Dom, kid, you got the range.
Graduating from the docks and downtown of Baltimore with The Wire, nabbing a BAFTA for Appropriate Adult and serving a whole lot of Golden Globe-nominated shirtlessness in The Affair, we know and love Dominic West as one of our little island’s most consistent Serious Actor exports.
But comedy?
Starring as leading man across all three of this year’s Jameson First Shot productions, the winning films give West a welcome chance to flash his comedic talents to much hilarity. British winner Ollie Wolf’s Five Star Fouad sees West as a hapless bank robber massacring his Uber rating, A Funny Thing Happened to Kelly & Ted puts West and up-and-comer Amy Argyle in out and out comedy roles, whereas The Finish Line sees Dominic treading comedy’s darker, more misanthropic line as a paraplegic making reluctant new friends.
As ever, ***Jameson First Shot*proves itself an amazing opportunity for emerging directors to work with established talent, with the space and support to bring bold visions to screen and deliver top notch short film. All the finished products, below!
The Finish Line
<iframe allowfullscreen=”” frameborder=”0” height=”315” src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/S5fBj4jncvk” width=”560”></iframe>
First up of the three, each shot in LA by cinematographer Marc Shap and produced by The Social Network and Captain Philips’ Dana Brunetti, Australia’s Alice Cogin directs this touching black comedy-drama with West starring as a man who is forced to reassess his disability through a series of unexpected events.
Five Star Fouad
<iframe allowfullscreen=”” frameborder=”0” height=”315” src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/JuZnyJZObR4” width=”560”></iframe>
Directed by London-dwelling writer Ollie Wolff, West himself says: ‘The premise of ‘Five Star Fouad’ immediately grabbed our attention but the more we re-read it, the more we appreciated the heart-warming moment of realisation that Ollie had created and how it was eventually delivered from a completely unexpected source.”
A Funny Thing Happened To Kelly & Ted
<iframe allowfullscreen=”” frameborder=”0” height=”315” src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/WOtxvdIwd3A” width=”560”></iframe>
A light-hearted comedy with a dark twist from Canadian film student Jason Manella, serving as warning for paying too much attention to the voices in our head.
Dominic was particularly excited about the quirky approach that Jason had adopted: “Jason’s script had a format and a concept that I have never seen or heard before. All the dialogue is delivered as a single voiceover via two separate characters. And if that wasn’t original enough, all the dialogue is all in rhyming couplets!”
All the info on Jameson First Shot and the winner’s journeys here.