MP is the star of on-line spoof film
A Black Country MP has become a mutant-fighting superhero after he caught the eye of some aspiring Hollywood film writers who made him the star of an on-line spoof video.
A Black Country MP has become a mutant-fighting superhero after he caught the eye of some aspiring Hollywood film writers who made him the star of an on-line spoof video.
Tom Watson, MP for West Bromwich East, features in two five second films written by a group of Californian graduates.
In one video, called Keeping You Safe, he is seen delivering a punch to defend a family from a group of hyper-intelligent sharks while in another, Keeping You Warm, he is plugged into a wall socket to provide night time heat to children.
The website, 5secondfilms.com, has a cult following around the world and Mr Watson has the dubious honour of being the first politician to be featured after he linked to it via social networking site Twitter.
Keeping You Safe sees actors dressed in green paint and wearing shark fins burst into a family's dining room.
In the surreal film a voice-over asks who will protect them from hyper-intelligent shark people. The answer "Tom Watson" comes as a portly man in glasses and a suit lands a punch on one of the creatures. The background turns into a Union flag and the words "Tom Watson MP for West Bromwich East" appear on the screen.
Los Angeles-based film maker Daniel Hollister, aged 22, said the film crew were all in their early to late 20s.
He said: "Tom revealed on Twitter that he had seen our videos and that he liked them.
"He was the first politician to do so and we decided he deserved a film of his own.
"The actor portraying Tom is called Wolfgang Delgado. When we looked Tom up on the internet we saw Wolfgang bore a striking resemblance. He just needed a shave and to put on glasses and he was Tom." The film makers put a new five second movie on every weekday. It takes them a matter of minutes to film them but the make-up for the shark people took several hours.
Mr Watson said he was surprised and flattered by his portrayal.
He said: "I had absolutely no idea they were going to do this.
"I can see how people think Parliament is a place that has been invaded by shark people but I never thought anyone would make a film about it."
