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April 19, 2002
The Oxford Times
City is backdrop to a blockbuster
by Reg Little
Pictures by Ed Nix
Filming recreates the age of Cavaliers and
Roundheads
It was like old times in Oxford this week, with Cavaliers and
Roundheads loitering in the streets, waiting to be called to the action.
A major new film Cromwell and Fairfax was being filmed in the
city that Charles I chose as his capital and where he stayed for much of
the English Civil War.
| The film makers could hardly have made a better
choice, given that all the film's great characters would have
been familiar with the settings around the Bodleian Library and
Exeter College.
Royalists and Puritans cheerfully chatted to tourists and
Oxford University students emerging from examinations, with
Radcliffe Square transformed into a film village, filled with
caravans, cables and cameras.
Convocation Hall, which in Stuart times briefly housed
Parliament, once again became the nation's assembly. It
has been used in one of the film's most dramatic scenes, where
Cromwell enters with troops to eject MPs* and close down
Parliament.
The signing of the death warrant of King Charles, played by
Rupert Everett, has also been filmed at the Bodleian, to mark an
unusual high-point for the Library in the |
Click on photo to
enlarge
Historic Scene...You could almost
be forgiven for thinking that this is a perfect snapshot taken
from the English Civil Ware - until a closer look reveals Royalist
Gordon Manning using a mobile phone and Ray Claridge eating a
doughnut, watched by Alan Fisher. The men are, in fact,
extras in a new feature film being shot in Oxford.
Picture: Ed Nix |
| Queen's Golden Jubilee Year. Cromwell
physically grabbed the head of one waverer to force him to place
his signature on the warrant. |
Actor Time Roth, whose previous films include Reservoir
Dogs and Planet of the Apes, plays Cromwell, who became
Chancellor of Oxford University in 1650 - the year after Charles I's
execution.
|
click to enlarge
Leading the way...
Cromwell's daughters, Jessica Hazel and Julia Bridgeman with a
group of soldiers and, right, one of the Roundhead soldiers,
Andrew Clarke |
Sir Thomas Fairfax, the great Parliamentary General
who with Cromwell, successfully besieged Oxford at the end of the
war, has gone down in history as the savior of the great Oxford
library.
After entering the city he ordered an armed guard to be placed
outside the Bodleian Library to protect it from looters. |
The Scottish actor, Dougray Scott, who starred in Enigma
with Kate Winslet, plays the Yorkshireman Fairfax.
It has emerged that the period film about the 17th century
revolution has certainly had troubles of its own, even before the crew
arrived in Oxford for five days of filming.
Scott is reported to have spent almost £70,000** of his
own money paying crew after production was stalled because of financial
problems. As well as starring in it, Scott is an associate producer
and has already spent two years working on the project.
| According to the film industry magazine Screen
International the film's stars together paid deferrals of
about £2m as part of a rescue package to save the film, which
recreates the battle of Naseby at Hatfield House. Scott told
Screen International: "There are some things in life
you just cannot walk away from. This is one of them.
It feels special."
The film's producer, Mr. Kevin Loader, said: "The film is
about the relationship between Oliver Cromwell and Thomas Fairfax,
who were friends during the war against King but fell out over |
'
|
| the outcome of the revolution. |
"Fairfax refused to sign the warrant for the King's
execution. It is about how political choices destroyed a great
friendship. I suppose you could call it a buddy movie."
He said parts of the film had been shot at Broughton
Castle, near Banbury, Harrow School and Dover Castle, with Hampton Court
chosen to recreate Charles I's execution scene at Whitehall.
Dozens of local people were recruited as extras for the
film, which is expected to go on general release in November, before the
end of the Jubilee year.
The film also stars Corin Redgrave, Olivia Williams and
James Bolam, who plays the Speaker of the House of Commons.
© 2002 The Oxford Times |
