What do Robert Vaughn, Keith Allen and a dancing tomato have in common? Why, they’re all starring in independent Brit flick The Magnificent Eleven of course!

For those of you who braved the cold and headed over to Hackney Marshes today for a kickaround, you may have noticed a small film crew and, I dunno, a crocodile beating the crap out of a gigantic tomato. It was NOT a hallucination. It was, in fact, the set of an independent comedy film based loosely on the script of The Magnificent Seven. Or The Seven Samurai, depending on which way you look at it.

The classic western has been updated by none other than Irvine “I wrote Trainspotting” Welsh. The Cowboys are now a struggling local amateur soccer team, the Indians are running a nearby Tandoori restaurant and the bandits are a group of menacing thugs led by a maniac known only as ‘American Bob’. Pretty amazing, huh? If that weren’t enough, Irvine will even be dusting off his acting shoes and taking on a role himself; huzzah!

From what we saw today on the pitch, the film may have a small budget and a mostly unknown cast, but the acting looks pretty sound; Keith Allen (that’s Lily Allen’s dad, to all those not in the know!) kept the crew in high spirits, cracking a few (mostly cruel) jokes about the poor man in the novelty tomato suit, whilst the rest of the guys attempted to fine tune their footballing skills, much to the amusement of passers-by.

And Robert Vaughn is in it! Remember him? He was in The Magnificent Seven and is, pretty much, an acting legend. We couldn’t think of anyone better for the role of American Bob, if we’re completely honest.

Set for release in Spring 2012, we’re very interested to see if this independent movie shoots AND scores. However, when it’s being produced by a company known only as Angry Badger Pictures, it’s pretty much guaranteed to be at least seventy percent awesome.

Interviews with cast and crew to follow soon…