Release date: 7th May 2010
BOX OFFICE:
Opening weekend:
$41,512 (USA) (7 November 2010) (8 Screens)
Gross:
$301,527 (USA) (13 February 2011)
PRODUCTION CO:
Film4, Wild Bunch, Optimum Releasing, Warp Films
RUNTIME: 97 Mins
TRIVIA:
On the same day as the premier of Four Lions at Sundance (Jan 23rd 2010) the UK terror threat level was raised to severe due to non specific 'chatter'
Chris Morris (the Director) claimed that Barry, the main Jihadist leader of the group, is actually based on a former BNP leader who 'accidentally' converted himself into a Muslim. He did this by studying the Qu'ran in an attempt to out-knowledge the Asian youths he regularly assaulted
When the Lions are supposedly at the London Marathon to detonate their bombs, they are actually in Sheffield as noticed by the 0114 Sheffield telephone numbers. The double decker buses are also the wrong colour.
PLOT:
The film follows a group of young Muslim men living in Sheffield who have become radicalised and aspire to be suicide bombers.
Sundance film festival:
'Four Lions tells the story of a group of British jihadists who push their abstract dreams of glory to the breaking point. As the wheels fly off, and their competing ideologies clash, what emerges is an emotionally engaging (and entirely plausible) farce. In a storm of razor-sharp verbal jousting and large-scale set pieces, Four Lions is a comic tour de force; it shows that-while terrorism is about ideology-it can also be about idiots'
Production:
'In a British city, four men have a secret plan. Omar is disillusioned about the treatment of Muslims around the world and is determined to become a soldier. This is the most exciting idea Waj has ever heard. Better still it's a no brainer because Omar does his thinking for him. Opposed to Omar and everyone else on earth is the white Islamic convert Barry. He'd realize he joined the cell to channel his nihilism - If he had half the self knowledge of a duck. Faisal is the odd man out. He can make a bomb - but he can't blow himself up just now because his sick dad has "started eating newspaper". Instead he's training crows to fly bombs through windows. This is what Omar has to deal with. They must strike a decisive blow on their own turf but can any of them strike a match without punching himself in the face?'
BACKGROUND TO THE FILM:
Chris Morris spent three years researching different institutions and links to jihadism. For example, the secret service, terrorism experts, ordinary Muslims, police and Inams. Morris claimed that all the research done predated the 7/7 London bombings.
Originally, the project was rejected by Channel 4 and BBC as it was perceived as too controversial, as it was too soon after the 7/7 bombings.
At first, Chris Morris suggested that he sent round a mass email titled 'funding mentalism' and if fans contributed between £25 and £100 they would be used as extras in the film, in return for their help with funding. However, funding was eventually secured in October 2008 by Film4 Productions and Warp Films. The original filming began in Sheffield, May 2009.
During the making of the film, Morris sent the script to Guanatanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg. Begg claimed that he found nothing in the script that he thought would perhaps be offensive towards British Muslims. When the film was completed, Begg was giving a special screening and he said that he enjoyed it.
