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twentyfourseven
Twenty-four seven is no good to Amanda Davis. She simply can’t fit everything in. Forty- eight/7 would be much more sensible. No, make it 50.
Amanda Davis was designed for this column. She’s vivacious, tireless, focused, with a huge artistic talent and steely determi- nation. As far as one can tell, sleep would only get in the way. Petite, with long flowing hair which changes colour frequently, she’s in the office – or on location – before the staff arrive and still there when they’ve been in the pub for hours.
She thinks big and, one sus- pects, charges big, but she would- n’t tell. With an infectious chuckle, she tosses the question into the long grass. Fancy even asking!
I caught up with her in the Departure Lounge at Heathrow, waiting for her second flight inside 10 days to Los Angeles; the BAFTA Film Awards behind her and the American network ABC’s 50th Anniversary Party ahead.
You go to Davis when you have a big one coming up. This lady is not made for B-list occasions.
“ABC’s 50th Party is going to be the talk of Hollywood” she
promises. “The theme we’ve cre- ated spans the ten decades from black and white to the stunning colour of today.”
All the food, lighting, videos, table decorations, carpets, set dressing, music, flowers, perfumes are integrated to transport guests down the years as they meander into a tented structure 60x80 metres.
“The flowers will be absolutely stunning. As guests arrive, they’ll see only black and white; watch pictures of 50 years ago, hear music of the time, drink cocktails that were all the rage in 1953 – and smell the perfume the stars used back then.”
You get breathless listening to her. Her business is dreaming up a concept, designing a theme to fit the grand occasion, winning the contract and delivering to the let- ter. Her company, A.D. Events owns a 12,000sq ft warehouse at New Cross where the props are created with loving care. One col- league said: “It is staggering that out of such a tiny person flows such a huge creative output.”
Davis will be working the lap- top on the flight to LA. At the Hollywood location, a team of 40 people waiting for the nod.
“You should see the ABC let- ters,” she enthuses, “they’re 18 feet high. The A encloses a velvet seating area, the B, a full orches- tra and the C, a sumptuous bar. And everywhere, detail, detail, detail. Minute detail adding up to a breathtaking overview. I am paid to make guests feel very happy and very cosseted.”
Her goal? “I want every aspect of the senses to be fulfilled.”
Guests at the Orange British Academy Film Awards this year came away using superlatives for the opulent baroque ambience she created with her design for the dinner and party at Grosvenor House.
With striking colours, velvet sofas, feathers, sculptures and top-drawer furniture, many felt she had trumped the year before when Warren Beatty said her design took his breath away.
“I have never seen a room look more stunning,” he told his hosts.
What is this pocket whirlwind like to work with? “She drives everybody potty,” says BAFTA’s Awards and Special Events pro- ducer Clare Brown. ”Days and nights don’t seem to make any difference to Amanda.”
If it’s a party you’re after to keep your guests talking for the next 12 months, with lights, videos, sculptures and a 50- piece band, look no further – Amanda Davis is the name. John Morrell reports.
Lennie James’
six of the best
Industry personalities hand out their very own BAFTAs
Best Actor
Morgan Freeman is the greatest screen actor of our time. It is almost an insult that his immense artistry has been so ignored by the Academies both here and in the US. In Driving Miss Daisy he beautifully captured the dignity, rage and politic of a man grown old in a Southern American State. Where many actors would have combated the awkward sub- servience of the role with a nod to post-civil rights American defi- ance, he chose not to. His char- acter was stronger and more proud for it. In The Shawshank Redemption, Freeman laid out a master class in screen acting. He is one of the few that still allow us to call what we do an art.
Best Debut Film
Asif Kapadia’s The Warrior (just pipping Gary Oldman’s Nil By Mouth). With his first feature, Asif announced himself as not just a good director, but a filmmaker in
the truest sense of the word. It was such an assured and brave piece of storytelling. Asif man- ages to rival his influences, not just copy them.
Best Scene
One scene acts as a Holy Grail for me (I pray one day for its equivalent). Marlon Brando’s Terry Malloy walking the men back to work at the end of On The Waterfront. This one does it for me because it took all of Brando, both mentally and physically. Brando captures everything about his character and the film in about 100 paces.
Best Comic-Strip Superhero on Screen
Blade. I grew up as a Marvel Comic geek. The arrival of Blade was a seminal moment in my journey through adolescence! Steven Norrington and Wesley Snipes got it absolutely right in the first film. They made it an 18 cer-
tificate and understood that the themes were dark, much darker than ‘Spidey’.
Best Actress the Camera Truly Loves
I worked with Emmanuelle Béart on a film called Elephant Juice and had never really understood the idea of the camera ‘loving’ someone until her. I looked down
the lens and could contrast her in the flesh and on camera. It was amazing. It was as if the camera made her shine. She is the only person I know to look great in a continuity Polaroid!
Best TV Programme
One TV programme is like Pele or Ali - what all others must be com- pared to - and that’s Hill Street Blues. It was flawless. I had nearly every episode on tape until I was burgled (and I had to admire the burglar’s taste, because he/she left my portable TV to take the tapes!). It was the moment quali- ty drama stopped being the property of British TV.
Stage and screen actor Lennie James most recently starred in the acclaimed C4 prison drama series, Buried. His films include 24 Hour Party People, Lucky Break and Snatch.
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