EastEnders star is worlds away from his Walford days as he is nominated at Raindance Film Festival for unique independent horror movie role

Daily Mail​

27-05-2025

EastEnders star John Altman has been nominated for a top award at the Raindance Film Festival.
The soap opera legend, famed for playing 'Nasty' Nick Cotton for 30 years, has taken on a very different role from his Walford days in horror movie The Last Grail Hunter.
In a unique plot, the release follows failed grail hunter and alcoholic Johnny Calvi as he makes one last ditch attempt to find the Holy Grail - the cup that Jesus drank from at the Last Supper.
Set in the 2031, society has been rebuilt and is controlled by a secret organisation called the Priory of Sion, with life being run in Arcadia 'as a mystical game'.
It prompts the question about whether Johnny's life is controlled by a gamer and if his epic mission is simply a quest in the video game, titled The Last Grail Hunter.
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The 70-minute independent movie was shot across just four days in London and directed by Mark Christopher Lee.
And John's work has been recognised as he has been nominated for Best Performance in a UK Feature at the 33rd Raindance Film Festival.
In the category, he is up against Daniel McNamee for Breakwater, Mickey Angelov's Dali, Graham McTavish for Dirty Boy, and Jordan Bolger for Heavyweight.
Also among the independent nominees are Charlie Robb for Loney, Row's Bella Dayne, White Guilt's Temica Thompson and Edward Hogg for The Lonely Musketeer.
Speaking about his nomination at the largest independent film festival in the UK, John said: 'I'm extremely happy to have been nominated for Best Performance.
'I've worked with Mark before on music but he called me one day and said he had an idea for a film and I like things that are different.
'It was an enjoyable four days filming the entire movie on location in London and St Albans.'
Set to ominous music, the trailer follows Johnny as he parades around London to find the Holy Grail, before shots show him screaming on a table while a gamer appears to control his every move.
The horror flick, which is available to stream, will premiere on June 19, 2025, at the Vue in Piccadilly, London, as part of the film festival.
John agreed to take on the unique role after learning about the plot, while he is also a huge fan of horror as a franchise.
Though it is worlds away from his Walford days, John is a horror aficionado having nabbed roles in Demons At Dawn, Repentance and 1981's An American Werewolf In London.
He told BANG Showbiz: 'I love horror films. I like to be made to jump out of my skin, which a good horror should be able to do.
'I like it when the film controls you so that you're totally relaxed and not expecting anything and that's when you jump. I like that, the power of film.'
John rose to fame among the original cast of long-running BBC soap opera EastEnders, entering the scene as 'Nasty' Nick Cotton.
He was an integral part of the show's first big storyline - murdering elderly resident Reg Cox (Johnnie Clayton) and became the soap's biggest villain.
But he left the soap in 1991 after refusing to accept a gay storyline for his character, with John claiming he was written out.
John later returned to the soap, appearing in 1993, 1998 and between 2000 and 2001, 2008 and 2009 and finally from 2014 to 2015 - when he was killed off.
He died in his on-screen mother's arms after a fatal reaction to heroin for which Dot (June Brown) did not seek medical help.
Earlier this year, John made headlines once again for saying a racial slur live on air during an appearance on BBC Radio 4.
The broadcaster was forced to apologise for his language after he had uttered an offensive term during a conversation about whether he had ever improvised any lines.
'We knew our characters so well. We wouldn't change it drastically. We'd put in words or a line here and there to make it comical. Just to liven it up a bit,' he shared.
John then recalled an incident in the late 00s when show bosses changed a racial slur in the script to 'illegal immigrant', repeating the offensive term on air himself.
He said: 'I suppose I can say it on air, if you don't mind, but Nick referred to someone who was living with Dot as a ****. They start filming and they said, ''Oh I don't think we can say that''.
Interjecting, Sarah stated: 'No, I don't think we can [say that].'
John then claimed that 'people do unfortunately still say it these days', to which Sarah insisted: 'They don't.'
Later on, Sarah apologised for the language used, saying: 'Can I apologise. It wasn't appropriate in the old days, and it wasn't appropriate now, for what John Altman said.'