Celyn Jones has known for a long time that he wanted to make a film about Henry Paget, the 5th Marquess of Anglesey.
“I think I knew the picture before I knew the story,” Jones begins of the British counterpart, whose most famous portrait shows a man wearing an extravagant, ornate dress and an elaborate winged headdress atop his head. He is curled up in a chair, the jewels on his hand sparkling, and fur rugs are lined on the floor. “I just assumed it was some sort of album cover or glam rock picture – it was a Bowie picture, or a Marc Bolan picture. Then when I realized it was 1890, it was Anglesey, it was the Marquess.”
Paget, while the Marquess of Anglesey – an island off the north-west coast of Wales – has been immortalized in the history books as the ‘Dancing Marquise’. He spent his short life at the head of his family’s country residence, a castle on the water called Place Newydd, squandering an inheritance on lavish parties and clothes and setting up his own theater troupe, in the midst of which he performed. Although he was beloved by locals and famous for his butterfly dance in a sheer silk robe, Paget racked up debts of more than £60 million ($68 million) in today’s value and died aged just 29 from complications of tuberculosis in 1905. His lifestyle and the breakdown of his marriage to Lillian Florence Maud Chetwynd sparked a historical debate about Paget’s sexuality – Welsh historian Norrina Shopland noted: “There is no doubt That Henry should be included in the history of sexual identity.
amazingwhich premiered at the BFI Flare London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival in March and is showing in theaters across the UK during Pride Month, tells his story. “I always think about the monster and the man, and the man and the monster,” Jones continues Hollywood Reporter. “I think about what is inner life and what is public life. [For] Henry, what is the motive, the motive? “The need for acceptance, the need to be his true self — or to even have time to find out what he was — at a time when the world was dropping all these rules on your shoulders, and you just wanted to experience the world the way that felt natural to you.”
Finally, Jones also believed there was an opportunity to highlight the dynamic between North Wales’ working-class community and the aristocracy on the big screen, a corner of British social history that had long been marginalized. Screenwriter Lisa Baker grabs this opportunity with both hands: The product is a true love letter to the region.
Paget is incarnated with demonic magic and affects weakness It’s a sin Breakout Callum Scott Howells, who was a top priority for the producers. “He was the first person I thought of, the first person I asked,” explains Jones, whose production company Mad as Birds signed on to the project early on. Jones, an actor and film director best known for starring in the ITV crime drama chase And guidance Almonds and seahorseswas very keen to grab the free director’s chair as well.
He continues about Howell’s performance: “We needed an actor who could be a little stupid on paper. He spends all the money and doesn’t seem to care about the consequences. We needed an actor.” [But] “I felt like the story wasn’t going to be that way,” Jones says. “I think we’re dealing with addiction, and I think we’re dealing with neglect. All those things that make us human. So we needed an actor who not only had the range and ability, [but] Who can move, who can dance, who can be calm, who can be bold, who can be theatrical, who can be cinematic, who can have a range of emotions and charisma. Callum has it all, and he’s Welsh.
Admittedly, Jones isn’t the biggest fan of auditions — adding that it’s often a real roll of the dice whether you audition someone 100 times or give them a live performance — but when… Bridgerton and Lockwood & Company Star Ruby Stokes came on board to play Paget’s cousin and his wife, Lily, and he was keen to see all her work. “It was the quality of an actress who could transform from a little girl into a woman,” he recalls. “She has that charisma and that ability and that joy of life.”
Then came some much-welcomed star power in British acting legend Rupert Everett, who was inspired by Paget’s doting butler, Gellert. “There are so many different levels to Robert,” Jones says. “I love the idea of an older guy, a pioneer, who’s been around the industry, been in our lives, introducing the world to a new leading man.” [in Howells]. They are very open about their sexuality […] So there’s a whole descriptive quality with Robert and Callum, that kind of direction and authenticity. Everett came in and wowed everyone with his ideas, including playing Gellert who was much older than his 67 years. “He wanted that stoic survivor. The last thing he would do is bow down to his master, and then when he closed the door, he would sit down and rub his knees. So when you see him huddled in a chair, you really feel it as an audience: ‘Oh my God, even Gellert has collapsed because of this addiction.’
It’s a film in which the mix of English and Welsh talent is at its highest level, including Paul Rhys, Louis Hines, Louise Brealey, Tom Rhys-Harries, Siobhan McSweeney, Guillaume Gallien, Steve Spears, Kevin Eldon, Ian Puleston-Davies, Roger Evans, Lisa-Jane Brown and Lisa Gwenllian, who star in supporting roles. This extends to the costume department, led by Francisco Rodriguez Weil, as well as cinematographer Laurie Rose, production designer Keith Dunne, and Oscar-winning makeup and hair artist Nadia Stacey (Bad things).
Jones felt it was important for the film to respect his heritage. It was filmed at Paget’s estate, Place Newydd, and Clara Paget, a distant relative of the Marquis, plays the head of his theater company. The director says he couldn’t have predicted the impact the film would have in and around his native Wales: “What’s so beautiful – it’s so wonderful – [is] When we started this film years ago, there was a picture of Henry Paget next to the toilets at Place Newydd. Now, we’ve filled the bedroom with movie costumes. He’s back home, he’s celebrated, and people will see it [the movie]”.
“The public across North Wales, [they’re] “They really liked it,” he continues, “and if you take your cinema ticket, you can go and see the costumes for free at Plas Newydd. In Bangor alone, it’s been a best-selling film ever since.” Barbie – More than 3,000 people watched it in a small cinema in Bangor in about two and a half weeks.
What moved him most were the interactions with these fans at Q&As across the UK.”[A man] He wanted to ask a question, and his husband was holding his hand, and he couldn’t answer the question without crying every time, so we had to keep coming back to them. You can’t write that, you can’t sit in a production office and say, “This is what I wanted to create!” “You don’t know what’s going to happen,” he says [hearing] Someone says: I wish this movie had existed when I was young amazing The director is still at a loss for words.
Maybe it was a moment for the Welsh film, THR suggests. But Jones disagrees: “It’s not a moment, it’s a moment a movement. That’s what it is. At a time when British independent films continue to struggle, this film keeps the cynics at bay. “As long as there are some crazy people like me who go, ‘I’m going to tell this story.'” He adds, “I’ll do it this way, the more work for people, the more entertainment for people, and therefore more acting.”
Riding the wave of unprecedented enthusiasm and passion MadfabJones is about to begin production on his next film, Hollywood Reporter Can reveal, a movie called mountain. “It’s a coming-of-age story set in the 1980s, and even though it’s a fictional story, it feels very personal. That’s as much as I’m allowed to say now,” he joked.
He’ll juggle that with more appearances Of festivals amazing Following the film’s raucous response at Flare, and on June 21, at its US premiere (it bowed at the oldest and largest gay film festival in the world, the Frameline LGBTQ+ Festival in San Francisco). Another big appearance is booked at September’s European Film Festival, one we’re not allowed to know about yet, and Jones also has some unrelated acting credits, including with Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones in A visit to grandfather And Reece Mark Jones Black Church Bay With Tom Cullen and Joe Luke.
Many adventures lie ahead, but this Pride Month, Jones is grateful Madfab Cast and crew, Welsh audiences, and a certain dancing marquise: “I think Henry was for the people, and I think the film is for the people.”
amazing In UK cinemas now.
