Craig Fairbrass almost quit Footsoldier films – until new sequel lured him back

However, Fairbrass revealed to RadioTimes.com that he had not planned to return to the Footsoldier franchise following the fourth instalment, 2019's Rise of the Footsoldier: Marbella.

His next few projects saw the actor hailed by critics – Empire called Fairbrass's turn in 2019's blackly comic drama Muscle "a revelation", while his "terrific lead performance" in 2020 crime thriller Villain was hailed by The Hollywood Reporter, who lauded his "intimidating physical presence and simmering, low-key charisma".

Having embraced more character-led projects, he was uneasy about returning to the action antics of Footsoldier. "I was done after Marbella. Other scripts were coming to me – I did Muscle, then I was lucky enough to be offered Villain, which was another heavy duty film with a beautiful underlying story and a chance to show off my chops as an actor.... and then [2022 prison drama] A Violent Man. So I'd moved on to different pastures."

Fairbrass was "adamant" that he would not play Pat Tate again, though did agree to a small role in 2021's Rise of the Footsoldier Origins – he filmed for just one week on the movie, which recruited Vinnie Jones to fill the void left by the absence of his character.

Still, Fairbrass was insistent he would not return to lead another Footsoldier movie, until writer/producer Andrew Loveday suggested taking the series in a new direction.

Taking inspiration from classic 1971 film thriller Get Carter, Rise of the Footsoldier: Vengeance would be a darker and more emotional outing, eschewing the laddish larks of some previous entries for a story that sees Pat Tate on a mission to exact retribution for the brutal killing of a friend.

"When he [Loveday] said, 'Would you do another one?' I said, 'Yeah, if it was different enough,'" Fairbrass explains.

"They wrote the premise and came back with a detailed treatment. It was a gamble, because it's me on my own. We tried to push it in the Get Carter direction, down that road."

Notably, for the first time in the series's history, Pat is not joined on-screen by his fellow 'Essex Boys', Tony Tucker and Craig Rolfe – played by Terry Stone and Roland Manookian in the previous films.

"It was different," Fairbrass recalls. "But I knew the tone of the film was going to be a lot heavier, a lot more serious, a lot more [about] one man on a mission, a story of vengeance."

This new approach meant tone was trickier than usual to navigate, with Vengeance aiming to offer more of an emotional punch while still delivering the traditional Footsoldier thrills and spills.

"It's a really fine line. I've got to stay true to the fans, because they'll all turn round and go, 'What's happened?!' – so I just tried to get a little bit of vulnerability in there, a touch of panic or [Pat] being out of his depth... just so it somehow resonates with an audience."

After six movies of murder and mayhem, the Footsoldier franchise had to evolve, argues Fairbrass. "You can't keep making the same film. You've got to keep them fresh and just change the dynamic, just a touch.

"I think we've managed to do that throughout the whole series and the proof is in the pudding – it's a very successful independent franchise.

"When you look at what's going on with movies and streaming... everything's so big, you know, all the Marvel stuff... but it's its own little brand, Footsoldier, because it appeals to a certain audience, but it's a huge audience.

"I'm constantly stopped in the street and people message me... no matter where I am in the world, there's always someone comes up or shouts out 'Pat!'."

Fans will also quote Tate's memorably expletive-laden dialogue back to Fairbrass – most common, he says, are recreations of a scene from 2017's Rise of the Footsoldier 3: The Pat Tate Story, in which a drug-addled Pat drops banknote after banknote as he tells Kenny (Josh Myers) he plans to sleep with "one prostitute, two prostitutes, three prostitutes, four prostitutes... five f**king prostitutes".

"The funny thing was, you know, that was never a scripted scene," Fairbrass laughs. "We just did some improvisation and they kept it in, and it's become one of the most iconic scenes in the in the franchise. It's constantly on TikTok!"

Though the first Rise of the Footsoldier is a mostly faithful dramatisation of the real Pat Tate's life and downfall, the prequels that have followed have taken some liberties with the truth, inventing new stories which cast Tate as something of an action anti-hero.

Could there be more stories to tell? Having almost walked away once, Fairbrass is reluctant to shut the door on the possibility of more Footsoldier in his future.

"You never know. It's a tough business and if you ever lose track and lose focus and get a little bit deluded – 'I'm too big for it, I can't do it' – you have to have a cold wash and say to yourself, 'I'm an actor, this is England, work is hard enough to get as it is.'

"When people are offering you leads in movies that are successful... Work's work at the end of the day."

He's continuing though to balance out Pat's violent capers with new, different projects – including a colourful role as Chef Zeff in Netflix's recent fantasy series One Piece and an upcoming part in BBC drama Boat Story, from the creators of The Missing and The Tourist.

He's also linked to projects for the big and small screen which are in earlier stages of development. "There's movies I'm attached to, there's a couple of series that I'm attached to – they're getting them together and developing them, two really good ideas that I'd jump on in a heartbeat...

"I feel I can bring something different," he says. "The stuff that I do, there's not a lot of it on streaming and I think there's room on there for everything."

Read more:

• One Piece star reveals why one scene in Netflix series was reshot
• Daisy Haggard and Paterson Joseph lead new BBC thriller Boat Story

Rise of the Footsoldier: Vengeance is out in cinemas on 15th September.

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