hullywoodicons

Eraserhead

| Quentin Budworth

When Kate Macdonald asked me if she could be The Lady in the Radiator from the cult David Lynch film Eraserhead I thought blimey that’s a bit out there but what the hell let’s give it a whirl.
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Kate explained that she had scene the film whilst a living in a flat which resembled the kitchen in Withnail and she was about 18 the first time she watched it and under the influence of various things and remembers the jacket potato she was trying to eat resembled the baby in the film. She was determined to watch it when ‘straight’ but said it was still as weird! The meaning attributed to the mysterious Lady in the Radiator (Laurel Near) was that she represents the Grim Reaper and sings to Henry an eerie song of heaven and of how “everything is fine” there. It can be stated that the radiator itself is representative of Henry’s thoughts of self-destruction and that he sees death as a source of freedom from his living Hell.

This view seems to be confirmed at the film’s shocking climax when Henry kills his baby in act of release and mercy. He is then met by the Lady in the Radiator in a brilliant flash of light and dies in her arms. In this act, Henry has finally embraced Death and accepted it into his life, giving him admittance to his own personal heaven and freedom.

Many thanks to Paul Jackson at the Adelphi for letting us use the stage there for the shoot.

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).

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.

Monty Python’s The life of Brian

| Quentin Budworth

Neal Patrick said he would like to be Brian in Monty Python’s The Life of Brian we certainly stopped some rush hour traffic on Alfred Gelder Street with one passer by quipping ‘he’s not the Messiah just a very naughty boy‘ and another saying ‘you’ve spelt that wrong’. The film was originally banned in Hull.
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Monty Python’s Life of Brian, also known as Life of Brian, is a 1979 British religious satire comedy film starring and written by the comedy group Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin). It was also directed by Jones. The film tells the story of Brian Cohen (played by Chapman), a young Jewish man who is born on the same day as, and next door to, Jesus Christ, and is subsequently mistaken for the Messiah.

Westworld

| Quentin Budworth

When the following message arrived in my inbox from Kerry Davies on facebook I just had to make the dream a reality:

Hi, Quentin. I’m really enjoying following your Hullywood Icons photos. If possible, I’d like to try & pose for one of your Hullywood Icons. I’d like to be the gunslinger played by Yul Brynner in the original film version of Westworld. Westworld is also big on TV at the moment. It’s interesting because the Yul Brynner character in the Westworld film uses the same look that he had in The Magnificent Seven (another classic Western) – a twist from good cowboy to bad robot! I’ve attached a photo of the pose I’d like to do. I’ve got the black outfit and I think, if we could use it, Wm Hawkes Pub, Scale Lane, Hull, would be a brilliant location. The Westworld film tag is “Have we got a vacation for you!” – this ties in nicely with visitors coming on vacation to Hull City of Culture 2017.

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We made the image at one of the Hull old town’s hidden gems The WM Hawkes Pub on Scale Lane is a really atmospheric old pub with great taxidermy in the back room well worth checking out! The pubis named after William Hawkes, the gun maker, who worked on the site of the pub in 1810.

Walk The Line

| Quentin Budworth

Isabelle Tracy nominated her long time friend Dave Burnham to be Johnny Cash played by Joaquin Phoenix in Walk The Line as he is the lead singer in Hull Band Keep it Cash I managed to create this Hullywood Icon in a quick 20 minute shoot before he started sound checking in Fruit for a gig that night.

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Walk the Line is a 2005 American musical-biographical drama film directed by James Mangold and based on the early life and career of country music artist Johnny Cash. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin, and Robert Patrick.

The film focuses on Cash’s early life, his romance with June Carter, and his ascent to the country music scene, as based on his autobiographies. The screenplay was written by Mangold and Gill Dennis. The film’s production budget is estimated to have been US$28 million.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

| Quentin Budworth

Carol Young asked if she could be Baby Jane Hudson played by  Bette Davis in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?  I thought oh that’s a bit dark but sounds like fun!

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The  1962 American psychological thriller film produced and directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, about an aging actress who holds her paraplegic sister captive in an old Hollywood mansion. The screenplay by Lukas Heller is based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Henry Farrell. Upon the film’s release, it was met with widespread critical and box office acclaim and was later nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one for Best Costume Design, Black and White.

The intensely bitter Hollywood rivalry between the film’s two stars, Davis and Crawford, was heavily important to the film’s initial success. This in part led to the revitalization of the then-waning careers of the two stars. In the years after release, critics continued to acclaim the film for its psychologically driven black comedy, camp, and creation of the psycho-biddy subgenre. The film’s then unheard of and controversial plot, meant that it originally received an X rating in the UK,[1] Because of the appeal of the film’s stars, Dave Itzkoff in The New York Times has identified it as being a “cult classic”. In 2003, the character of Baby Jane Hudson was ranked #44 on the American Film Institute’s list of the 50 Best Villains of American Cinema.

Pirates of the Caribbean

| Quentin Budworth

When Kevin Young asked if he could play Joshamee Gibbs (Kevin McNally) from Pirates of the Caribbean and that we could use the amazing HMS Pickle for the shoot I knew I had to find a Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp). I put a call out on Facebook and thankfully Gareth Hughes who lives on a boat said he would love to do it. Many thanks to Malcolm owner of HMS Pickle for his incredible hospitality and support during the shoot.

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