Ex-St Helens star Keith Mason to star as the lead in another film after release of own movie Imperative

Keith Mason is remembered as a powerful and dynamic prop, a Challenge Cup winner, but now it’s becoming more likely that you will know him as an actor especially as he stars as the lead in two films.

The first film, called Imperative, was Mason’s own project one that he put together from scratch and sees Mason star as the lead as a Yorkshire detective battling with his own demons as well as a serial killer.

“I have got Imperative. It is a film I have produced. I play a detective called Jack Sullivan who is hunting down a serial killer,” Mason told Serious About Rugby League.

“Whilst fighting his own demons of addiction, alcoholism and mental health problems, he is trying to catch this killer.

“He’s a little like a vigilante, he’s murdering drink drivers and people who are criminals basically. He’s taking criminals off the street, but that’s Jack’s job.

“It was great putting it together, I did it from scratch and brought some people in, even people who hadn’t acted before.

“We ended up with a gem. In 2021 we had the premier at Leeds, the red carpet premier. It was a bit different from being on a rugby field.

“It was a fantastic night, we had a standing ovation at the end of it. It is a Yorkshire Crime Thriller, so I’m hoping people from Yorkshire like it.”

Mason confirmed that he has done a distribution deal with a company in LA which will see the film distributed world wide.

He also confirmed that there is a separate deal in the UK which will hopefully see it come to Netflix, Amazon Prime and the like.

“I’ve done a distribution deal with a company in Los Angeles and they’re looking to release the film world wide in the next two to three months and then we’ll do a separate deal with the UK,” he said.

“It’s quite an achievement, it’s taken years to get a role like this. Been to London, catching buses, trying to get a gig.

“I just thought I’m not in Hollywood, not in London, so I’ll work on my own film.

“People will hopefully be able to watch it in 2023. It’s got a bit of Alfred Hitchcock about it, like a human horror. Some scenes will make you jump.

“It will also show me in a different light and people will be able to see what I can do.

“We’re hoping to go to Netflix and Amazon, Channel 5 and Channel 4 and possibly into local theatres.”

However, following this, Mason is set to star as the lead in another film.

“I’ve just landed another role in a film called The Chosen where I play a detective called Kevin O’Brien,” Mason said, “I fly to Canada to film for eight weeks and then to Ireland for four weeks. Another thriller where I play the lead again and it’s a much bigger budget than Imperative.

“He’s a Belfast detective and we’re going to Canada and then Northern Ireland and filming in June, July. We’ll be filming for about eight weeks in Toronto.

“The writer is Sean O’Neil, he’s a writer who has adapted the book to a film script and he also might be helping me write a rugby league movie as well.

“The script has already won international awards for best film scripts and we’re in negotiations with bringing Micky Rourke which would be the second film we’ve done together if he comes on board which is exciting.”

Rourke has starred in the likes of Sin City, The Wrestler and of course in the bid budget MCU in Ironman 2 back in 2010.

As for the writer Sean O’Neil, who could be penning a rugby league movie with Mason, you can read all about him here.

On O’Neil, Mason confirmed he is interested in writing a rugby league novel and potentially a film together in the future.

Mason won’t have trouble promoting the films with nearly a million followers on TikTok as well as a thriving Instagram page.

He has been on an incredible journey and it seems fans will be able to read all about as he prepares to write an autobiography:

“I’ve signed a book deal to do my autobiography and I’m going to start writing that in the next couple of weeks.”