Tribute to Ken Russel
Ken Russel
“Reality is a dirty word for me, I know it isn’t for most people, but I am not interested. There’s too much of it about.”
Ken Russell was born in Southampton, England in 1927. After short stints in the Royal Air Force and Merchant Navy, and a short but brilliant career in ballet dancing, he studied photography. His work appeared regularly in magazines for a few years from 1954. He moved into film making with a silent movie (Peepshow) in 1956, and Amelia and the Angel (1958). From 1959 to 1970 he made creative documentaries for the BBC on the renowned arts programme Monitor (replacing John Schlesinger as resident director), the subjects of which were classical composers, poets and contemporary artists. In 2008 a boxed set of five of the most famous of his TV films was released in the US as Ken Russell at the BBC, including Elgar, Debussy and Song of Summer (Delius).
His first commercial films were French Dressing in 1963 and Billion Dollar Brain in 1967. Women in Love (1968), with its first nude wrestling scene and its Oscar for Glenda Jackson, and The Devils with Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed (1971), provocatively changed the landscape of filmmaking. Following these were The Boyfriend with Twiggy (1971), Tommy (1975) with the Who, (a box office smash which virtually invented the music video) and Altered States (1980) with William Hurt, a critically acclaimed science fiction film. Other films included The Music Lovers, Savage Messiah, Aria, Mahler – too many to list. In the 1980’s he made more films, including Barry Sandler’s exciting Crimes of Passion (1984) with Kathleen Turner and Tony Perkins, Gothic with Gabriel Byrne (1986) and the camp classic Lair of the White Worm with Hugh Grant (1988). He also made rock videos for Elton John, Cliff Richards, Bryan Adams and others.
In the ’90’s, he made many films for TV such as Road to Mandalay and the popular Lady Chatterley.
In 1999, he started his Garagiste movement with his home-produced Gorsewood films, from Fall of the Louse of Usher (2002), Revenge of the Elephant Man and Mata Hari (2004) to the new Boudica Bites Back, which was made in conjunction with CIRIC and University of Swansea (2009). He made the horror film Trapped Ashes for Lionsgate in 2007. He continues to court controversy, with Kitten for Hitler (2008), and is currently filming Bravetart vs the Loch Ness Monster (2010). To date, Ken Russell has published 8 novels including Brahms Gets Laid, a book of film criticism, a book on directing and an autobiography. An updated autobiography, A British Picture, was published by Southbank Publishing in 2008. He wrote for Elton John’s new book, Dear Me: A Letter to My 16-Year-Old Self, published by Simon and Schuster.
He is also a visiting professor of film at University of Southampton and University of Wales at Newport, Caerleon campus.
He’s won prestigious awards in the France, the US, Russia, Argentina and Serbia. In 2002 he co-wrote the film script Charged, about the life of Nicola Tesla. In 2006, a lost cache of 200 original Ken Russell photo-essays from the 1950’s were rediscovered by photo agency Topfoto. Also in 2006, his house burned down. In 2007, Ken Russell appeared in Celebrity Big Brother with Jermaine Jackson, Shilpa Shetty and Dirk Benedict. Ken directed the play Mindgame with Keith Carradine in NYC 2008-9.
For the last two years, he has written a weekly column on art, music and film for the London Times. Ken Russell lives in Hampshire, England in the New Forest with his wife Elize, who stars in several of his current films.
Women in Love
United Kingdom, 1969, 130′00″, 35mm
Director: Ken Russell
Director of Photography: Billy Williams
Film Editor: Michael Bradsell
Music: Georges Delerue
Production: Brandywine Productions
Cast: Alan Bates, Oliver Reed, Glenda Jackson, Jennie Linden, Eleanor Bron, Alan Webb, Vladek Sheybal, Catherine Willmer, Phoebe Nicholls
The battle of sexes and relationships among the elite of Britian’s industrial Midlands in the 1920s. Gerald Crich and Rupert Berkin are best friends who fall in love with the Brangwen sisters - Gudrun, a sculptress, and Ursula, a schoolteacher. Rupert marries Ursula, Gerald begins a love affair with Gudrun, and the foursome embarks on a Swiss honeymoon. However, the relationships take markedly different directions as Russell explores the nature of commitment and love. Rupert and Ursula learn to give themselves to each other, while the more withdrawn Gerald fails to connect with the demanding and challenging Gudrun.
Tommy
United Kingdom, 1975, 111′00″, 35mm
Director: Ken Russell
Director of Photography: Dick Bush, Ronnie Taylor, Robin Lehman
Film Editor: Stuart Baird
Music: The Who
Production: Ken Russell, Robert Stigwood Organisation Ltd.
Cast: Alan Bates, Oliver Reed, Glenda Jackson, Jennie Linden, Eleanor Bron, Alan Webb, Vladek Sheybal, Catherine Willmer, Phoebe Nicholls
Captain Walker’s plane is shot down during World War II and he is presumed dead. Nora Walker meets Frank Hobbs while her son Tommy is attending a holiday camp and soon they get married. However, one day Captain Walker comes home. Tommy follows his silhouette and sees his murder through a mirror that captures his and his father’s soul. Nora and Frank tell Tommy that he didn’t see it, hear it, and never to speak of it. This causes him to go deaf, dumb and blind. They try a few cures, fail and finally give up. One night, Tommy finds a pinball machine in a junkyard, a device that will change his life, and he becomes the world’s greatest player. A doctor tells the family that some kind of shock is necessary to bring Tommy back into our world. The shock comes in the breaking of the mirror that frees his soul. He believes that he is a new messiah, and a religious cult is formed around him.
Boudica Bites Back
United Kingdom, 2009, 20′00″, HDV
Director: Ken Russell
Director of Photography: Mark Veysey
Music: Chris Holtom
Production: Steve Sullivan
Cast: Elize Russell, Chris Morgan, The students of the Performing Arts department (Swansea Metropolitan University), Ermine Street Guard (Newport)
Visual Effects: The animation department of FADE, Swansea Metropolitan University
Costume and Design: Costume & design students from Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Cardiff
Additional Crew: The students of the Video department, Swansea Metropolitan University.
Legendary director Ken Russell makes a triumphant return with Boudica Bites Back, a cine-opera retelling of the legend of Boudica, warrior queen and her uprising against the Roman occupiers of Britain. Bearing the hallmarks of his inimitable visual style, Boudica Bites Back is Ken’s first foray into both High Definition video and CGI Special FX.
November 23rd to December 1st, 2009
FIKE 2009 - 8th Évora International Short Film Festival
Páteo do Salema, n.º 7 - A
7000 - 818 Évora
PORTUGAL
Tel./Fax: +351 266 703137
e-mail: fike@fikeonline.net
