Rita Simons has set her sights on starring in more gangster movies after getting the "biggest buzz" shooting ‘The Krays: Dead Man Walking’.
The former ‘EastEnders’ star portrays Lisa Prescott in the motion picture – which tells the story of the notorious gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray breaking Frank ‘The Mad Axeman’ Mitchell out of Dartmoor Prison in December 1966 – and she loved the "authentic" and "vile" setting where the film was partly shot, so much she wants more of the same.
She exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "I’ve always wanted to do a Krays film of some sort.
"The minute I left ‘EastEnders’ I always said I want to do a gangster movie, so I did a gangster movie, and I loved it.
"I definitely want to do more. I got the biggest buzz coming back from work every night. We filmed it in such an authentic location. It really was an old squat in Bethnal Green, it was absolutely vile.
"There was no heating, it was minus four outside, there was nothing glamorous about it. That added to the brilliance of it.
"The set wasn’t dressed up, it did look like that. I just came back buzzing going, ‘I love my job.’ "
While Rita – who played Roxy Mitchell in ‘EastEnders’ for 10 years until she was killed off last year – found it tough to research her alter-ego Lisa, a club hostess who spent time with Frank when he was in hiding, due to Lisa now being in hiding, she didn’t have to research the famous siblings too much after watching Martin and Gary Kemp’s 1990 ‘The Krays’ movie numerous times.
She added: "I did a bit of research on Lisa Prescott but it wasn’t the easiest thing in the world, because she is in hiding. I did what I could.
"I love the Krays movie – I’ve seen them about 20 times. ‘Scarface’, ‘Goodfellas’, I just used to love gangster films – and I still do."
‘The Krays: Dead Man Walking’ is available now on DVD and digital.
Rita Simons set sights on gangster film career after Krays buzz
