Hardy Bucks slum it on the grey carpet for big-screen debut

Allison Bray

DRESSED like the characters from 'Reservoir Dogs' the cast of the hit RTE comedy series 'Hardy Bucks' graced the black and grey doormat of the Lighthouse Cinema in Smithfield for the world premiere of 'The Hardy Bucks Movie' as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival.

The series co-creator, writer and star Chris Tordoff (27), who plays the lead character 'The Viper', joked that nothing can now stop the fictitious gang of slackers from Castletown, Co Mayo, from achieving worldwide stardom after their start as a YouTube "mockumentary" of life in the west in 2010.

After speaking, presumably to his Hollywood agent on his smartphone as he posed for the paparazzi, he said: "Cannes, Sundance, I believe they want a piece of the action, but really I'm only here to self-preservate. I would like to go off in my own direction and make a big movie about myself."

But for the Leeds native, who moved to Ireland when he was 12 and studied drama at Ballyfermot College of Further Education, the film – shot on a budget of just €320,000 – holds a lot of promise.

The Hardy Bucks (Martin Maloney, Owen Colgan, Chris Tordoff, Peter Cassidy, Tom Kilgallon) at The Lighthouse Cinema for the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival screening of 'Hardy Bucks The Movie'.

As for the lack of a glitzy, red-carpet premiere, Tordoff said: "It's a carpet at least. It might not be red, but how many other people are walking on carpets to their own film? Not many."

The film sees the wayward gang of five head to Poland for the Euro 2012 match with Italy only to get waylaid in Amsterdam.

It opens across Ireland on February 21.

Martin Maloney and Tania Westander at the Hardy Bucks premiere.