FOOTPRINTS ON THE SANDS OF TIME

‘I was very insecure when I’d [just] done A Room With A View, ’cos it was my first [real/feature] film and, um, I remember going up to James [Ivory] afterwards and saying, “I’m really sorry for that really godawful performance [as Freddy Honeychurch].” And he said, “No no no, it’s fine, it’s good, it’s alright, it was OK.” And then the next night, the next week, I think, he asked me to do Maurice, which made me feel better then!’

– Rupert Graves, The Story of Maurice documentary (Merchant Ivory Collection Maurice DVD extras, 2004)

A little bit of James Wilby news!

James is one of the four leads in The Swing of It, a crowd-funded comedy short that’s been filming in suburban north London this spring and is now in post-production.

The Swing of It sounds a LOT of fun – especially with this great cast (Amanda Donohoe as James’ wife!, plus Brit-movie veteran Phil Davis, best-known on Tumblr as ‘the cabbie from Sherlock/Different for Girls’) – on a subject, middle-aged sexuality, close to many of us (*cough*) – so I really hope we get to see it! Or, better still, an extended version (though the crowd-funding call seems to have closed).

The Swing of It has a Facebook page (source of the cast-and-crew photograph above). There’s also an interesting pitch video by the makers on www.indiegogo.com and Vimeo.

Mount Stewart, County Down, Northern Ireland

‘Excuse me, sir. The underkeeper wonders whether you have orders.’ 2 / 2

‘Excuse me, sir. The underkeeper wonders whether you have orders.’ 1 / 2

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Dante and Beatrice Meeting in Purgatory

1852

Bodycolour and pen and ink on paper, 29.2 x 25,1 cm