Rabbit Punch

Sometimes a great scripts arrives in the most unexpected ways – last year I was working for a little department in a very big media organisation when by a freak occurrence of hot desking I found myself sitting beside Hannah Salt. Now this department is not known for producing great writing talent, so when Hannah told me that she was a writer and gave me an example of her work I inwardly scoffed....and then I read the script. It was brilliant, here was a writer with flair, talent and an ability to capture what was truly inside her character's hearts. I knew I wanted to work with this women and so the project that is Rabbit Punch was born.

Rabbit Punch combines two of my great loves; boxing and my adopted city of Manchester. I have lived in Manchester for 15 years now and I like to consider myself as Manc with an unusual accent. As a native of North Dublin, Ireland, boxing has been part of my life from a young age, I come from a family of accomplished amateur boxers. I know how the sport has the power to redeem kids who are in danger of falling into a life of crime and to give a home to those who are rootless.

At the heart of Rabbit Punch, is a timely but universal story that resonates with us today, is is a story as old as the human condition – a tale of people been displaced and uprooted and forced to flee their homeland. It is a story of hopelessness into redemption, a tale about the power of community to protect those who are suffering and most of all it is a film about a young boy searching for a place to call home.

It is a story I was desperate to bring to screen once I read Hannah script, and I hope I have done the story the justice it deserves.