UK production companies BUFF Studios and Rainbow Trout Films are developing feature documentary Who’s The Daddy? exploring the life of British wrestling icon Shirley Crabtree, better known as Big Daddy, to be directed by James Mellor.
The documentary blends archive storytelling, contemporary perspectives and social history to depict the wrestler’s rise from Halifax sportsman to national sensation during the 1970s and 1980s.
BUFF Studios’ Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe is developing the project alongside Rainbow Trout Films’ Mellor and Howard Priestley. They are attending Sheffield Doc Fest to introduce the project to the market.
BUFF Studios is the production arm of the British Urban Film Festival, and producer of boxing documentary Absolutely Marvellous. Rainbow Trout Films is a Halifax-based company whose credits include short film Rugby Town.
“I’ve been fascinated by Big Daddy’s story for many years,” said Mellor. “What began as research into an iconic sporting figure quickly evolved into something much bigger - a story about television, celebrity, community and the relationship between public success and private life.”
“Big Daddy was far more than a wrestling star,” added Anyiam-Osigwe. “Through Who’s The Daddy?, we want to explore not only the man behind the phenomenon, but also what his story tells us about fame, identity and the evolution of British popular culture before the digital age.”
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