Director Dexter Fletcher has said he is making a return to acting with a part in Guy Ritchie’s hit series The Gentlemen. Fletcher, 60, who was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by the Prince of Wales on Wednesday, said Ritchie, with whom he worked on the 1998 film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, had asked him to play a part in the Netflix show.
Return to the Camera
Speaking after the investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle, he said: “I’ve gone back to doing some acting. I’ve got a few film projects that are coming together for next year. But in the meantime, Guy Ritchie, who is an old friend… asked me to come play a part in The Gentlemen.”
Fletcher told the Press Association: “I have a really good part. I did my first day’s filming the other day, which was rather fun, but nerve racking. I’ve not been in front of a camera for, I don’t know, five or six years. And it’s really good fun. I love the show. I love Guy. He’s an old friend. So I’m back in front of the camera for a little bit, which is kind of fun.”
Recognition After 50 Years
After acting in films such as Bugsy Malone, The Bounty and Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, Fletcher has become established as a director of films with hits including the 2019 Elton John biopic Rocketman and sports comedy Eddie The Eagle.
On being made an OBE, he said: “It means a lot if I’m completely honest. It means some sort of recognition of over 50 years in the industry, which is, obviously, a great personal achievement, and to have that recognised and acknowledged is wonderful and gratifying, really, because, particularly in our industry, people tend to be a little bit insecure about what they do. It’s sort of like the very nature of the entertainment industry. You’ve got to get up there and prove yourself each day. So, something like this is, it’s nice to have that acknowledgement and feel like it’s been noticed, and rewarded.”
Entertainment’s Enduring Appeal
Fletcher said the creative industries were “on tentative ground” but added: “You’ve got to feel good about it, I think. You’ve got to be positive about it. People will always want entertainment. They always have, you go back to the earliest civilisations, there were amphitheatres, and places where people would gather and watch other people tell stories. And that won’t change, I don’t think. It may change in the nature of how it is. But when television came along, people in radio went, ‘Oh, my God, it’s all over’. But radio is still around. When cinema came along, people in theatre, went, ‘Oh, my God, what are we gonna do?’. But theatre’s as strong and around as ever it was. And sure, it goes through different cultural ways and changes, but there’ll always be a need and a desire for entertainment, and there will always be people who want to tell stories and express themselves and find the different mediums and ways of doing it.”
