Danny Dyer: East End Boy

by Joe Allan

  It had been a life-changing episode for Danny. He had pushed himself way out of his comfort zone and had surprised many, including himself, with how well he’d managed to make the transition from screen to ‘respectable’ stage actor. The experience had given him renewed confidence in his ability and strengthened his resolve to persevere in his chosen profession. He still had one major ambition left to achieve: he had his sights firmly set on landing the lead role in a major film.

  While that particular goal was certainly attainable, it was, frustratingly, still a few rungs further up the career ladder for Danny. Luckily, he was about to make the acquaintance of one man who would give him a very important leg-up and become a guiding light during the next stage of Danny’s career. He was about to meet Nick Love.

  CHAPTER SIX

  ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE

  Although things were starting to look up professionally for Danny, privately he was not in a great place. His drinking and drug use were getting worse, but still he did not view it as a problem. He continued to land some solid roles and on set he was turning in strong performances, yet it seemed that a reliable stream of work had given him a false sense of security.

  While he might have been making enough of a name for himself to ensure a steady number of offers came his way, Danny’s early determination to keep progressing his career was no longer being reflected in the jobs he chose to pursue and accept. It appeared that the recognition he was receiving from inside the industry, as well as the first trappings of fame and success, were beginning to turn his head, making him considerably more complacent.

  Danny has never really had a problem with keeping his feet on the ground, but during this period he neglected to think about what was best for Joanne or Dani, let alone himself. Luckily, he had people around him who kept his best interests at heart. Paul Nicholls was one such person, and would check in with Danny every now and again to make sure he was still (mostly) on the straight and narrow.

  Nicholls’ own career was going from strength to strength. It’s easy to imagine that his post-EastEnders pin-up status ensured he was first on the list for the most sought-after projects, and the shrewd young actor had amassed an impressive network of contacts within the industry. He was constantly meeting the latest up-and-coming writers and directors – most of whom realized a project with Nicholls’ name attached had a much better chance of getting made. Nick Love was one of these talented figures.

  Love had a similar background to Danny. Growing up in 1970s London, his drug use at an early age had seen him spend a spell in rehab. However, he learned from his mistakes, turned his life around and managed to get a place in film school. He worked hard to establish himself in the right circles and was emerging as a strong working-class voice in what was at the time an almost exclusively middle-class British film industry. Love was an energetic and engaging presence, someone who had no problem selling himself, with an unwavering confidence in his own abilities as a film-maker. It was no surprise, then, that he thrived in the endless cut and thrust of the industry, finding it a natural home for his talents. And when Danny finally met him, he was ready to direct his first feature movie.

  Love had made waves the previous year with a short picture entitled Love Story. The film delivered enough of an idea of what Love could achieve, and it wasn’t long before he and co-writer Dominic Eames had written a script for the piece that would become his directorial debut, Goodbye Charlie Bright.

  Nicholls was already attached to the project, having signed on to play the film’s title character, when he suggested Danny come along and meet the director. Nicholls insisted they would get on, saying Love reminded him of Danny. His instinct proved correct. From the moment the pair shook hands, there was instant chemistry; they were soon swapping stories and revelling in each other’s enthusiasm for film-making and acting.

  Love talked passionately about his forthcoming project, telling Danny he would make sure there was a role in it for him, and, true to his word, an offer came through within days. Danny was excited to get the chance to work with Love, but he was disappointed he wouldn’t be playing the main protagonist in the film. He was convinced he could play the part better: he understood where Charlie came from, having been brought up on a housing estate with a gang of mates – he had already lived the role through his childhood and teens. Love was willing to hear Danny’s argument, and he may even have agreed he was a better fit, but Nicholls was a considerably bigger name than Danny at the time, and his involvement with the project was key to getting it into production. So, having aired his view, he nonetheless excitedly accepted the smaller, but pivotal, role of Francis.

  Goodbye Charlie Bright was set on a housing estate and was filmed on location in South London. The action centres on a gang of young men who have grown up together and spend most of their time hanging around the tower blocks drinking, indulging in casual sex and the odd bit of petty crime. Nicholls’ character, Charlie, is the obvious leader of the gang and his best friend is Justin (played by Roland Manookian). The story reveals how Charlie and Justin ultimately have different expectations of their life, causing the gang to drift apart and Charlie and Justin’s relationship to suffer irreparable damage.

  Danny’s character, however, has already distanced himself from the boys, instead choosing to spend more time with a girl from the estate. While Danny’s character appears passive and a bit soft in his early scenes, it’s clear he could relate to Francis – his relationship with Joanne and the birth of his daughter Dani when he was still a teenager had had a dramatic and sobering effect on his life. Danny brings an air of crushed desperation to the role when Francis’ girlfriend is revealed to have been cheating on him; he is pushed to his limits as he sees his whole future evaporating before his eyes, and it is this vulnerability that establishes such a strong connection with the audience. The juxtaposition of defeated powerlessness and defiance makes it so much more emotive than just another violent retaliation scene.

