Jeanine Sothcott on edge of your seat thriller, Renegades

Welcome to Action Reloaded, Jeanine!

You play Detective Moore in Renegades, what drew you to this character? 

She was written for me so there was absolutely zero resistance – it was a dream role.
Growing up I was absolutely crazy about cop shows such as CHIPS and Cagney & Lacey
and later The Bill and am obsessed with true crime now – I watch and listen to as many
documentaries about it as I can – so this couldn’t have been more up my street. I don’t know
if you know but most of the characters in Renegades took their names from the stars of films
produced by Euan Lloyd (Harris, Burton, Peck etc)… everyone knows Jonathan’s favourite
actor was Roger Moore, so playing his namesake was a responsibility I took very seriously!
What was it like sharing the screen with the legendary Stephanie Beacham? 

In the 80s I was besotted with Dynasty, I loved those glitzy, glamorous American soaps
much more than the British ones so I was really excited. Conversely I remember being
terrified by a horror movie she was in (with Ian Ogilvy of all people!) called And Now The
Screaming Starts so she was a real hero. Originally her character was written as male but
Jonathan felt the film needed more women in it and when he showed me a list of
suggestions for the role I really pushed for Stephanie Beacham. Ours was the first scene on
the first day of the main unit filming so the pressure was really on but she was an absolute
sweetheart and such a laugh and it was an honour to act with her.

Working with Legends

Then there’s the other members of the cast, all legends in their own right! What was it
like working with them?

Where do you start? Guys like Nick Moran and Billy Murray are part of our day to day life –
they were both at my wedding, and are almost like family so I felt so looked after on set with
them around. Nick blew everyone away with his screen fighting skills and he and I often talk
karate which we have both been passionate about for years. Lee Majors is another dear
friend and although I didn’t have a scene with him we were staying in the same hotel and we
hung out together a lot. Just after wrap Jonathan and I took him and Billy Murray out to
dinner at Wilton’s to celebrate and I can’t tell you what a wonderful evening it was, I will
treasure that forever.

One actor I really loved working with was Louis Mandylor. We only had one scene together
but it was great to lock horns with him – he’s such a pro, such a great actor and such a nice,
fun guy. I’m so glad to see him going from strength to strength and I really hope we can work
with him again soon.

I got on really well with Patsy Kensit, I hadn’t met her before but we became great friends
and go out for lunch together and I hope we can work together again soon. There’s a project
in the offing that could fit that bill so fingers crossed.

Your character is a far cry from your character in Nemesis, which character did you
have more fun playing? 

Renegades was more fun as Nemesis was shot in the middle of covid and there were
endless challenges. There’s a lot about Nemesis I’d change if I could but Sadie was a great character I really enjoyed playing.

When on-set, is that the only time Jonathan gets to be the boss man haha! 

Jonathan is very quiet and humble on set he keeps himself to himself because he believes in
letting people get on with their jobs. He has a tiny teeny cameo, sat in the hotel lobby when Lee walks past on his way to confront James Chalke and he literally had to be corralled into
it. He also ended up being Lee Majors’ stunt double for his death scene, he just laid on the
road in Islington covered in fake blood while 3 big guys stomped on him! I think that was
probably his favourite bit of the whole experience! His DNA is all over the movie though – he
came up with the idea, co-wrote the story, cast all the actors and is very involved in the script
and edit. People say “so what does a producer actually do?” and in his case the answer is
everything! I’m always in awe of how he runs these shows.

What preparation for the character did you do before shooting the movie? 

I did some fire arms training with Jamie Clarke, who is an ex police fire arms officer. That
was a lot of fun. I also chose all my own costumes, I wanted to get her look just right.

Your character and Michael Pare’s, Donovan, have some history, are you looking
forward to exploring their past more if we get a sequel? 

One of my few regrets about Renegades is that my scene with Michael Paré was recorded
separately from him as I’m such a big fan and would have loved to work with him properly…
but that’s definitely on the cards. If we make a sequel both Moore and Donovan will be front
and centre with the Renegades and who knows where that might lead.. afterall he did say
he’d like to take her to dinner!

Do you have plans to or would you like to headline your own action movie? 

It looks like my next film will be Reckoning Day, a Western revenge movie about a woman
whose husband and children are murdered during the gold rush, so she enlists a bounty
hunter to train her to avenge them. It is an absolutely fantastic script by a great writer named
Robert Dunn and will be directed by the brilliant Brandon Slagle. We’re packaging that at the
moment and already have Lee Majors and Ian Ogilvy on board. I can’t wait to get stuck into
that.

What’s Next

After Renegades what’s next for you?

After Reckoning Day I’m doing a very very dark thriller called Chase, based on the novel by
Shaun Hutson, which he’s adapted for the screen. Think Duel meets The Wicker Man.
Brandon is directing that too. I am also very excited about a project called Eyewitness, which
is being written by Josh Ridgway and will be directed by Reg Traviss. That will hopefully be
myself and Michael Paré – it’s a revenge movie with a mafia/witness protection background.
Of course I’m not going to be in everything Shogun makes, far from it and I’m really happy
playing small supporting roles – we have a great action project called Crossfire I’ll just have
a couple of scenes in. But I love being involved behind the scenes too and helping with
development and finance. 2023 is going to be a very exciting time for Shogun Films.
My absolute dream role would be one of those American cop shows like Law & Order or CSI
– that be the absolute goal for me. Fingers crossed, a few more international action and
crime films and someone might consider it!

Last question…who are your top 5 female action heroes that inspire you to kick ass
from movie to movie..

Linda Hamilton in the first two Terminator films is number one…. Sigourney Weaver in
Aliens, Angelina Jolie in Salt… on TV I love Mariska Hargitay… and for the cult classics it
has to be Cynthia Rothrock, she did so many great video-era movies.

Thank you so much for your time, Jeanine! 

No thank you Jeff – without the support of you and the guys and gals like you who embrace
the genre and give us a platform it would be very hard to promote these indie films. We all
appreciate it.

Check out our review of Renegades HERE