed on the Isle Of Man and Torquay during October and November 2002.

[edit] Cast List

Comedian Vic Reeves is often listed as being in the film, and was scheduled to play the director of the cola advertisement, but other commitments prevented him from doing so. He does not appear in the end credits of the film.