The Characters

The original characters were invented by Lone Scherfig and Anders Thomas Jensen based on the following rules, created in collaboration with Lars von Trier:

• The scripts can take their starting point in one or more of the characters or they may be subjected to an external drama;
• The writers can place them anywhere in Scotland according to geography, social or ethnic background;
• Their back stories can be expanded; family relations can be created between them and so on, if it is proper for the individual film;
• The way the characters change in one story does not affect the other scripts. The individual relationships of the characters are different from film to film and they may be weighted differently as major or minor characters;
• All of the characters must appear in every film;
• The different parts will be cast with the same actors in the same parts in all films.

Each character was given a detailed back story as a taster. Here are some extracts from the character descriptions.

ALFRED, 64, had great dreams and ideas about how his life would turn out when he was young and the world was at his feet. However, various circumstances caused him to never realise a single one of them.

APRIL, 28, is very shy; she is a newcomer and doesn't really know anybody. Everything she owns fits into two suitcases.

CRISPIN, 40, owns a shoe store. He has spent a lot of time on his own and he is independent and resolute. His dog is the only one who really knows him.

JACKIE, 34, has lost her only brother, her husband and their child. Habitually, she maintains a relationship with a married man. and she gets just enough intimacy to avoid shutting herself away form the world.

AVERY, 40, is a very complex human being, who struggles with two extremities of his psyche. Avery stays far away from drugs and alcohol because he knows that his interior contains anger.

CLYDE, 35, has spent ten of those years behind bars. His circle of friends is still a motley crowd of people, but relentlessly, he sticks to the straight and narrow path.

TT, 35, is too fat but she is a bonfire of determination, energy and strength. She knows where she wants to go but unfortunately no man seems to want to follow her. TT has no friends.