hull city of culture

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

| Quentin Budworth

Liz dees asked if she could be the White Witch from the Chronicles of Narnia played by Tilda Swinton and that she had a ‘brown haired boy’ lined up for the shoot imagine my amazement when I arrived at the shoot to find Charles Huckvale dressed as  Edmund Pevensie played by Skandar Keynes in the film. You may recall Charles starred in ‘The Wild One’ shoot with Bandanarama,

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The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of fantasy films from Walden Media, based on The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of novels by C. S. Lewis. From the seven novels, there have been three film adaptations so far—The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), Prince Caspian (2008) and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)—which have grossed over $1.5 billion worldwide among them.

The series revolves around the adventures of children in the world of Narnia, guided by Aslan, a wise and powerful lion that can speak and is the true king of Narnia. The children heavily featured in the films are the Pevensie siblings, and a prominent antagonist is the White Witch (also known as Jadis).

Dirty Dancing

| Quentin Budworth

Amy Burley contacted me about recreating a scene from Dirty Dancing with her husband James… it was a bit breezy but well worth the effort…

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Dirty Dancing is a 1987 American musical romance film written by Eleanor Bergstein, directed by Emile Ardolino and starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in the lead roles, as well as Cynthia Rhodes and Jerry Orbach.

Originally a low-budget film by a new studio, Great American Films Limited Partnership, and with no major stars (except Broadway legend Orbach in a supporting role), Dirty Dancing became a massive box office hit. As of 2009, it has earned over $214 million worldwide. It was the first film to sell more than a million copies on home video, and the Dirty Dancing soundtrack created by Jimmy Ienner generated two multi-platinum albums and multiple singles, including “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life”, which won both the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Song, and a Grammy Award for best duet

Star Wars 1977

| Quentin Budworth

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Here’s Rick Gilroy talking about the shoot for Star Wars 1977 which we shot at The Hull University Library with his friend and Snow Trooper Paul Rogers

I got in touch with Quentin to see if I could recreate some scenes from Star Wars, I had seen some of his earlier pictures of Jean Todd as Princess Leia and thought we could hopefully complement those photographs, I have always loved the science fiction genre and this would be a great opportunity to be photographed in what I consider to be an iconic costume from the film, a Storm trooper.

The film is very nostalgic for me as I remember going to see it at the Dorchester cinema down George Street in 1977 with my Dad and watching the film today takes me back to that time.

I choose the Brynmor Jones library at Hull University as a location as I felt it had a very futuristic look and the architecture of the building both internally and externally would provide an excellent backdrop to match certain scenes from the film. I also have to give credit to my mate Paul Rogers another super fan for joining me in the photo-shoot as a Snow trooper.

The timing of this project is perfect as the new Star Wars film comes out this week called Rouge One and is actually a prequel to the original 1977 film featuring again the white Storm troopers. The film follows the story of how the rebels acquired the plans for the Death Star which are then passed on to Princess Leia.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Quentin, Liz Heaney from Hull University and Les Drake, film maker for their help and assistance.

Back to the Future

| Quentin Budworth

Mark Westwood and Ian Bond got in touch with me about recreating a scene from 80’s cult sci-fi film back to the future we met in a car park near Kingswood late one evening to create this Hullywood moment, Ian very kindly volunteered to put the flames in the shot. I love it when that happens…
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Back to the Future is a 1985 American science fiction adventure comedy film[5] directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox as teenager Marty McFly, who is sent back in time to 1955, where he meets his future parents in high school and accidentally becomes his mother’s romantic interest. Christopher Lloyd portrays the eccentric scientist Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown, Marty’s friend who helps him repair the damage to history by advising Marty how to cause his parents to fall in love. Marty and Doc must also find a way to return Marty to 1985.

Brave

| Quentin Budworth

Madeleine O’Reilly asked me if she could be Merida from the blockbusting animation Brave for Hullywood Icons. We met by the humber bridge to create this image..
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Set in the Scottish Highlands, the film tells the story of a princess named Merida who defies an age-old custom, causing chaos in the kingdom by expressing the desire to not be betrothed.

 

Les Miserables

| Quentin Budworth

Freddie Garland who you may remember did the Breakfast at Tiffany’s shoot mentioned that her daughter Erin Garland would make a fantastic Cosette played by Amanda Seyfried  from Les Miserables. Here she is photographed under the oldest archway in Hull just off Trinity Square.
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Les Misérables is a 2012 British-American musical drama film directed by Tom Hooper and scripted by William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, and Herbert Kretzmer, based on the musical of the same name by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg which is in turn based on the 1862 French novel by Victor Hugo. The film is a British and American venture produced by Relativity Media, Working Title Films and Cameron Mackintosh Ltd. and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film stars an ensemble cast led by Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, and Amanda Seyfried.

The Matrix

| Quentin Budworth

When I got to the top floor of the  King Billy Car Park in Hull early on  a cold dark saturday morning I could see a lone figure in the distance studying the fantastic views over the city of Hull. It was Catherine Goble and we were here to shoot a scene from The Matrix Hullywood style – have you got the gun I asked oh yes she chuckled and the shades excellent, let’s do it… So here we have Catherine Goble as Trinity played by Carrie-Anne Moss.
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The Great Dictator

| Quentin Budworth

When Keith Britton got in touch and said he would like to be Charlie Chaplin playing Hitler in The Great Dictator I had some reservations but when he told me that it was the film that people were watching when the bomb dropped on the The National Picture thankfully all 150 people escaped and there were no casualties. The interior of the building was completely destroyed but remarkably the facade survived and still survives to this day, including fragments of the Foyer and vestibule behind it. 20161208-l67a5841

The Great Dictator is a 1940 American political satire comedy-drama film written, directed, produced, scored by and starring Charlie Chaplin, following the tradition of many of his other films. Having been the only Hollywood film-maker to continue to make silent films well into the period of sound films, this was Chaplin’s first true sound film.

Chaplin’s film advanced a stirring, controversial condemnation of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, fascism, antisemitism, and the Nazis. At the time of its first release, the United States was still formally at peace with Nazi Germany. Chaplin plays both leading roles: a ruthless fascist dictator, and a persecuted Jewish barber.

The Great Dictator was popular with audiences, becoming Chaplin’s most commercially successful film.[4] Modern critics have also praised it as a historically significant film and an important work of satire. The Great Dictator was nominated for five Academy Awards – Outstanding Production, Best Actor, Best Writing (Original Screenplay), Best Supporting Actor for Jack Oakie, and Best Music (Original Score).

In his 1964 autobiography, Chaplin stated that he could not have made the film if he had known about the true extent of the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps at the time.

Ypu can see the closing speech from the film here: