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Mean Girls

| Quentin Budworth

Eleanor Churchill contacted me about recreating the mall scene from Mean Girls with her friends and work colleagues. Mean Girls is a 2004 American teen comedy film directed by Mark Waters and written by Tina Fey. The film is based in part on Rosalind Wiseman’s non-fiction self-help book Queen Bees and Wannabes, which describes female high school social cliques and the damaging effects they can have on girls.

We created this shot after work on friday afternoon after work at St. Stephens in Hull. In the picture from left to right – Sam Kitchen, Bethany Watson, Eleanor Churchill and Nicola Taylor.

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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.’

 

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.

 

 

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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