British actors Ewan McGregor, Emily
Blunt and Kristin Scott Thomas star in BBC Films' inspirational comedy “Salmon
Fishing in the Yemen” from Oscar-nominated director Lasse Halstrom
(“Chocolat”).
The
film is adapted for the screen by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Simon
Beaufoy (“Slumdog Millionaire”) based on the bestselling novel of the same
title by Paul Torday.
“Salmon Fishing” is exclusively
at Ayala Malls Cinemas (Glorietta 4, Greenbelt 3 and Trinoma).
In
the film, a visionary sheik (Amr Waked) believes his passion for the peaceful
pastime of salmon fishing can enrich the lives of his people, and he dreams of
bringing the sport to the not so fish-friendly desert. Willing to spare no
expense, he instructs his representative (Blunt) to turn the dream into
reality, an extraordinary feat that will require the involvement of Britain's
leading fisheries expert (McGregor) who happens to think the project both
absurd and unachievable. That is, until the Prime Minister's overzealous press
secretary (Scott Thomas) latches on to it as a 'good will' story. Now, this
unlikely team will put it all on the line and embark on an upstream journey of
faith and fish to prove the impossible, possible.
At
the recent London press conference for the film, the cast led by Ewan McGregor,
Emily Blunt, rising star Amr Waked and producer Paul Webster gamely answered
questions from journalists. Excerpts from the interview follow:
Question:
Paul, was this film a tough sell for you? The charms are obvious and the
strengths of the film, albeit, come from another successful book.
Paul
Webster: Yes it was. It
took the combination of Emily and Ewan and then Lasse joining, on the back of a
big hit, “Dear John,” to get the film moving. I still think the movie is quite
a hard sell, particularly in America, with a title like “Salmon Fishing in the
Yemen.” But, I always remember people recommended that the title for “Four
Weddings and a Funeral” should be changed, and call it “The Best Man,” and now
the film has slipped into the lexicon. I think it is a wonderful collision.
Q:
Ewan, in the book, your character, Fred, is written as an older man, and
obviously the character has been modified, somewhat, to suit your casting, but
do you find yourself drawn to different parts now that reflect the fact that
you are a man in your 40s?
Ewan
McGregor: How dare you
[laughs]. I felt that we could have aged me up, with talk about putting silver
in my hair or something, but I felt that we could achieve his uptightness with
the acting. It wasn’t important to me to make him older. I think it is possible
to achieve the same effect. It’s not necessarily an age thing. I mean, nobody
is offering me 20-year old leads any more, but like you said, I am in my 40’s,
so it’s kind of natural that that is the case.
Q:
Emily, it's been said that the most excited people when you were cast in this
were your mom and dad - have they seen the film? What is their verdict, so to
speak?
Emily
Blunt: They must
have liked it a lot because they are going to see it again tonight. I've
offered them dinner with their long lost daughter, who lives in the States, but
they’ve said no [laughs]. They’re going to sit through the film again, because
they love it. I think my mom has brought, like, 15 other Blunts with her! After
seeing it, my mom said “how refreshing to see such an original, uplifting
film.” I think there is an audience fatigue with all of these big blockbuster
movies - some of them are great – and people are crying out for great stories
and something that will make you feel something in some way.
Q:
Amr, what was your experience of the art of salmon fishing before you
discovered the film and the book?
Amr
Waked: It was
actually quite educating. We don't really have salmon fishing in the
Middle-East but we eat salmon, so it was quite interesting to see how this big
fish is taken out of the water. It’s quite a special way of fishing. It’s not
really like other forms. It takes much more time and needs a lot more physical
ability.
Q:
Ewan, there has been some suggestion that you used a very prissy Scottish
accent in the film. Could you tell us why you chose to use that specific
accent?
McGregor: My character, Fred, is not Scottish
in the book, and I felt like there was no reason why he shouldn’t be, and in
actual fact, it would be helpful if he was. I was speaking to Simon, the writer
of the screenplay, because I found it really hard to get hold of our director
[laughs]. So, I sat down with Simon, and he was the one who suggested the
Morningside accent. It’s such an uptight accent and it is perfect for Fred, and
regardless of how uptight Fred is at the start of the script, he is like, the
sort of romantic lead of the film, so I felt it was important to get it right.
Q:
The film seems to be about believing in the unbelievable. Is there anything
that has happened to your, in your careers that you thought would never happen
to you?
Blunt: I never know how to answer that as
I don’t feel like there has been a specific job, in my career that I thought
was going to be impossible, but I think that the fact I get to do this job, in
general, is pretty improbable because it so competitive. I really enjoy the
unknown of this job and being quite fatalistic about what is going to happen
next.
McGregor:
There’s some moments when you go out of your trailer to go on set, and you
don’t know how you’re going to do what you’re expected to do, then you come
back and you’re like, “oh, that went quite well.”
Waked:
My entire career has been linked to fate. This movie itself is linked to
fate, as for me I never believed I would be in it, and I never thought it would
be so well received. I believe I am a product of fate.
No comments:
Post a Comment