Interview with Dave Fishwick

Burnley Express

Dave Fishwick speaks to Burnley Express reporter Dominic Collis about the success of Netflix movie Bank of Dave 2

Transcript

00:00Dave, first time we've been able to have a chat since the film was released on Netflix and obviously it's a big premiere in Burnley.

00:08How does it feel now it's been out for a few weeks and it's been beamed around the country?

00:13Well, the whole thing's been bonkers and wonderfully great fun. It's been a joy to be involved in.

00:20I mean the first movie, nobody knew what was going to happen there.

00:24But the first movie ended up being the most successful British independent movie of all time for Netflix.

00:32Banker Dave won and it was so exciting.

00:35And then we won the National Film Award for 2023, best feature film of 2023.

00:41In fact, stay there because I'm going to grab this here and then there you go.

00:47There it is, On My Fireplace.

00:50There it is, fantastic.

00:52And the second one's bigger and better than ever. It's brashier, it's got Americans in.

00:57It's a step further.

01:00Well, after the first one went out and it had the success and we were so lucky.

01:05And one story I like to tell about it is the first one was released in December to America.

01:11On the 18th of December, within four days, it was top ten in America.

01:16Tom Cruise were at number seven and we were at number six.

01:21So it's a good job we didn't get Tom to play me.

01:25Is it too early to say, is there going to be a number three in the pipeline?

01:29Well, I dare talk about number three, four, five, six.

01:34Who knows, you know?

01:36And if I say something like that on Netflix, they're just going to go, ah, he's talking and he shouldn't be.

01:42Never say never, never say never.

01:46It'd be so exciting to be involved in movies.

01:52They're just great fun, though, they really are.

01:55And when we got the first one going out and the excitement around it,

02:02and then the second movie then was talked about,

02:05and that was the fastest commissioned sequel in Netflix's history.

02:10And then we made the second one and it then went straight in at number one.

02:16So it didn't even go into the charts, it went straight to number one.

02:18And Netflix had never seen that before.

02:21And I'm just thinking, a lot of you from Burnley yourselves are busters,

02:25we're straight in at number one and isn't that good for the town?

02:28And then we have Def Leppard in The Talbot.

02:30I mean, to bring Def Leppard from America to The Talbot to play a concert in The Talbot,

02:35how cool is that to have that in our town?

02:37Now, you mentioned Def Leppard.

02:39There's obviously a serious side to the movie and there's also a serious side

02:44to what Def Leppard have done.

02:45I believe you can tell us about this music video and how it's helped.

02:49So what's happened is, in the first movie we played a concert with Def Leppard

02:53and there were a lot of magic dust around the first movie's concert

02:58because that's something that was done for movie excitement.

03:03But on the second movie, we did a concert inside The Talbot.

03:09We played a song called, with Benny King, called Stand By Me.

03:13Now, Def Leppard wants to do something special and I want to do something special

03:18to raise money for good causes because that's what I wanted to do in the first.

03:22So in the second one, in The Talbot, in Burnley, the footage from that has been used

03:27in the new music video that Def Leppard have just released into America and around the globe.

03:33So they've re-released Stand By Me, re-launched it.

03:37They've released a video that's got a bit of Burnley in it and The Talbot in it

03:43and the movie in it and even I'm in it.

03:46I've got air in that so you've got to look very carefully, very, very carefully

03:49because I'm heavily disguised as one of the parts that I play in the second movie.

03:56So you'll see us in it and every single penny from that is going to the people

04:01who've lost their homes and lives in the Los Angeles fires, which is very serious.

04:05It's dreadful news that people lost their homes and lives.

04:10To be able to do something towards that I think is brilliant.

04:13And for Burnley to be there, right in the centre of it,

04:18right in the heart of a real Def Leppard song for history.

04:25Part of an iconic song and also an iconic city and a global story.

04:30All centred in the centre of the universe, Burnley.

04:35And that's the other thing, the film had a serious message.

04:39Both films had a serious message.

04:42You said they were fun but they do have a serious message

04:44and that's important as well, isn't it?

04:47The first film was all about when we took on the banks

04:50and we needed to open a financial institution that helped people.

04:55And David Henshaw, and it's very important I give David H a good mention

04:58because my right hand man has been there right from the beginning with me

05:01and the team at Burnley Savings and Loans.

