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The footballer, who produced the movie with his England teammate Ashley Cole, told ShortList that it is funnier than some people might think.
Ferdinand said: "That's why I went with the script. It's not the preconceived idea of blood and gore and guns, a lot of drugs and stuff like that.
"I had two American scripts that were given to me that wanted help to get off the ground. But I said no to both of them. And I received a good few English ones that I didn't go through with."
He added: "Brenda Blethyn and 50 Cent were paramount really, because they were both giving credibility. I said until you get them signed, I'm not even thinking about it.
"The other thing was getting my charity involved, where I could get kids working on the set and hopefully get a sense of working in the film world. It gave me all the things I wanted and I liked the script, so it all went ahead."
> Click here to watch the Dead Man Running trailer
