hullyes

Hullywood icon in Hull Daily mail feature

| Quentin Budworth

Hullywood icons captures Tom Hanks Castaway on The Humber

By Hull Daily Mail  |  Posted: November 04, 2016

By Ian Midgley

Tom Hanks in Castaway – on the Humber!

If you think Tom Hanks had it hard in Castaway, then imagine how tricky it was for Jim Wardlaw recreating the marooned movie on Hessle Foreshore.

Jim is one of the latest hardy Hull residents to recreate their favourite movie moments for the Hullywood Icons projects which saw him taking to the foreshore, under the shadow of the Humber Bridge, armed with nothing but a loincloth and a basketball called Wilson for company.

Photographer Quentin Budworth, the creator of the project, said the “biting North Sea winds” hadn’t made the photoshoot easy. He said: “Poor old Jim, it was absolutely freezing on the day when we did the shoot. I got there early to do a bit of a recce and it was perishing with that icy Norwegian wind blowing in off the estuary.

“But Jim was brilliant. He said he had done the Sea of Hull and that was being naked for four hours. So he said four minutes being naked for the Castaway picture didn’t bother him. He spent ages getting ready in the car before we took the picture so I went to see what he was doing and he was busy getting his Wilson ready. He was making his own props.”

Wilson gets a talking to on the Humber 

Quentin has now captured 19 iconic movie moments, including shooting scenes from Kill Bill, Judge Dredd, Lara Croft and Caroline Ullyart as Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard.

“Caroline perfectly captured Norman Desmond,” said Quentin. “We did the photoshoot in the Guildhall and she completely nailed the crazy eyes and everything.”

The finished results of Hullywood Icons will be projected onto the sides of buildings across Hull Old Town during the opening week of 2017, as a side attraction of Sean McAllister’s giant Made In Hull City Of Culture launch installation.

Quentin says he is still on the lookout for other participants to have a go at living their silver screen dreams. He will be visiting more city locations this week to take pictures inspired by films such as Star Wars and When Harry Met Sally.

 

Tom Hanks and original Wilson from the hit movie Castaway
He is also appealing for people across Hull and its suburbs who would like the images to be projected on the side of their buildings in January 2017 to get in touch.

“As long as they have a wall in a public space that the public will be able to see I want to hear from them,” he said. “I want to bring my mobile projector along and take these images out t as many people as possible.”

* Quentin is still looking for people to join in with Hullywood Icons and for spaces to project the finished images. Contact quentinbudworth@yahoo.com or visit the websitewww.hullywoodicons.com

Link http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/hullywood-icons-captures-tom-hanks-castaway-on-the-humber/story-29868270-detail/story.html

 

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

Planning projections

| Quentin Budworth

A great technical meeting in a very cold barn deep in the wilds of East Yorkshire with Chris and Tim who are working with me on the Hullywood Icons projections for the opening event of City of Culture in January 2017. We will be using two 5.5 projectors with wide and long throw lenses mounted on a Land Rover with sound system. Here’s a glimpse of the icons in the barn.

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.

Amélie

| Quentin Budworth

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I met Lexi Young at the Vintage Cafe on Chanterlands when I was shooting Andy Train’s Elf last week and I was really struck by her resemblance to Audrey Tatou – I cheekily asked if she was interested in taking part in the Hullywood Icons project and she said yes so I said you’d make a great  Amélie … 

Just in case you don’t know the film Amélie is a whimsical depiction of contemporary Parisian life, set in Montmartre. It tells the story of a shy waitress, played by Audrey Tautou, who decides to change the lives of those around her for the better, while struggling with her own isolation.

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