Mel Smith talks to Steve Pratt about turning the story of a bowls rebel into this summer's most unlikely comedy.

THINK of a sport to make the focus of a movie and bowls would not be top of the list. But Mel Smith, comedian turned producer and director, was intrigued by a story he read in newspapers about a 19-year-old bowls player, Griff Sanders, who was banned from playing for ten years for being a rebel on the green.

Smith couldn't believe that someone could be prevented from playing for so long when footballers committing far greater, and more violent, attacks get off with a few weeks' suspension. Even more surprising was being told that ten years was only a sixth of a bowls player's career.

By coincidence, writer Tim Firth read the same story. He and Smith hooked up and Blackball was born, although director Smith says the film is pretty much fictional.

Paul Kaye - star of BBC1's Two Thousand Acres Of Sky but best known as celebrity interviewer Dennis Pennis - heads the cast as bowls rebel Cliff Starkey, whose antics are similar to those of Sanders, which outraged older players in Torquay. Apparently, he used to eat fish and chips while playing and pretend to be drunk.

Smith says that one of the pieces of movie wizardry employed by the production team was a bowls ball attached to a rod, which was used to negotiate the path down the green dictated by the script. The rods were later removed by the computer effects team.

Kaye says the only thing his training taught him was that he didn't want to play bowls. The cast were encouraged to use rubber bowls to improve their skills during the lunchbreak, but tended to play football with them instead.

His Cliff Starkey astounds and angers members of his local Torquay bowls club, where his father (played by Bernard Cribbins) is a member, and they have him banned from the game. A multi-million pound sponsorship deal, hinging on Starkey playing for the English team, ensures his return to the big time.

Sanders saw the film when it was premiered on the south coast and approved of it. By coincidence, the film-makers shot at his club in Torquay. "Most of the older ladies and gentlemen, who were extras, love him. It was only a cache of two or three who banned him," explains Smith.

While most of the cast were unfamiliar with the game, comedian Johnny Vegas - who plays Cliff's best friend - can actually play bowls. Oddly enough, he was one of the few cast members who didn't have to bowl a ball.

The film ends with a bowls Ashes played on a red green, with coloured balls and pompom-waving cheerleaders. Smith admits that bowls aficionados may well be alarmed by such scenes, as well as Starkey's unconventional bowling technique and appearance.

But he says: "The response at the gala screening in Torquay was fantastic. The truth is that people love it, laugh a lot and are extremely generous.

"It's not a sports film. It's a surprise how little bowls there is. I love sport, and the idea of balancing that with character and comedy seems quite natural."

Kaye can probably identify with the rebel in Cliff. His most famous incarnation, Dennis Pennis, used to make smart Alec remarks to Hollywood stars as they attended premieres. Some took the insults better than others - Kevin Costner responded by calling Kaye/Pennis something that can't be repeated.

He says his reputation caused him to miss out on interviewing actors on the red carpet at the Oscars one year. "I was grassed up by Barry Norman's lot, I think, because I got a really good place in the line-up. I was escorted off and held in a Los Angeles police department hut for six hours," he recalls.

Blackball looks like being the start of a movie career for Kaye. Smith already has five films as a director to his credit, including the international hit Mr Bean with Rowan Atkinson.

"I've got nine different pictures at different stages of development at the moment. It's not easy to get these things made. Blackball was five, almost six years, from inception to the camera turning over," he says.

Smith's next film looks likely to be a thriller, based on the story of a Midlands lecturer who was stalked by an entire family. He doesn't miss acting - "not remotely", he says. "The last time I agreed to do a movie as an actor was Twelfth Night for Trevor Nunn, playing Sir Toby Belch. Nigel Hawthorne was Malvolio and I wasn't going to turn down the chance to do the cakes and ale scene with him. I find acting a bit boring and love directing so much."

* Blackball (15) is showing in cinemas now.