Directors attack rise of Hollywood clones
Renee Zellweger as Beatrix Potter. Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen. And big-budget pictures backed by lottery cash. Some experts are asking where British heroines and films have gone
Alice O'Keeffe, arts and media correspondent
Sunday February 12, 2006
The Observer
Renee Zellweger has been practically an honorary Briton since her star performance as the bumbling heroine Bridget Jones. And she is due to polish up her English accent after being cast as Beatrix Potter in a biopic of the iconic children's author. But does her latest project push our national allegiance to the Southern belle too far?
Leading film-makers have criticised the UK Film Council for dedicating too much money to 'Hollywood-led' films such as Miss Potter, which 'Disneyfy' British culture. The Film Council, which allocates lottery money to film projects, has recently funded Miss Potter to the tune of £1.2 million. It has also invested £1.5m in Becoming Jane, in which the American actress Anne Hathaway, last seen playing a cowgirl in Brokeback Mountain, has been cast as Jane Austen.
'The Americans don't want partners, they want subordinates,' said Ken Loach, director of such classic British films as Kes and My Name is Joe. 'They want to exploit our markets, which they do ruthlessly. They see our culture as a source of stereotypes and caricatures. We get "Disneyfied". There is no way we should invest in such films or subsidise their production here.'
Miss Potter and Becoming Jane have attracted particular criticism because, although they will be filmed in Britain, they are initiatives of US companies - Phoenix Pictures and Columbia Pictures respectively. Miss Potter's script has also been penned by an American writer, Richard Maltby Jr. 'The Film Council should be funding films that reflect the complex and varied culture of contemporary Britain,' said Loach. 'I cannot see any reason to join with American studios whose purpose is to exploit us, culturally and socially. There are good people in the Film Council doing their best - and they have supported my current film. The problem is that they see "the market" as a force of nature which cannot be challenged. Cinema has become the artistic equivalent of McDonald's and Burger King. Imagine if it happened in other art forms - if the National Portrait Gallery was full of American cartoons. There would be an outcry.'
Michael Kuhn, the British producer of films including Being John Malkovich, blames the Film Council's determination to recoup the money it invests in UK films. 'Having announced that getting their investment back was a top priority, it was inevitable that the projects chosen would be those with a high-profile cast, director or similarity to previously successful projects,' he said. 'It is no surprise that British producers started making clones of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Trainspotting as opposed to the more dangerous stuff that we are really good at. The question really should be: why didn't British film-makers think of making the Beatrix Potter film themselves? Why did they leave it to the Americans?'
A spokeswoman for the Film Council said: 'You cannot be parochial about people from different countries taking part in a film. Miss Potter has one American star and one British one, Ewan MacGregor. There is an Australian director and a British producer, and it will be filmed in the UK. Culturally, it's a very British story. We want the films we fund to be successful internationally, not only at home. The money we earn from our more commercial investments is reinvested in British film, in educational initiatives and to help develop cinema in the regions.'
The Film Council has the New Cinema Fund, suitable for small budget projects and new film-makers, and the Premiere Fund, for big-budget productions. Recent Premiere fundings include £2m for the Mike Leigh film Vera Drake, and £2m for the John le Carré adaptation The Constant Gardener. Simon Channing Williams, producer of The Constant Gardener, said: 'Without the backing of the Film Council The Constant Gardener might been taken over by an American studio. It would have become Americanised and lost its British identity.'
British Film Council's Record
Hits
Gosford Park (2001)
Strapline: Tea At Four. Dinner At Eight. Murder At Midnight.
Director: Robert Altman.
Stars: Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas, Camilla Rutherford, Charles Dance.
Plot: Thirties aristocracy at play means secrets are spilled, upstairs and down; cue an appearance by Stephen Fry.
Film Council investment: £2m.
Gross: £72m.
Bend it like Beckham (2002)
Strapline: Who wants to cook Aloo Gobi when you can bend a ball like Beckham?
Director: Gurinder Chandha.
Stars: Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley.
Plot: Improbably hot Sikh girl and her impossibly hot girl buddy curl a football like Beckham and are even better looking.
Film Council investment: £1.45m.
Gross: £65m.
Jury's out
Sex lives of the Potato Men(2004)
Strapline: The search for the lowest form of life on the planet is over.
Director: Andy Humphries.
Stars: Johnny Vegas, Mackenzie Crook.
Plot: Two highly sexed potato deliverers raise about as many laughs as the Irish Famine.
Film Council investment: £900,000+.
Gross: £1m+, plus high DVD sales.
Miss Janice Bearrd 45 wpm(1999)
Strapline: 72 per cent of Office Romances end in disaster.
Director: Clare Kilner.
Stars: Patsy Kensit, Rhys Ifans.
Plot: Twentysomething woman leaves home, gets job, falls in love and pouts.
Film Council investment: £1m+.
