Friday, August, 28 Amazon Studios will be streaming the dark comedy: “Get Duked!”
The film seeks to explore generational differences, class, and being a teenage outcast all while making you laugh. The film offers a combination of well-written satire, horror, and complex themes. The film was written and directed by Ninian Doff who is originally from Scotland where the film takes place.
Doff was able to not only force viewers to think about a variety of themes, but he also made the characters true to his homeland of Edinburgh, Scotland. He made sure to highlight the dialect, rhythm, and idioms used in Edinburgh exposing audiences to a different part of the world, more specifically the United Kingdom by focusing on the Scottish Highlands instead of London, England. With the film being released through Amazon Studios it will gain a global audience which will result in a larger conversation around the themes Doff explored in his film. He even used the Duke of Edinburgh award, which is real, as a focal point for the storyline. Though the film felt true to its landscape many of the conversations, experiences, and aspirations the characters have are things young people around the world are feeling and can relate to.
The film stars Samuel Bottomley, Rian Gordon, Lewis Gribben, and Viraj Juneja. We were able to sit down with Bottomley, Gribben, and Juneja and discuss Get Duked! and what it means to be a part of this project. Their characters are an unconventional bunch with Dean, Ian, Duncan, and DJ Beatroot all searching for different things. Ian (Samuel Bottomley) is focused on getting the award to strengthen his college applications while friends Duncan (Lewis Gribben), Dean (Rian Gordon), and DJ Beatroot (Viraj Juneja) are forced by their school to go after the award as punishment for setting fire to a toilet. The film begins with four boys leaving the city for the highlands on a quest for the Duke of Edinburgh award. Once they begin their journey, they realize they are being hunted like rabbits by the “Duke.” This becomes a catalyst for a conversation around the current tensions between youth and their elders with many young people looking to change the world while older people want to keep it the same.
The film will make you laugh the entire time and leave you in deep thought and conversation once it ends. In the words of Samuel Bottomley, Lewis Gribben, and Viraj Juneja “This film is everything.”
