Page 30 - Fujifilm Exposure_21 The Gathering Storm_ok

SHINING A LIGHT FOR
SHINING A LIGHT FOR
Drivers recently heading west towards Oxford on the M40 weren’t halluci- nating (they might be relieved to learn) if they suddenly imagined speed- ing past a tall white light- house about a mile to their right off junction six.
Had they decided to exit the motorway and then weaved down a couple of country roads, they’d have discovered not just the curiously land- locked beacon but also a rather eerie junkyard fairground dotted with intriguing metal sculptures.
The location with its imaginative additions – which some rural pedants might uncharitably consider an eye- sore in this pleasant if otherwise unre- markable corner of the Vale of Oxford – was to the rear of The Lambert Arms at Lewknor.
The bustling pub and its handy adjoining land was the base for a new British romantic comedy rather appro- priately titled A Flight Of Fancy.
Co-produced and directed by award-winning still photographer, David Fairman, the story tells of a suc- cessful single businessman whose fate leads to a strange isolated community – lighthouse and all - where he meets perhaps the girl of his dreams.
The cast, led by Jason Flemying and Kirsty Mitchell as the would-be couple, also includes Maureen Lipman, Annabelle Apsion, Frank Finlay, Kulvinder Ghir, Samantha Janus and John Sessions as well as Julie T Wallace and Jacqui Lee-Price, playing a pair of formidable female ‘minders’.
Fairman, who first cut his teeth in features a couple of years ago with the psychological thriller Cold Fish, had first been fired up to switch from stills and commercials to movies after a trip to Tahiti during which he’d been pho- tographically revisiting the world of the artist Paul Gauguin.
He recalled: “I then had an exhi- bition but because of the subject
matter I’d got I really wanted also to do a documentary about Gauguin’s life. People kept telling me it was such a great story and, ‘why not make a feature about him?’ They said I should get a writer. In fact, I started sketching it myself.”
However, he admitted rather rue- fully, “it still remains a film I’ve got to make. The point is it began to draw me into the whole business of story- telling, script-writing and acting. I decided to try and learn as much as possible about all those aspects and a
year ago I signed on in Los Angeles with someone who started coaching me how to direct actors.”
While at the American Film Market in LA selling Cold Fish, Fairman was shopping around for new available scripts when he was introduced to Sharon Cobb, cited as “one of the top ten new Hollywood screenwriters to watch.”
She’d recently written the tale of a successful publisher torn between love and the realisation of a dream and the power of money and position.
When Fairman read it, he was hooked and was convinced that with the right production team and cast, Cobb’s screenplay, originally set in America’s Deep South, could be turned into a successful commercial film.
He swiftly optioned the script and began assembling a team. Initial devel- opment funding was secured from the States but the threat of an actors’ strike there meant a decision was made to make the film in Britain instead.
A share offer was launched under the Enterprise Investment Scheme a
A behind the scenes report from the set
EXPOSURE • 28 & 29