Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels: About The Filmmakers

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He had always been passionate about making films, having been inspired to become a director after watching Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, as a child.

With the profits banked from his commercials work, Ritchie invested them into writing and making a twenty minute short film, The Hard Case. This led to him writing and ultimately directing LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS.

"In making this film I am trying to create something that is credible and relatively humorous. Comedy and gangsters are inseparable, the truer the villain, the funnier they are, that is not to say it is necessarily Ha! Ha! Funny. I found that I was continually having to reign in the comedy elements so that it didn¢t become too farcical."

Ritchie could see a definite niche for this type of contemporary story.

"I've seen a few people attempt this type of film but they¢ve either failed in authenticity or they get knee deep in blood. Personally, I would rather imply violence, anyway we¢ve seen it all before and I¢m not interested in spilling the claret. In comparison to a Hollywood blockbuster, we always cut away from anything blatant."

Twenty-six year old Producer, MATTHEW VAUGHN began his career in film, working as assistant to Simon Fields, Head of Limelight Films in Los Angeles. This multi-faceted role provided him with an invaluable training in the film industry. He returned to the UK and worked on various short films before producing his first feature in 1994, The Innocent Sleep.

Vaughn began working on LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS with Guy Ritchie in 1996. They spent two months perfecting the script and cutting down its original two hundred and fifty pages before Vaughn set out to raise the finance.

"As the Producer, I found the script, raised the money and then I physically made the whole thing happen. I also had to make sure it was within the budget and that everything was on schedule, as well as being the cast and crew¢s wet nurse. I left the creative side to Guy."Executive Producer STEVE TISCH produced Forrest Gump, the 1994 Academy Award winner for Best Picture. In addition to this it received five other Academy Awards and also won a Golden Globe for Best Picture.

His past credits include: The Postman, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Corrina, Corrina, Bad Influence, Big Business, Soul Man and Outlaw Blues.