‘Small Faces’ sequel announced, starring River City actor

Scottish actor Iain Robertson received a Bafta at the age of 13 for his role in the 1996 gangster film Small Faces, which also launched the careers of Kevin McKidd and Breaking Bad star Laura Fraser.

Original director Gillies MacKinnon and his brother, screenwriter Billy MacKinnon, have begun work on the first draft of the script for the sequel, Smile.

The original follows the lives of three teenage brothers. Gang member Bobby, the artistically gifted Alan (Joe McFadden) and 13-year-old Lex, who grew up with their mother on Glasgow’s South Side in 1968.

Events spiral out of control when Lex accidentally shoots Malky, the leader of the Garaside Tongs street gang, with an air pistol.

The MacKinnon brothers are emphatic that this isn’t a typical sequel, but more of a “sequel.”

Gillies explained, “Smile isn’t Small Faces 2, it’s a different movie, with a different tone and in a different era, but based on the drama that was interrupted a quarter of a century earlier.

“This is a standalone film and viewers do not need to have seen the original to enjoy Smile as a standalone film. In a way it’s a ghost story from Glasgow – a story of redemption.

“Iain’s character, Lex, was a young boy who felt responsible for the murder of his own brother at a Glasgow ice rink.

“Now at 40, Lex is suddenly confronted with the resurrection of his dead brother, as ghost, apparition or reality, he has no way of knowing, but one thing is for sure – Bobby, played by Stephen Duffy, has returned to the dead.”

River City’s Iain Robertson revealed that the idea for the film came from a silly question.

He said; “Until I came to River City, I had never played a recurring character properly, but oddly enough, the character’s life begins to exist alongside your own.

“In the break after filming you’re wondering – how is Stevie, my character, going on, what will he be up to?

“I had to think about significant characters I’d played over the years and I started thinking what Lex was up to, so I emailed Gillies and Billy to ask them and here we are.”

Robertson and Duffy, best friends in real life, first met on Small Faces and Duffy reflected, “The way my character’s death was portrayed was quite cinematically impressive. I haven’t seen the script and I’m obviously very curious to find out how I might be involved, but there’s talk of this film being a ghost story. I’m absolutely ready to go after Iain.”

Actor Kevin McKidd, who later rose to fame with Trainspotting and American medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, said he was “surprised and excited” at the prospect of a sequel.

He said: “I loved working with our cast and crew at the time, but given that Malky, my character, also died on Small Faces, it’s hugely fascinating to hear my involvement being talked about .”

Iain Robertson added: “It’s going to be interesting to play Joe McFadden’s younger brother after all these years, considering I’ve gone completely gray and he looks about ten years younger than me now.”

Joe McFadden said, “Working on Small Faces has been a very special project and I’m really looking forward to finding out what happens to the characters in their later lives. I would jump at the chance to work with this team again.”