Charles Smith, who grew up in Charminster and attended Harewood College (Now Avonbourne Boy’s Academy), stars as the character Phil in the recently released thriller Knightfall, directed by Ben Fortune.
Smith described Phil’s character as a cocky gun enthusiast who brags about his weapons, but often gets “brought back down to earth”
Charles Smith, Bournemouth Actor stars in new spy thriller film alongside Hollywood stars (Image: Shogunfilms)
Now available to watch on digital and video on demand, Knightfall follows Ros Knight, an MI5 analyst played by Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott, who becomes the target of assassins after a botched black-ops raid leaves her with the key to a stolen biological weapon.
She retreats to the isolated estate of her estranged father, Charles Knight, a former spy catcher played by Ian Ogilvy, where father and daughter must work together to survive a terrifying home invasion.
Smith said his passion for acting began at school in Bournemouth after his drama teacher encouraged him to take part in a school production.
He recalled: “Throughout school my drama teacher said to me why don’t you get involved in one of our school plays, I wasn’t good at the academic and then I did the play and it was probably the first time my teachers said, ‘wow your quite good at this.’”
Following his school days spent in drama GCSE classes and acting clubs, Smith later worked on Shogun Films including Peter Rabid in 2023 and the horror movie Helloween. He was then invited by Ben Fortune to join Knightfall, which filmed some of it’s scenes in Bournemouth.
Smith added: “The director got in touch and said he was filming another movie in Bournemouth, I thought oh wow, that’s where I’m from.
“He said id love to have you involved and he sent me the script and I was blown away.”
After being told he would also be acting next to Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott, Smith said the experience was a “full-circle moment” as he would watch her acting when he was younger and went to school with her son.
He said: “Jeanine plays Ross Knight the lead, who I knew as an actor when I was younger, it felt so rewarding to be acting beside her rather then watching her.”
Charles Smith, Bournemouth Actor stars in new spy thriller film alongside Hollywood stars (Image: Shogunfilms)
Filming his scenes in April 2024, Smith described the experience as a steep learning curve, particularly shooting night scenes in challenging conditions.
He said: “We were filming exclusively night scenes which was new to me, remembering your lines and ques at 2am whilst its pouring it down was hard.
“Geoffery Moore was really helpful with setting the tone, I was obviously nervous and he really helped me, he took me aside and said there’s no rush, don’t panic and be who your character is.
“In the film, there’s a lot of guns and technical speech, Rupert (Holliday-Evans) really helped me get round and understand this.”
Looking forward, Smith said he is now writing his own comedy sketches and hopes to move into roles that are more light-hearted and comedy focused.