Archive for the ‘Press’ Category

Original Article – WalesOnline 18/11/11

As a writer, it must be nerve-racking to see your work turned into a film. But Owen Sheers tells Karen Price that adapting the script of his debut novel Resistance was the happiest time of his writing career

WHEN Owen Sheers met up with a friend of a friend in New York he could never have guessed it would lead to the royal premiere of his first film.

Director Amit Gupta was in the Big Apple for a film festival and contacted Sheers, who was living there at the time, after a mutual friend put them in touch.

Before Gupta left, Sheers handed him a copy of his debut novel, Resistance.

“I asked him if he thought it had potential as a film,” says the award-winning poet and writer. “He read it on the plane on the way home and said he wanted it to be his first feature.”

Gupta later contacted film producer Richard Holmes and gave him the book to read.

“Richard took it away with him on holiday to France,” Sheers continues. “And then one morning the owner of the gite gave him another copy of Resistance and said it should be turned into a film.”

It seems that fate was playing a part too and Sheers and Gupta were soon working on the film.

“We talked about the kind of film we wanted it to be – almost a European film, which it’s ended up being,” says Fiji-born Sheers, who grew up in Abergavenny, the destination for Monday’s royal premiere, more on which later.

Resistance is set in the isolated Olchon Valley in 1944. Sarah wakes one morning to find that her husband and all the other men in the village have mysteriously vanished and Nazis have occupied the area. As time goes by, she finds herself forging a close bond with one of the soldiers.

The film stars Andrea Riseborough as Sarah, Olivier Award-winner Iwan Rheon and Michael Sheen, who Sheers worked with on National Theatre Wales’ epic The Passion.

Sheers believes novelists have two choices when their work is being adapted for the big screen.

“You either hope it goes well and see it at the premiere or you get involved – and I wanted to get involved.

“From very early on I was able to forget about the novel really. This was much more about translating the story into a completely different engine. Screen writing has much more in common with poetry as both are condensed forms. You have to communicate an awful lot in an economic way. It’s primarily visual.

“I found it really liberating. I’ve always been a fan of bold adaptations that are still faithful to the book. That’s what you need to pull off really.”

Sheers and Gupta worked on the script together.

“It was one of the happiest times of my writing life,” admits Sheers, who was living in New York while adapting the script.

“I was in Soho and Amit was in Greenwich Village and we would meet up halfway every morning to talk about scenes we had written the day before and scenes we were about to write. We would then swap the scenes and edit them straight away. You end up with a shared voice and it’s a very quick way of working.”

He says there are notable differences between the book and film.

“Some threads of the narrative had to go while some have had the volume turned up on them. The film focuses more upon the central relationship. I really enjoyed writing entirely new scenes. There’s a speech which I think is at the core of what the film’s about and we’re incredibly lucky that it’s spoken by Michael Sheen who does a fantastic job. It’s not in the novel at all but absolutely central to the film.”

Resistance was shot around the Abergavenny area and Sheers is thrilled with the outcome.

“When I saw the finished film I couldn’t have asked for more.”

He’s now looking forward to two premieres this weekend – the UK premiere takes place in London on Sunday while the Welsh royal premiere, which will be attended by the Prince of Wales, will be in Abergavenny on Monday.

“I’m thrilled that the royal premiere is happening in Abergavenny,” says Sheers. “The town’s cinema closed when I was about 11 or 12 so when the new one opened it was fantastic for the town. When we started filming Resistance I really hoped there would be a royal premiere in Abergavenny – it’s a way to bring something back to the town.”

The Welsh royal premiere of Resistance takes place at the Baker Street Cinema, Abergavenny on Monday. For tickets call 01873 857839. The film is released on November 25

That is according to WhatCulture.com anyway.

Michael Sheen is a self-confessed Doctor Who fan. He even managed to get a part in an episode last season, as the voice of the House in a episode entitled ‘The Doctor’s Wife’, penned by Neil Gaiman.

