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BRIT HIT SHOWS NAKED
TALENT
Sunday Express – Henry Fitzherbert
18th May 2003
"All you need for a hit movie, said Hollywood
mogul Robert Evans, is to make the audience laugh and
cry. On that basis, Calendar Girls should be a huge
smash. Not only did I laugh and cry, I did so at the
same time."
"The film, based on the true story of the Women’s
Institute strippers, works brilliantly on the big screen.
It’s funny, touching and full of memorable moments."
NORTHERN EXPOSURE
Evening Standard – Alexander Walker
16th May 2003
The female Full Monty tipped to make a fortune
Film Review
"The Cannes Film Festival is about the last place
you’d think to bring a film about women stripping
off. There is plenty of that going on every day in the
sun on the beaches. But a film called Calendar Girls,
shown to tremendous market-place enthusiasm and tipped
to make a fortune when it opens in Britain at the end
of the summer isn’t your ordinary strippers’
tease."
"The blunt Yorkshire vowels and the bare but beautiful
Yorkshire Dales give the film an air of native integrity
that British films have lacked ever since Monty’s
crowd got it off."
"How welcome to find a comedy that hits all the
right notes so shrewdly and has a cast that unselfishly
act as ensemble midwives to the homely humour, shed
their clothes but keep their dignity – and all
without ever having to straddle the saddle of a Harley-Davidson."
MIRREN AND WALTERS MAKE A SPLASH WITH
THE WI CALENDAR GIRLS
The Daily Telegraph – Hugh Davies
17th May 2003
"Helen Mirren elegantly rolled up her pinstriped
trousers, held hands with Julie Walters and paddled
in the sea off Cannes yesterday amid signs that their
latest film, Calendar Girls, in which they appear naked,
is set to follow The Full Monty into British film history."
"It had the feel and magic of the days when British
filmmakers were recreating stories of the English countryside
like The Railway Children. Laced with Northern wit and
sentiment, the picture was lit up with perfect scenes
round the village of Kettlewell, created by Martin Child,
who won an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love."
IN HIGH SPIRITS AND IN THE BUFF –
THE BRITISH ARE COMING OF A CERTAIN AGE.
The Independent – John Walsh
17th May 2003
"By 4.15 yesterday the hottest ticket in town (Cannes)
was the Calendar Girls tea party at the Noga Hilton.
Helen Mirren and Julie Walters were joint hostesses.
They appeared beside their real-life counterparts, Tricia
Stewart and Angela Baker, two of the members of the
Rylstone Women’s Institute who became world-famous
five years ago for appearing naked on a charity calendar,
their blushes spared by the carefully arranged paraphernalia
of jam making, apple pressing and knitting."
BARE FEET ONLY FOR THE WI’S CANNES
CALENDAR GIRLS
The Times – Dalya Alberge
17TH May 2003
"A personal journey that began with cake-baking
and charity fetes for two members of a Yorkshire Women’s
Institute ended amid the glamour of the Cannes Film
Festival yesterday when they were photographed with
two of Britain’s best-loved actresses."
"Tricia Stewart and Angela Baker posed on the
beach with Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, who play
them in the new film Calendar Girls, the story of how
the middle-aged members of the Rylstone WI posed naked
for a calendar and inadvertently achieved international
fame."
"Mirren and Walters paid tribute to the pluck
of their real-life counterparts."
"Mrs Baker, whose husband died of leukaemia, said
that Walters’ portrayal of her was “fantastic,
a dream come true”."
CALENDAR GIRLS DO CANNES-CANNES
The Sunday Times – Richard Brooks
18th May 2003
"There was no singing of Jerusalem and not even
any jam. Instead there was a jazz band, pink champagne
and lots of little French cakes. Oh, and a few scones
with strawberries, and cups of tea made with teabags
from Bettys & Taylors of Harrogate. Despite the
glamour of Cannes, the girls couldn’t quite leave
the Yorkshire Dales behind."
"We were gathered to mark the launch of Calendar
Girls, the true(ish) story of the ladies of Rylstone
WI, who stripped off for a parody of the Pirelli calendar
to raise money for leukaemia research and inadvertently
became worldwide stars. Some money from the movie, which
is released in Britain in September and in America at
the end of the year, is going to the Leukaemia Research
Fund. Having seen it I’m sure it is going to be
a big hit – a sort of female Full Monty with,
quite probably, the same degree of success."
WEARING IT WELL
The Mail on Sunday – Elizabeth Sanderson
27th July 2003
"JULIE WALTERS AND CELIA IMRIE AS YOU’VE
NEVER SEEN THEM BEFORE…STRIPPING FOR THE FILM
CALENDAR GIRLS."
"She’s an institution of British cinema,
with a string of box office hits to her credit –
but Julie Walters obviously still has naked ambition
when it comes to choosing film success."
"And with nothing but a string of pearls to protect
her modesty, she is pictured here for the first time
posing as Miss February in the upcoming film, Calendar
Girls."
"It is tipped to be a massive hit."
NIGHT & DAY
The Mail on Sunday Magazine
27th July 2003
Calendar Girls Special – Sharon Van Geuns
"THE COMIC STRIP"
"Calendar Girls tells the heart-warming story
off the women of Rylstone and District WI, who bared
all, save for a few strings of pearls and some strategically
placed kitchen utensils, for charity."
"The calendar was a roaring success – it
has raised more than £600,000 – and has
led to the creation of a 2004 version, featuring six
of the original Rylstone ladies alongside the stars
of the new film."
"Calendar Girls received rave reviews at this
year’s Cannes Film Festival, and promises to propel
the cheeky Rylstone women – and their celebrity
counterparts – into the spotlight once again."
Film Review -Alan Jones
September 2003
"Calendar Girls is without doubt the best British
movie of the year."
"Is a pitch-perfect, brilliantly scripted and
enormously touching tale."
"It will reduce you to tears of painful recognition
and sheer joy."
***** Stars
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