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Interviews
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David Parfitt David Parfitt, Oscar-winning producer of Shakespeare in Love, The Madness of King George, Henry V and many other of the best British films of recent years, in conversation at the Royalty Theatre, Sunderland, where he is patron. Peter Lathan was there. David comes from a theatrical family - his mother Maureen, for instance, had trained at the Bristol Old Vic - and it ws natural he should go into theatre when he, as he says, "did incredibly badly at school. I was bottom of the year in first year at grammar school!" So, at the age of twelve, he went off to stage school in London., where he lived in digs and supplemented the limited financial support his parents could give him by work. His first professional job was a commercial for Kellogs Frosties, but he did follow that with a part in Pinter's production of James Joyce's Exiles. He auditioned for - and got a part in - the TV sitcom And Mother Makes Three and its sequel, which took him up to the age of seventeen. "My ambitions to be an actor vanished during these series," he says. "BUt when I left school, I had no qualifications - three O Levels! - so I decided I had to stay in theatre." He did a number of productions but the turning point came in 1982 when he was in Julian Mitchell's Another Country. He'd been in the show prior to the West End run and stayed with it. Some cast members moved on and new actors brought in to replace them. One of these newcomers was a young man called Kenneth Branagh who had the dressing room next to David's. They got on well together and soon set up the Renaissance Theatre Company. "Ken is extremely energetic and very ambitious," David says, "and you could say that the first part of my career was on his coat-tails!" By this time he had decided that acting was definitely not for him, but he did want to stay in theatre and so switched to production. His last acting part was in the film of Henry V, which starred Branagh. "He insisted I had to be in it," he says, "and so I played the messenger to the French King. But that ended up on the cutting room floor!" They were joined in Renaissance by Stephen Evans, a stockbroker, who had been so impressed by their work that he rang the theatre in whcih they were playing and offered them financing. The Renaissance Theatre Company was soon joined by Renaissance Films. "1990 was our busiest year. We did Peter's Friends, Swan Song and Much Ado, plus Look Back in Anger in the theatre." Now all three have gone their separate ways: Branagh now runs Shakespeare Films, Evans Scorpio Films and David Trademark Films. David believes it is much easier to raise money for film than for theatre. "Theatre is much more risky," he says. "If a film flops, there are at least residuals such as video, DVD and TV rights, which will recover some of the investment. If a play flops, that's it - the money's gone." In fact, up to 80% of films made in the UK do not go on general release but go straight to video. Having a blockbuster such as Shakespeare in Love does not make it easier to raise money for a new project. "Market research plays a major part in all US film making today," he adds. "They do market research everything, even the titles." For the film he is currently working on - "Chasing Liberty, a new departure for us in that it is a straightforwardly conventional movie" - the studios are spending $25m on the marketing alone. When asked about the story that US backers insisted on changing the title of Alan Bennett's play from The Madness of George III to The Madness of King George because American audiences would ask where The Madness of King George I and II were, "There's a little bit of truth in it," he laughed. "Sam Goldwyn Jnr said that American audiences would not understand what George III meant, and the suggestion of royalty by adding the work King would attract them." The way David got involved was a little different to the usual process. "Alan Bennett and Nick Hytner wanted to turn the play into a movie and so they auditioned producers! Stephen and I went along and they chose us." This was just after Branagh went off to do his own thing. Asked about theatre directors working in film, he said, "I like working with them. They understand the text and actors. They may lack the cinema skills, but other members of the team can provide them. Directors with a film background don't have the same skills in this area. "I like to build some rehearsal time into the schedule, and that's unusual in the film industry." What did Shakespeare in Love do for his career? "Nothing, except for other people's perception: now 'm not seen as a pushing young man any more - I've changed to be establishment!"
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