Village cinema set for leading movie role

The Rex in Elland has been chosen as the backdrop for the comedy thriller about a cinema worker who encounters a number of strange people on her birthday.

Written and directed by Brighouse’s Ross Birks, it is the 25-year-old’s first feature-length film and owner Charles Morris was happy to allow the camera crews in to shoot.

Ross, who is funding the project with actor and film producer Guy Walker, said: “I used to visit The Rex as a child and always remember it as being a very special location.

“I’m hoping to make the owners proud and, in a perfect world, make a film that travels the globe and inspires people far and wide to visit The Rex.

“If it wasn’t for this cinema, the project wouldn’t exist.

“After making short films for the past few years I felt it was time to be a bit more ambitious and put together a feature film.

“The trick is to create something unique and individual and I felt that using a small British cinema for a backdrop would give it that unique quality.”

Entitled ‘Hollywood Boulevard’, the film has been cast with mainly unknown actors, as well as more established names like Manchester-based actor Stefan Gumbs, who previously appeared in the BBC’s Waterloo Road and the Ken Loach film ‘Looking for Eric’.

The film will be completed early next year.