Monday, July 16, 2012

Liverpool actor scores role in new Stephen King film


Actor Paul Hilts

Actor Paul Hilts is living proof that the harder you work, the more luck comes your way. After a decade in the film business, the Liverpool actor is finding his luck is improving each day.

A 20-year veteran of more than 50 film and theater productions, Hilts recently snared a part in Mute, a 2007 short story by best-selling author Stephen King.

Hilts will play the part of a priest who listens to the confessions of a traveling book salesman after he discovers his wife is having an affair.

“The idea of me in a Stephen King movie is a bit surreal because he’s one of the greatest known authors of our time. It doesn’t hurt to have an association with an icon,” Hilts said. “The past few years have been pretty amazing.”

Hilts is referring to his relationship with Shivilenco Pictures, a Liverpool-based production company which makes shorts and feature films. The company is owned and operated by director Colin Hives, who has hired Hilts for almost every one of his projects.

“Paul is probably the most professional actor I have ever worked with. He's so well prepared it's scary,” Hives says. “He will lament over a part but when you are ready to shoot he is the part. Paul is what I wish every actor was – helpful. I don't after worry about Paul, who is a godsend.”

Paul Hilts in Tangled Tales

And if the name Hilts sounds vaguely familiar, that’s because it’s based on Steve McQueen’s character from the classic World War II flick, The Great Escape. Hilt’s was born Paul Taylor, but changed it professionally to honor of his screen idol.

“Working class Brits love and underdog, someone who fights against the odds and triumphs over adversity, which Steve McQueen mastered,” Hilts says. “It was because of Steve that I wanted to become an actor. He made me feel if he could do it, so could I.”

Shooting on Mute will start later this month and will be entirely filmed on location in Liverpool.

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