In 1986, both Payne and Berkoff appeared in Julien Temple's musical "Absolute Beginners" . Payne played a psychotic "pompous and pathetic racist" named Flikker, who participated in the 1958 Notting Hill race riots. One reviewer argued that Payne was "the only actor to walk off "Absolute Beginners" with his reputation not only intact but enhanced" and that his portrayal of Flikker "was a headbutt of reality in a fantasmagoria of overkill." One critic stated that Payne gave a "meaty, saving-grace performance" in the film. The film journalist and editor, Ann Lloyd, selected Payne as the most promising newcomer of 1987 for his role in the film. In the same year Payne appeared in the film "Solarbabies", along with fellow British performer Alexei Sayle, as filthy bounty hunters named Dogger and Malice. Payne said of his and Sayle's performances in "Vogue" that "the old image of an English arch-villain – Boris Karloff, that sort of thing" is turned "upside down. We're just a couple of soaks".