05:04Without them we couldn't do anything, Don.

05:06So it's important that we mention the team.

05:09But what David H and I did and the team is we went after the big banks.

05:14We wanted to open a community bank run by the community

05:17to benefit the community rather than the bonus culture.

05:19We wanted to lend people money who couldn't borrow money

05:22from the high street bank through no fault of their own.

05:25And we wanted then to take the money that we'd made from the bonds,

05:29pay the overheads and the difference we wanted to give to charities

05:32and especially in the Burnley, Nelson, Corn, Lancashire area.

05:35And that's what we've done.

05:37And the second one, the payday loan sharks, another serious issue.

05:42Well, David H and I made a documentary called The Loan Ranger

05:46and that's where the second movie was developed from.

05:49And Netflix took The Loan Ranger documentary,

05:52they took all the adverts out of it from the original Channel 4 series,

05:55they remastered it into 8K and they've put that on Netflix now

05:59and people can watch that now.

06:00But you'll actually see David H and I in Burnley, the bank of days

06:03and a lot of Burnley Centre in it where we go after the payday loan industry

06:07and we actually get Wongo Shutdown which were the biggest player.

06:12I mean they were charging 5,500% interest, APR.

06:16And I remember one in particular that you'll see in the documentary

06:19is when one lady, she just wanted to borrow a few hundred pounds

06:23to buy an oxygen bottle for her mum's wheelchair

06:26and they were going to hook it onto the wheelchair

06:28so her mum could go into the park for a walk in the park in the wheelchair.

06:32And she didn't have long to live so it was very important

06:36that she got the money right away so she didn't have to have to save it up.

06:40And that few hundred pounds turned into thousands of pounds

06:43and I heard that story, I went to meet her face to face

06:46and I thought right, I'm going to go after the payday loan industry.

06:49They are terrible people that prey on the poor and vulnerable.

06:53So we found, myself and David H found a good dozen people

06:58who had been ripped off by the payday loan industry.

07:01We then took their loans off them, we paid them the money

07:04to be able to then pay to the payday loan companies

07:07and the payday loan companies wouldn't take the money back

07:10so I then had to go looking for the payday loan companies

07:13and that's where I ended up in London, on the top of the roof of Wonga

07:16looking for where do you pay these people because they hide from everybody.

07:20They don't actually want the money back, they want granny

07:24and the elderly people and the people that borrow money off them.

07:26They just want them to continue to pay forever.

07:29And recently with ITV News I've been working on some very big stories

07:33on live television with ITV where we're going after the loan sharks

07:36and we're going after the payday loan companies

07:38and we're going after the buy now pay later companies.

07:40And one in particular, I went to a house not a million miles away from here

07:46with the police and the trading standards

07:50and this guy in particular had lent an old lady a few hundred pounds

07:53and it ended up becoming thousands and thousands

07:56and this lady had been paying interest for 10 years

07:59and still not paid the initial money off.

08:02And you just think this is so wrong.

08:05And I think having Netflix as a dear friend as they are now

08:09and having their light to shine on such a powerful subject

08:14it really makes a difference and the first movie was very powerful

08:19the second one just goes in the same direction

08:22where it goes after the payday loan industry

08:25and it's about to set off around the world

08:28and hopefully it will do as well as it did in Britain and Europe

08:33in other parts of the world.

08:35And just finally I know you can't give us too many details

08:38but I know you have got a few exciting things as ever in the pipeline

08:42stateside again.

08:44Well as you've just heard Dom

08:47with my wife just come in there and said Dave

08:50we need to get going shortly because

08:52we're going to the other side of the country

08:54because we need something special so we can go to somewhere else

08:57and you know what it is

08:59it's absolutely bonkers and really exciting

09:02and so that's something that I'm doing in America

09:05I'm sure we'll find out soon enough

09:08and I've also got I'm going to be speaking about

09:12something I'm doing on the 21st of this month as well

09:15so I've got a big announcement on the 21st of this month

09:18I've got a big announcement coming to do with America towards the end of this month

09:22and then I've got another big thing that I'm doing in America in March

09:25so watch this space.

09:27Let's try and put Burnley on the map.

09:29Again, never a dull moment. Thanks Dave.

09:31Thank you very much. Cheers Dom.

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