As the world waits with bated breath for news of a new James Bond, British indie film company Shogun Films is channelling the old classics for its upcoming spy thriller Knightfall.
Leading the cast is none other than Geoffrey Moore, the handsome son of perhaps the most iconic 007, Sir Roger Moore. This isn’t simply stunt casting however – Moore Jnr has been acting since childhood when he appeared opposite Kirk Douglas in a TV movie of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde and with his father, Patrick MacNee and John Huston in Sherlock Holmes In New York. As an adult, Moore blended further film appearances (Fire Ice & Dynamite, Fit To Kill) with a music career before a 90s spell as a restaurateur when he opened iconic celeb haunt “Hush” in Mayfair. Moore’s friendship with producer Jonathan Sothcott had seen them looking for a vehicle for Moore’s revival as an actor and Knightfall provides the perfect opportunity.
“We’ve talked about it for years,” explains Sothcott. “It was a case of finding the right role in the right movie and getting it right. It needed to be clever but not silly.” There are a few subtle nods to the Moore spy movie legacy in Knightfall – Geoffrey sports a navy blue blouson worn by his father throughout the last act of Octopussy, made by celebrity tailor Doug Hayward. “We’re not trying to be clever and post-modern,” says Sothcott, “but for aficionados such as myself there are a couple of easter eggs.”
Moore plays tough, charming MI5 officer Hugh, whose girlfriend Ros (Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott) finds herself with a target on her back after a botched bio weapons raid. With the secret service against them and a group of ruthless mercenaries out to kill them, Hugh and Ros seek refuge at the rambling country home of her estranged father, legendary spy catcher Charles Knight, played by Ian Ogilvy. As the mercenaries descend in a terrifying home invasion, the Knights must put aside their differences and work together to avoid a catastrophe and a conspiracy that goes right to the heart of the intelligence services.
“There aren’t many indie British action movies,” says Sothcott. “There were a few in the 80s, things like The Fourth Protocol and Who Dares Wins and this is very much in that vein, albeit updated for today’s audiences. It’s an action-thriller that requires a little thought and isn’t just a bang bang shoot ‘em up, but it’s also a real audience pleaser.” Perhaps Sothcott’s best known film is Vendetta, the critically acclaimed 2013 action/revenge film which gave Danny Dyer a chance to shine after years in the DVD doldrums. Knightfall arrived on his desk from writers Robert Dunn and James Smy, devised as a vehicle for Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott and Ian Ogilvy, after they had worked together on Renegades (2022). The original concept played hard into the father/daughter relationship but it took the addition of Moore’s Hugh character to make the dynamic work and the project catch fire.
It is Ian Ogilvy’s fourth movie for Sothcott in the last decade, which has seen an autumnal renaissance for him as a smooth tough guy in the likes of the We Still Kill The Old Way series and Renegades. Ogilvy rose to prominence opposite Boris Karloff in Michael Reeves’ The Sorcerers before reteaming with Reeves for the cult masterpiece Witchfinder General (aka The Conqueror Worm) which also starred Vincent Price in one of his best roles. In the seventies, Ogilvy replaced Roger Moore as Simon Templar in Return of the Saint and won a legion of fans, as well as a regular place on the bookies’ slips as a potential 007, before moving to America where he appeared in films such as Death Becomes Her. Now aged 80, Ogilvy, who lives in Los Angeles, has found a whole new audience through these movies.
Female star Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott (wife of producer Jonathan and co-founder of the production company) is no stranger to physically demanding roles having starred opposite the likes of Danny Trejo, Louis Mandylor and even The Fall Guy himself Lee Majors. “There was a pre-shoot day on Knightfall when I was making a movie called Helloween with American actor Michael Paré and we asked him to do a cameo while he was in London,” she says. “So we went from chasing killer clowns in that during the day, to a very intense and brutal knife fight for Knightfall by night, in a stunning apartment overlooking Canary Wharf. That was something of a baptism of fire, but Michael is such a pro and so good at screen fighting that he made it easy.” Fast forward a few months and Jeanine, who lists karate and fast cars amongst her passions, found herself back on set, in the pouring rain in Poole Marina in another fight scene, this time with stunt coordinator Darren LeFevre playing a villain, as they battled for a disguised bio weapon. “That was hard work but so much fun,” she says. “There was a lot of fighting, a lot of shooting and a big stunt with an e-bike, but I really love that stuff and so far I’ve not had a stunt double for anything. I think while you’re still able to, you have to give 110% to everything.”
Michael Paré is a good example of the kind of actor Shogun are regularly working with – he rose to prominence in 80s classics Streets Of Fire and Eddie And The Cruisers before becoming a stalwart of the Blockbuster Video section and is now enjoying a revival in genre movies thanks to producers and directors who grew up watching his movies. Shogun shot a serial killer horror intriguingly titled Doctor Plague this Summer with a cast including Martin Kemp (The Krays), Wendy Glen (You’re Next), Peter Woodward (Babylon 5) and David Yip (The Chinese Detective).
The rest of the Knightfall shoot took place in leafy Sussex, where a squad of heavily armed masked mercenaries laid siege to The Stone House, usually a wedding venue in idyllic Rushlake Green, doubling up as Ian Ogilvy’s country pile. Although Ogilvy followed Geoffrey’s father as The Saint on television, the two had never met and played off each other extremely well. “These films all come down to the script,” says Ogilvy. “This is a particularly good one, certainly the best I’ve had since We Still Kill The Old Way.”
Calling the shots is director Ben Mole, an Oxford-educated filmmaker perhaps best known for his Krays movie Code of Silence starring True Blood’s Stephen Moyer. A calm figure on set, he’s aiming for an elevated spy thriller, one with softer character moments in between the fighting and gunplay.
Knightfall is currently in post-production with a trailer due in December and a UK release expected in the first quarter of 2025.