David Yates, the director of the last four Harry Potter movies and the BBC have recently announced plans to bring the Doctor to the big screen. The movie will be a reboot of Britain’s most famous sci-fi franchise and will have no connection to the current TV incarnation. Now it seems that he is a popular choice in the fan community for the titular role.

Other choices in the article include Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock / Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy) and Richard Armitage (Spooks / Robin Hood).

What the article says about Michael:

Welsh stage and screen actor Michael Sheen has a huge repertoire of feature credits and would be a good choice for the American market given his popularity internationally. He’s got that kind of scruffy, “I’m thinking of how to solve the problems of the universe’ mad scientist look, which is perfect for the 1100-year-old Time Lord. After a millennia on the move, he’s bound to have a few bags under his eyes.

Sheen was largely a stage actor in the nineties, but began moving onto the screen in the early 2000’s. He landed a mixture of American and British film roles, including Lucian in the successful franchise Underworld and a role as Tony Blair in The Queen. His breakthrough-leading role came as journalist David Frost in the 2008 masterpiece Frost/Nixon, followed a year later by his turn as Leeds manager Brian Clough in The Damned United. He’s also appeared in an episode of Doctor Who already, providing the voice of House in The Doctor’s Wife, written by friend Neil Gaiman.

Of everyone on this list, Sheen has the experience and calibre in Hollywood to play a leading man and would be a safe bet for the studios. He’s no stranger to the big dollar productions either, appearing Twilight: New Moon and reprising his role in the upcoming Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 and 2 and also appearing in the Underworld saga. Whilst all popular movies they also aren’t leading or iconic roles that would leave any baggage for him playing Who. Unfortunately, they aren’t likely to cast anyone over 40 for the time-travelling hero but Sheen is our number 1 pick.

You can read the full article HERE.

If Michael Sheen is overlooked for the film version, maybe Steve Moffat would consider him for the TV version, since current Doctor Who star Matt Smith confirmed he won’t be sticking with the role past the upcoming 2012/2013 season.

Original Article BBC 15/11/11

So much is documented about the heroics and bravery of the French resistance under the shadow of Hitler, yet Britain had its own ranks of secret passionate fighters during World War Two.

This hidden home defence force forms the subject of an upcoming film adaptation of the novel Resistance, by Welsh writer Owen Sheers, set in the isolated Welsh border valley of Olchon.

Resistance imagines a world where German soldiers were able to invade British soil and occupy half the country, as the opposition fighters toiled to halt their advance.

So dedicated were these men to their cause that their secret was not shared with their closest friends, or even their wives.

The focus for the film and novel is a community where the men, all specially recruited as guerrilla fighters, have fled to complete a resistance mission, leaving their wives to cope alone as German troops move into the area.

Ahead of the film’s launch on 25 November, Sheers and the film’s producers have been working closely with the Abergavenny Museum to help them curate an exhibition chronicling the history of the British resistance movement during World War Two.

The subject has particular resonance in Abergavenny, where local men and women were among those joining the ranks of the secret movement.

Costumes and art work from the film, which was shot around the Olchon Valley last autumn and stars Michael Sheen, have been loaned to the museum for display, along with cinematic extracts from the film itself.

Sheers has also contributed early drafts of his novel, while the Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team have produced a documentary about the auxiliary units set up throughout the country to fight the would-be invaders.

Dan Llywelyn Hall, the resident artist on the film set, will be exhibiting some of his works, which visitors to the display are able to purchase. And on the gallery’s listening post guests can access audio accounts by some of the men who served in the resistance.

Rachael Rogers, curator at the museum, said: “We felt the combination of a fascinating subject, brought to life by a local author and the pending film release made this the ideal time to stage an exhibition.

“We have been privileged to work with the families of those men who were part of the resistance, who have generously lent us original artefacts.”

