While Bradford can’t exactly claim credit for Colin Firth’s triumph at the Golden Globes, we can allow ourselves a sense of ownership of The King’s Speech.
A major scene in the film – set to be a serious contender at the Oscars – was shot at Odsal stadium, where scores of local people appeared as extras.
The acclaimed movie is one of several productions shot here, flying the flag for Bradford’s City of Film status.
A new version of Bingley writer John Braine’s Room At The Top has been partly filmed at City Hall, and a re-make of Yorkshire saga South Riding was shot in Saltaire and Keighley.
Next month, the premiere of West Is West, sequel to hit comedy East Is East, takes place in Bradford, home of its star, 16-year-old Aqib Khan.
As well as promoting Bradford and its diverse locations to production companies, City of Film supports up-and-coming local film-makers.
One of these is my colleague, Lucy Ray, who was involved in last year’s 48-Hour Film Challenge, run by City of Film and Screen Yorkshire. Her new project, a short horror film, is to be screened during this year’s Bradford Film Festival.
When Lucy needed extras for a police press conference scene, I offered to help out. Without giving away too much of the plot, the police were appealing for information about a missing person, and I was one of the reporters jotting down notes and, as it turned out, firing questions.
As an extra, I’d expected to remain silent, like the ones in Dev’s shop in Corrie who hover in the background choosing a jar of pickle, never uttering a word. So when Lucy handed me the script and said “that’s your line” my stomach lurched. “I’ve got a line?” I squeaked.
Suddenly my role took on a new meaning. According to the script, the reporters jostled to get their questions heard but, I found myself wondering, would my character really jostle?
Filming took place one evening last week and when the time came to say my line, I felt a bit jittery. By the time I’d said it for the ninth time I was more relaxed.
Lucy filmed the scene from several different angles, requiring us to repeat our lines. The hardest bit was creating a ‘rhubarb rhubarb’-style murmur – contrived smalltalk gets a bit tiresome after three hours of filming.
It was fun, though, and having seen a couple of impressive-looking stills of chilling scenes, I’m looking forward to seeing it all on the big screen.
If there’s an Oscars category for Best Delivery of One Line, it may be time to start practising that acceptance speech…
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