Billy Elliot Billy Elliot Billy Elliot is a 2000 British dance drama film about a boy becoming a professional ballet dancer. It is set in North East England during the 1984–85 coal miners' strike. It was produced by Greg Brenman and Jon Finn, music composed by Stephen Warbeck, co-produced by BBC Films, Tiger Aspect Pictures and Working Title Films, distributed by Universal Pictures and Focus Features, written by Lee Hall and directed by Stephen Daldry. The film stars Jamie Bell as 11-year-old Billy, an aspiring dancer dealing with the negative stereotype of the male ballet dancer, Gary Lewis as his coal miner
Billy Elliot and Stephen Mangan were also in final talks to join the film, and Patrick Malahide and Barbara Leigh-Hunt were added to the cast, playing the Royal Ballet School principals. On 17 June 1999, Neil North and Lee Williams joined the cast of the film, playing the Royal Ballet School tutors. "Billy Elliot" was originally released at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival under the title "Dancer". It was later decided to re-title the film "Billy Elliot" to avoid confusion with "Dancer In The Dark", another film at Cannes that year. "Billy Elliot" was theatrically released on 29 September 2000 by Universal