The movement saw suitable men carefully selected in a clandestine manner, which then saw them trained as guerilla soldiers in utmost secrecy.

They were primed and ready to fight the Nazis as they advanced through Britain and tasked with sabotaging their progress at every turn.

Auxiliary units were supported by Special Duties Section, selected from the civilian population and trained to carry and receive important messages across the countryside.

The exhibition at Abergavenny Museum will run until 25th February 2012. The museum is open Monday to Saturday from 11am-1pm and 2-4pm.

And on Monday 21st November, to celebrate the release of the film, the museum is hosting a lunchtime event from 11.30am-1.30pm.

Owen Sheers, the film’s director, Amit Gupta, and members of the production team will be on hand to chat to the public who are invited to enjoy wine and canapés, and view the exhibition.

Tickets are £20 and include a voucher to see the film at Baker Street Cinema, Abergavenny when it is on general release.

Email rachaelrogers@monmouthshire.gov.uk if you would like an application form for tickets. Tickets will be sold on a first come basis. For further details visit www.abergavennymuseum.co.uk.

Original Article – Film News 16/11/11

Amit Gupta thinks Michael Sheen gave a “true” performance in his new film Resistance.

The independent drama features up-and-coming actors Andrea Riseborough and Tom Wlaschiha alongside Frost/Nixon star Michael.

Michael is well known for his roles in huge Hollywood films such as Tron: Legacy, the Twilight Saga and Alice in Wonderland.

Amit was delighted that Michael wanted to return to his home country of Wales and take part in the smaller project.

“I think he [Michael] really liked the script,” he said in an interview with Cover Media. “I think big actors, big stars, when they do a film that’s small, or an independent film, they keep it true. Partly because they can and partly because they feel emotionally connected to it.”

The director recognises that there is a mutually beneficially relationship between actors and independent cinema. Big stars can create a magical performance and small films are supported by the recognition of a well-known name.

“There is a type of cinema around that is supported by actors who want to take a risk, and will appear in scenes to bring something to the film,” he explained. “They’re committing for a number of reasons I hope it’s because they love the project and they feel this kind of cinema needs to be out there too.”

The film shows an alternative history in which the Germans repelled D-Day and began to occupy Britain. It focuses on a small Welsh community, in which all the men have disappeared and the Germans come to investigate.

Resistance is released in the UK on November 25.

Original Article – WalesOnline 12/11/11

Michael Sheen has sent a message of support to the cast and crew behind a production of Frost/Nixon which is being staged in the city of his birth.

The Hollywood star, who this week made his debut as Hamlet at London’s Young Vic, famously took on the role of David Frost in both stage and film versions of Frost/Nixon.

The drama is now being tackled by Newport Playgoers at the Dolman Theatre in Newport – where Sheen was born before moving to Port Talbot with his family – from Tuesday to next Saturday.

In a letter to the play’s director, Alex Wilson, Sheen wrote: “Frost/Nixon is a great play, and we all had tremendous pleasure in developing the work on both stage and screen. I am sure that you, too, will thrill to the challenge of performing a marvellous piece of theatre in the lovely Dolman auditorium.”

Wilson said: “It was marvellous to have this message of support from such a highly respected actor as Michael, who has very close associations with Frost/Nixon, having played David Frost both onstage and in the best-selling film.

“Everyone at Newport Playgoers is very to proud to be presenting this engrossing, thought-provoking and humorous ticking time bomb of a thriller.”

Frost/Nixon centres on the events leading up to the interviews that Frost conducted with Richard Nixon in 1977, almost three years after he had resigned as President to avoid impeachment following the Watergate affair.

Peter Morgan’s play asks the question: how did Frost, a famous British talk show host with a playboy reputation, elicit the apology that the rest of the world was waiting to hear from former President?

With Frost’s career on a downward spiral and risking everything, Nixon surprised everyone in selecting Frost as his televised confessor, intending to easily outfox the breezy British showman.

