Release Date: May 11, 2011 / Running Time: tbc / Certificate: tbc press Contacts

Boyega is currently training at the Identity Drama School. His theatre credits include Six Parties at the National Theatre and Category B at the Tricycle Theatre.

Jodie Whittaker graduated from Guildhall in 2005 with the Gold Medal for Acting. She first came to the public’s attention as Jessie in Roger Michell’s Venus for which she was nominated for a British Independent Film Award as Best Newcomer, a Critic’s Circle Award for Best British Newcomer and a Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture.

ATTACK THE BLOCK marks Esmail’s film acting debut. Alex was spotted during a drama class at Acland Burghley School in Tufnell Park. He is an extreme sports enthusiast, specializing in martial arts, skateboarding and parkour free running. This natural ability with balance and movement has no doubt helped him to develop his acting talents.

Trained at the Young Actors Theatre, Drameh’s film credits include Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter, Justin Donaldson’s Right Side of God, Barney Cokeliss’ Be Good and Sally Aprahamian’s There for Me.

ATTACK THE BLOCK marks Jones’ film acting debut. He was taking part in a summer project with Mayhem Theatre in the South Bank Centre when his teacher put him forward for auditions. As well as acting, he has a keen interest in basketball, cooking oriental foods, manga comics and all things superhero.

ATTACK THE BLOCK marks Howard’s film acting debut. He was discovered in a drama class at John Ruskin College in Croydon. Simon is an aspiring rapper and actor from South London who has been attending workshops at Peckham theatre and London Youth Committee, where he recently performed in Much Ado About Nothing.

Following his graduation from LAMDA in 2006, Treadaway’s feature film credits include Nick Hamm’s Killing Bono, Larysa Kondracki’s The Whistleblower and Viko, Louis Leterrier’s Clash of the Titans, Philip Ridley’s Heartless, Simon Ellis’ Public Sex which was selected for the 2009 Rotterdam International Film Festival, Wayne Holloway’s God’s Wounds and Lou Pepe and Keith Fulton’s Brothers of the Head, for which he was nominated for a British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer and which won the Michael Powell Award for Best British Film at the Edinburgh Film Festival.

Frost first came to prominence as the gun-mad character Mike Watt in Channel 4’s Spaced. Since then, Frost has become one of the U.K.’s most sought-after actors.  He earned a nomination for Most Promising Newcomer by the British Independent Film Awards for his role in the cult zombie movie Shaun of the Dead, starring opposite Simon Pegg.  Frost again starred with Pegg in the hugely successful hit comedy Hot Fuzz. Frost’s other film credits include Kinky Boots, Penelope, Wild Child and The Boat That Rocked. 

Frost demonstrated his acting credentials in the BBC’s adaptation of Martin Amis’ best seller Money.  Amis added his voice to the critical approval Frost garnered for the role.  He has also appeared in the Channel 4 sitcom Black Books, with Dylan Moran and Bill Bailey, and hosted the Channel 5 series Danger! 50,000 Zombies! and Danger! Incoming Attack!  Frost was the lead role in Hyperdrive, a sci-fi comedy series for BBC Two, and starred in two seasons of Man Stroke Woman.

Hunter’s feature film credits include James Watkins’ Eden Lake and Little Terrors.

Joe Cornish is best known as one half of British comedy duo Adam and Joe. As well as writing and directing ATTACK THE BLOCK for Film Four and Big Talk Productions, Joe recently co-wrote The Astonishing Ant Man with Edgar Wright for Marvel Studios, and Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson's Tintin for Dreamworks, along with Wright and Steven Moffat.

Joe first appeared on British TV screens in 1997 as co-star and co-creator of The Adam and Joe Show, a home-made comedy show famous for it's sketches, songs and animations satirizing pop culture. The show found considerable cult and critical acclaim, winning the Royal Television Society’s Best Newcomers award in 1998 and running for four seasons. 

The success of The Adam and Joe Show lead to spin-off comedy series on both Channel 4 and the BBC, including Adam & Joe’s Formative Years, Adam and Joe’s American Animation Adventure, and Adam and Joe Go Tokyo.  Joe also worked as director for Channel 4 comedy shows such as Modern Toss and Blunder, as a writer for BBC2’s Big Train, and as a presenter for BBC2 and BBC Radio 4.

Nira Park founded Big Talk Productions in 1995, through which she produced both series of Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes' award-winning comedy series Spaced, directed by Edgar Wright, all three series of double BAFTA award-winning sitcom Black Books, and the Rose D’Or nominated comedy/drama series Free Agents, all for Channel 4. 

Following the success of Spaced, Nira went on to develop and produce the hit movie Shaun Of The Dead, for which she received a Carl Foreman Award nomination at the 2005 BAFTA Awards. Nira was also selected as one of Variety Magazine’s Top Ten Producers to Watch.

