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.

Q & A with McQueen author Andrew Antoniades

Interviewer: You have just released a new book called “Steve McQueen: The Actor and his Films”. Why is McQueen so popular even today?



Andrew: In essence it is because what Steve McQueen stood for in his lifetime is still as relevant, if not more so, today. He was a no-nonsense person who was essentially an underdog and that story is always appealing. He was a rebel but he could also act, so his films remain relevant and well-loved today. For example, Bullitt is still influencing modern cinema through its cinematography and its car chase. Aside form the films there is McQueen fashion sense and his love of fast cars and motorbikes. So for every person there is nearly always something they can relate to and admire. In an age where cinema really has no tough guys like McQueen, people have to look back and appreciated him for the maverick he was, since there is no one that comes close these days. He died just over 30 years ago but remains as relevant and as big as ever.
Interviewer: How did you come to write a book on Steve McQueen?

Andrew: I had just edited Marshall Terrill’s latest biography Steve McQueen: The Life and Legend of a Hollywood Icon. That was a great experience for me as I had read Marshall’s first biography on McQueen from 1993 when I was just in my late teens. Marshall always felt, having written the definitive biography on McQueen that the story of his films needed to be told. Marshall graciously suggested that I be the one to tell this story and put in contact with his publisher. From there I teamed up with Mike Siegel who has one of Europe’s leading film memorabilia archives with so many great images and film posters. We teamed up with the idea being that I did most of the writing and Mike providing most of the images. In a sense, the book now has the best of both worlds and benefits from two very big McQueen fans to ensure that the text and imagery are of the highest caliber. The partnership worked well and, with Marshall and the publisher’s support, the end product exceeded all our hopes.

Interviewer: Why did you focus on Steve McQueen’s films?

Andrew: McQueen’s life was a miracle in its own way. He was born into poverty and managed to somehow work his way from a teenage delinquent to a Hollywood megastar, defying the odds. His life story is completely interwoven with his films. The reason being two-fold. Firstly, being an actor was his way to a better life, a way of achieving success. Without films he could have easily drifted from job to job, just as he had as a young man. Secondly, McQueen used acting as a means of developing himself. He used all his hardships and life experiences to create some of cinema’s richest and most subtle characterizations.

However, McQueen also managed to do the reverse too, in the latter half of his career, his movies became his confessional of sorts. He would invest in scenes to achieve catharsis and to understand his own personal anxieties and fears. For example, in Junior Bonner there is the scene between McQueen’s character and his father, Ace, in which the two have a very strained relationship, but a deep respect. McQueen himself grew up never knowing his father and this scene allowed McQueen to examine his own feelings of abandonment and being denied a conventional father-son relationship. It is an incredibly poignant scene, but really highlights just how important McQueen’s films are.

Interviewer: Which part of the book are you most proud of?

Andrew: It is hard to pick one. The reason being is the book covers so much in text and in words. This was a conscious decision as we wanted to give fans everything we like ourselves. With the text of the book, I guess I’m most proud of the dissection of McQueen’s acting. I wanted to offer a unique and in-depth insight into McQueen’s technique, his subtleties and his motivations, to really get under his skin. This is something that has never been done in such detail.

Interviewer: Visually, what are the books strengths?

Andrew: We were adamant that the book should look impressive and possess great quality. As a collector myself, I always want things that look good and impress. The book is literally huge; at nearly 500 pages I don’t think there is another book on McQueen of this size. It is presented in hardback too with a wonderful gold embossed logo on the cover, underneath the dust jacket. When I got my own copy of the book I had no idea about this and was blown away. My publisher did a great job and I believe that little touches add to the overall presentation.

With the images, even the biggest McQueen fan will be blown away. With over a 1,000 images there are so many never-before-seen photos. So many books on McQueen have been released that simply repeat the same images. Steve McQueen: The Actor and his Films has something for casual and die-hard fans alike. Whether it’s an unseen image of McQueen taking a nap between takes on The Getaway or a rare Italian poster for Bullitt, there is something new and fresh.

Interviewer: What makes your book so different?

Andrew: The word I would use, and I use it with caution, is “definitive”. I do not say this lightly. I own practically every book published on McQueen over the years. I must say that, as an account of McQueen’s films, it really is definitive. Other books that try to cover his films either are outdated, not richly presented or omit key details. With this book every aspect is dealt with in great detail and new angles discovered. I clearly have a bias, but I believe that there is nothing on the market that comes close.

