All involved with Tin House Films (Kevin Lewis’ film company) knew that finding the right director would be the key to success and Nick Moran is a director with a particular affinity with Kevin and his story. Nick was also brought up on a tin house council estate, in North London, and indeed it was there that a substantial part of THE KID was shot.

Moran on THE KID:

“I didn’t suffer abuse like Kevin did, but I did know what that life was like in the kind of place that Kevin grew up in. As far as I am aware I never knew anyone quite like Kevin, but there was always the kid who everyone takes the piss out of. The kid with an alcoholic father or a violent mother who wore his school uniform all the time because they got it cheap and it was all he had to wear. I was interested from the moment I was sent the script and a copy of the book. Then Kevin turned up and we got on really well.”

On the stellar cast of THE KID, Moran says:

“Good actors want to be in good projects. Ultimately I got the cast I wanted, and I think two things made a big difference with that. People liked the script a lot and they knew about TELSTAR. The stage show had already got an Oliver nomination. Agents tend not even to return calls. In this case key agents were literally throwing their top drawer clients at us. Rupert has done a great characterisation of the adult Kevin and Augustus Prew is brilliant as teenage Kevin. I was particularly delighted to get Con O’Neill, who plays Kevin’s dad Dennis, on board. He was Joe Meek in TELSTAR on stage and in the film and, for me, he just took acting to a whole new dimension in that.”

As well as writing and directing TELSTAR, the story of songwriter and music producer Joe Meek for both stage and screen, Moran’s film acting credits include Guy Ritchie’s LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS (1998), RANCID ALUMINIUM (2000), THE MUSKETEER (2001) and AMAZING GRACE (2006).