Adapted from a novel whose narrator is a tapeworm gestating inside the tract of the protagonist, Filth aims to amp up the debauchery and pile on the sexual shenanigans in this latest Irvine Welsh adaptation. It’s been a long while since a novel of Welsh’s has hit the big screen and from the looks of the first red band trailer, the material has branched out further into the realm of the Scottish author’s own brand of madness.
Fellow Scotsman James McAvoy, hot off the back of two homegrown titles, Welcome To The Punch and Danny Boyle’s Trance, embodies the character of Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson for whom the title is an accurate description. The film, which has been shooting in Stirling, Scotland, tells the story of Robertson, a corrupt cop who shags, drinks, snorts and punches anything that moves. In the lead up to Christmas the anti-hero hopes to plunge head-on into a festive binge but a brutal murder case knocks him from his indulgent axis as he manipulates his colleagues into doing his dirty work.
The trailer, which is brimming with nudity, drugs, drinking and drinking’s best mate, vomiting, highlights every one of Robertson’s flaws along with the supporting cast of Brit talent. Jamie Bell, Jim Broadbent, Imogen Poots, Eddie Marsan, Martin Compson and Kate Dickie round out the cast of characters for director Jon S. Baird. Baird’s debut, Cass, landed a few years back to little fanfare despite its critical appraisal.
From what’s seen in red band teaser and the genius cocaine-ladder poster – McAvoy is romping in some unheard of territory for the actor, who normally inhabits safer roles in either big budget Hollywood franchises (X-Men: First Class) or smaller Brit flicks (Starter For Ten, Trance).
The snarls he offers up are reminscent of Dennis Hopper’s Frank in Blue Velvet and the anti-authority copper certainly shares more than a passing similarity to the Bad Lieutenant.
You can check out the trailer and the new poster below. Filth has no UK or US release date but we’ll keep you posted when we hear more.
What are your thoughts on the first trailer for Filth? What do you reckon to James McAvoy breaking type? Have your say in the comments below.
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