Interviewer: Thank you Andrew, this book sounds great, I wish you every success. Any closing comments?

Andrew: Yes, thank you too, this has been great. To close I’d just like to say that I am very grateful to have had this opportunity to put together a book on a subject that I am so passionate about. It has really been a labor of love. At the end of the day, I am a McQueen fan so I wanted to put something together that would really do him justice. I hope that I have achieved that.

Q: Tell us something you've never revealed to anyone else?

Andrew: I love Tiny Tim's "Tiptoe Through The Tulips."

Steve McQueen: The Actor and his Films, by Andrew Antoniades and Mike Siegel

Is available from Dalton Watson Fine books www.daltonwatson.com

http://www.daltonwatson.com/78-celebrities/130-steve-mcqueen-the-actor-and-his-films

ISBN 978-1-85443-253-7

Hard cover with dust jacket

Publication Date November 2011

Page Size: 300mm x 230mm. 492 pages.

Illustrations: 1,020 illustrations: 790 photos incl. 44 full page photos. 230 artwork reproductions incl. 48 full page poster reproductions & 10 full page lobby card reproductions

Price: US$69/£39

Pattie Boyd and Chris O' Dell appear at Arizona Gallery

Vision Gallery presents: In the Deep Midwinter, by U.K. Photographers, April 1st – June 3rd, 2011. If you are looking for a place to cool off as the Arizona weather begins to heat up, come to Vision Gallery and experience the images of U. K. photographers Pattie Boyd, Colin Barker, Lesley Aggar and Will Christie. On a night in December of 2009, photographer Pattie Boyd looked out her window and saw, “…hoar frost---white ice crystals that had suddenly formed. I was so excited to see this phenomenon that occurs very rarely in the U.K. Rushing outside with my camera, I found that everywhere I looked seemed as if a magical wand had touched the garden and neighborhood into a startling white beauty. I had an idea that if I could get other photographers who had shot during that winter to show their work with mine, I might find a gallery in a place that never sees snow.” And the plan for Vision Gallery’s exhibition was born.

Among the images are Colin Barker’s shots of a huntsman and his hounds. “Garlands Blizzard, “… captures the hounds following a scent during a very heavy blizzard. The Huntsman in the distance became so cold that day, he is shown walking rather than mounted, in order to try and keep warm. Having heard the hounds, I had just forded a river and pushed through the thick woods, so arriving just in time to capture this scene.”

Boyd will be signing copies of her memoir, Wonderful Tonight, and former Apple secretary, author of Miss O' Dell, will also be in attendance.

The exhibit runs from April 1st - June 3rd, 2011. Admission is free.

Where: Vision Gallery, 10 East Chicago Street, Chandler
What & When: In the Deep Midwinter, by U.K. Photographers
Artist Reception, 7 – 9 P.M., Friday, April 1st, 2011

Hours: Monday through Friday, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Saturdays, Noon – 4:00 PM

Information: Call 480-782-2695

Andrews offers 'Dose and a Pinch' at exhibit

State museum photo exhibit offers 'Dose of Rock 'n' Roll, Pinch of Country'

Photographer Nancy Lee Andrews shares rare glimpse into era of rock music

BY BILL FRISKICS-WARREN • Staff Writer • August 17, 2008

As a fashion model working for Manhattan's Eileen Ford Agency in the '60s, Nancy Lee Andrews was the subject, among other pieces, of a LIFE magazine centerfold done by Milton Greene, the renowned photographer best known for his iconic images of Marilyn Monroe.

Before long, though, Andrews found herself taking photos of her own, dozens of which, including disarming candids of Bob Dylan and Dolly Parton, are on exhibit through August under the title A Dose of Rock 'n' Roll and a Pinch of Country at the Tennessee State Museum.

Andrews moved behind the camera not long after she did the LIFE shoot with Greene. She was helping Greene rinse prints in his darkroom, peppering him with questions about photography, when he handed her a Nikon and urged her to shoot whatever struck her fancy.

"I loved it," recalled Andrews, who has lived in Nashville since the mid-'90s and, who, in her modeling days, posed for everyone from Irving Penn to Richard Avedon.

"I remember (Greene) looking over my first contact sheet and smiling, giving me praise and telling me, 'You've got an eye.' "

Greene's encouragement was critical to Andrews' evolution as a photographer, a hobby-turned-profession that really took off after she met and began a six-year love affair with Ringo Starr in 1974.

