WRITER-director Nick Love's two movies, The Football Factory and The Business, may not have won many friends among critics but they've certainly found an audience. Their cinema release has been topped by the remarkable number of DVDs the two titles have shifted.

So when Love embarked on his latest movie Outlaw, about vigilantes taking the law into their own hands, he found a way to involve the very people who'd made his first two films hits.

Fans were able to buy into the film receiving, in return, exclusive T-shirts, DVDs, invitations to special screenings, previews of trailers, posters and other publicity material. They'll also receive a credit on the DVD.

They had the chance to be an extra in one of the scenes in the movie. These extras - nicknamed Big Hitters - spent a day on set, met the stars and, of course, had an exclusive preview of the movie in the making.

The campaign was centred around the website www.OUTLAWthemovie.com which has had more than two million hits to date.

As for the movie Outlaw, it's bound to incense some people while delighting those who like their movies rough, tough and uncompromising. Sean Bean stars as an ex-paratrooper, newly returned from Iraq and disgusted at the lawlessness on the streets of London. He and like-minded victims team up to do what the police, politicians and the legal system seem unable to do - clean up the streets.

Love is bullish about the subject matter and dark tone of his film. "It's a story about some characters. It's kind of an amoral film and it's up to people to make up their own mind," he says.

"I made a choice that the characters take the law into their own hands. If you're making a film like this you have to nail your colours to the mast. Obviously some people can't stand it because it's quite violent.

"I'm trying to make a film that's emotionally engaging and a film that's not too Hollywood. All my influences are American. I see all the American movies. It was trying to be filmic but also keep it in a way you can identify with."

Films should be both entertaining and thought-provoking, he says. "I don't make a film because it's controversial but I'm naturally drawn to those subjects."

Dyer puts it another way: "Nick has a lot of bollocks to make a film like this. Me and Nick have worked a lot together. He tends to go away, write a script and I know it's going to be a bit naughty and controversial."

The pair are obviously on the same wavelength and go to great lengths to defend each other. This time Dyer is joined by Sean Bean, Lennie James and, in a cameo role, Bob Hoskins. It's Love's most high profile cast so far in his career. "Outlaw for me was reinventing myself as a film-maker. The others were done in a tongue-in-cheek way. I got rid of the other cast and crew but with Danny it was different because we're so close," he says.

"My original thought was that I would slip him into the cast of Outlaw as the security guard. But I decided he's a much more common man in the street, so he should play a different part."

Dyer describes his character as an Everyman who doesn't like violence. Most men walk away if they're bullied, he believes. "This is about a normal man, that's why I think at screenings where I finally punch that fella in the face, I get a cheer for that."

Bean was always in Love's mind for the role of the paratrooper who orchestrates the revenge against criminals who've escaped the law. "If you look at British talent in that age group there are not many of them. Gary Oldman, Tim Roth. I met Sean before I wrote the script, we had a bit of natural respect and he said, 'I'm in'," says Love.

He makes no apologies for the bone-crunching, bloody violence in Outlaw, "If you make a film that's about attitudes towards violence, you can't shy away from it. For me, it was about putting the audience in the immediate presence of that," he says.

  • Outlaw (18) opens in cinemas tomorrow.