In 2006, she produced Ringan Ledwidge’s debut feature Gone for Working Title/Universal and she collaborated again with Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright on their follow up movie, Hot Fuzz. 

In 2007, Nira expanded Big Talk Productions and created Big Talk Pictures and is now CEO of both companies.

Nira recently produced Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, starring Michael Cera, which was released internationally in August 2010 to outstanding critical acclaim. She also Executive Produced BBC Three’s hit sitcom Him & Her, which has been commissioned for its second season, and Channel 4’s Friday Night Dinner, written and produced by Robert Popper.

Nira’s most recent production is Paul, penned by and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and directed by Greg Mottola for Working Title/Universal. The film opened number one at the box office in the UK and will be released in the US in March.
In December 2010 she was the recipient of 'Producer of the Year' at the UK Women in Film and TV awards. Nira continues to produce and develop across a diverse range of Film and TV projects for Big Talk Productions and Pictures.
James Wilson – Producer

Before becoming an independent film producer, James Wilson was a production executive at Fox Searchlight Pictures and Film4. Over eight years he worked on the development, production and acquisition of a range of films including Sexy Beast, Dancer In The Dark, The Filth and The Fury, The Low Down, The Last King of Scotland, Nil By Mouth, The Ice Storm, Shaun of the Dead and The Full Monty.  He is next producing Jonathan Glazer’s Under The Skin, with Nick Wechsler. Jim is also a Director of Big Talk Pictures.

Matthew Justice joined Nira Park at Big Talk in 2007, as Managing Director.

Prior to Lunar, he looked after Business Development and Production at Invicta Capital, one of the leading providers of structured finance to the international Film and TV industry. Before Invicta, Matthew was Stephen Norrington’s producing partner; together they worked on Blade, The Last Minute, and Death Machine. He also produced Michel Gondry’s award-winning commercials for Levis and Smirnoff, after starting his career at The Moving Picture Company.

Since joining Big Talk, Matthew has overseen the transactional side of the BBC Worldwide acquisition of a minority shareholding in Big Talk’s television company, Big Talk Productions, and the first look arrangements Big Talk’s film company, Big Talk Pictures, has with Optimum/Studio Canal and Film4. He has served as Executive Producer on Big Talk’s Free Agents, Him & Her, Rev. and continues to work across the Film and TV slate. Matthew sits on Pact Council as Chair of Film, and also on the Film Industry Training Board.

Edgar Wright – Executive Producer

Although he’s only in his mid-thirties, award winning filmmaker Edgar Wright’s list of credits reads like that of a seasoned veteran.   With projects like the UK television series turned international cult phenomenon Spaced, the rom-zom-com feature film debut Shaun of the Dead, and its follow up action/comedy opus Hot Fuzz, he’s evolved from a young film geek wanting to prove himself into one of the most sought after geeks working in film today.  He was also tapped by directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez to contribute the faux trailer Don’t, for the epic Grindhouse and was brought on-board by Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg to co-write The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn. Last summer Wright released his first U.S. production of the comic book movie Scott Pilgrim Versus The World for Universal Pictures starring Michael Cera. He has a number of upcoming projects in development.

Townend has worked as Director of Photography on Samantha Morton’s The Unloved and also as 2nd Unit Director of Photography on Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later Daniel Barber’s Harry Brown and Lynne Ramsey’s Ratcatcher.

This year Jonathan received an ACE nomination for his work as (shared) Head Editor on Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World for Universal Pictures. Jonathan has also worked as additional editor on Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz and Don Mancini’s Seed of Chucky.

A long-time collaborator with Big Talk, Rowland has designed Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead.

Dias’ film credits include Ringan Ledwidge’s Gone, Christian Levering’s Dogma ’95 – The King is Alive, Philippa Cousins’ Happy Now and she is currently designing the costumes for The Inbetweeners TV movie.

Jane Walker is another long-time collaborator with Big Talk, having most recently worked on Greg Mottola’s Paul, in addition to Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead. Other film credits include Robert Weide’s How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, David Schwimmer’s Run Fat Boy Run, Sho Igarashi’s Chosyu 5, David Mackenzie’s Asylum, David Dobkin’s Shanghai Knights, Simon Cellan Jones’ The One and Only, Stephen Sommers’ The Mummy and The Mummy Returns and Phil Agland’s The Woodlanders.

Herbert has worked as Stunt Co-Ordinator on numerous films, most recently Johnny English Reborn David Gordon Green’s Your Highnes’, Neil Marshall’s Centurion and Doomsday, Richard Curtis’ The Boat that Rocked, Steve McQueen’s Hunger, Gerald McMorrow’s Franklyn, Beeban Kidron’s Hippie Hippie Shake, Robert Weide’s How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges, David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises and Mikael Hafstrom’s 1408.