"Nancy Lee's life with Ringo was flamboyant and larger than life," said Lois Riggins-Ezell, executive director of the Tennessee State Museum. "It enabled her to capture a space in time in popular culture that few people were able to capture.

"She didn't make appointments with these people; she was having dinner with them and going to clubs with them," Riggins-Ezell added, referring to rock 'n' roll stars such as George Harrison, Donovan, Eric Clapton and Keith Moon.

Photographs of all four men, along with those of Harry Nilsson, Kim Carnes and a 2-year-old Angelina Jolie, appear in Andrews' exhibit at the museum. They also can be seen in her forthcoming book, A Dose of Rock 'n' Roll, to be published Sept. 1 by Dalton Watson Books.

'You try to connect'

The circumstances that led to the publication of Andrews' book were serendipitous, to say the least.

"I hadn't really planned on doing a book at all," she explained. "A really dear friend of mine, Ken Mansfield, who was the head of (the Beatles') Apple Records in America, was working on The White Book and looking for pictures.

"When his editor saw the photos of mine that Ken used in his book, he said, 'You know, in the last 30 years, I think I've seen all the pictures and the variations of the pictures of Harry (Nilsson) and Ringo. Whose are these?'

"Ken said, 'Oh, those are Nancy Andrews',' and his editor said, 'Nancy Andrews who was between (Ringo's first and second wives) Maureen Starkey and Barbara Bach?' Within two weeks I had an editor and a publisher sitting in my studio here in Nashville."

Shot mostly with a 35mm camera, Andrews' photos certainly benefit from the remarkable access she had to her subjects. What distinguishes her work, though, is the empathy it expresses. Whether it's Duane Allman snuggled under a blanket on an airplane or a cherubic Bob Dylan backstage at The Last Waltz, the humanity that her images convey is undeniable.

"Everyone loves this picture because anyone who knows Bob, or doesn't know him, knows that you never get him with a real smile," Andrews said of her photo of Dylan during a recent walk-through of her exhibit. "It's the only picture I've ever taken of him.

"I try to either get them out or get in," she said of how she approaches her subjects. "You try to connect, not force it. If they won't let me in, I try to see if they'll just be themselves for me."

After commenting on a series of playful photos of George Harrison, Andrews turned to an unguarded shot of the Beatles' guitarist she took when she and Starr were at his house for dinner. "Here's George with his favorite little guitar," she said. "I love this picture. He's really open. It's like he's saying, 'Hi, Nan. What do you want to hear?' "

'We were camera-crazy people'

A separate room of publicity, magazine and album cover photos of country stars ranging from Martina McBride to Big & Rich, all of them shot after she moved to Nashville in the mid-'90s, comprise the rest of Andrews' exhibit at the Tennessee State Museum.

At the heart of her show, though, are images from the six years she spent with "Richard," the Beatle better known to the rest of us as Ringo.

"Besides being a really cathartic passage for me, it was just so hard to pick and pare it down as to what went in the show," Andrews explained.

"This is from the Ringo the 4th album, the first cover I did for him," she said, pointing to a picture of a mock-serious Ringo with a woman's bare legs wrapped around his neck.

"This one is of Central Park. We were at The Plaza when I shot this. It was the snowstorm of 1977 and that was outside our window."

Other shots were taken on one of the couple's flights on the Concorde, on the veranda of the home they shared in Los Angeles and on trips they took to Japan, Monte Carlo and the Sahara together.

There's also no shortage of madcap photos of Ringo, either in candid settings, such as when he and Andrews were staging a fairy tale with his kids, or on the sets of his movies and TV special.

"I call this the Ringo wall," Andrews said of the series of photos immediately on your left as you enter the exhibit.

"It starts with the first time I went to England with him. It was 1975. We were just running around like tourists. It was a winter day and we were overlooking the Thames River and he just sat down on this bench and just sort of leaned his head over. I said, 'What are you doing?' He said, 'This is Beatle on Skid Row.' I said, 'Yeah, you really look it with those shiny shoes.'

"This one is in Chichen Itza, deep in the Yucatan," Andrews added. "As you can see, Richard's got a camera in his lap. We were camera-crazy people. Imagery was very much a part of what happened between us, and our friends."

To order a copy of A Dose of Rock 'n' Roll, go to www.daltwonwatson.com.