Former EastEnders' Matt Di’Angelo and Ricky Groves spend Two Days in the Smoke

TV heart-throb, Matt Di’Angelo, best known for his roles in EastEnders, Hustle and as a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing has been cast in the lead role for new British crime thriller, Two Days in the Smoke, due to release this Autumn.

The small screen actor moves onto the ‘big screen’ in the role of Brad, a struggling city lawyer whose life goes into turmoil following a conversation he overhears about a drug deal. The film also charts his journey to becoming a hopeful romantic, as he falls in love with a prostitute called Jodie, played by the film’s leading lady, Lili Bordán of Silent Witness and Battlestar Galactica fame.

Ultimately, what unfolds is a race against time as Brad and everyone he comes into contact with find their lives – and destinies – have become inextricably interlinked.

Talking about the new project, Matt said: “I’ve done lots of TV but I was compelled to take on the role of Brad when I read the script for the first time because I’ve always wanted to play a romantic lead. I get a lot of film offers but what’s great about TDITS is that it’s not just another typical gangster movie, it allows me to be versatile as an actor because there are action packed fight scenes but also an emotional love story attached to my character.”

Having come a long way since playing the part of teenager Deano Wickes in EastEnders, Matt’s role as Brad looks to set to become the breakthrough character he has been patiently waiting for producers believe.

Directed by Ben Pickering and produced by Slate4Films, the film is a modern take on the British crime thriller – a story of London’s criminal underworld, with a romantic twist and moments of black comedy for good measure. With plenty of drugs, sex, villains and shooters, Matt’s dynamic performance in Two Days in the Smoke is guaranteed to surprise audiences, showing him in a whole new light.

From city workers and barristers to prostitutes, hit men, gangsters, actors, salesmen and nuns, Two Days in the Smoke touches on the lives of an eclectic mix of characters living in modern day British society. Set against the topical backdrop of the global financial meltdown and last year’s riots in London, it aims to highlight the chasm between the haves, the hads and the never hads.

Shot in diverse iconic locations, the film features sequences on Tower Bridge, Covent Garden, St Pancras International Train Station, as well as Ealing, Kennington and Canterbury. Best described as cross between Pretty Woman and Gangster No 1, Two Days in the Smoke is essentially about destiny and fate, hopes and dreams and the constant presence of coincidence and serendipity in all of our lives. – The production company say.

Supporting cast include fellow former EastEnders actor Ricky Groves as Sweeney, former member of girl group Bewitched, Lindsay Armaou, as Georgina, and Funda Önal from Made in Chelsea as Josephine.

Two Days in the Smoke will be released in autumn 2012

 Written by Mike Watkins