Gross: £8,192.
guardian.co.uk
Renee Zellweger as Beatrix Potter. Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen. And big-budget pictures backed by lottery cash. Some experts are asking where British heroines and films have gone
Alice O'Keeffe, arts and media correspondent
Sunday February 12, 2006
The Observer
Renee Zellweger has been practically an honorary Briton since her star performance as the bumbling heroine Bridget Jones. And she is due to polish up her English accent after being cast as Beatrix Potter in a biopic of the iconic children's author. But does her latest project push our national allegiance to the Southern belle too far?
Leading film-makers have criticised the UK Film Council for dedicating too much money to 'Hollywood-led' films such as Miss Potter, which 'Disneyfy' British culture. The Film Council, which allocates lottery money to film projects, has recently funded Miss Potter to the tune of £1.2 million. It has also invested £1.5m in Becoming Jane, in which the American actress Anne Hathaway, last seen playing a cowgirl in Brokeback Mountain, has been cast as Jane Austen.
'The Americans don't want partners, they want subordinates,' said Ken Loach, director of such classic British films as Kes and My Name is Joe. 'They want to exploit our markets, which they do ruthlessly. They see our culture as a source of stereotypes and caricatures. We get "Disneyfied". There is no way we should invest in such films or subsidise their production here.'
Miss Potter and Becoming Jane have attracted particular criticism because, although they will be filmed in Britain, they are initiatives of US companies - Phoenix Pictures and Columbia Pictures respectively. Miss Potter's script has also been penned by an American writer, Richard Maltby Jr. 'The Film Council should be funding films that reflect the complex and varied culture of contemporary Britain,' said Loach. 'I cannot see any reason to join with American studios whose purpose is to exploit us, culturally and socially. There are good people in the Film Council doing their best - and they have supported my current film. The problem is that they see "the market" as a force of nature which cannot be challenged. Cinema has become the artistic equivalent of McDonald's and Burger King. Imagine if it happened in other art forms - if the National Portrait Gallery was full of American cartoons. There would be an outcry.'
Michael Kuhn, the British producer of films including Being John Malkovich, blames the Film Council's determination to recoup the money it invests in UK films. 'Having announced that getting their investment back was a top priority, it was inevitable that the projects chosen would be those with a high-profile cast, director or similarity to previously successful projects,' he said. 'It is no surprise that British producers started making clones of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Trainspotting as opposed to the more dangerous stuff that we are really good at. The question really should be: why didn't British film-makers think of making the Beatrix Potter film themselves? Why did they leave it to the Americans?'
A spokeswoman for the Film Council said: 'You cannot be parochial about people from different countries taking part in a film. Miss Potter has one American star and one British one, Ewan MacGregor. There is an Australian director and a British producer, and it will be filmed in the UK. Culturally, it's a very British story. We want the films we fund to be successful internationally, not only at home. The money we earn from our more commercial investments is reinvested in British film, in educational initiatives and to help develop cinema in the regions.'
The Film Council has the New Cinema Fund, suitable for small budget projects and new film-makers, and the Premiere Fund, for big-budget productions. Recent Premiere fundings include £2m for the Mike Leigh film Vera Drake, and £2m for the John le Carré adaptation The Constant Gardener. Simon Channing Williams, producer of The Constant Gardener, said: 'Without the backing of the Film Council The Constant Gardener might been taken over by an American studio. It would have become Americanised and lost its British identity.'
British Film Council's Record
Hits
Gosford Park (2001)
Strapline: Tea At Four. Dinner At Eight. Murder At Midnight.
Director: Robert Altman.
Stars: Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas, Camilla Rutherford, Charles Dance.
Plot: Thirties aristocracy at play means secrets are spilled, upstairs and down; cue an appearance by Stephen Fry.
Film Council investment: £2m.
Gross: £72m.
Bend it like Beckham (2002)
Strapline: Who wants to cook Aloo Gobi when you can bend a ball like Beckham?
Director: Gurinder Chandha.
Stars: Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley.
Plot: Improbably hot Sikh girl and her impossibly hot girl buddy curl a football like Beckham and are even better looking.
Film Council investment: £1.45m.
Gross: £65m.
Jury's out
Sex lives of the Potato Men(2004)
Strapline: The search for the lowest form of life on the planet is over.
Director: Andy Humphries.
Stars: Johnny Vegas, Mackenzie Crook.
Plot: Two highly sexed potato deliverers raise about as many laughs as the Irish Famine.
Film Council investment: £900,000+.
Gross: £1m+, plus high DVD sales.
Miss Janice Bearrd 45 wpm(1999)
Strapline: 72 per cent of Office Romances end in disaster.
Director: Clare Kilner.
Stars: Patsy Kensit, Rhys Ifans.
Plot: Twentysomething woman leaves home, gets job, falls in love and pouts.
Film Council investment: £1m+.
Gross: £8,192.
guardian.co.uk