UNITED KINGDOM: "Mrs Henderson Presents" - a film that takes a very revealing look at a revolutionary moment in the history of British theatre, premieres in London

Record ID: 823378

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: "Mrs Henderson Presents" - a film that takes a very revealing look at a revolutionary moment in the history of British theatre, premieres in London
  • Date: 23rd November 2005
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (NOVEMBER 23, 2005) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) BLUE CARPET AT THE MRS HENDERSON PRESENTS PREMIERE MRS HENDERSON POSTER OUTSIDE THEATRE DANCING GIRLS ON THE BLUE CARPET OLDER MAN HOLDING CAMERA BOB HOSKINS WITH DANCING GIRLS BACK VIEW OF BOB HOSKINS WITH DANCING GIRL (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR BOB HOSKINS, SAYING: "Friends of mine have been researching the Windmill for years, and they said: 'We can't do anything with it, can you?' And I sort of looked through it and I thought, if we can get Judi we could do it, it'll be a winner - and we got Judi." ACTRESS DAME JUDI DENCH ARRIVING, PARTIALLY OBSCURED BY DANCING GIRLS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS DAME JUDI DENCH SAYING: "I think she was an extraordinary woman, I think she'd be extraordinary in any age because I think she's a real fighter and wasn't content to just sit back and have an easy and, you know, cushy life - going out to lunch and being on committees she didn't like that." SINGER / ACTOR WILL YOUNG (SOUNDBITE) (English) SINGER / ACTOR WILL YOUNG SAYING: "I think if it was the right role you know, but I think English films at the moment are so strong and what attracted me to this part is was it was a quintessentially English part and I'm a bit of an English gent ,so I like it you know? But I wouldn't rule it out at all." BACK VIEW OF WILL YOUNG WITH DANCING GIRLS DAME JUDI DENCH AND BOB HOSKINS STANDING NEXT TO EACH OTHER, TURNING TO ONE ANOTHER AND KISSING ON THE LIPS
  • Embargoed: 8th December 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVABY49GN6ACMKKZW4TDJS7BQNBK
  • Story Text: British film veterans Dame Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins were joined by big screen debutante, pop star Will Young, on the blue carpet for their new film 'Mrs Henderson Presents' at London's Leicester Square on Wednesday (November 23).
    'Mrs Henderson Presents' tells the revealing story of Soho's historic Windmill Theatre, and the people running it. It was a story Hoskins says couldn't have been told without Dame Judi Dench as the title character, Laura Henderson.
    "Friends of mine have been researching the Windmill for years, and they said: 'We can't do anything with it, can you?' And I sort of looked through it and I thought, if we can get Judi we could do it, it'll be a winner - and we got Judi," said Hoskins.
    Set in pre-World War II London, 'Mrs Henderson Presents' is the true story of high society figure Laura Henderson, who at the age of 69 decided to enter the world of theatre for the first time - and changed it forever with a simple but then shocking concept: nudity.
    It is after the death of her husband and much to the shock of her friends that Laura Henderson makes the decision to buy the Windmill theatre in Soho, London. "That's the story to be told, I think. The story of a woman who was left with a lot of money, whose husband and son had died and who decided to utilise that money and use her life and do something that she actually knew nothing about and at her age suddenly bought a theatre," said Judi Dench, who plays Mrs Henderson.
    "And as Thelma's (Thelma Reilly) character says, 'What on earth are you going to do with a theatre? I mean, go and have lovely dinners and buy earrings and things like that.' It must have been so bizarre," she added. Knowing nothing about theatre, Mrs Henderson brings in an expert: showbiz pro Vivian Van Damm, played by Bob Hoskins.
    A love/hate relationship forms between the eccentric and wilful Henderson and the veteran theatre manager Van Damm - resulting in some historic innovations in British theatre.
    "You get elements of an extremely rich, adventurous woman, and a master of the theatre, vaudeville and all that, and put them together and something's going to happen," said Hoskins of his and Dench's characters. "And something did happen: The Windmill. These two extraordinary people." Van Damm comes up with the idea to run non-stop musical revues; what he calls 'Revudeville'. The idea is an initial success, but the novelty value wears off, particularly when other theatres start imitating the concept.
    It is then Mrs Henderson devises a revolutionary plan to get the audiences back: putting naked girls on stage. As the tag line to the film puts it: the show must go on, but the clothes must come off.
    Henderson convinces Lord Chamberlain, the censor, (played by Christopher Guest) to grant the Windmill a license, on the condition that the naked girls don't move, but remain motionless as part of an artistic setting. There was more to the idea of titillating audiences. The story is also about raising morale of troops and families in a time when all of Britain was suffering through the War - something Dench says she hopes people will take away from the the film.
    "I just want it to be enjoyed. I just want their lives to be appreciated. The story we've told is a kind of an indomitable one about a kind of force at a time when it was very very hard," she said. "People were being marched out to the front and coming back and it was a very grim time and it was something that somehow flowered in the midst of a very very grim time in Britain and elsewhere." At the premiere, Will Young said it was the very "British-ness" of the role that appealed to him for his film debut - at the same time answering to rumours of him heading to the United States to further pursue his music and acting career.
    "I think if it was the right role, you know?" he said of being lured over to America. "But I think English films at the moment are so strong and what attracted me to this part is was it was a quintessentially English part and I'm a bit of an English gent, so I like it you know? But I wouldn't rule it out at all".
    'Mrs Henderson Presents' opens across the UK on Friday (November 25), and on December 9 in the United States.
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