UNITED KINGDOM: BRITISH DIRECTOR GEORGE MILTON FILMS HIS FIRST FEATURE 'APPETITE' ON THE ISLE OF MAN

Record ID: 687736

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: BRITISH DIRECTOR GEORGE MILTON FILMS HIS FIRST FEATURE 'APPETITE' ON THE ISLE OF MAN
  • Date: 20th February 1997
  • Summary: MORE OF ANHOLT'S SCENE, WHERE HE FINDS MAGAZINE WITH GRETA'S NUDE PHOTOGRAPHS INSIDE, SAYS YOU OLD MONKEY SPANKER (ENGLISH) AND LEAVES ROOM
  • Embargoed: 7th March 1997 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ISLE OF MAN, UNITED KINGDOM
  • Country: Isle of Man
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA7FCLCAR7QJR348EZ5IZBEG50I
  • Story Text: British thespian Trevor Eve, German chanteuse Ute Lemper and rising star Christien Anholt come together in upcoming British director George Milton's first feature "Appetite".
    Currently being filmed on the Isle of Man, off the north west coast of England, "Appetite" is an ensemble drama set in a once grand hotel. In its myriad of rooms, the pasts and presents of its guests intertwine bringing psychological and sexual tensions to the surface.
    Producer Simon Johnson explains: "It's a story of six strangers who meet in a seedy, rundown hotel and discover dark secrets about each other. It's a story of murder, revenge, sex, seduction, drugs, all the normal stuff." Also all the stuff of good cinema says director George Milton.
    The 27-year-old first-time feature director has the acclaimed short "No Such Thing" to his credit. It was released theatrically in the UK with Wayne Wang's "Smoke".
    As well as directing, Milton also wrote the screenplay for "Appetite".
    He says the idea came from the Tom Waits song "Raindogs". The song tells about a hotel where you sleep in a bed and dream the dreams of the ones who slept there before you.
    The director said he thought the lyric would make a great idea for a film.
    "The idea has been floating around in my head for about six years," he said. "I decided to make a film that was all interiors and somehow it just clicked." 26-year-old Christien Anholt plays Nelson - an unruly sailor on shore leave who manages to create havoc wherever he goes.
    "He basically wants to get laid but that doesn't work out so the next best thing is to create havoc which he does by terrorising everyone in the hotel," he said.
    Anholt, best known for his role in "The Power of One", has been acting since childhood but this is the first time he's played the bad guy - and he loves it.
    It's also one of the first times he's played a character around his own age as he's often cast in younger roles.
    German songstress Ute Lemper plays Greta, a neurotic 30-something who falls in love with Jay, the hotel owner, played by Trevor Eve.
    Lamper describes the film as "an Agatha Christie of the year 2000".
    "It's very spooky, it's a thriller, you can't really class the film what it is," she said.
    "All the five characters are messed up, screwed up people who are haunted." Although predominantly known for her singing, Lemper has appeared in a number of features including "Pret-a-Porter" and "Wild Games".
    Olivier Award-nominated thespian Trevor Eve has appeared in numerous productions, notably "The Politician's Wife".
    In playing voyeuristic Jay, he takes on the role of someone who has been forced into a life he didn't choose.
    Jay runs the decaying hotel, peering through peepholes into other people's lives, when he would rather have been a musician.
    Of Jay he says: "I ws forced into this and I do it with a degree of misery I suppose but also a sense of irony about it too." Filming is expected to finish at the end of March.
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