Night And Day cast enjoy North East filming
2025-01-18
Category: entertainment

A stellar cast of actors has been in the North East shooting a new movie. They and the crew say the region should be used a lot more by filmmakers.
Described as an unromantic comedy, Night And Day is inspired by a Virginia Woolf novel of the same name.US star Haley Bennett plays the lead role and is joined by a host of well-known British names  including Lily Allen, Jennifer Saunders, Timothy Spall, Jack Whitehall and Sally Phillips.It tells the story of Katherine Hilbury (played by Bennett), a young woman who does everything she can to avoid love and marriage in order to pursue her passion for astronomy.  Set at the start of the 20th Century, the action takes place against a backdrop of women fighting for the vote, advances in science and technology, and a crumbling patriarchy.Lily Allen plays feisty Mary Datchet and believes the fight for women's rights still resonates today."We have obviously come a long way since 1910 but there is still a way to go so I am hoping it will inspire people to keep pushing forward," the singer songwriter says.Sunderland-born musician Nadine Shah, is making her film debut as a suffragette and says the role is "pretty exciting" for two reasons.Firstly, she admires the campaigning woman she is playing and is "eternally grateful" to the suffragettes.Secondly, she can commute to the set from her dad's house in Whitburn.
Director Tina Gharavi, an American Iranian who has lived on Tyneside for more than a decade and is a full-time lecturer at Newcastle University, lobbied hard for the film to be shot in the region.From Northumberland to County Durham, good use has been made of the authentic locations the North East has to offer. Filming has taken place all over including at Beamish Museum, Neville Hall, the Newcastle home of the Mining Institute, and Ryhope Engines Museum.It was love at first sight for Gharavi as soon as she saw the original Victorian steam-powered pumps in action at the former waterworks in Sunderland."This happens to be my favourite location," she says, adding: "I was looking for a universe to put [the characters] into that was believable. "Not just a set or a room or a location where you feel it has been fabricated."This is what it was back then. It is like going back in time. It is like a time machine."There was a moment, I was like this has got to be in the movie."And they were like 'but how does this fit into the story' and I was like 'we will make it work'.  "This is not what it is in the Virginia Woolf book but it is emotionally truthful. I fought for this.  "I said if this isn't a location we use, I am not sure I am the director for you really."
The period drama is a visual love letter by  Gharavi, and it seems the rest of cast are equally enamoured with this part of the world.Playing the mother of lead character is national treasure Jennifer Saunders who is rueing the day she agreed to once again don a corset."It is not my favourite item of clothing," she says, adding: "Why am I doing this? I did Lady Windermere's fan on stage and I swore that would be my last corset. I thought this was set after the war!"The costume may be uncomfortable but the location has been much to her liking."I love it," Saunders says, adding: "Honestly I think everything should be made up here. "The countryside is perfect, there is so much that is unique about here. "The coastline is spectacular, you've got all this wild Northumbrian wilds, castles galore, country houses galore, and Newcastle which has got the most extraordinary architecture. "And the people are just so lovely, and helpful and charming and different."
Her onscreen husband Timothy Spall already knew the North East well from his work on Auf Wiedersehen Pet, his role as Barry making him an "honourary Geordie"."I'm honoured by the honour," Spall says, adding: "People just hold the show that I did here with such affection."Over the years it has just grown and grown and grown. "It's lovely actually. "People are pleased to see you. "I've always loved coming to the North East."Comedian Jack Whitewall modelled his look for William Rodney on another well-known face from the 1990s - Newcastle United's Philippe Albert."That is what I was trying to channel with this moustache," he says, adding: "This is a real moustache. I have grown that all myself. I thought I looked very debonair to be honest but my father told me I looked like Ned Flanders from The Simpsons. "Not a particularly good review but I think it is a strong look."This has been Bennett's first trip to the region and the American says it has been a revelation."It's just so incredibly dynamic," she says, adding: "There was this myth that it was really grim here and it is not grim at all. "It is full of life, everyone is full of life and colour. And honestly I think I could live here. "
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