The Red Diamond Cut

THE RED DIAMOND CUT is a gangster film set on new year's eve 1999, a love letter to classic gangster films where women are no longer just wives.

Once upon a time Annie killed her Boss to protect her unborn daughter. Years later she works as a hairdresser believing she is away from her past. Is she?

( Annie and Scarlet in the salon - test shoot)

Annie named her salon Once Upon a time because of Scarlett's desire to become a writer. The salon has a magenta and light blue colour palette to create an innocent tone. The gangsters will contrast this colour palette by dressing in black with hard red hair to stand out from the salon like angels of death. The juxtaposition of the colour palette will create suspense that this fairytale Annie and her daughter live will not have a happily ever after.

My Mum is a hairdresser and when I was a kid my Dad was not around so I spent most of my childhood with my Mum. When my Mum was busy her best friend Tina (who is also a hairdresser and has a daughter my age) looked after me. Tina had a crush on Sylvester Stallone and Al Pacino so as a result she showed me the movies my friends would later call “Dad movies.” She showed me Scarface, which lead to me showing my Mum The Godfather. I mentioned these movies to my friends and they would often say that their Dad’s showed them to them. They talked about how badass Al Pacino was and some drew similarities to their Fathers. If they talked about the wives or girlfriends it was to mention if they were “hot” or not but I wanted to know why Diane Keaton wants to be with Pacino in The Godfather? Or did Michelle Pfeiffer play a key role in Pacino’s rise in Scarface?

Some people would say women couldn’t work in the mafia if I suggested a ‘wild’ answer to my own questions but I didn’t understand why. (For years this need to understand became an obsession of mine.) I discovered the first drive by shooting was a woman who has since earned the nickname “the woman of honour.” I read Marisa Merico’s autobiography who ran her Father’s empire until she got pregnant and now lives in Blackpool. I studied Alice Diamond who earned her last name by wearing diamond rings and using them as a knuckledusters. Many women joined her gang after WW1 and WW2 because they didn’t want to be housewives and pulled off heists so that they could party like rock stars.

I believe the gangster genre is the greatest genre for subtext. From my experiences around women growing up I thought the way women spoke to each other was more suited to these films than men. They can speak with their eyes better than men and hairdressers do this better than anyone else because it is a part of their job. Once you are comfortable with your hairdresser they can make you believe that you love there work and if you love your haircut you’ll never visit anyone else again. It's not really about the haircut though.

My Mum and Tina both live in Hertfordshire and when I was eighteen I moved away from home to study acting in Bournemouth. Due to the distance I had to go to a hairdressers to get a haircut. I had never had anyone other than my Mum or Tina cut my hair before so I was not used to getting to know someone while they cut my hair. I didn’t like the feeling of some stranger standing behind me with scissors. If they made a mistake they could kill me! 

The experience of a man cutting my hair in Bournemouth has always stayed with me and it became the genesis of every female gangster film idea I’ve had. (Which is a lot!) I've written countless scripts about women who work in crime and in hair salons because it’s a place with weapons, cash in hand, glamour and people who can make you believe they are your best friends by getting you to talk all about yourself but no script felt right. No script felt personal enough to me until I spent a week at my Mum’s and then got on a train to Manchester to go to a film festival for a film that I had directed. I picked up a pen and paper for the journey and wrote for the fun of it with no idea what would come out. I wrote first draft of The Red Diamond Cut and without meaning too explored exactly what I was always attempting to put onto a page “what if a real gangster gave a movie gangster a haircut.” I could feel my love of genre on the page but even more than that I could feel my love for my Mum on the page. I have to make this film because I’m telling it from my memories. 

                                                Writer/Director - Nick Toth

(Sarah Swain as Woman 2)