Teenager Jimmy Grimble is a Manchester City fan. Which side do you fall down on, and why does the script focus on Manchester's two teams?

You've got two teams: who do you choose? Celtic-Rangers, a lot of politics there. With Everton-Liverpool, the city has been overused in film production. About 98% of the world, people recognise Man. United. It's the perfect underdog story, with Manchester City. I'm a Brighton and Hove Albion fan.

You used Manchester City's stadium, Maine Road. Were there any problems with this?

Man. City were great. We had problems, in the sense that we did some damage to their pitch, we tried to avoid. Even to the degree that when I used to watch them on Sky Sports, I'd see the goal end where we'd been playing was worse off than the other end. I felt very guilty.

Do you see the film as a football movie?

It is a football movie, but loads of women came out of test screenings who really enjoyed it. We wanted to make a boys movie, but Screen International said "Here's the date movie that's an antidote to the summer blockbusters".

What are you working on next?

It's called "All That Might Have Been". It's a science fiction story with a twist; time-travel from a Stephen Hawkins perspective. If you like "Edge Of Darkness", it has that feel. Columbia have just sent it to Sean Connery. He always professes to want to do a Scottish movie, so we'll see. It would be an unusual role for him.

Check out the Edinburgh International Film Festival website and the BBC's Edinburgh Festival coverage.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites