Billy Elliot is a 2000 British drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 written by Lee Hall

Lee Hall (playwright)

Lee Hall is an English playwright and screenwriter. He is best known for the 2000 film Billy Elliot.-Early life:...

 and directed by Stephen Daldry

Stephen Daldry

Stephen David Daldry, CBE is an English theatre and film director and producer, as well as a three-time Academy Award nominated and Tony Award winning director.-Early years:...

. Set in the fictional town of "Everington" in the real County Durham

County Durham

County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...

, UK, it stars Jamie Bell

Jamie Bell

Andrew James Matfin "Jamie" Bell is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in the films Billy Elliot , King Kong , Hallam Foe , Jumper , Defiance , The Eagle and The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn .- Early life :Bell was born in Billingham, in the Borough of...

 as 11-year-old Billy, an aspiring dancer, Gary Lewis

Gary Lewis (actor)

Gary Lewis is a Scottish actor. He has had parts in Billy Elliot, Gangs of New York, Eragon and Three and Out, as well as a major role in the television docudrama, Supervolcano.-Early life:...

 as his coal miner father, Jamie Draven

Jamie Draven

Jamie Draven is an English actor whose career in films and television began in 1998. One of his early notable parts was as Billy's elder brother, Tony, in the hit 2000 film Billy Elliot and as Jamie Dow in Ultimate Force.A native of the southern Manchester district of Wythenshawe, he is the...

 as Billy's older brother, and Julie Walters

Julie Walters

Julie Walters, CBE is an English actress and novelist. She came to international prominence in 1983 for Educating Rita, performing in the title role opposite Michael Caine. It was a role she had created on the West End stage and it won her BAFTA and Golden Globe awards for Best Actress...

 as his ballet teacher. In 2001, author Melvin Burgess

Melvin Burgess

Melvin Burgess is a British author of children's fiction. His first book, The Cry of the Wolf, was published in 1990. He gained a certain amount of notoriety in 1996 with the publication of Junk, which was published in the shadow of the film of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting, and dealt with the...

 was commissioned to write the novelisation of the film based on Lee Hall's screenplay.