Mike entered the industry in 1987 and quickly established his career as a makeup designer, sculptor and one of the top animatronic engineers in his field. He has since worked on over 60 feature films, including Hellboy, Men In Black, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Fantastic Four, X-Men: The Last Stand and Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Elizalde and his wife Mary established Spectral Motion Incorporated in 1994 as a vehicle for producing and successfully marketing a series of original model kits sculpted by Elizalde. Spectral Motion participated in the creation of creature and makeup effects in successful collaboration with such top-level effects companies as Rick Baker's Cinovation and Stan Winston Studio in the years that followed.

Double Negative, located in the heart of London’s Soho, was set up in 1998 with a team of 30 staff. Since then the company has grown to 900+ staff, making it Europe’s largest provider of visual effects for Film. Their approach ensures films both small and large receive the same high standard of creative and technical service and makes for a winning combination that has resulted in Double Negative being recognised with several Visual Effects Society awards for films such as Inception and Sherlock Holmes and being nominated for both the BAFTA and Academy Awards for vfx for The Dark Knight and Inception.

Big Talk is a multi-award winning Film and TV Production Company, founded by producer Nira Park in 1995. 

Its credits include Spaced, Black Books, Free Agents, Rev, Him & Her and Friday Night Dinner and the hit movies Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, as well as last year’s critically acclaimed Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. 

In October 2007 Big Talk's film arm, Big Talk Pictures completed a slate development deal jointly funded by Film 4 and UK Film Council under which it developed ATTACK THE BLOCK and in September 2009 the company completed a first look financing and distribution deal with Optimum/Studio Canal to continue to expand its film ambitions.  

Big Talk's most recent release is Paul – written by and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and directed by Greg Mottola for Universal/Working Title Films. Paul opened in February in the UK to record numbers and follows in the US in March. 
About Optimum Releasing

Established in May 1999, Optimum Releasing is a key element within Studiocanal, the pan European film, production and sales distribution arm of French media group, Canal+. Optimum Releasing has established a reputation for an innovative approach to distribution and has enjoyed success with a varied mix of film titles across all genres.  A passion for film and commitment to creativity is central to all of Optimum's activity.

2011 will see the release of a host of exciting and varied titles including Jaume Collet-Serra's Unknown, Duncan Jones' Source Code, Luc Besson's Adele Blanc-Sec, Tomas Alfredson's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Francois Ozon's Potiche. Past theatrical releases include Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, Paul Haggis' In the Valley of Elah, Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, Garth Jennings' Son of Rambow, Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler, Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Armando Iannucci's In the Loop, Anne Fontaine's Coco avant Chanel,  Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker, Jacques Audiard's A Prophet, Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer, Chris Morris' Four Lions and Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's The Tourist.

On the production front, Optimum's ambitious plans include Rowan Joffe's Brighton Rock starring Sam Riley, Andrea Riseborough and Helen Mirren, which had its World Premiere at the Toronto Film Festival and opened in the UK on February 4; Nick Murphy's debut feature The Awakening starring Rebecca Hall, Dominic West and Imelda Staunton - both in post production - and the establishment of Warp X with Warp Films, the Film Council and Film4. The first two films from Warp X are feature directorial debuts from Paddy Considine with Tyrannosaur, which had its World Premiere in Sundance and won two major prizes, and from Richard Ayoade with Submarine, both of which will be released by Optimum this year.

Film4, headed by Tessa Ross, is Channel 4 Television’s feature film division. Film4 develops and co-finances films and is known for working with the most innovative talent in the U.K., whether new or established. Film4 has developed and co-financed many of the best UK films of recent years, films like Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges. Steve McQueen’s Hunger, Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky and Another Year, Ken Loach’s Looking For Eric, Sam Taylor Wood’s Nowhere Boy

and Chris Morris’ Four Lions.

Currently on release are Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours and Peter Mullan’s NEDS, and due for release in the first half of this year are Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go, Kevin Macdonald’s The Eagle and Richard Ayoade’s Submarine.  Miranda July’s second film The Future and Paddy Considine’s debut feature Tyrannosaur premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and will be released in the UK later this year.

As well as The Iron Lady, Film4’s current productions include Pawel Pawlikowski’s The Woman In The Fifth, Steve McQueen’s Shame, Lone Scherfig’s One Day, Walter Salles’ On The Road, Ben Wheatley’s Kill List, Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights and Ben Palmer’s The Inbetweeners movie.

Since its creation in 2000 the UK Film Council has backed more than 900 films, shorts and features, which have won over 300 awards and entertained more than 200 million people around the world generating £5 for every £1 of Lottery money it has invested.