Page 10 - Fujifilm Exposure_16 Bob The Builder_ok

SWTRAWBERRY STRAWBERRY
ith five feature And Jackson was not the only To those outside Merseyside, it films being shot in Hollywood star to be found on the seemed that Liverpool took the lead and around the streets of Liverpool during that hectic as a popular setting for film back in city between period. The cast of Al’s Lads, Alchemy the Eighties when Letter To Brezhnev September and Productions’ period feature about ex- burst on the scene. For a while, the December last Liverpool dockers who went to Chicago city seemed to have been eclipsed by year, Liverpool in the Thirties and became henchmen the likes of Edinburgh and Sheffield.
cheekily claims that it had taken of Al Capone, included his predecessor “We were the first regional film over from London as the movie capi- as Shaft, Richard Roundtree. office in the country, set up in 1989,
tal of Great Britain.
That level of simultaneous activi-
ty might have been exceptional, but Merseyside is confident of establish-
ing itself as the UK’s leading centre of film production outside London.
“We’re in an extremely positive position, and we’re building on our tremendous success,” says Lynn Saunders, manager of Liverpool Film Office.
Heading the line-up of films was 51st State, an action comedy starring Samuel L Jackson, Robert Carlyle, Emily Mortimer and Rhys Ifans, and directed by Ronny Yu for Alliance Atlantis.
Liverpool-based Marc Gee wrote the screenplay for the fact-based story spanning Liverpool, New York and Chicago which was shot entirely on location in the city.
At the same time, another heavy- weight was in town. Richard Harris had flown in to star in My Kingdom, Don Boyd’s updating of the King Lear story to a Liverpool crime dynasty with Emma Catherwood, Louise Lombard and Lorraine Pilkington as his three daughters. Lynn Redgrave, Tom Bell and Aiden Gillen also in the cast.
Using Liverpool and other North West locations, John Duigan directed The Parole Officer, written by and starring Steve Coogan, alongside Lena Headey, Om Puri and Stephen Dillane for DNA Films.
In His Life - The John Lennon Story, a two-hour NBC TV movie was filmed at many Beatles landmarks around the city in September and has already been screened on the American network.
Earlier in the year, Stephen Frears was in the city directing Ian Hart, a former screen Lennon, in Jimmy McGovern’s Liam, which went on to win Best Film and Best Newcomer at the Venice Film Festival.
All this has brought a great deal of excitement, pride and cash to the city with the Liverpool Film Office, run by Liverpool City Council, estimating that the combined budget of the films is at least £36m, of which £15m has been spent within the local economy.
and you would be surprised by the level of activity we have sustained over the years,” insists Lynn Saunders, listing Priest, In The Name of the Father, The Hunt for Red October, Hilary And Jackie and Let Him Have It as examples.
“The problem is that we have never had movies set here that have done well commercially. In most cases Liverpool has stood in for somewhere else.”
She cites Hilary And Jackie. “We follow cellist Jacqueline du Pré on a world tour, but the film was shot entirely in the area apart from one scene in a cottage in North Wales. Moscow, Paris and London - that was all LiverpooI, but you wouldn’t know it.
“51st State is going to do for Liverpool what Trainspotting and The Full Monty have done for other cities. Many of the films on Merseyside last year were set here. People will be going to the cinema later this year and be sick of the sight of Liverpool. Well, hopefully not, but you know what I mean. Last year Purely Belter and Billy Elliot put the North East on the map. This year it’s going to be the North West and Liverpool.”
The Liverpool Film Office worked for four years to bring 51st State to the city. “It was written as Liverpool but you are aware that if a producer decides it would be more convenient to go elsewhere, with a small re-write they can do so. “Our determination to have it here paid off. We had to con-
How the Liverpool Film Office
struck movie gold
Photo: Lynn Saunders, the Liverpool Film Office Manager
EXPOSURE • 8 & 9
film commissions