Rise of the Footsoldier: Vengeance Interview: Craig Fairbrass – ‘We tried to give Pat a few redeeming qualities, which is difficult to do’.

Following on from 2021’s origins prequel, the sixth instalment in this gritty British crime saga is Rise of the Footsoldier: Vengeance. Directed by Nick Nevern, this chapter is set in 90s Soho and sees Craig Fairbrass reprising his role as the vicious gangster Pat Tate. Ahead of its release, I jumped at the opportunity to sit down with the actor to discuss the film…

The last time we spoke (our 2022 interview), you mentioned that you enjoyed switching into ‘Pat Tate mode’ for these films. How was that process this time around and were there any big differences to the previous times you’ve played him?

He’s much more of a thinking man in this film. He’s calculating, putting two and two together, and he’s on a mission for revenge. It’s just different, and there’s a little more depth to him in this film. He’s not just running around shouting and screaming and swearing and snorting cocaine and beating people up. You know him a little bit more, but he has the physicality and the violence that goes with it.

Your character was sidelined a bit in the previous film. Why was that?

That was only because I wasn’t going to do the film as I wasn’t available. At the last minute, they asked if I could come in for a week and I did, but yeah, that’s the reason why.

Nick Nevern is back directing this one, and I think he’s really found his feet as a filmmaker. What was it like working more closely with him this time?

Nick’s very cinematic in his look, and he’s tuned into actors. I felt comfortable with him. When me and Andy (Loveday) decided to do this, we wanted him, you know. I think we’ve made a much a more grown up Footsoldier, and it looks beautiful…we try to make every film different. You can’t keep making the same film six times because people won’t stand for it.

With this being the sixth film in the series as you say, the RFCU (Rise of the Footsoldier Cinematic Universe) keeps expanding and has become very rich in its history. There are some great additions this time with the likes of Sadie Frost and Phil Davis joining the cast. How was it having them onboard?

Oh, it was amazing. Fantastic! They all bring an energy and gravitas to the screen. Phil was great, Sadie was great, Tara (Fitzgerald) was fantastic. I think we had a really good mix of actors on this one. Old school and some young guys coming through. Overall, I think it worked.

Obviously, this film follows the classic revenge narrative. I remember you saying last time that you’re always looking for your Get Carter. Do you think you found it with this film?

Get Carter was the template, you know. London, gritty, trying to keep it as real as possible, but with beautiful cinematography. We tried to give Pat a few redeeming qualities in this one. Just a touch, which is difficult to do. I love revenge movies and when I met Andy to talk about doing another Footsoldier, I said, you know “We’ve not done revenge”. I then went off to Cape Town to do One Piece and him and Jason Maza came up with a treatment. It was initially called Tate, then went to Two Days of Blood, but we can’t miss out the Rise of the Footsoldier banner in the title so here we are!

It feels like a big weekend for revenge films as Shane Meadow’s Dead Man’s Shoes is also on the big screen. That’d be quite the double bill…

Then you’ve got The Equalizer 3 as well. At the end of the day, we’re a small independent franchise that has an audience and you know, the fans love the films. The feedback for this one has been solid so fingers crossed people like it.

There are a few big fight scenes in this one with a lot of characters involved. Are those challenging to pull off?

Yeah, I mean they’re always challenging because this is a British film so there just isn’t the time. I’ve worked on big American movies and I know how long they can take – they can spend a week filming one fight scene…so when you turn up and you’ve got to do it in one morning, it’s tough. You’ve had two days rehearsal or sometimes no rehearsal and you’re rehearsing as you go on the floor. I think with Nick’s eye and the editing skills, I think we really got away with it. The scenes were believable and not too Hollywood. Short and sweet.

You mentioned working on One Piece lately. How does the experience on a big Netflix set compare with doing indie films like this one?

In terms of the scale, I can’t even compare as that was a $130 million show but you know what? At the end of the day, it boils down to one thing and one thing only. A camera in your face and someone shouting ‘action’ so whether you’ve got 3 quid or 100 million quid, it’s the same process. You just have bigger toys and more money to play with.

What’s coming up in the pipeline for you?

There’s a big show for the BBC that I just spent six months filming. It’s called Boat Story and it was made by Jack and Harry Williams who did The Tourist and Missing. It’s a really nice role and an incredible series so I’m really excited about that.