A night of martial arts movie action with a free Leyland history lesson!

Former martial arts champion Mark Strange, 40, has enjoyed a successful and varied film career over the last 11 years. But on Thursday night he took film fans back in time to his first leading effort, the 2006 sci-fi thriller Displaced, which he acted in and produced – shooting much of the action in Leyland
Martial arts and action film star Mark Strange, from Leyland, screened his first film Displaced in the Leyland 
Railway Public House. He is pictured with his longtime collaborator, director Chee-Keong Cheung, left and his sonMartial arts and action film star Mark Strange, from Leyland, screened his first film Displaced in the Leyland 
Railway Public House. He is pictured with his longtime collaborator, director Chee-Keong Cheung, left and his son
Martial arts and action film star Mark Strange, from Leyland, screened his first film Displaced in the Leyland Railway Public House. He is pictured with his longtime collaborator, director Chee-Keong Cheung, left and his son

Film fans attended an exclusive screening of action star Mark Strange’s first movie at the Railway Pub in Leyland.

The former martial arts champion starred in and produced the indie sci-fi/action movie Displaced, which was largely shot in the town and released in 2006.

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It tells the tale of Stel, a humanoid alien played by Mark, who teams up with a British soldier to pursue a secret file.

Martial arts and action film star Mark Strange, from Leyland, screened his first film Displaced in the Leyland 
Railway Public House. He is pictured with his longtime collaborator, director Chee-Keong Cheung, left and his sonMartial arts and action film star Mark Strange, from Leyland, screened his first film Displaced in the Leyland 
Railway Public House. He is pictured with his longtime collaborator, director Chee-Keong Cheung, left and his son
Martial arts and action film star Mark Strange, from Leyland, screened his first film Displaced in the Leyland Railway Public House. He is pictured with his longtime collaborator, director Chee-Keong Cheung, left and his son

It holds alien knowledge and the location of Stel’s missing father, who was captured and imprisoned on Earth by a human paramilitary group.

Mark, from Leyland, who has appeared in blockbusters such as Batman Begins and The Medallion with Jackie Chan, is now readying himself for a starring role in a new film, Zombie Apocalypse.

The event, which also featured a Q&A with Mark, is the first of three being held to raise funds for the project, set to be produced by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creator Kevin Eastman and El Mariachi star Carlos Gallado.

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The 40-year-old actor says: “It was a great evening. There wasn’t a bad turnout for our first night of this kind.

“I think we were expecting a few more people, but we still raised a good chunk of money for the film, which is brilliant.

“The Q & A was really good, it was quite funny because I’d not seen that film for so long.

“I look so different in it, I was in my early 20s when I started making that film.

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“It was my first step into the industry in a sense. I was a producer and I played two lead roles, including an alien!”

Mark says he was asked “all sorts of random questions” about his first project.

He says: “Because the movie was shot over seven years there were so many stories about it. It was made on £10.50 budget if you know what I mean – and a lot of heart!

“A lot of the locations have now been knocked down, so it’s like a piece of history.

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“The first 20 minutes of the film is in the old Leyland and Birmingham Rubber Company, which has been flattened.

“Another location is now where Morrisons is, it was Ainscough’s, all cranes and stuff. We had a scene in Leyland Garage and that’s now gone too.”

The pub in Preston Road will also screen Mark’s 2008 follow-up, 12, about a no holds barred fighting tournament, on Thursday, February 6.

And on Thursday, February 20 the venue will screen Bodyguard: A New Beginning, released in 2009, which was part filmed in Hong Kong.

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Each night starts at 7pm, with an introductory talk from Mark at 7.30pm, an 8pm screening and a 9.30pm Q&A with Mark and the films’ director, Chee Keong Cheung.

Admission is £20 per person, per screening.

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