in peace. The Gangster threatens Mays with a gun, then gives Mays the gun, confesses his silence over the attempted murder and Taylor's death and begs Mays to kill him; Mays leaves, acknowledging how empty and pathetic the Gangster's life is. The film closes with the Gangster, having apparently lost his mind, committing suicide by stepping off the top of a building. His last words: "I'm number one". Cast Malcolm McDowell as Gangster 55 Paul Bettany as Young Gangster David Thewlis as Freddie Mays Saffron Burrows as Karen Kenneth Cranham as Tommy Jamie Foreman as Lennie Taylor Eddie Marsan as Eddie Miller Andrew Lincoln as Maxie King Martin Wimbush as Judge Sean Chapman as Bent Cop Casting Jamie Foreman is the son of real-life gangster Freddie Foreman. Production The writers of the original stage play that the film is based on, Louis Mellis and David Scinto, both adapted their playscript into a screenplay. The script was sent to Jonathan Glazer, who was originally set to direct the film adaptation. Scinto has said that "The final draft that we wrote of GANGSTER NO. 1 remains, in my opinion, one of the best scripts we ever wrote; there isn’t a single word of fat in it." However Mellis, Scinto and Glazer all left the film's production. The reason for this was a disagreement with the film's producer about casting, as Malcolm McDowell's Gangster was originally going to be played by Peter Bowles, who had previously played the role on stage. David Scinto stated that "An actor was attached to the project who was simply ill-suited. Not that he was a bad actor, he just wasn’t right for the role. In fact very, very wrong for the role. So after much painful deliberation, we extricated ourselves from the deteriorating situation. Taking our names with us. It was a very difficult decision. A very difficult thing to do, not something I enjoyed. As it turned out the actor was removed anyway." When asked about why they had left, Mellis stated that "Simplest thing to say re the three of us walking away from Gangster No. 1 is “artistic differences.” Because it was our first film we were expected to put up with all manner of ridiculousness re casting, tone, themes, etc. These stuck in our throats, and so we left them to it". Both Scinto and Mellis have stated that them both walking off