Millions-part 2

PART TWO: THE FANTASY THAT BECAME A REALITY

Although it takes place in a very recognisable, not-so-far-away Britain, Frank Cottrell Boyce's script was unusual in many ways. On the surface, its two lead characters, Damian and Anthony Cunningham (Alex Etel and Lewis McGibbon) are two suburban northern brothers, whose mother has died in tragic circumstances, although we never learn how. Anthony is a regular lad of his age, into Playstation, bikes, Nikes and football game Subbuteo, but Damian is a quieter, more thoughtful boy, visited by visions of saints who help him deal with the problems caused by the stolen money. Clearly, this mystical element needed careful nurturing and one of Danny Boyle's earliest comments after reading the script was the need for truly extraordinary children in the lead roles. If the project was going to work, Boyle needed unknowns with movie star quality and charisma.

Casting commenced in September 2002 and the process was extensive. It was always intended that the film would be set in Liverpool and the North West of England, so the search covered children's agents and children's drama groups across the whole region as well as schools and open auditions. "We went into a process of what casting directors call 'kissing frogs'," says Boyle, "where you have to see thousands of kids before somebody emerges who you hope will be your prince. You can't go ahead until you've got the right kid. Normally you get the green light and start the casting, but with a film like this you can't start until you've got the kids. I should add, in this day and age, that I never kissed any of the children."

The casting team finally came across young actor Lewis McGibbon to play the older boy, Anthony, who has firm ideas about the value of money and how it should be spent. "Lewis' audition was very strong," says producer Graham Broadbent, "and you could see he really knew where he was in the role." Adds Boyle, "He's a fantastic actor for such a young guy. He had timing, knew what acting was and had crossed the barrier from total innocence to knowing what it was about. I thought that was a great attribute for that particular character because Anthony is someone who has one foot in childhood and the other foot in the modern world."

Indeed, McGibbon certainly had a handle on Anthony. "The money changes him," he says. "He's just a boy, but when his brother finds all the money, Anthony literally takes it over and in the end it takes over the house, really. He recognises how the money changes him and it takes him over. Basically I think he's quite greedy - he just wants all the money. If I had the money, I'd buy my Mum a villa in Portugal, I'd buy my Dad a really big Jeep, I'd buy my sister whatever she wants and I'd buy myself a big house with a massive widescreen TV and a Playstation and all the Playstation games in the world."

Damian, however, proved much harder to find, simply because the character is so young. "None of the boys we saw of that age are truly actors yet," says Boyle, who needed someone who could capture Damian's innocence, naivety and beatitude. In keeping with the nature of this project, Alex Etel came out of nowhere, a complete novice who was discovered amongst the weekly audition tapes that would arrive in the production office. Boyle instantly loved his look. "I remember when he walked into the room, even before he opened his mouth. I had to stop myself from thinking, 'That's him.' But he was the one I wanted from the beginning and I stuck with that."

Lewis and Alex went through around five auditions before they were finally selected very close to the start of principal photography. "Danny's instincts paid off" says Broadbent "Alex has the face of an angel and he's every bit the movie star too."

Etel himself is not quite the cherub he appears to be on screen. "I think Damian's a bit of a weirdo," he says. "He sees saints and things that other people don't see and spends a lot of time reading and talking about the saints, which I think is very strange." However, Etel certainly seems to share Damian's propensity for day-dreaming. "If I had that much money," he says, "I'd buy a big car and a big house with a swimming pool, which I'd fill with strawberry jelly and a big house boat."

It says something about the film's casting that the two boys hit it off instantly and a strong bond has since developed between them, both as actors and otherwise. "Lewis has become like a big brother to me," says Alex. "We've not really had any bad times," confirms Lewis. "He comes round to mine and we play on the Playstation together and I try to help him out a bit as acting is new to him - he was just picked out of school, so I've explained things about filming when he didn't understand."

The core cast was rounded out by Jimmy Nesbitt, who plays the boys' father, Ronnie. "Jimmy is such a communicator," says Boyle. "I think that goes straight to the audience and he has an immediacy that you believe him and you just want him to talk to you about anything. That seemed perfect for this part."

When Boyle sent him the script, Nesbitt was rather surprised by its tone. "When I first read it, I was surprised to find it was written by Frank, as I think it's true to say that some of his previous work has been quite dark. Knowing it came from the minds of Frank and Danny could have led one to believe that this one would be dark too. Instead what they've created is magical. Frank has a lot of children, so he's well placed to write for children and he does it in a magnificently fresh and totally real way. The film is very warm, deeply emotional but isn't overly sentimental."

Indeed, it's a testament to Frank Cottrell Boyce's screenplay that Ronnie's character, though poignant, never overshadows the two boys' story. "Ronnie is dealing with the death of his wife, adapting to being a single Dad and moving on to a new life," says Nesbitt. "But although Frank doesn't ignore the tragedy in their situation, he doesn't tug at your heartstrings or overly play it up. Ronnie has to get on with life and he can't really stop to think about it too much as he's too busy getting the boys up and off to school in the morning and being both their mum and their dad. The way he deals with it is often funny and very touching."

The final piece of this family jigsaw was actress Daisy Donovan, who plays Dorothy, the charity worker who stumbles into their life by accident and somehow never leaves. Again, Boyle decided to follow his instincts. "As soon as we started writing her role, Daisy just popped into my head," he says, "just as Jimmy Nesbitt popped into my head for the part of Ronnie. You should always try and follow those instincts up. For Dorothy, I wanted someone left field who just bounces in with this enormous energy to her, very refreshing and slightly barmy. And of course, Daisy is also a fantastic actress."

Cottrell Boyce, was particularly pleased with the casting of Nesbitt and Donovan as the grown-ups of the piece, "I envisaged me as the father character," he says, "being exasperated, preoccupied and kind of swamped by other people's fantasies and I think Jimmy was perfect casting because he can carry it so well with such charm. Daisy was perfect too, because we needed a character who could keep you guessing, so that you don't know whether she's good or bad or whether she has her own agenda. As an actress, Daisy's very mercurial when you watch her in her TV programme and when we were creating the character of Dorothy we always said she was a kind of Daisy Donovan character, so it was fantastic when we actually got her, because we were using her as the template."

Donovan was quick to intuit that her character is as much defined by Ronnie and his boys as anything else. "Dorothy's basically quite lonely," she says. "She kind of lives the life of a travelling sales woman, except it's for charity and when she meets Ronnie she sees a twinkle in his eye and sees the prospect of this little ready-made family of three men - two little ones and a grown up one. Ronnie kind of charms her and she hitches a lift into their life."

A USER'S GUIDE TO SAINTS. #3: CLARE OF ASSISI (1194-1253)

After hearing Francis Of Assisi praying in the streets, Clare turned her back on her wealthy upbringing and joined a convent, where she founded The Order Of The Poor Ladies and ran it for 40 years. Clare was selfless in her friendships and would tend to everyone's needs, no matter how small. Later in life, she would become too weak to attend masses; instead, an image of service would miraculously appear on the wall of her room. As a result, she is considered the patron saint of television, as well as goldsmiths, laundry workers and telephones.

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