The most improbable film of 2007?

It looks like Radiohead‘s recent pay-what-you-like internet distribution stunt (c‘mon, it was!) is set to cross the border into film land, with a similar scheme being used for the release of ’Sam Jackson‘s Secret Diary‘ which was nominated for a British Independent Film Award back in 2005

Released on December 28 via the website www.samjacksonmovie.co.uk , the film’s two-year delay was, according to producer/director Guy Rowland, due to the fact that they had problems clearing some of the music on the soundtrack, which now includes Nelly Furtado, Robbie Williams and Radiohead.

Though we here at Time Out have yet to see the film, it certainly looks odd. The central mockumentary narrative concerns the disappearance of a sprightly young woman named Sam Jackson in 2003 and the subsequent discovery by her friend Abi that she’s been taking part in a bizarre reality TV experiment.

The (sick?) twist is, the actor who played Sam Jackson (Posy Miller) died in 2002 from leukaemia and the segments which feature her in the film are actually secretly filmed diary entries which she recorded months before her death and were never actually intended for use. Acquiring the thumbs-up from her parents, Rowland decided to refashion the film around the footage and even managed to rope in some of her friends to fill in the remaining roles.

It’s certainly an interesting conceit, both for its controversial narrative (is this commemoration or exploitation?) and its method of distribution. We’ll certainly report further when the film is released, 20% of all download fees will go directly to Leukaemia Research (10%) and Missing People (10%).

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