When I first came to London just after the war (Falklands not World) I was filled with a mixture of fear and excitement. My fear was all to do with leaving home and finding my feet in the big city. Trepidation about being able to cut it as an actor. My excitement was all about the opportunities London gave me. The things to see and do, the landmarks, galleries, museums and theatres.
The place I spent much of my spare time, (when I wasn’t in my tights dancing around RADA) was the National Film Theatre. I’d spend hours here watching obscure films and TV, old favourites and Q+A sessions with the great and the good. I loved getting my programme booklet and highlighting….well, the highlights, and planning my coming months viewing. Sometimes seeing up to three films a day and hanging out in the cafe between times.
And today I was here to show my own film; a group of people (quite a lot as it turned out) had highlighted Don’t Worry About Me in their booklet and come along. I was so chuffed by the whole thing. My film has now had a West End premier; complete with red carpet, a national tour and now it’s playing at the venue that taught me most about film. Short of me turning out at Anfield it doesn’t get much better.
The afternoon started with Bill Nighy and myself talking about our experiences as actors. Which seemed to follow a similar path, both of us having had early experiences of both the Liverpool Everyman Theatre and working with the iconic Ken Campbell.It turned into a bit of a comedy double act with me as the straight man and Bill being wonderfully honest and hilarious as he told stories of various film sets around the world. It was so great to share the stage with him and the hour flew by.
I then introduced my film and filled the audience in with a little back story of how the film came about.
Afterwards Helen and I took questions again and the reaction was really wonderful. I was a little apprehensive before the Q+A, the old superstitious paranoia that Bill and I had gone so well that surely the film will fall flat. But the comments and responses were all positive and afterwards in the bar loads of people sort me out to say how much they’d enjoyed it and asked me how we’d managed to make the film look so wonderful on our tiny budget. Luckily my DOP, Stuart Nichols Wright was there as well to answer any technical questions that were beyond me, i.e. all of them.
A chat with Bill Nighy, Screening my film to an applicative public and a hot pot in the cafe afterwards with my son. Not a bad way to spend a wet Thursday in February.
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