Shubhabrata Dutta
Jason Isaacs will film his next movie in the ceremonial county of Greater Manchester, UK. Principal photography on ‘Twisting My Melons’ will take place in the city of Manchester starting this September. Maxine Peake is also cast. Matt Greenhalgh wrote the screenplay and will also direct.
The movie will be a biographical drama based on the life of Shaun Ryder, the frontman of the UK band Happy Mondays. The cautionary rock fable will chart Ryder’s story from childhood, when he was desperate to play in a rock band like his father, a local working-class guitar hero dubbed the ‘Horseman’, to his rise as the frontman for 90s Manchester band the Happy Mondays. The film is based on Ryder’s autobiography of the same name.
Jason Isaacs, known among his fans as Lucius Malfoy from the ‘Harry Potter’ movies and Timothy Ratliff from HBO Max’s ‘The White Lotus.’ In 2025, he starred in the movies ‘Heavyweight,’ ‘Juliet & Romeo,’ and ‘Words of War.’ We will next see him in Zachary Wigon’s 1850s-set horror drama ‘Victorian Psycho,’ which follows an eccentric young governess, Winifred Notty (Maika Monroe), who arrives at the remote gothic manor Ensor House. As Winifred assimilates, staff begin to disappear inexplicably, and the owners wonder if something is amiss with this new governess. The cast also includes Ruth Wilson, Thomasin McKenzie, and Evie Templeton.
Maxine Peake is a familiar face on television, with her performances dating back to the 1990s, when she starred in the BBC sitcom ‘dinnerladies’ and ITV’s ‘Children’s Ward.’ Recent shows she has been a part of include Prime Video’s ‘Bait,’ FX on Hulu’s ‘Say Nothing,’ and Hulu’s ‘The Bisexual.’ As far as movies are concerned, we saw her as Dottie Achenbach, mother of John Davidson (Robert Aramayo), a man with Tourette’s syndrome, in the BAFTA-winning biopic ‘I Swear.’ She played Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was assassinated in 2006, in ‘Words of War.’
Matt Greenhalgh will make his directorial debut on ‘Twisting My Melon.’ His previous writing credits include the Amy Winehouse biopic ‘Back to Black,’ the John Lennon biopic ‘Nowhere Boy,’ Joy Division lead vocalist Ian Curtis biopic ‘Control,’ and several episodes of the BBC drama series ‘Burn It.’
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