Danny Dyer's new movie Marching Powder is a family affair because his son Arty also appears in the comedy, but there's a sweet reason why.
Arty plays JJ, the son of aging football hooligan Jack (played by Dyer) who is given six weeks to turn his life around after being arrested at a football riot. If he fails, then Jack will be sent to prison and likely lose his family.
Jack's attempts to turn his life around lead to him spending more quality time with JJ, and there was only ever going to be one person cast as his son.
"I was a bit worried about it because it's a high-pressure environment and he's never done it before, never spoke about it before. He was just so excited about saying the C-word and that's the truth," Dyer exclusively told Digital Spy.
Related: Danny Dyer reveals "horrendous" rehearsal for his new comedy
"It's important he says it and people might look down their nose at the idea of it, but actually it's about a father who's took his eye off the ball a little bit and his son is sponging and learning stuff from his father that he probably shouldn't."
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The ex-EastEnders star continued: "It's important that he's in it and it's there. I don't think I could have done this with someone else's child. The whole bit when I'm babysitting is all improv, me and Arty in a room and Nick [Love] went, 'Crack on'.
"We both took our tops off, we're fighting, rolling around on the floor, throwing Haribo at each other. It would have been uncomfortable [with someone else's child]."
The sequence, while not only being a fun and sweet moment in the otherwise enjoyably rude comedy, also showcases the bond that Dyer has with his son in real life, making it more personal for him.
Related: Danny Dyer's new British comedy gets extremely rude first trailer
"I'm very close to my children. My dad was a little bit rubbish, a bit masculine and wasn't very cuddly, [and] I always thought, 'Well, I'm going to be the opposite to that'," he reflected.
"So I cuddle my boy at every opportunity as I have with my daughters. I think that hopefully this will touch a few men that might feel a bit guilty sitting in their seats and will get emotional around that stuff with me and my son."
Ahead of the movie's release this week, Dyer also recalled the "horrendous" moment he had to go to Millwall games as a rehearsal process for Marching Powder.
Marching Powder is released in UK and Irish cinemas on March 7.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
