Exclusive: this is Manchester, we do things in front of a blue screen… 24 Hour Party People unseen.
Steve Coogan and friends film a cult film classic in Manchester a quarter of a century ago.
Unseen footage has emerged of 24 Hour Party People being filmed in Manchester a quarter of a century ago. Read the story, then watch the footage for yourself below.
The scenes show Steve Coogan as Tony Wilson dancing to the sound of Sex Pistols at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall in 1976 - although he’s actually jumping up and down in front of a blue screen to a pre-recorded track. Despite this bit of cinematic trickery a lookalike Pistols can also be seen, playing The Stooges’ song ‘No Fun’.
Coogan is in the scene alongside Andy Serkis as record producer Martin Hannett and Martin Hancock as gig organiser Howard Devoto. We also see actor James Cartwright as Morrissey watching from the stalls, although he doesn’t appear in the final cut of the scene.
The behind-the-scenes footage was originally shot for the Granada TV documentary I Swear I Was There, which told the story of the Pistols’ infamous gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in 1976. It was never used in the programme and this is the first time it's been seen.
The early scenes in 24 Hour Party People were filmed at the then derelict Free Trade Hall site in early 2001. It’s now the Edwardian Hotel. The film, which is being re-released nationwide in 4K after 24 years (of course), charts the rise and fall of Wilson, Factory Records and The Haçienda nightclub. There’ll be a special screening of the film at Salford’s Beyond the Music conference on 6 October with director Michael Winterbottom, producer Andrew Eaton and Steve Coogan talking about the production. There'll also be free screenings at 100 independent cinemas across the UK before it goes back on general release, including Reel in Rochdale. It's part of the Escapes scheme to make cinema more accessible.
The critically-acclaimed film was written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce. Many of Cottrell-Boyce’s script lines from the movie have entered into the city’s folklore. ‘This is Manchester, we do things differently here,’ is nearly always attributed to Tony Wilson. In fact, it’s a line from the 24 Hour Party People script spoken by Steve Coogan - an example of the way the line between the film and Wilson’s actual life story became blurred. ‘At Tony’s funeral there was a PowerPoint thing pointed at the wall with pictures and quotes from Tony,’ Cottrell-Boyce said in 2010. ‘More or less none of those were actually from Tony. They were from the film. Seeing me quoted as Tony at his funeral was weird. I found it very odd that I’d done this sort of Vulcan mind-meld with him.’
As part of the filming, the producers also created a £150,000 Haçienda set in a warehouse in Ancoats, as work to demolish the original club had already begun. It’s believed that when Wilson visited the set in 2001, he burst into tears.
Details of the Escapes scheme and the free screenings of 24 Hour Party People are here.
Watch the exclusive footage here:
