The story of how Guy Ritchie met the “spectacular” Stephen Graham
Before going on to cement himself as one of the best British actors of his generation with roles in This is England, Gangs of New York, Boardwalk Empire, Boiling Point and The Irishman, Stephen Graham made his first big appearance in Guy Ritchie’s 2000 crime film, Snatch.
Reflecting on Snatch, Ritchie once told of the first time he met Graham. “I met Stevie – I made a short film called The Hard Case, and the taxi turned up, and an actor got out of the back, and Stevie happened to be in the car,” the director began. “I thought Stevie was driving the car, but I think Stevie was his mate.”
Ritchie continued: “Stevie got out the car, and he was Liverpudlian, so he had all that scouse thing going on, and then he started taking the mickey out of some of our actors that were in this short film that I had made for five grand.”
What came next would prove to be instrumental in Graham’s early career. Ritchie went on: “His Cockney accent was spectacular, and to try and do an authentic London accent is almost impossible if you’re not from London. Then I said, ‘Do that again’. And Stevie could conjure up any accent. So I ignored the mate that he came with for the job. We relegated him and put Stevie in, who was the minicab driver.”
In an interview with Alan Carr, Graham also opened up on the occurrence. He said: “I went with a mate to an audition just for a ride-along. It was for Guy Ritchie.” Graham likely would have expected his friend to return from his audition and make their merry way back home.
“After my mate had finished, Guy came out and said, ‘Are you next?’ I said, ‘No, I’m just here with my mate.'” According to Graham, Ritchie gave him a script, but as someone with dyslexia, he admitted that he’d need some time to get to know his lines.
“[Instead,] Guy says, ‘Can you improvise?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, come on.'” After Ritchie was impressed with Graham’s talents, he said, “Wow, great. OK, you start on Monday.” Clearly, Graham’s ability to act on the fly was what separated him from his unfortunate mate in the car.
Of course, Graham then that to contend with the problem of telling his friend he’d just taken his part. When he told Ritchie of his dilemma, Ritchie simply stated, “Not my fucking problem.” But it was the beginning of Graham’s sterling career, even if he had to piss his mate off along the way.
