been, or pushed on with someone else? MW: Well, Ray was my first and only choice for it, really. I was lucky enough that he agreed to do it. If, at any point, he said he didn't want to do it I guess we would have been stuck. He stayed with the project for over a year, turning down other jobs and waiting to see if we could get the finance together. I think the film would never have happened without him, he is incredibly popular with audiences and a massive box-office draw. I think a film this difficult wouldn't have survived without an actor of his standing. JR: What are the plans, if any at this stage, for a release of ASHES? MW: I'm very keen to get it released as soon as possible, we're hopefully going to do a couple of festivals and I would love to see Ray, at the minimum, and maybe even Jim nominated for the film. I think, with a tiny film like this, very sadly, there's a kind of expectation on the part of distributors and financiers that there isn't an audience and I'd love to be proven wrong. For me, it's an exciting and moving film for a certain kind of audience -- so I think it deserves it. I'd love to see it go out there and prove financiers wrong. Hopefully we'll come out early next year, with another film called SPIKE ISLAND coming out around the same time, so it