hullcityofculture

An American In Paris

| Quentin Budworth

Tina Dawn Brooker approached me about portraying Lisa Bouvier (played by Leslie Caron) in  a scene from one of her favourite films an American in Paris  a 1951 American musical film inspired by the 1928 orchestral composition An American in Paris by George Gershwin. Starring Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant, Georges Guétary, and Nina Foch, the film is set in Paris, and was directed by Vincente Minnelli from a script by Alan Jay Lerner. The music is by George Gershwin, with lyrics by his brother Ira, with additional music by Saul Chaplin, the music director.

The story of the film is interspersed with dance numbers choreographed by Gene Kelly and set to Gershwin’s music. Songs and music include “I Got Rhythm”, “I’ll Build A Stairway to Paradise”, “ ’S Wonderful”, and “Love is Here to Stay”. The climax of the film is “The American in Paris” ballet, a 17-minute dance featuring Kelly and Caron set to Gershwin’s An American in Paris. The ballet alone cost almost half a million dollars.

We had a lot of fun on the shoot in the early November sunshine by the Humber which is not quite the Seine and unfortunately Tina’s Gene Kelly did not turn up…

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Star Wars

| Quentin Budworth

67 year old Jean Todd is a huge Star Wars fan – her favourite character is Princess Leia – we chose a location overlooking the Deep to create this Star Wars scene. L67A2203.jpg

Cast Away

| Quentin Budworth

Jim Wardlaw suggested that we recreate the scene from Cast Away starring Tom Hanks on Hessle foreshore with the Humber Bridge in the background . I asked Jim why Cast Away and he said it was really difficult to find characters in films with beards so the character of Chuck Noland was a godsend. We hadn’t reckoned on the biting ice cold wind but Jim was an excellent sport and we got on with the shoot despite the wintry conditions. The film also features ‘Wilson’ Hanks side kick in the movie.

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Sunset Boulevard

| Quentin Budworth

Caroline Ullyart got in touch with me about portraying Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard a 1950 American film noir directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett. It was named after the boulevard that runs through Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, California.

The film stars William Holden as Joe Gillis, an unsuccessful screenwriter, and Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, a faded silent film star who draws him into her fantasy world where she dreams of making a triumphant return to the screen.

We did the shoot on the newly carpeted stair case  at City Hall a red carpet entrance suitable for Hullywood Icons and Hollywood stars if ever there was one.

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‘My grandma lived with us in the early sixties and had the only TV in the house. There were five of us children, and she used to make us feel special by allowing us individual time to sit in her room and watch it with her..
This film Sunset Boulevard..appeared magical to me. I watched it with her one evening and felt out of this world, It affected me so much so that I couldn’t stop crying. It had enormous imagination, and it yearned for something I didn’t understand… then. It was luminous, glittering and tragic. Years after I saw it again at art school and realised it still made me feel the same. I then understood it’s yearning . It’s still relevant and depicts the industry with searing truth.. probably still. The screenplay is brilliant, all the roles are fantastically strong and have real depth.. there are no black and white goodies and baddies , these characters are all ‘grey area’ real human beings. Gloria Swanson (‘Norma Desmond’), was only supposed to be 50.. yet made to feel washed up…..and here we are over fifty years later, and little has changed on screen for female actors.. Sometimes I do that silly activity of ‘gender swapping’, on my tv /film screen at any time of day or night and it’s very telling. More women on our screens please. I also love her understated look…!….A right and proper Hollywood Icon. Wish there was a channel dedicated to these films missed by a generation or two… they are losing out on great stories and filmmaking. I loved becoming Norma for five minutes -in her honour.’

 

Tomb Raider

| Quentin Budworth

Raimonda Kirtiklytė got in touch about portraying Lara Croft in Tomb Raider for the Hullywood Icons series she has been a big fan of both the game and the movie since being a teenager and recalled getting in from school and playing the game for hours at a time. As she says I love Lara Croft and particularly Angelina Jolie’s portrayal of her.

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The Birds

| Quentin Budworth

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Nicola Taylor got in touch with me about creating a  scene from the Hitchcock film The Birds starring Tippi Hedren. We managed to find one of the iconic white Hull Phone Boxes near Nicola’s office in Hull and grabbed the shot during her lunch break.

Dredd

| Quentin Budworth

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Nick Beardshaw  approached me about creating a scene from the film Dredd a film made in 2012 based on the 2000 AD comic strip Judge Dredd.  It was a great shoot at the old partially demolished car park on Osbourne Street behind Prince’s Quay.  Causing a few turned heads for saturday morning shoppers in Hull.

Nick works at the Deep and as an extra for films, loves the character Judge Dredd and cosplay.