  Danny’s performance delivered more than Love could have hoped for from a relatively small role. The pair’s bond and mutual admiration was strengthened by the fact that Paul Nicholls had suffered a crisis of confidence on the shoot, which they had had to deal with together. Perhaps he was all too aware that Danny was more or less perfect for the part he himself was playing and worried he might be replaced. Whatever the reason, his insecurity had been a major headache for Love, on what was his first major project as a director.

  For Danny, his most valuable experience from his time on Goodbye Charlie Bright was in gaining a sense of what it was like to work with a real film-maker – an artist, rather than a ‘jobbing’ director. While the pair may have had many things in common, helping forge an unusually strong personal and professional relationship, late night partying wasn’t one of them – Love had completely cleaned up his act after his spell in rehab and rarely even touched a drink. But, at last, there was someone Danny could really relate to in his chosen profession: a fellow working-class Londoner, passionate and driven, and established enough to help is career along. It looked like he had found the perfect role model.

  The film was released in May 2001 but failed to make much of an impact in UK cinemas. While never likely to have quite the same impact as Trainspotting or Human Traffic, the film stands up today as a similarly evocative snapshot of a time and place in British youth culture, with its cool soundtrack featuring rising UK stars such as Craig David, Artful Dodger and Mis-Teeq, and a Britpop anthem from Oasis over the film’s climactic scenes that also captured the sound of the era.

  Almost immediately after he had wrapped on Goodbye Charlie Bright, Danny landed another part in a TV film being made by Sky, Is Harry on the Boat?. Although it was to be his first real lead role, the main draw for Danny was the chance to shoot the film on location – in Ibiza.

  The moment Danny stepped off the plane, he noticed something strange: wherever he went on the island, virtually everyone seemed to know who he was. Most would offer to buy him a dr
ink, while many simply gave him a pill and invited him to hang out with them. The combination of being many miles from home, the ego massage he was receiving from this constant recognition and the ‘anything goes’ atmosphere on the island was about to create a perfect storm of debauchery and careless behaviour. It would send Danny’s life into a dramatic tailspin, one that would cost him personally and see him become increasingly reliant on a heady mix of drink and drugs.

  Ibiza had grown into the ultimate party destination, playing host to some of the biggest and most popular dance clubs in the world. These ‘super-clubs’ had become the new spiritual home of the club culture Human Traffic brought so vividly to life. At almost exactly the same time Danny set foot on the island, the film’s cult status was reaching critical mass and anyone even vaguely connected to it was soon enjoying near legendary status. The fact that Danny had played Moff, the pilled-up party animal everybody wanted to take drugs with, meant he was welcomed with open arms everywhere he went. The only problem was that the punters thought they were on a night out with Moff, and Danny, not wanting to disappoint them, was more than willing to play along.

  Over the course of the shoot Danny rarely had to put his hand in his pocket. The 24/7 party lifestyle, which might be sustainable for a two-week holiday, started to take its toll on him as work on the film continued. He was in virtually every scene, but was too spaced-out to fully appreciate his star billing. For the first time since he had committed to acting as a career, what had always been easy was now a struggle. He would turn up to set late, start drinking and then couldn’t remember his lines. His complacency was magnified by the drugs, and he started to get on the wrong side of the producers. They told him to pull himself together, but Danny knew it would be virtually impossible to fire him and still finish the project on time and within budget. Danny was out of control and it was now having an effect on his health; towards the end of the shoot he was so run down that he had an ulcer in one eye and the crew were forced to film all his scenes from one angle.

  Around September 2000, Ibiza was entering its end-of-season climax and Danny and the rest of the cast were more than happy to be carried along for the ride. Danny was inebriated most of the time and got involved with one of the actresses from the movie, Davinia Taylor. Taylor’s father, Alan Murphy, had made a fortune in business, which provided his daughter with independent wealth. She had dropped out of acting courses when she was younger and had since become a core member of London’s Primrose Hill set, mixing with the likes of Jude Law, Sadie Frost, Kate Moss and Jonny Lee Miller, and eventually stumbled back into acting via modelling. She took a role in Hollyoaks, but it was not clear if she wanted to pursue acting full-time. There was no doubting Davinia was a beautiful girl, but she had nothing in common with Danny, their backgrounds being so different. It’s not difficult to imagine what was going on – Danny was ‘off the leash’ and, if he was thinking at all, probably assumed he was far enough away from home to get away with an affair without anyone ever finding out. What he hadn’t considered was the fact that in this world – the world of non-stop clubbing and drugs – he might as well be the most famous person on the planet. He was Moff from Human Traffic. That made him a big fish in a small pond and that in turn made him a target for the paparazzi. This would be Danny’s first real brush with the tabloid press and it was going to cost him dearly.

  Back in the UK, the first Joanne knew about Danny’s dalliance was from seeing pictures of him with Taylor splashed across the celebrity gossip pages of the Sun. She was understandably devastated. If things had been bad between her and Danny before he left for Ibiza, she had assumed it was just another phase and that they’d manage to work out their problems as they always had – together. By his own admission, Danny had not been paying enough attention to Joanne and Dani for a while, as he confirmed in his autobiography: ‘I was cracking on doing my thing, which was mostly looking after Dani and occasionally getting b*llocked by Joanne for trying to live the life of Jack the Lad and leaving her to care for the kid.’ He confessed, ‘I was also out on one quite a lot, which was unfair to the family.’

  In early 2001, when Is Harry on the Boat? was finally finished, Danny flew home to London, but, with his private life as it was, he didn’t even try to patch things up with Joanne – he knew it was a lost cause. Instead of going home, he moved straight into Taylor’s London home. At that point Taylor was living in the mansion known as Supernova Heights in London’s Primrose Hill, which she had famously bought from Oasis star Noel Gallagher in late December 1999. Local residents had celebrated after hearing news of Gallagher selling up, tired of the late-night comings and goings and loud parties. But it wasn’t long before Supernova Heights was hitting the headlines again as a safe haven and non-stop party palace for many of London’s bright young things.

  It is a testament to Danny’s drive to keep his career going during a period in which his personal life was so unbalanced and his dependence on drink and drugs was becoming unmanageable that he was still working. He was finally being offered roles without having to audition, but, in what was to become a dangerous habit for him, he began accepting roles not because they were interesting or even well paid, but because they were being handed to him on a plate.

  This trait of taking what was immediately on offer started a little earlier in his career. This can be seen in his acceptance of a supporting role in Greenfingers, a British comedy set in an open prison, which aimed to do for prisoners and flower arranging what The Full Monty had done for unemployed steel workers and stripping. Unfortunately, the film failed to connect with an audience and disappeared without trace at the UK box office. In the end, the only notable thing about the film was the fact it reunited Danny with Helen Mirren, his Prime Suspect co-star, after almost a decade.

  With his desire to really stretch himself seemingly dwindling, Danny started to accept more roles that could be perceived as a step backwards in terms of him reaching his goal of becoming a lead film actor. In 2001, he gave another comedic performance in High Heels and Low Lifes, a British comedy-drama directed by Mel Smith.

  Smith had risen to fame with Not the Nine O’Clock News before his comedy double-act with Griff Rhys Jones spawned a hit BBC comedy sketch show that ran for several series. He had huge success as a director with the transfer of Rowan Atkinson’s Mr Bean character from television to the big screen – 1997’s Bean made more than £150 million around the world from an estimated £11 million budget, and still stands as one of the most profitable British films ever made.

  Many believed that High Heels would have the same international appeal as The Full Monty and Four Weddings and a Funeral, and the budget was set accordingly – at almost £8 million, it was considerably more than the average British film. This was Danny’s biggest budget project to date. He had his own trailer and began to feel he was leading a charmed life. The movie would see Danny play his first role as a gangster – albeit a humorous version of one – and the largely slapstick tone meant he knew he wouldn’t have to stretch himself too much. The final cut ended up a little too light-hearted, however, and struggled to break even on its cinematic release, relying on DVD sales and foreign markets to pull it out of the red after disappointing UK and US box office takes.

  While the work itself left him cold, Danny was thrilled to meet Mel Smith, a man who famously enjoyed sharing his love for the finer things in life with those around him. He held extravagant dinner parties and entertained many of the most fascinating and talented people working in film and television at the time. Danny relished the opportunity to experience a lifestyle that had for so long been off-limits to someone with his background. He felt he was finally being accepted by his peers, and being judged on his acting ability rather than on who he was or where he’d come from. He began to get carried away with his acting abilities, feeling indestructible, untouchable, as he reveals in The Films of Danny Dyer: ‘I’m passionate about [acting] and it comes easy and naturally to me and they’re paying me for it . . . I�
�m meeting amazing people . . . I’m getting out of the f*****g homophobic, racist, East London mentality, I’m feeling a bit cultured . . . I’m going to dinner parties and I’m meeting amazing people and I just feel like I’m really f*****g spreading my wings a bit.’ He concluded, ‘[Those were] really good times in my life then. It seemed like I was just doing quality stuff as well . . . and I just thought, “Wow, this is never going to end.”’

  While it was far from the end, Danny was still on a steep downward slope in terms of his drinking and drug-taking and it began to affect his reputation in the industry. While the offers were still coming in, and many did not require any form of audition, the types of roles on offer were all beginning to look worryingly similar.

  Around this period, he was also approached about a role in Mean Machine, a remake of Burt Reynolds’ 1974 comedy The Longest Yard, which was being built around former footballer turned actor Vinnie Jones. The original movie had seen a group of prisoners challenge their guards to a game of American football; the British adaptation would, of course, switch the American sport for soccer.

  Jones had broken into acting through his iconic, but virtually silent, appearance in Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels in 1998, before teaming back up with the director for Snatch. He also won supporting roles in a couple of big Hollywood movies: Gone in 60 Seconds with Nicholas Cage and Angelina Jolie, and Swordfish with John Travolta, Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry. This would be Jones’ first starring role and many, including Danny, had doubts Jones was really leading man material. In The Films of Danny Dyer he says, ‘It was a big ask for Vinnie Jones to be able to step into Burt Reynolds’ shoes . . . I just didn’t really rate [Vinnie] as an actor.’