Yet more rain for the LFF last night, but this time the stars were driven to the door – swish! Lots of celebs (and Vanessa Feltz) turned out for last night’s Lord Mayor’s Gala screening of Julian Fellowe’s romantic drama Separate Lies. Shakespearean thesp Adrian Lester slipped in first with his missus, while Fellowes’ teenage son, Peregrine, who stars in the film, came along with his mother. Emily Watson was absent having just given birth, but the film’s other stars stopped for a chat.
Hermione Norris, who plays sexy secretary Petronella was rugged up in winter garb, and so fazed by the rain that she gave away the plot to her new TV drama. She recovered by being very effusive about her co-stars: “It was really nice to do a film, really nice to work with Julian Fellowes and really nice to work in London,” she said, slightly dazedly. “It was great fun. It’s a very charming well-told story, very old-fashioned but it draws you in. Tom, Emily and Rupert are just fantastic in it; it’s very character-led.”
First-time director Julian Fellowes was delighted at having added yet another string to his film bow. “I loved directing. I’d produced and acted quite a lot and written and if you’ve done all those things for the camera then you have to be curious about directing – how can you not be? I was very lucky in that I had the opportunity to satisfy the curiosity. These actors are fantastic, so all I had to do was to light the blue touch paper and stand back!” Julian also explained that unlike Gosford Park and his novel, Snobs, this was not a class-based story. “What I wanted from the book (it's loosely based on 1950s novel The Way Through The Woods) was the central moral quandary. You can never decide whose side you’re on and you keep shifting – none of them are bad people. I like things where you change your mind about people all the way through, I’m not terribly good at that white hat back hat sort of thing and I’m not interested in making it.”
Tom Wilkinson first saw the script 10 years ago but it was meeting up with Julian during their nominations and success at the 2002 Oscars that made them think that they could finally get it made: “I liked it very much and seven or eight years later here we are!” Happily, his film turnaround has speeded up somewhat: he’s next filming Michael Clayton in New York opposite George Clooney while horror/trial flick The Exorcism of Emily Rose will soon be released over here - although it seems horror films aren’t Tom’s thing: “No. I’ve never seen one, it’s just not my area of expertise at all! I’ve seen (Exorcism), but from behind a sofa!”
Keep an eye out for our photos of the evening and for more details of **Michael Clayton **and The Exorcism of Emily Rose in Future Films.