STAY DOWN PALACE

Now Lets take a more detailed look at Kevin Poole's 1999 masterpiece, Stay Down Palace.


"And the Palace players stood like statues!"
There will always be one moment that Kevin Poole holds a special place for in his heart. That great moment is the 1996 playoff final between Leicester City and Crystal Palace. When deciding on the subject of his first feature film, Poole felt that this football match would be perfect to translate on to the big screen.

"The playoff final was a dramatic day for all involved. I wanted to try and capture the drama and make it into a fantastic film. I always wanted to make movies and this was a great place to start".

Kevin entrusted old friend Barry Fry with the script writing duties. Barry knew that Stay Down Palace had plenty of potential. "It was a great idea, to recreate such a memorable day through the medium of film. However it was also a huge challenge. We had to try and stay true to the original story. I remember when we first took the script to producer Peter Stringfellow, he wanted to change the ending to appeal to the London audience but we were very much against it."


Stringfellow - Just plain weird.
What Poole and Fry had was a story that needed no hollywood treatment. It was a ready made thriller, a triumph over adversity, feel good film. A story about two great midfielders, and two great friends, Muzzy Izzet and Neil Lennon. It had an amazing twist, some fantastic set pieces and an ending to match The Usual Suspects. Now all Poole had to decide was who could play Muzzy and Neil?

Long time friend of Barry Fry, Laura Fishcake, was drafted in to take on the role of Turkish dynamo Izzet. Laura knew it would be difficult. "To be honest I was a bit worried because it was such a complex part to play. Muzzy, at this point, was only on loan from Chelsea so he had extra reason to impress. Its a character full of contradictions, a bit like my role in Pear Harbour". Noah Whyle was given the part of Simon Grayson and Patrcik Swayzee was only too happy to play Steve Walsh. But Kevin Poole pulled off a real masterstroke when he cast 'Romeo and Juliet' star Claire Danes to play Neil Lennon. Claire showed in Baz Luhrmann's film that she was superb at playing Northern Irish midfielders, a fact which was not lost on Poole. "Claire's performance in Romeo and Juliet reminded me a lot of Neil Lennon. Feisty, dangerous, emotional and full blooded. I also really fancied shagging her".


He went to Aston Villa and he won f**k all!
Stay Down Palace opened in October of 1999 to huge success. The Guardian called it "a work of art, higly emotive, beautifully photgraphed and subtley acted". However The Sun saw it differently, "This is prententious, self important rubbish" they claimed. What is certain is that Kevin Poole made a real name for himself and could give up his day job as a Paper Boy in Nuneaton. Danes, Fishcake and Whyle became huge stars and Laura was even introduced to the Leicester City faithful before their home game against Arsenal. The Forest scummer was roundly booed.


Izzet wins a crucial penalty as Neil Lennon looks on.

Film 2002 with Paul Mariner...