March 27, 2009

The Proud Galleries will be presenting an exhibition from 31st March – 7th June 2009 at Proud Camden South Gallery entitled Withnail and Me – The Photography of William Close. Legendary film photographer William Close spent three weeks on the film set of Bruce Robinson’s Withnail & I during its six week shoot. This exhibition will present the recognizable images we’ve all come to love as well as unseen images from this cult classic and will be the very first show of its kind in the world.

Proud Camden is located in the heart of the Staples Market, within walking distance from Camden Town and Chalk Farm stations. For exact location, visit the Proud Galleries website.

For a sneak peak at some more of the previously unseen photographs, read the Mail Online article – Unseen images of cult classic Withnail and I.

SueW.

From Mail Online, 22nd March 2009

After two decades of cult worship, we thought we knew all there was to know about Withnail And I – until the on-set photographer dug out these unseen images from the back of Uncle Monty’s sofa…

‘HandMade Films couldn’t afford someone for the full six-week shoot of Withnail And I,’ says photographer Murray Close.

‘So I only went on the shoot for three weeks.’

His photos from the set of Bruce Robinson’s cult film – which stars Richard E Grant, Paul McGann and Richard Griffiths – are being shown at the Proud Camden gallery for the first time.

‘When I arrived, I immediately got the sense this film was different. It was ultra-low-budget – everyone eating off paper plates on the side of a mountain.

‘But Bruce’s script was fantastic. The actors were mostly first-timers, but they threw everything they had into the film.’

From April 1-June 7, proud.co.uk

‘I’d worked with Richard Griffiths before the shoot. He was the one movie star in Withnail – the RSC member and the most expensive of the cast.’

‘Grant in between takes. He can’t drink – not in a reformed-drinker way; he’s medically allergic. Bruce got him drunk once, for the film, so he’d know what it was like – but in all the scenes in the film where he’s drunk, he’s sober as a judge.’

‘Withnail was made by HandMade Films, George Harrison’s company. Ringo Starr (centre, with Paul McGann and Bruce Robinson) popped down one afternoon. It wasn’t like this was a big film – everyone was saying, “Oh my God, Ringo’s coming to see us…”‘

‘One of the very few scenes in Withnail that they shot but then cut out was the sword fight. It happens at night, when they arrive at the house. Bruce (Robinson) had such tight budgets that he had to get it right. These days, a lot of directors shoot, then decide what to put in their film later. Bruce didn’t have that luxury.’

‘Grant and McGann in the Cumbrian cottage, where much of Withnail And I was filmed. The guy in the dark glasses is Bruce. He still looks like that. The man hasn’t aged a day in his life – I think he has a Dorian Gray picture in his attic.’

Above: Robinson directing

Above: McGann and Grant

Above: McGann and Robinson

Above: Drunken antics in the Penrith Tea Rooms

Above: Fishing in the river

Above: In the pub with Jake the Poacher (works the lake)

Above: Grant sitting down to enjoy his holiday

Above: Final scene

The Waterford-Kamhlaba school was set up in Swaziland in the early 60’s by a visionary Englishman called Michael Stern as a direct response to the apartheid regime in neighbouring South Africa. It was the first multi-racial co-ed school on the continent and has consistently aimed, and achieved, at educating academically gifted kids, many of whom have no financial means of support. Richard E. Grant attended the school in the seventies, along with Nelson Mandella’s daughters. It’s a school that aims to create an academic-intellectual ‘elite’, which is needed even more urgently, now that the brain-drain from Southern Africa has been so severe. The need for highly skilled, University trained leaders in every field will decide the future of the region. It is a cause to which Richard E. Grant is totally and utterly committed.

£10 equals the buying power of $100 in the local currency, at the current exchange rate. It costs about $5,000 US dollars to fully bursary fund a student through a year’s schooling. We aim to try and raise £500,000 in the next year which is the equivalent, in local Swaziland currency, to $5 million!

The school has a website: http://www.waterford.sz.

From the Country Life website
Tuesday 17th February, 2009.

The cottage which featured in Withnail & I has sold at auction to a local Cumbrian resident.

Sleddale Hall, Cumbria, which featured in the cult British film ‘Withnail & I’, sold at the Savills auction today for £265,000 to a local Cumbrian resident.

The stone and slate hall, which had a guide price of £145,000, was put up for sale by water company, United Utilities and over recent weeks has attracted a number of enquiries.

Christopher Coleman-Smith of Savills auctions says: ‘We have had a huge amount of interest in the property and the auction was packed. We had good strong competitive bidding and are delighted with the result achieved.’

A United Utilities spokesperson said: ‘We are absolutely delighted with the sale of Sleddale Hall.

‘We have never sold a building quite like it for the sheer amount of interest it has generated. Its iconic status due to the film ‘Withnail & I’ makes its sale pretty unique so it was impossible to know what to expect. We wish the new owner success and happiness however they choose to preserve or develop the building for the future.’

SOURCE: Country Life Website.

Recently Richard spoke with BBC Points West’s Alex Lovell in promotion of God of Carnage at Theatre Royal Bath. God of Carnage ended its run in Bath on 14 February, but it’s not to late to purchase tickets at the other venues on the regional tour – Cheltenham, Canterbury, Richmond, Brighton and Milton Keynes. You’ll find links to those theatres by scrolling down to The Temple’s earlier post on God of Carnage. See you at the theatre!

Click the link below to watch what Richard has to say…

Richard E. Grant Talks About God Of Carnage.