UNITED KINGDOM: Paul McCartney, Kenneth Branaugh, Bill Nighy and Bond girl Gemma Arterton among stars attending premiere of Richard Curtis' latest film "The Boat That Rocked"

Record ID: 219152

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Paul McCartney, Kenneth Branaugh, Bill Nighy and Bond girl Gemma Arterton among stars attending premiere of Richard Curtis' latest film "The Boat That Rocked"
  • Date: 24th March 2009
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (MARCH 23, 2009) (REUTERS) BILL NIGHY ON RED CARPET (SOUNDBITE) (English) BILL NIGHY, SAYING: "This is obviously a lovely movie. They were a cool collection of guys. We floated on a boat off the west coast of England in the springtime and played lots and lots of soul music and people danced and they shot it, lots of nice people and lots of good food."
  • Embargoed: 8th April 2009 13:00
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  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVA8IHKJR3G0OH2DTMM717WL2I41
  • Story Text: After the hugely successful blockbusters "Four Weddings and a Funeral", "Bridget Jones Diary" and "Love Actually", writer-director Richard Curtis returns with his latest offering "The Boat That Rocked".
    The movie had its world premiere in London on Monday (March 23) as Leicester Square was transformed into a swinging sixties set complete with Motown classics blaring from speakers and dancers dressed as go-go girls.
    The film stars a nearly all British cast -- with the exception of Academy Award-winning American actor Philip Seymour Hoffman -- including Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branaugh, Emma Thompson, Rhys Ifans and Bond girl Gemma Arterton.

    "The Boat That Rocked" was written and directed by Curtis about a group of pirate radio deejays in the 1960s docked on a boat off the coast of England broadcasting pop music to the British masses.
    Back then the government's choice of music was jazz until the ragtag group of music enthusiasts, lead in the film by Nighy as the ship's captain and the boss of station Radio Rock, decided to play the music popular with young people. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Aretha Franklin exploded onto British airwaves and forever changed audience listening habits.
    Fresh from playing in the Nazi drama "Valkyrie" with Tom Cruise, Nighy said the group had as much fun off camera as they did shooting.

    "This is obviously a lovely movie. They were a cool collection of guys. We floated on a boat off the west coast of England in the springtime and played lots and lots of soul music and people danced and they shot it, lots of nice people and lots of good food," he told Reuters Television.
    Welsh actor Rhys Ifans teams up with Curtis again after "Notting Hill" and said the music of the sixties was special for a few reasons.

    "I don't know but I like it. You know drums, guitar, LSD."
    When asked whether he condoned drug use, Ifans refused to answer.
    Kenneth Branaugh, who plays the Member of Parliament (MP) intent on bringing down the pirate radio station, said he supported the plight of the pirates in real-life, saying they paved the way for how music is played today.

    "They were naughty, they were rebellious, they had a sense of spontaneity and freedom and I think the sort of legacy of that is a kind of willingness to be experimental and fun on radio stations now that I think there's a real direct connection," he said.
    Curtis, who has used Motown songs and classic rock music in many of his feel-good romantic-comedies, said he wanted to make a film that focused solely on the music. He recalled the defiance of youth, listening to the illegal stations under his pillow when his parents went to sleep.

    "Before pirate radio it took you a long time to hear a record on the BBC. You could wait for an hour and half until you got the latest record by The Kinks and then suddenly came pirate radio and it was on for 24 hours a day so they played so much music you never heard before and every single hour was like a gift of all this fabulous music," he said.
    Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney arrived on the red carpet with girlfriend Nancy Shevell.

    "Exciting, you know the fact that the pirates were setting up and playing good music that's what I remember," he said.

    "The Boat That Rocked" opens in UK cinemas on April 1.
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