NORTHERN SOUL

(2004) - Written by Shane Meadows

Synopsis

Northern Soul is filmed in the style of a mock documentary and tells the story of Mike Sherbet.. A lonely young man who is obsessed with American wrestling.. His dream is to become a professional wrestler and compete against his hero’s on the British wrestling circuit.. There’s only one problem, he weighs nine stone and has the pain threshold of a two year old child.

The story begins with Mike being kicked out of his house by his wife, who has become sick of Mark's wrestling ambitions.. Packing up his Stone Cold Steve Austin Bedspread, Mark takes up lodgings with a local family with a room to let.

As Mark is interviewed on camera in the film, he talks of his costume ideas and training regime.. Everything has been planned down to the finest detail.....

His wrestling name - “The Albino Salamander”

His special wrestling moves - “The Checkerboard" and "How d’ya like them apples?”

Estimated time until champion - “One year”

We chart the highs and lows of Mike’s journey around the wrestling halls of great britain, as he tries to launch the career of ‘The Albino Salamander.”
Although he is ridiculed and suffers many physical injuries, his endless sense of hope, and undying enthusiasm for the sport is hugely endearing.

Although the world of wrestling may never know his name, Mike ‘Salamander’ Sherbet deserves his chance to fail. This film is dedicated to all of those who chase implausible dreams.

Stills

Background

The origins of this short film stem from the close relationship between Shane Meadows and his life-long friend Gavin Clark.. Gavin has provided music for Shane's films from the very beginning.. In the past he has provided solo work and other times provided tracks from his band, Sunhouse.
Gavin now fronts the band Clayhill, and Northern Soul was developed as a promotional short for Clayhill's album 'Small Circle'.
Clayhill's label (Eat-Sleep Records) dicovered that Gavin was friends with Shane, so immediately acted on this exciting oppurtunity.

Another factor in the making of Northern Soul, is that Shane felt that he kind of owed Gavin and other members of Clayhill a favour.. This is because Shane had originally asked Gavin to write a score for Once Upon a Time in the Midlands.. A number of tracks had been written, but Shane decided to go with other music in the end, which is a decision he now regrets.

The track 'Northern Soul' is taken from the album 'Small Circle' and has also been released as a single.

Trivia

The voice of the main character, Mike Sherbet is an impersonation of the producer, Mark Herbert's voice.. The similarity in the names is somewhat of a major clue!

A music video edit of the film was also created for the release of the track 'Northern Soul' from Clayhill's 'Small Circle' album, which runs for 3 minutes, 45 seconds.

The films main star is Toby Kebbell, who also plays Anthony in Dead Man's Shoes.

Cinematographer on the film is listed as being Tank Bullock.. This is the character featured in Tank's Top tips in the Shane's World project.