Frost’s team harboured doubts about their boss’s ability to hold his own. But a charged battle of wits resulted and over the course of their encounter, each man would reveal his own insecurities, ego and reserves of dignity.

Original Article: BBC 11/11/11

If walls could talk, then few would have a more interesting tale to tell than those at 6 Lyndhurst Road, Hampstead NW3, the London home of Richard Burton and his first wife, fellow Welsh thespian Sybil Williams.

While countless thousands of column inches were devoted to Burton’s two marriages to Elizabeth Taylor between 1964 and 1976, relatively little has been written about his equally-tempestuous relationship with the girl from Tylorstown, Rhondda.

But now this chapter of Burton’s life is to be revisited, as English Heritage are dedicating a blue plaque at the house which saw Burton transformed from ambitious newcomer in 1949 to millionaire superstar forced to flee to tax exile in Switzerland by 1957.

Fittingly, the plaque is to be unveiled by fellow Port Talbot actor Michael Sheen, currently reprising one of Burton’s favourite roles, Hamlet, at the Young Vic.

During his time on Lyndhurst Road in the early 1950s, Burton wrestled with his conflicting loves for the stage and silver screen.

But Sheen is proud to be following in at least some of Burton’s footsteps.

“It has always been an honour for me to be associated with the wizard of wild Welsh magic that was Richard Burton,” he said.

“And it gives me great pleasure to help mark one of the spots from where he cast his brooding spells over London and the world.”

Tensions

Burton and Williams met in 1948, on the set of The Last Days of Dolwyn, just his second leading role. They married a year later and moved into their London home.

But while Sybil’s acting career stalled, Burton’s continued to grow from strength to strength, causing tensions from the outset.

Spending more and more time in Hollywood gave him the opportunity to begin the showbiz lifestyle which would characterise his popular image for the next three decades.

Burton and Williams moved out of Lyndhurst Road to Switzerland in 1957, shortly before the birth of their first daughter, Kate.

‘Affairs’

But while the move into exile from 90% income tax should have been a fresh start, Gethin Matthews – author of Seren Cymru, the only Welsh language biography of Richard Burton – believes that the marriage was doomed as soon as Elizabeth Taylor came onto the horizon in the early 1960s.

“He had a certain amount of latitude to carry on with his affairs,” said Mr Matthews.

“We can only speculate as to how much Sybil realised what was going on: it’s possible that she was blinded by her devotion to Richard, or perhaps she chose not to find out what he was up to.

“All you can say for certain was that she was utterly besotted by Richard; sacrificing her career to try and advance his as far as possible.”

All the evidence suggested that they made a very good couple, said Mr Matthews.

But Burton’s move to Switzerland removed him from the social network which had supported him in his rise to stardom. Then events took their toll.

“All the evidence suggests that the autism of their second child Jessica led to a lot of guilt and grief, which put further strain on the marriage,” said Mr Matthews.

“But ultimately it appears that they split simply because Richard’s love for Liz Taylor engulfed everything else in his life… Sybil just couldn’t compete any longer.”

They divorced in 1963, following an unsuccessful attempt at reconciliation.

‘Diamonds and glamour’

While Burton married Taylor in 1964, perhaps Sybil Williams found even greater happiness; going on to open a successful nightclub and restaurant in New York, remarrying and having a third daughter.

“The 1950s and Richard’s marriage to Sybil are the part of his life which has been repeatedly overlooked,” said Mr Matthews.

“People tend to get hooked on the diamonds and glamour of the Liz Taylor years, but there’s another reason.

“Despite the attempts of numerous biographers, Sybil’s never agreed to talk about her first marriage; partly because she’s always maintained enormous dignity, but possibly more so because it was simply too painful.

“In some ways that too is a real shame, as without Sybil’s support while he found his way in the 40s and 50s, then who can tell whether there would even have been the diamonds and glamour of the Taylor years?”