Train drivers slam 'insulting' comedy
A new comedy film about suicide on the London Underground has been slammed by a train driver's union. Three and Out stars Mackenzie Crook as a Tube driver who witnesses two deaths under the wheels of his train – then learns that if he sees a third, he receives a payoff from his job. So he seeks out suicidal people to become his next victim. However, Aslef general secretary Keith Norman called the plot ‘insulting and foolish’.
Writing in the union’s monthly journal, he said: ‘Is this really the best material for a film comedy that the industry can come up with? I really can't find anything amusing about people so distressed that they are driven to suicide. And, having witnessed it myself, I know the life-changing trauma that drivers can suffer when they have been involved in an incident like this. The notion that train drivers are unmoved at finding a corpse under the wheels of their trains, and that their first thought is, 'How can I gain from this?' is insulting and foolish. Whoever wrote it knows nothing about train drivers and even less about their conditions. I’m mystified why writers choose subjects about which they are entirely ignorant.’
Distribution company Worldwide Bonus Entertainment said that ‘great care was taken to make sure that the more emotive elements of Three And Out were handled as sensitively as possible’. The movie, which is released on April 25, was made with the co-operation of Transport For London, who allowed filming on their property.
------------------
The guy might be making a fair point, but I'll wait until I see the film before judging it!