Mel gets high on low lifes

High Heels And Low Lifes is about two girls who find themselves at war with a team of appalling villains.

The girls try to blackmail them, which proves a big mistake. It's a comedy-thriller, a sort of Thelma And Louise without the violence - and the first film I've directed since Bean in 1997.

Minnie Driver and Mary McCormack both read for me and blew me away. It's one of Mary's first big roles and there were better-known people up for it, but she was the best. Fortunately this is a low-budget film so I wasn't under pressure to cast anyone more famous.

I'd worked with Kim Fuller, the writer, years ago, on Not The Nine O'Clock News. I hadn't seen him for a long time, though I was aware that he'd written Spice World - but we clicked back together and had a lot of fun. I was concerned about the recent plethora of gangster films. I wanted our villains to have something extraordinary. We also worked a lot on cutting the script to the bone, so that the thing rushes past. It runs just 85 minutes.

When I first sat down with the location manager, I couldn't think where the film should be set. We started off in Clerkenwell and nosed further east. I was excited when we got to Hoxton Square and found fantastic places such as the disused East London railway line. Hoxton has an aspirational quality, but hasn't become too prissy. It's a nice mixture of things, with a very Bohemian feel.

I think we've delivered what we set out to do. What I like most is when you hear an audience go, 'Oh no!' When you get that, coupled with good laughs, you know you've made an impact. God knows what Alexander Walker will say. He'll hate it, of course - what am I talking about? But at least it's not made with Lottery money.