The Anglophile

Get to know about UK talent! I [heart] British film…!

 

Anyone who knows me will know of my burning passion and love for UK talent, and how I have an aim and ambition to help bring UK talent and the UK film industry to total fruition, showcasing just how amazing some of the actresses on our little island truly are! I believe that there is so much undercover acting talent here, overshadowed by the [insert word here] institution which is known as “Hollywood”, and the film industry’s need to now simply sell their product to make a profit ($$$), and not necessarily to help promote what these actors can do talent wise, and the industry as a growing phenomenon.

 

I want to cyberly (and amateur-ly) promote all my favourite BRITISH actresses, who I see as major big stars in my eyes…much bigger than the typical people we merely associate the word “actor” to; (for example, Angelina Jolie).

 

Of course there are a number of British actresses (Keira Knightley, Kate Winslet, Emma Watson, Helena Bonham Carter, Jennifer Saunders, Emma Thompson) that I love, who have “made it” (whatever that means) in the industry…but I wish to talk about the undercover stars of the industry that I love, admire and follow…those who are moving mountains secretly and successfully, and need great recognition NOW!  …Or at least very soon. J

 

To list them quickly before I go into detail, here they are (in alphabetical order):

 

Natalie Dormer

Emma Hamilton

Tamzin Merchant

 

ALL of these actresses, I have seen in certain films/TV shows where their talent and acting ability caught my eye. As an aspiring actor and writer myself, I have since gone on to base and create a number of characters in my scripts on these actresses performances, look and general greatness. The production of mine which they all seem to “feature” in is my original TV series that I have created and written. I won’t reveal much (or anything about it as I do not wish to commit writers’ suicide), except for the phrase that I use to refer to it on twitter (“EOAGW”), and that these four women particularly have given me inspiration in devising my characters, hence the story, and brought my characters to life.

 

Let’s start with Ms Dormer. Well, Natalie first came to my attention really when I was getting ready for bed one night and switched on my TV for some background noise. What popped up on my screen was Natalie walking out into a crowd of people, wearing a red hooded cloak, with such a solemn expression on her face. What was to follow was an immaculate performance as a great woman who was truly about to lose her life. Watching Natalie as Anne Boleyn, I would say, has been the greatest portrayal of this inspirational and influential historical figure. To be fair, all the performances in The Tudors have been exceptional. I think the writing was excellent, and I am a great fan of Michael Hirst…yet I believe it is the acting performance which truly breathes life into a character. Since the moment I decided to go out and buy the first two seasons of The Tudors (then aged 16, and bunking off of school on a Tuesday afternoon, to go up to Oxford Street HMV to find the two box sets), I have been a great fan of Natalie’s. I have seen her performances in a number of roles, and she never fails to deliver. I had the pleasure of seeing her in person on stage at Hampstead Theatre as Pat in .45, and got humorously avidly interested in law from watching her as the junior barrister Niamh Cranitch in BBC’s Silk. I love how diverse a character she can and chooses to play, and cannot wait to see her in Captain America as Lorraine, as well as only wishing to have the opportunity work with her in the near future. I have based a number of characters in many scripts that I have written on Natalie’s performance, and have hoped to have her play these characters in the future. One of them includes a central character in my TV series, which I cannot say much more about; and another is in one of my plays called Cigarette, where I have based Roxy, a passionate, fiery, silver tongued bank robber, on her performance as fiery Anne. There is not much I can add, except for that I think Natalie is a sensational actress who is going places at the moment, and shall be a massive star in the near future!

 

Next is Emma Hamilton, who I have the disorientating, yet surprising experience of conversing cyberly with her on the wonder which is twitter! (I was so happy that I even took a picture on my phone of our conversation…cringe! Oh whatever! I don’t care! J ) So…Emma Hamilton. Well this brilliant actress first came to my attention in the amazement which is Showtime’s The Tudors (another Tudor’s actress!) I have also based one of my EOAGW characters on Emma, from her performance as daring seductress Anne Stanhope. I just loved the passion she showed, not only as a quite frankly a beautiful woman, but as a woman of powerful in such a place as a royal court in 16^th century England. She was undeniably most probably the second most powerful woman at court at the time, being the wife of Edward Seymour, and Emma captured that passion and want/need perfectly, reflecting it in so many different ways. Not only is Emma a brilliant actress, but I discovered on twitter that she is a writer. A double threat! I can see Emma flourishing in her career as an all-round performer (actor and writer), and hope to have the opportunity to work with her in the future, whether through acting or writing…or both! One can dream… J

 

Another double threat to watch out for (and also one who I have cyberly conversed with on twitter…TWITTER RULES!) is the amazingly talented and beautiful Tamzin Merchant. Again, another actress to come to my attention from The Tudors (jeez, this show is just tipping UK talent out…) through her portrayal as Katherine Howard. Tamzin brought empathy and sympathy to her character as Kitty (which I have never seen in a portrayal of her before), a historical figure whom I knew factually not much about. Since watching Tamzin in the show, I have become avidly interested in Katherine Howard, and have done a lot of research into her character and her past life. I learnt that there was a lot of sorrow there, having being sent away from her family to live under the care of the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, her step grandmother, who took little interest in her well-being. I interpreted that her promiscuity from such a young age, stemmed from the possible want or need to be loved. Tamzin brilliantly showed this to me personally, from her presenting Katherine as quite simply as a very young and naïve girl, easily influenced and manipulated constantly by the people she put her trust in and that were close to her. I not only admire Tamzin because she is a sensational actress and a writer like me, but mainly because she is a young woman proving that you are able to reach all your goals. Tamzin not only works professionally in film, but she also studies. I myself am an aspiring actress/writer, and also a university student studying full time. After speaking with Tamzin on twitter and asking how she found working on The Tudors whilst still studying, she admitted to me that it was very hard. I fully admire her for sticking with it, and I myself am now inspired to start working professionally during my studies. Especially as someone who has not enjoyed their time at university, and has wanted to drop out numerous amount of times and start to work in film professionally, from the small message Tamzin gave, I found the courage to continue on with my studies and see that they will benefit my career in the future. Tamzin proves to have such confidence by working and studying side by side, and this is why I ‘follow’ her and her career. I find her such an inspiration to me career-wise, and also personally. I may add here too that I partly gained the confidence to set up my short film production company (Amateur Shorts) after receiving her tweet reply telling me how worth it all the stress was. So thank you Tamzin! J I also based one of my EOAGW characters on the flirtatious and frivolous attributes she brought to Kitty Howard.

 

There are a number of other British actresses that I admire greatly alongside these three women, (example: Naomie Harris, Sarah Bolger (Tudor’s again!), Emma Stansfield (Tudor’s!)), but I really wanted to commend these three specifically, simply because of all the reasons I listed. I really hope to meet and work with these women in the future. I wrote this blog mainly to speak about how great actresses do not generally mean the ones you see constantly on all the gossip magazines, the ones with personal and infamous lives that we hear about all the time, or the ones making $5 million per movie…to me, I admire and like these actresses a HUGE deal more, despite of these things. They have limitless talent, they are genuine hard workers, successful, and have shown GREAT potential in the credits they have. These are the people that I see will achieve much more greatness than these “A-listers”…maybe not through materials, but definitely through the impact they shall have on everyday working ambitious people like me, and even through their own personal achievements.

 

 

by The Anglophile (a.k.a. Katrina Smith-Jackson)