TO make as dramatic a career turn as rugby league to film star takes some doing.
But, for one former St Helens, Huddersfield Giants and Castleford Tigers forward, that dream has now become a reality.
Keith Mason, once hailed as one of Super League’s greatest enforcers, took himself into the world of acting after a chance meeting with Hollywood legend Mickey Rourke a decade ago.
Wind the clock forward ten years and Mason is now on the cusp of his second leading role following his first in the film Imperative.
“Imperative was the film which is out now in Australia, New Zealand and the USA,” Mason told League Express.
“It took them three years to do that film, it is my first lead role in a movie since starting this journey ten years ago when I started Skin Traffik in 2013.
“I met up with a young director and he came up with an idea for this film. It is a dark and complex role, I play DCI Jack Sullivan who is hunting down a serial killer whilst trying to fight his own demons of addiction, alcoholism and mental health problems.
“I had to go deep into this very dark character but I’m looking forward to people seeing it because people won’t have expected me to play this kind of character.
Mason’s film achievements do not end there, though, as he is part of another thriller set in 1990s Northern Ireland at the height of The Troubles.
“My second lead is in a film called The Chosen, it’s set in Northern Ireland but we film in Canada in August for four weeks before shooting two weeks in Dublin and Belfast,” Mason continued.
“It’s based around a young kid called Kevin O’Brian who grows up in Northern Ireland in the 1990s when one of his friends get murdered by what they believe is the IRA.
“What he does is move away from Belfast and goes to Dublin at 13. Fast forward 20 years and he is a detective. He gets a cold case about a young child murdered 20 years ago – that kid was his friend.
“He has got to go back to Belfast where someone is murdering 12-year-old Catholic altar boys. But it’s a supernatural thriller so it’s got quite a big twist in it.”
Alongside Mason in The Chosen, Hollywood stars Mickey Rourke and even one of Sean Bean, James Nesbitt or Jamie Dornan could feature.
“We have offered Mickey Rourke to play the bishop on two days’ work, we want Sean Bean to play my partner or James Nesbitt or Jamie Dornan to play my detective partner.
“Sean O’Neil is the writer and producer who offered me the role, I’ve come on this as co-producer as well. It’s took a long time but perseverance wins the race and I’ve never given up.
“A lot of people doubted me, I left the game quite early. I was still in one piece and I thought if I carried on playing then I wouldn’t be looking the way I do now as I was thinking about the future.
“You can act up until your 80s but rugby league is a short life. I made that decision which was a tough one for me.”
