John Altman is becoming a movie star.
The 64-year-old actor’s legendary ‘EastEnders’ character ‘Nasty’ Nick Cotton was finally killed off from the soap in February 2015 after 30 years of appearances on the BBC One TV show.
Now John is firmly leaving Walford in his past and is teaming up with director Joe Scott for the film ‘Is This Now’ in which he will play a rocker.
John is starring in the project with JOANovARC – an all-girl band who he regularly performs with and who he released a cover of Iggy Pop’s ‘Wild One’ with as a Christmas single – and he can’t wait to get started on the movie this month.
He told BANG Showbiz: "The next thing for me is I’m going to be making a film, I start shooting it this month, it’s a British film. It’s called ‘Is This Now’. I’m going to be in a rock band in the film, it’s the rock band who I’ve been working with JOANovARC. I’m working with a guy called Joe Scott again, the last time I worked with him I got a best actor award we made the film in Washington."
John and Joe last teamed up for the mysterious drama ‘My Lonely Me’ about a 21-year-old woman who is trying to unlock and understand the mysteries of her past.
John played the character Doctor Tom and his performance earned him the Best Actor prize at the World Music and Independent Film Festival.
John has just released his autobiography ‘In the Nick of Time: The Autobiography of John Altman, EastEnders’ Nick Cotton’.
As he was writing the book, John got the chance to reflect on his time playing ‘Nasty’ Nick and his on screen relationship with June Brown, who plays his mother Dot Cotton, and he has come to the conclusion the Albert Square bad boy is one of the greatest soap villains of all time.
Discussing Nick’s place in soap history, he said: "Well it’s hard for me to say really, it’s up to TV critics to say or other actor. But I’d like to think he’d be among the top five soap bad guys along with the likes of Dirty Den Watts, Phil Mitchell and Grant Mitchell. For that alone I’m quite proud of Nick and I believe Nick has the highest murder rate of any soap bad guy so that’s cool. He killed Reg Cox, Queen Vic landlord Eddie Royal, his own son Ashley and the police woman Emma Summerhayes, she was killed after Nick tampered with some breaks. Four is a good number!"
‘In the Nick of Time: The Autobiography of John Altman, EastEnders’ Nick Cotton’ is available to buy now.
John Altman moves from EastEnders to movies
