the new film by actor- turned-writer/director Craig Roberts is at once a character study, a comedy-drama, a love story, a biopic and a sports movie unlike any you’ve ever seen. How could it be like anything that came before when it focuses on Maurice Flitcroft, a chain-smoking shipyard operator from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria who posed as a professional golfer to obtain a place in the 1976 British Open? What followed, all of it televised, was golden, and while it won’t be spoiled here, suffice to say that any triumph that this particular underdog experienced was not of the sort that Hollywood would recognise.
Flitcroft, here played by Mark Rylance, only took up golf in 1974, and it’s hard to say just how serious he was. Did he genuinely believe he had talent and deserved to rub shoulders with Seve Ballesteros? Or was it one big ruse in order to get on TV and perhaps cock a snook at the establishment of this elitist sport? Both the director and the star of The Phantom Of The Open believe he was sincere, but they can’t be sure.
“I think from what we’ve seen in the interviews, and speaking to his son James, there’s an innocence to his ambition – he believed that he could do anything,” smiles Roberts. “The movie that I kept mentioning in preproduction was The King Of Comedy because I just felt… you know, Rupert [Pupkin] believes he’s really funny, and that’s what’s so amazing about it. Everyone outside of him doesn’t, but he does. But also… I don’t know. Sometimes in Maurice’s interviews, I can’t tell if he’s being serious or not. He just knew how to manipulate situations. You couldn’t quite tell whether he was joking at them. It’s very interesting.”
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Denne historien er fra April 2022-utgaven av Total Film.
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RETURN TO OZ
WICKED Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande defy gravity as the Broadway smash reaches cinemas.
GRIN AND BEAR IT
SMILE 2 Trauma-horror sequel sees the curse latch onto a pop superstar...
BAD ROMANCE
TIMESTALKER Alice Lowe falls in love with the wrong man time and time again...
CLOWNING GORY
TERRIFIER 3 Creator Damien Leone says Art the Clown is coming home for Christmas...
SELF EXPRESSION
LAYLA A non-binary, British-Palestinian drag queen navigates their expression of identity.
GENA ROWLANDS
I like difficult roles,' said Gena Rowlands. No kidding. A stage, TV and film actor whose career spanned more than six decades, Rowlands will be most remembered for the series of coruscating dramas she made with her first husband, actor-turned-director John Cassavetes, between 1968 and 1984.
'NOW NOTHING IS ABOUT LOOKS OR ABOUT BEING A LEADING LADY.AND IT'S VERY LIBERATING' EMILY WATSON
Since breaking hearts in Breaking the Waves, Emily Watson has delivered countless screen masterclasses, from Gosford Park and Punch-Drunk Love to Apple Tree Yard. Now, the English star goes toe-to-toe with Cilllan Murohy in Irish drama Smeal/ Things like hese and fronts 1V prequel Dune: Prophecy. Is it her second coming? It's elementary, my dear Watson...
BLODD PRESSURE
BASED ON STEPHEN KING'S MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOK AND WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY IT SCRIBE GARY DAUBERMAN, VAMPIRE MOVIE SALEM'S LOT FACED AN UNHOLY FIGHT TO GET TO OUR SCREENS. TOTAL FILM HUNTS DOWN DAUBERMAN AND STARS LEWIS PULLMAN AND MAKENZIE LEIGH TO LEARN ALL THAT WAS AT STAKE...
Lucky Man
He broke out in Beatles jukebox musical Yesterday and has a varied slate of juicy projects on the horizon, including a very different take on a superhero franchise. But, as the everhumble Himesh Patel tells Total Film, he puts a lot of it down to luck...
A BUE ABOVE
WORLD-BUILDER EXTRAORDINAIRE RIDLEY SCOTT IS ALSO THE MASTER OF THE DIRECTOR'S CUT, RESTORING HIS MISHANDLED GEMS INTO MASTERPIECES. WITH THE EXPANSIVE DIRECTOR'S CUT OF NAPOLEON NOW AVAILABLE TO STREAM, TOTAL FILM SPEAKS TO THE GREAT SCOTT ABOUT BLOWING UP BONAPARTE HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH EDITING AND WHY BIGGER IS (USUALLY) BETTER.