A special Twin Town event is to be staged next month
It’s arguably Wales’ greatest cult film.
When Twin Town was released on April 11, 1997, its anarchic, breakneck scenes and darkly twisted comic plot grabbed everyone’s attention.
It made a star of Rhys Ifans, in his first major film role, and two and a half decades later it remains one of the great Welsh movies.
The film also had a stellar Welsh cast including Ifans (Jeremy Lewis), his brother (on screen and in real life) Llyr Evans (Julian Lewis), Huw Ceredig as the twins’ dad Fatty Lewis, Port Talbot born Di Botcher as mum, Jean Lewis, William Thomas as Bryn Cartwright and Sue Roderick as Lucy Cartwright.
Now several of the cast as well as the director of the film will be attending a screening of the movie with a Q&A session with its stars in Merthyr in January.
Special guests so far confirmed for the event at Merthyr Labour Club on Friday, January 19th are William Thomas and Sue Roderick, alongside director Kevin Allen.
Tickets are priced £10 and available from the club.
The movie this year celebrated its 25th anniversary and a mural marking the film’s anniversary was unveiled in Port Talbot, where many of the scenes were shot.
Painted in the underpass between Dalton Road and Neath Port Talbot Hospital by one of Wales’ leading street artists, Steve ‘Jenks’ Jenkins, it’s proved to be quite the attraction with fans of the film.
“It’s one of my favourite films and a classic here in Wales,” said Steve, speaking earlier this year when the mural was unveiled.
“I thought I could really fill the subway with images from the film which would inject a bit of humour into the art too.
“So next came the research, all that was required was popcorn, a dvd of the film and quite a few belly laughs. I watched it a few times and took still photos of the scenes I wanted to capture, which turned out to be too many to fit in.
“I started by painting the portrait of Di Botcher and then seven long days later it was completed. I had a great time painting it and had chats with a lot of local people.
“A lot of people love the film and commented on different scenes as they were going up. Upon completion and posting on social media I noticed that Rhys Ifans had also shared it on his page too. So I’m landed with the response it’s had.”
Check out the images in our gallery below…
Back in May, William Thomas who played the movie’s arch villain, unscrupulous builder Bryn Cartwright was invited back to the scene of one of Twin Town’s most infamous scenes.
It’s the moment inept Fatty Lewis (played by the late great Huw Ceredig) falls off his ladder while working on the rugby club run by Bryn.
This leads to Fatty’s sons the Lewis Twins (stellar duo Rhys Ifans and Llyr Evans) leave a trail of destruction in their search for compo for their old man.
The scene also sparked one of social media’s most popular memes and gifs.
It’s the moment Bryn Cartwright leans out of the clubhouse window and sees Fatty Lewis lying prostrate on the ground, prompting him to utter the immortal words: “f*cking twat”.
Twin Town; the roof job pic.twitter.com/xPfAQNHey5
— ClassicMovieClips (@clips_classic) January 16, 2023
The scene was shot at Bonymaen RFC, which has retained its links with the movie ever since.
Fast forward more than 25 years and Bryn Cartwright was back at the scene of that magic movie moment after being invited to open the part of the clubhouse which was used as Bryn’s office in the movie, which was damaged by Storm Eunice back last year.
Today it’s been transformed into a game analysis room with all the work done by club volunteers (not Fatty Lewis).
It was the culmination of a series of tweets that sparked a search for the actor by the rugby club who were keen to get him back on familiar ground.
Only happy to oblige, the actor cut the ribbon to reopen the game analysis room. William was also on hand to help the club celebrate their winning of the League 1 West Central title, and posed with the squad in a team photo.
Well….. this tweet escalated. https://t.co/KYHoOFsd5z pic.twitter.com/wWX5CiHfca
— Bonymaen RFC (@Bonymaenrugby) May 20, 2023
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hot dogs for tea, boys!
Not a fan of Twin Town to be honest. Full of insulting Welsh stereotypes. The best cult film featuring a plethora of Welsh actors was the 1978 cult classic and best sports film ever made. Grand Slam. And yes, Twin Town had some great Welsh actors in it too like Brian Hibbard , William Thomas, Di Botcha, Huw Ceredig ect, especially like Rhys Ifans, although it did feature that opinionated pratt Keith Allen, a man who simulated in the film having sex with a sheep , who allegedly is Welshman being born in Llanelli with his director brother but supports… Read more »
I’ve never seen Grand Slam, as I have zero interest in rugby, but Zulu I saw as a small child. It’s hardly surprising that the film is sensitive towards Welsh sentiments given that the late, great Rhondda actor Stanley Baker co-produced and starred in the film. High Hopes and Satellite City are excellent series, as is the series Belonging. All of these series ought to be on iPlayer. Another gem, in my opinion, that is both sympathetic and sensitive to Wales is the Indian Doctor, a series made in Wales, and which has a majority Welsh cast. There is so… Read more »
you do know that twin town was written by a fella from Swansea?
It was actually co wrote between Allen and Paul Durden who was from Swansea.