Page 31 - Fujifilm Exposure_9 Love's Labour's Lost_ok

behind the camera
When British cinema was enjoying an unprecedented period of boom in the 1960s, Rita Tushingham was one of the quirkiest yet most appealing young stars created in the white heat of that success. The gritty realism of Tony Richardson’s A Taste of Honey, the quirkiness of The Knack and the cultish appeal of The Leather Boys made her name. Doctor Zhivago - in which she played the impassioned young Soviet daughter of the film’s heroine - introduced her to another style of filmmaking again. The Trap, one of her finest films, is now perhaps remem- bered best because of composer Ron Goodwin’s stirring theme revived annually as the BBC’s overture to the hugely popular London Marathon, recently run.
Back then she was - as some sources describe her - the female equivalent of the angry young man. The label makes her laugh now, as she seems far from angry with a career that has enjoyed ups and downs, and is currently looking very positive once more. Soon she will be seen in the uplifting romance Swing, and after that has a key role in Simon Marshall’s tough and street-wise South London gangster drama, Out of Depth.
Yet Tushingham, 60 next year, hardly seems a veter- an, having effortlessly switched roles as the occasion demanded during an acting career that spans four decades. But her perspective on the industry then and now puts her in a good position to judge the current mood of optimism surrounding British film.
“It’s hard to compare different eras,” she explains tentatively, “but it does seem that now people are making films with lower budgets, and they’re films with a very British content. Often that’s part of their success, and if it’s well made and a good story then people will go and see it. Many recent successes bear testament to that.”
In some ways Tushingham’s early career - when she was affectionately nicknamed Tush - sums up the range of films being made in the UK during that productive period, proving a rapid education in filmmaking for the young actress - all a far cry from drawing room dramas and cut glass RADA accents.
“To me this was the norm,” the Liverpool born actress continues, “doing films on location and keeping your accent and all that. Many actors I knew had not even worked on location up to that time. But the first four or five films I did were on location, not in a studio.
There was that excitement, and I think you also end up with a hap-
pier crew that’s much
closer together.”
Such lessons learned early in a career stay with you. To this day Tushingham, formerly married to director/cinematographer Ousama Rawi, makes a point of speaking to the camera crew, learning something of the challenges they face and helping them where she can. Working with feature debutant Adam Suschitzky on Out of Depth, she was as receptive to new ideas as ever.
“I was very impressed with Adam and his crew,” she adds. “He obviously knows his business, and was telling me all the things they were doing, and how they wanted to get the look and everything. I always like to know how things work, and I’ve always liked to know where props are, and all that sort of thing.
For her role in Out of Depth there will have been moments when Tushingham needed a moment or two to compose herself, as her character is given a rough ride by the events that unfold in the story. After she is beaten up by a local thug, her son (former Eastender Sean Maguire) seeks revenge and as a result finds himself being drawn deeper and deeper into a dark world of vice, drugs and violence.
“It’s actually based on a true story,” Tushingham continues. “My character is difficult to describe really, she’s quite a strong woman who’s had to bring up her son on her own, but she really loses something when she is beaten up. After that she is obviously afraid, and that moment is what causes the son to become involved with people that he didn’t know, and eventually leaves sever- al people dead. “She was a bit difficult to pinpoint, because I didn’t want people to feel sorry for her, I want-
ed them to see why her character did what she did, and why she had become as she was.” Sympathy for the char- acter - who is still alive, though Tushingham preferred not to meet her before filming - was contrasted with enthusiasm for the role, one that is substantially differ- ent from many that the actress is offered these days which was very refreshing in its own obvious way.
“I liked it because there was something to do with the character. Sometimes you get roles offered to you that say ‘the mother’, and that’s it. People don’t know what to do with you when you get to a certain age. Often ‘the mother’ is someone who is just hovering in the back- ground, but I liked this because she was a necessary part of the story, very necessary. I hope I have been able to do it justice, that’s all.”
The problem of finding roles that someone ‘of a cer- tain age’ can play is one that Tushingham shares with a whole generation of talented actresses. But rather than sitting and waiting for the phone to ring she has taken the first tentative steps to directing a film of her own, a project still shrouded in secrecy, but which she is clear- ly very excited about.
“We’ve just finished our second draft of the script,” she beams. “I don’t want to say too much about it, but it’s a wonderful 1917-set story about a women’s football team, and it’s something I’ve been working on for a while, if not forever it would seem.”
Her enthusiasm for the business undimmed after nearly 40 years at the top, Rita Tushingham is about to embark on her boldest project yet. But of course she will have the benefit of having worked with some of the very best to fall back on. After all is said and done, experience counts for everything in the movie business.
“It’s terribly important to respect each other’s jobs on a film set,” she states, “because making a film is not just about the actor or director or cameraman. You can only make a film with a complete crew, every single piece of the jigsaw must be in place, and casting them is just as important as casting your actors. I’m glad I learnt all this early on in my career because now I want to direct I know I can never take anyone for granted.” ■ ANWAR BRETT
Out Of Depth was originated onFujicolor Motion Picture Negative
A Kind Of Tush
A Kind Of Tush
Rita Tushingham reflects on 40 years at the top
Photos: (top) Rita Tushingham in Swing, (above): A Taste Of Honey with Dora Bryan and again with Murray Melvin; with Sean Maguire in Out Of Depth
EXPOSURE • 31