Kelly McFarland
A star-studded line up of actors including Tom Felton, Noel Clarke, Neil Morrissey, Nina Sosanya Martin Freeman, Celia Imrie and Adrian Scarborough have joined forces in an epic short film for Stand Up To Cancer shot by Ridley Scott Associates.
Marking the return of the joint national fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4, the film depicts the stars channelling the relentless, unforgiving and unpredictable behaviours of cancer to beat it at its own game as 1 in 2 people in the UK born after 1960 will be diagnosed with some form of cancer during their lifetime.
Stand Up To Cancer is a joint national fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4 that brings the UK together to speed up progress in life-saving cancer research
Launched in the UK in 2012, Stand Up To Cancer funds translational research, turning academic breakthroughs in the labs into new treatments that make a real difference for people with cancer.
More than £62 million has been raised in the UK to date, funding 52 clinical trials and projects involving 11,000 cancer patients across the country. Research projects include the development of pioneering technology to detect super-low levels of cancerous DNA in the blood to improve the way we diagnose ovarian cancer, developing a new immunotherapy drug to boost the power of the immune system against cancer, exploring an entirely new approach to treating bowel cancer, and much more.
Stars such as Naomi Campbell, Noel Gallagher, Tom Hardy, Gillian Anderson, Idris Elba, Andy Murray, James Corden, Martin Freeman, Jamie Oliver, Richard Ayoade, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Peter Crouch, Abbey Clancy, Danny Dyer, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Lily James, Rosamund Pike, Sophie Turner, Stephen Graham, Toby Jones, Maya Jama, Joe Lycett and Roman Kemp are just some of the talent who have supported Stand Up To Cancer.
The film, which launched in cinemas on 11th October, opens with Martin Freeman tirelessly swotting up on fundraising ideas late into the night. As the camera then cuts from one celeb to the next we see Celia Imrie remembering a lost loved one; Joe Dempsie and Nina Sosanya pummelling boxing pads; Tom Felton scaling a climbing wall; Noel Clarke smashing world records; Neil Morrissey break dancing and Adrian Scarborough dressed head to toe as a carrot, all to raise vital funds for life-saving cancer research.
The Stand Up To Cancer campaign will continue throughout October. For those inspired by the Ridley Scott Associates film, there are lots of easy ways to get involved from fancy dress to organising a feast for friends or taking on a gaming challenge. There’s more than one way to make a difference.
For more information visit su2c.org.uk
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