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How The Gathering Storm propelled Churchill back into the fray
Although set more than 60 years ago, there are clear- ly some poignant parallels between The Gathering Storm and today’s volatile world politics. Just how poignant would become all too obvious when in the aftermath of September 11, the resulting security implications necessitated a revision of some key locations for the $12m BBC/HBO production.
Whitehall was out for starters which is why director Richard Loncraine and his designer Luciana Arrighi were now having to make the best of Greenwich Naval College as stand-in for the likes of the Admiralty and the Foreign Office.
The Gathering Storm, titled A Lonely War during shooting, tells the story, set between 1932 and 1938, of Winston Churchill’s pre-war years, his struggle to alert the British people to the threat posed by the Nazis and eventual return to high office.
At the time, his so-called ‘Wilderness Years’, he was exiled from Government and accused of being a warmonger. Politicians and public alike ignored his warnings about the dangers of appeasement until it was almost too late.
Written by Hugh Whitemore, the project – originally brought to HBO and then the BBC by Ridley and Tony Scott’s Scott Free company – also cov- ers Churchill’s intriguing private life, his long marriage to wife Clemmie and his love for his Kent house Chartwell, where he painted and reared pigs.
Loncraine (Richard III, The Missionary), who a year or so earlier had directed the spectacular airborne landing D-Day episode in the epic Band Of Brothers teleseries, was aware of the potential dangers when asked to make The Gathering Storm.
“With a film about Churchill as with, say, Shakespeare, you have to ask yourself how you can make it into an entertaining, accessible story and not just for people who are only inter- ested in modern history.
“Hugh has managed to make it a wonderful love story and a political thriller. It’s also very funny so it seems to work on many levels.
“Was there one thing that especial- ly attracted me? Albert Finney, without question. In fact, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it until I heard that Albert was going to play Churchill; then I decided to have another look at it.
“I had always assumed that Churchill was a bully we needed at the time to fight Hitler. He was also funny, kind, generous, loved music hall songs and was a great raconteur. Yes, he could be rude, aggressive and moody too. I think he was a complete mad- man, in the nicest sense of the word, and certainly obsessed with power.
“To play Churchill you have got to be a very brave actor and I think Albert has delivered something quite remarkable. He’s not wearing prosthet- ics, has shaved his head and because of the way he brings his neck in, his neck ached at the end of every day. He’s found an essence of Churchill and brings it to the character. He’ll get an
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