Shane Meadows on Dead Man's Shoes

Dead Man's Shoes is a truly terrifying and bleak movie. It seems to have been fuelled by a deep sense of rage and bitterness. How did you jump from Once Upon A Time In The Midlands to this?

"I felt, in a way, as though I'd lost my way after Midlands. I was desperate to get back to being honest with myself in my next film. I had already been feeling this way and then happened to take a trip back to Uttoxeter, the town I grew up in. I was overwhelmed with sadness at what I saw there, and at some of the memories the visit jogged in me. We used to take a lot of drugs as we were growing up - there was nothing else to do to have fun - and some appalling tragedies happened as a result.

A close friend of mine who had been bullied developed a drug problem and then committed suicide. I couldn't believe that, going back ten years later, he had been totally forgotten in the town - it was as if he had never existed. I was filled with anger against the people who had bullied and pushed the drugs on him, and with despair at what drugs had done to that small community. What was done in the name of recreation had had such devastating results. I started to wonder what might happen if someone chose to try to right the wrongs that had been done, instead of ignoring the terrible tragedy of it all."

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