New film features Grimsby’s ‘three-day millionaires’
9th November 2022
A ‘rollicking black comedy’ about a thrill-seeking young Grimsby fisherman and his friends premieres in the town next week ahead of its nationwide release, reports Paul Scott. The film, Three Day Millionaire, was shot entirely in Grimsby and premieres on Friday, 18 November at Parkway Cleethorpes, before its general release the following week.
Watch the trailer here…
Named for the fishermen who returned from trips with fistfuls of cash to spend while onshore for three days, the film follows the story of three friends who work out of Grimsby on its last remaining trawler. On returning from a trip, they discover that the vessel owner hasn’t been paying the workforce, and plans to close down the firm.
Realising they must save the business, their friends, and a way of life, the three fishermen, along with help from an unexpected confidant, attempt to carry out the ‘greatest heist Grimsby has ever seen’. What could possibly go wrong?
Directed by Jack Spring and written by Paul Stephenson, the film stars Colm Meaney, Jonas Armstrong, Robbie Gee, James Burrows, Sam Glen, Grace Long and Michael Kinsey, as well as featuring hundreds of people from the Grimsby area.
Jack Spring told Fishing News that the fishing industry is the ‘heart and soul of the film’.
“The stories of the trawlermen are sewn into the very fabric of the film, and indeed Grimsby’s history and identity. If Grimsby’s proud maritime history didn’t exist, then neither would the film.
“The very concept of the three-day millionaire provided a wonderful arsenal of fun for me and the writer Paul Stephenson to work with. Combining this with Grimsby’s trawling industry collapse, and the crisis of identity that followed, gave us an excellent backdrop to tell the story of this wonderful corner of society.”
He said that a lot of evenings were spent with former trawlermen, all ‘so proud of their way of life and their adventures at sea’.
“They helped me and Paul bring the film to life, adding layers and layers of detail to our framework. Each and every trawlerman was so forthcoming and open with us about how tough the job was, but how much they loved the way of life and all that came with it.”
The film crew only had to go to sea once whilst shooting the film, said Jack Spring. “It was a skeleton crew consisting of myself, the director of photography for the second unit, and his assistant.
“It was horrific. The waves were ridiculous, and we were only about half a mile out of the port at most. I was lying on the floor of the small boat we took out, covered in fish guts, holding onto the tripod as the director of photography was busy being sick, and his assistant not too far behind him.
“I had about £50,000 of camera and lens on top of the tripod being swayed up and down as the small boat battled what felt like the most deadly of seas. It was nothing more than a whimper of what the trawlermen went through in the North Sea and beyond, but a sharp reminder nonetheless of the dangers of the job.”
Ticket information for the premiere in Grimsby on 18 November is available here.
This will be followed by a London gala screening the following week, with local early preview screenings playing from 21 November at select sites ahead of general release in UK cinemas. The film will be available on digital from 25 November.
This story was taken from the latest issue of Fishing News. For more up-to-date and in-depth reports on the UK and Irish commercial fishing sector, subscribe to Fishing News here or buy the latest single issue for just £3.30 here.
