EXCLUSIVE: Jonathan Sothcott talks film & 2017’s standout moment in candid chat

by Dan Bryans

Q. Jonathan, you have been on numerous occasions been referred to as a prolific film producer- where did it all start?

Well there have been several starts really. The first when as a child I watched movies obsessively – we had a Betamx video of Jaws which i watched relentlessly (it remains my favourite film)… in my late teens I became a film journalist after I left school, writing extensively for magazines such as The Darkside. This in turn lead to being asked by David Gregory to work on creating supplementary features for DVD releases of old movies. During this period I worked with cinema legends such as Sir Roger Moore, Sir Christopher Lee, Bryan Forbes, Ken Russell and many more.

I produced a documentary about British film producer Euan Lloyd called The Last of the Gentlemen Film Producers. It premiered at the Bradford Film Festival.

Looking back Euan was a very inspirational figure to me. Anyway fast forward a few years and I guess the de facto start of me as a film producer came when I met the actor Martin Kemp. We became friends very quickly and a decade later that friendship is stronger than ever. Martin allowed me to use his name to open a lot of doors, something i will always be grateful for.

Q. Having worked with hundreds of actors across your productions – what qualities are you often looking for in talent?

Pure and simple – ability. There are so many good actors out there and one of the real joys of my job is giving them an audience. I hate the trend for employing non-actors who have social media followings but zero talent. I have been accused of it in the past, particularly on Bonded By Blood 2 but i think everyone in that film acquitted themselves admirably.

I do not believe however that you sell one more DVD because of stunt casting and going forward i just want to use the best possible actor for the part. The other very important quality is of course professionalism.

I’ve been lucky that in 30 movies I can count on one hand the actors I have worked with who have been unprofessional and to be honest they taught me a valuable lesson which is always believe your instinct: every one of them who turned out to be a wanker set alarm bells ringing the first time i met them! But that’s a fairly decent batting average.

Q. With the year drawing to a close, what has been a standout moment for you in 2017?

Easy. Lunchtime on 30th March in the bar at The Kensington Hotel which is where I met my partner Janine. From that moment my life changed forever and I’m grateful for that every day.

Q. You have recently announced the latest instalment to follow on from We Still Kill The Old Way, what can we expect?

Funnily enough as we’re talking i’m on my way to have lunch with the director of ‘We Still Die The Old Way’ – it will be the first time we’ve worked together and i’m really looking forward to it.. the third movie will be more like the first one tonally – dark, edgy, brutal. And there is very much a clue in the title — not everyone’s going to make it out alive. But i promise you this – if you liked the first one you’re going to love this one!