Burt Bacharach’s sad passing today reminded me of this little gem.
Beautiful Annabella Sciorra and Vincent D’Onofrio, Matt Dillon and Mary Louise Parker, and Brooke Smith in the ‘Say A Little Prayer’ scene in Mr Wonderful (Anthony Minghella, 1993).
Those were lovely days with my brother in New York. If I remember rightly, the dollar was two to the pound, the world was full of possibility, and love was still a thing. Prayers were still a thing.
It’s pretty much exactly 16 years since Labour won a general election. This election broadcast film, The Conversation, was a memorable part of that campaign. It was produced by my partner at Lucas/Minghella, Mark Lucas, and directed by my brother, Anthony.
Video courtesy of Silverfish Films.
PS. There’s a terrific untold story about the filming of The Conversation. I’m minded to turn it into a drama. Watch this space!!
Five years since we lost Alan Rickman. Not just a great actor, but the kind of man who would quietly post cheques to struggling fellow actors to enable them to keep going. Our family was lucky and honoured to have him as a friend.
Somewhere there’s a lovely picture of the time we did a weekend self-hypnosis course with Alan and Rima, Anthony and Carolyn, my nephew Max, Duncan Kenworthy, and me. At one point we were given massive safety pins to put through our flesh. Alan did it in a flash, and felt no pain. “I’ve done it!” he said in that chocolatey drawl of his. He was easily the best at “getting into state”. Of course he was.
RIP
My brilliant brother, Anthony Minghella, would have been 67 today. He had our father’s hands – big and chunky and reassuring. He became quite famous, and everybody wanted a piece of him. It was frustrating sometimes. But there was this thing he would do: as you walked together, he would put his hand out just a little behind him, for you to take. He would flex his fingers in a kind of upside-down wave. And when you took that hand, the world fell away. You were safe, you were together, you were unassailable. Oh for that touch, for that feeling again.