Glasgow gets star billing in the latest feature production from David Baker, who Netribution readers met recently in our feature about Pasty Faces, his first film, shot in LA and Las Vegas.

Baker is staying this side of the pond for his next feature, Artful Dodgers, a modern-day movie version of Oliver Twist. It will be shot entirely on location in Glasgow.

Written and directed by Baker, from Paisley, the film - a big budget crime thriller with a real twist at the end - is being financed by Angad Paul, the steel millionaire behind Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and Snatch.

"The film will show a glitzy, glamourised Glasgow. It is a deliberate ploy on my part to make it a universal city to chime in with the film's universal themes," Baker said. "There will be no greenery, no Highlands, because that's what you always get when a film is shot in Scotland."

Baker, 35, whose first film, Pasty Faces, gets its UK release next month, is looking at a number of big names such as Gary Oldman and Hugh Grant to play alongside his big star, Glasgow.

While the artful dodger of Dickens operated on the frayed fringes of society, Baker's artful dodgers infiltrate high society in what he describes as a "white- collar crime thriller".

The artful dodgers are recruited by George, a twenty-first-century Glaswegian Fagin, a part Baker thinks would be perfect for Hugh Grant. "He has that respectable front such as he showed in Bridget Jones but with an underlining grittiness."

He added: "George is very slick, like Frank Sinatra, as he is the leader of the pack. He has a team of six criminals and teachers who recruit young guys on the street, guys in shell-suits you know a mile away are going to commit a crime.

"They are taught to walk properly, to talk properly, to dress well so that they can infiltrate high society. They don't carry weapons. People with suits and accents don't need them. People with white-collar respectability can sometimes be far more dangerous than smash and grab neds."

Eventually, the dodgers force George into a corner. They want to do one big job so they can go into business legitimately. Baker said: "The big job is a big bank in Glasgow. It comes to the point where they have to pull off the biggest con of their lives to save their lives."

Baker, however, intends that the city will emerge as one of the film's biggest talking points. "I want to make Glasgow look like a mini New York. It's a side of the city you won't have seen before.

"I want to make it look good for a change rather than rubbing filmgoers' faces in the gutter. I want to spread the gospel according to Glasgow and show we can make movies here. Hopefully, people will leave the cinema saying I didn't know Glasgow looked like that."

Baker has already convinced Angad Paul that he has the talent to match the vision.

Baker said: "Angad has got a few associates together and a few million is in place for the budget. If Pasty Faces does well the budget will get bigger.

"He thinks I can make films that will entertain people. That's the whole idea - to entertain, just like Robbie Williams."

Pasty Faces will have its premiere in Glasgow before going out on general UK release. Angad Paul has also set up a screening in New York for US distributors.

"Oprah Winfrey has also been on our website a few times and is interested in the film so this is one of the selling points we'll be using," said Baker.

Pasty Faces, which began life as a play, Freedom with a 45, at Paisley Arts Centre, follows the fortunes of a gang of unemployed Scots actors who cross the Atlantic to find a job but end up doing one - a $10m raid on Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.

Baker said: "The humour of Pasty Faces gave Angad Paul the same feeling as Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. This is the third film he has backed and he is really passionate about it."