Give peace a click
Sean Pertwee starred in Blue Juice and Dog Soldiers, and will be marking the UN's day
of peace
Interviewed by Hamish Mackintosh
Wednesday September 18 2002
The Guardian
Can the Peace One Day event be followed on the net? The Brixton Academy event
on September 21 will be webcast by MSN. Peace One Day is aware of committed
activities in 57 countries - 22 of them at governmental level. These are all
listed on the website along with everything else that's going on. This is how
the net community can be harnessed to help. Immediate information and
communication, in any language, at any time, anywhere, is the weapon of peace.
Is September 11 being used to restrict the freedom of the net? I always
suspected that they'd hang on to our emails and there'd be a slow chipping away
of privacy. One of my conspiracy theories is that someone does actually own all
the infrastructure for the net, so basically anything you say or do on the net
is "owned" somewhere down the line, which means someone then owns our freedom
in many respects!
Does the increasing amount of computer generated images (CGI) in movies
concern you as an actor? I recently worked on Dog Soldiers where most of the
effects were done "in camera" with animatronics, etc. I still think CGI is
amazing but everyone's now seen morphing and the other effects. I've done a few
movies that have been largely bluescreen and if it's used well, it can be
genius. I just think when it's rammed down your throat too much, your eye
becomes attuned to it and it doesn't actually live and breath. Maybe it's time
to start writing better scripts again.
What computer do you use? I have just got a new Mac G4 laptop. I mainly use it
for email, scripts, iMovies and a bit of editing. I've just got Telewest
broadband, which is very fast and which I'm really into just now. I don't use
chatrooms or messaging, mainly because my qwerty typing sucks!
Favourite gadgets? I would put my iPod at the top of the list. I hate CDs but
I love my hip hop and old school reggae, so I've downloaded four days of music
on to my iPod. I wish there was superb voice recognition that would actually
work, as in Minority Report! I also love my PS2 and Xbox: Halo is the most
sublime game ever made! I'm looking forward to it being winter so I have even
more excuse to stay inside and play it!
Favourite websites? I'm not really a huge surfer _ I just mess about on it. I
did experiment with Grokster as a friend in the music business explained to me
how scandalous these things were, but I gave up when loads of warnings came up
on screen!
Visit: www.peaceoneday.org
· Sean Pertwee is speaking at Saturday's Peace One Day event at Brixton
Academy in London to mark the UN's international day of peace.
Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
Posted: Mon., Dec. 3, 2001, 7:03am PT
I was a real nightmare for Dad but in
Europe Intelligence Wire
Source: The Express On Sunday, December 02, 2001
SIMON BUTTON
SEAN PERTWEE might be forgiven for feeling a little bitter.
He's had his fair share of bad press and box-office flops,
but the 37-year-old is full of beans.
"I'm really happy, " he says, so euphoric he's almost flying.
"Everything is going well. My wife is expecting twins. I
like the new
film and I've just done something good for TV. In this
industry it's always dips and troughs, but at the moment
everything is great."
His wife, Jacqui Hamilton-Smith, is due to give birth in
April; 51st State looks a sure-fire hit and the "something
good for TV" is ratings champ Cold Feet. He makes his debut
as a publishing editor, Mark, tonight, but he's under orders
not to reveal any more details.
There's no such reticence about 51st State though. Filmed in
Liverpool, it's a breathless action comedy starring Samuel L
Jackson as a drugs pusher, Robert Carlyle as his thuggish
sidekick and Pertwee as the corrupt cop determined to bring
them to rough justice.
The film, he says, is terrific grown-up fun, but filming
wasn't so thrilling. "It was miserable. It rained every day
and we were on a very tight schedule because we were using
major city streets at allotted times for the car chases.
If anything goes wrong, you're in trouble. It was
frustrating. I was supposed to film for 15 days but ended up
there for 10 weeks waiting for it to stop raining."
The end justifies the means: 51st State has all the makings
of a huge hit. "I hope so, " says Pertwee.
"It'd be nice to be in a film that's good and successful. I
haven't done one of those for a while."
He may be laughing, but Pertwee is in dire need of a
box-office smash.
