It’s the biggest surprise movie success of the year - and no one is more shocked than the cast of Eaten By Lions.
One of its stars, Hayley Tamaddon, who played Andrea Beckett in Coronation Street, says the film’s success is ‘bigger than anticipated’.
The film is an adaptation of the 2013 short film Going to Mecca, which won best comedy at the Manchester International Film Festival.
The 42-year-old, from Blackpool, stars alongside Antonio Aakeel, Jack Carroll, Johnny Vegas, and Asim Chaudhry in the Jason Wingard directed movie, which hits cinemas today.
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“We had an absolute ball," said Hayley on Good Morning Britain. "We didn’t expect our little film to develop into this.
“That’s when we first realised, when we did the festivals and we kept winning awards, I thought, this is bigger than what we anticipated. And now we’re so grateful and everybody seems to be loving the film, so it’s great.”
Eaten By Lions follows half-brothers Pete and Omar who embark on a journey to Blackpool in search of Omar's estranged father after their parents get, you guessed it, eaten by lions.
Hayley is delighted her hometown is being shown in such a positive light.
“I'm so pleased because Blackpool is a fantastic place, I’m so proud of my roots, and to film it all there was just wonderful,” she told Kate Garraway and Ben Shephard.
“We got the most insane shots from our amazing crew that you can imagine.”
Jack agreed, saying: “I’d always had very positive memories and I think it looms large in the cultural consciousness of Great Britain. I think they were pleased to see it represented in such a light.”
Hayley admits that she spent a lot of the time on set laughing at Jack and Johnny’s mischievous ways.
“They never behaved,” she laughed. “There was more laughing on set than anything else.
“You can’t look at Jack onset without falling about laughing.”
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV.
