The lead actors come from Sweden, Australia and South London. The film is shot predominantly in Belfast but set in New York. The script is inspired by the thinkings of a man who so despaired of mankind's inhumanity that he killed himself. And it's got a title which is part of an algebraic equation and most people will mispronounce. In many ways the odds are stacked against Tom Shankland's first feature, but WAZ (the title is actually pronounced W-Delta-Z) is in fact an excellent thriller with more intelligence, atmosphere and brio than many movies in the genre.

Stellan Skarsgård stars as jaded New York cop Eddie Argo, whose new partner Helen Westcott (Melissa George) starts suspecting all isn't as it seems at the precinct when a serial killer starts offing gang members and leaving parts of an algebraic formula etched on their bodies (and you thought your maths lessons were bad...). Ashley Walters and Tom Hardy also excel as two of the gang members. The best compliment we can pay the film is that its British roots never show.

We covered the world premiere of WAZ when it screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in August 2007. In the video above we catch up with director Tom Shankland - now working on his second feature, The Day - as well as WAZ star Stellan Skarsgård and writer Clive Bradley to find out more about the film.

WAZ is released in UK cinemas on Friday 22nd February 2008.

Adrian Hennigan | Updated 13 February 08

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