Despite lavish praise for his theatre work, none of his
movies (Love, Honour And Obey, Shopping, Blue Juice, Tale Of
The Mummy, Event Horizon) has earned much.
Pertwee formed production company Natural Nylon with mates
Ewan McGregor, Jude Law and Jonny Lee Miller, but while the
others are big stars, Pertwee is the underdog. Surely he
feels a tad envious? "Not at all. We've always been and
always will be friends.
I'm delighted they're doing really well. People never
understand that.
They think we're in some kind of competition."
Whatever his fame, Pertwee certainly gets plenty of press
attention. He laughs off gossip that he isn't allowed to
smoke at home, but clams up about reports earlier this year
that he and showbiz pals lured Prince Andrew into a world of
class-A drugs and casual sex.
"I don't want to talk about that, " he says, polite but firm.
The same goes for ex-fiancee Nathalie Bloom, who says
Pertwee persuaded her to have an abortion, then dumped her.
"That was very interesting behaviour, but I don't want to
talk about it."
Pertwee grew up in the spotlight.
His father was Dr Who and Worzel Gummidge actor Jon Pertwee,
who died in 1996. A teenage tearaway, Pertwee was expelled
from three private schools and joined a punk band before
settling down with the Royal Shakespeare Company. "I was a
bit of a nightmare, " he admits. "The only way you can find
yourself and what you're doing is to rebel. I needed to
prove myself and not live in my father's shadow. I went
about it the best way I thought."
Pertwee went on to make his father proud, though -
especially with the weighty theatrical roles Jon was too
nervous to try. "He was chuffed. It was a good feeling that
I'd come out of my nutty behaviour and made him
proud. He was a nervous man in many respects, and when he
was young he didn't have the courage to do some of the
things I did. He was a lot more insecure than anyone would
believe of a 6ft 3in guy smothered in tattoos."
PERTWEE admits to nerves about his own impending fatherhood.
"I'm godfather to Jude's daughter and I've watched friends
with their kids.
All I can hope is that I'm as good a father as Ewan and
Jude. They're friends with their kids and that's what I
want. I can't wait. I'm over the moon."
When it comes to work, Pertwee sees himself as a character
actor who has yet to fulfil his potential.
"My dad always used to say that when you stop learning you
may as well retire. I'm only just starting.
I'm getting the opportunity to play really diverse roles."
Next up after 51st State and Cold Feet is a starring role in
an as-yet-untitled werewolf movie. If it's a hit, Hollywood
may beckon. He doesn't like the place much but will swallow
his pride for the twins.
"They need to eat, " he says. "I can't tell you how much of
a huntergatherer I've become already. I've got to work, man.
I've got to get the money in."
51st State opens on Friday. Cold Feet is on ITV1 tonight at 9pm.
Pathe buys 'Soldiers' for U.K.
Horror pic surprise hit at Mifed
By ADAM DAWTREY
LONDON -- "Dog Soldiers," a Brit horror pic written and
directed by Neil Marshall, has been picked up by Pathe
Distribution for U.K. release.
The film was the surprise hit of the recent Mifed film
market, with packed-out screenings resulting in sales agent
Victor Film inking deals all around the world.
Buyers include M6 Films in France, Tot Media in Spain and
Intercontinental in Hong Kong. Pic is sold out across the
Far East, including Japan, and deals are being negotiated in
other major territories including the U.S.
The movie (originally titled "Night of the Werewolves") was
financed and produced by David E. Allen's L.A.-based Kismet
Entertainment Group. The U.K. producer is Christopher Figg.
It stars Sean Pertwee, Kevin McKidd and Liam Cunningham as a
group of soldiers on a training exercise in a remote
Scottish forest, where they become embroiled in a bloody
battle with a gang of werewolves.
London-based Victor Film previously worked with Marshall on
"Killing Time," a low-budget thriller which he co-wrote and
edited. Victor was nstrumental in putting Marshall together
with Figg and Kismet for "Dog Soldiers," his directorial debut.
"When we set out to produce this film, we really hoped that
it would find a wide and enthusiastic audience in its home
territory," Allen, who is ceo of Kismet, said. "With the
support and backing of Pathe Distribution, we're confident
that we can make the most of its potential."
