UNITED KINGDOM/FILE: ACTRESS ANNA FRIEL FILMS "WAR BRIDE" ABOUT BRITISH WOMEN WHO MARRIED CANADIANS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND EMIGRATED TO CANADA

Record ID: 389552

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM/FILE: ACTRESS ANNA FRIEL FILMS "WAR BRIDE" ABOUT BRITISH WOMEN WHO MARRIED CANADIANS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND EMIGRATED TO CANADA
  • Date: 8th June 2000
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE) (REUTERS ARCHIVE NEWSREEL) VARIOUS SHOWS OF BUILDINGS BURNING IN LONDON AFTER BEING BOMBED DURING BLITZ (5 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 23rd June 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: WATFORD, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM/ FILE
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Entertainment,History
  • Reuters ID: LVA8IU1QBR405I3Z0UIDAHUZKJUU
  • Story Text: The bombing of London during the Second World War - the so-called 'Blitz' - has been re-enacted with stunning accuracy - as set designers transform a derelict print works into a bombed out street for Lyndon Chubbuck's latest film, "War Bride."
    Starring one of Britain's hottest young actresses, Anna Friel and Oscar-winning actress, Brenda Fricker, "War Bride"
    confronts the problems raised for young English women who married Canadian servicemen and were then shipped to Canada to meet the in-laws.
    Local residents from the town of Watford - north of London - could have been forgiven for thinking the country was being blitzed again when Hollywood director, Lyndon Chubbuck, adopted an old printing factory for a couple of days and turned it into the set for his latest movie "War Bride".
    Having spent the last two months filming the bulk of the script in Canada, Chubbuck had left the opening and most dramatic scenes until the very end of the filming schedule.
    After three weeks of solid preparation and a lot of luck with the weather, the cast including actress Anna Friel and crew were ready for the most explosive shooting to get underway.
    For Chubbuck whose credits include "Due South", "Naked Souls" and "Kiss Toledo Goodbye", the appeal of "War Bride"
    wasn't the history, but the calibre of the characters.
    'We're not trying to make a text book about the time, if it's a good movie, people will watch it no matter what and if it isn't they won't no matter what and they tend to generate films at the time. When I began doing this movie four years ago, people told me I couldn't make it because it was about the second world war and now here I am and I think it's more unique than that you know, that people will make films about the Roman Empire ten thousand years from now like "Gladiator", it's individual, it's about the characters and stories and if they fit people will go and see them and if they don't they won't", he said.
    Friel stars alongside Julie Cox, Molly Parker and the award-winning actress Brenda Fricker, playing the part of Lily a young woman in London at the height of the Blitz.
    With her best friend Sophie (Cox), Lily works in a small shop in London's East End and the pair go out dancing despite the nightly bombings as regularly as possible.
    One night, the girls meet and fall madly in love with two Canadian servicemen and before long the couples are married and the boys are sent off to fight.
    Without their husbands around, Lily and Sophie try to carry on as normal except that Lily is expecting a baby yet within months of the baby's birth, the Canadian Embassy arrange for both wives to be shipped out to Canada to meet and live with the in-laws.
    They have no idea what faces them.
    Friel recently starred alongside Catherine McCormack and Rachael Weisz in another film set in World War II called "Land Girls" but she insists that "War Bride" is a different film.
    "Because I loved doing "Land Girls" so much, I love the period, this is a totally different story. She was a girl and this is a woman, I suppose it's what I've grown into really. I was a girl then, just 20..I love the character, it's her story. It took us to Canada and I kind of felt frustrated in "Land Girls" because I loved it so much and I wanted more to do and I get to do that in this," said Friel.
    "War Bride" was written by screenwriter Angela Workman and is based on her mother's life story.
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