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Anthony Minghella outside the Screen on the Hill |
Minghella blasts poverty
My eyes were opened by filming in deprived Camden estates, he says
THE film director Anthony Minghella made a heartfelt attack on poverty and the gap between the haves and have nots in Camden after a screening of his new film on Saturday.
He told an audience at the Screen on the Hill cinema: “There are people who live in the same postcode… whose lives are so different to the people who go to the Screen on the Hill.
“There is non-equal opportunity in Camden, there are people living terrible deprived lives in some of the council estates we shot in.
“It doesn’t reflect well on the rest of us – I didn’t know about the quality of life in some of our communities.”
Mr Minghella made his comments after a special screening at the Haverstock Hill cinema of his new film, Breaking and Entering, which was filmed in King’s Cross and stars movie star Jude Law who lives in Primsose Hill.
But the Cold Mountain and Truly Madly Deeply director would not be drawn on the subject of investment into council homes in Camden. When asked by the New Journal he said: “I don’t want to make any political statements, my film is a statement.”
But he did make the point that better housing conditions could reduce crime. He said: “People should have better conditions to live in, and people behave better in good conditions.”
His comments come on the heels of problems experienced by the filmmaker during filming, when his office was broken into several times.
Mr Law revealed at the premiere of the film on Friday that his ex-wife’s home in Primrose Hill was burgled as they slept last week.
Mr Minghella refused to reveal the exact location of his office because he is still based there and fears further break-ins, but did tell the audience it was near to the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead.
He also told them the character of Ray Winstone in the film was based on a real-life Camden detective who called by after the burglaries.
He said: “This policeman came to see us and said ‘you’re kind of asking to be burgled’ – we were putting up a brand new building with all sorts of equipment but saying ‘please leave us alone’.
“Even my son later said ‘bad place for an office Dad’.”
Mr Minghella added that he thought Breaking and Entering would be viewed as a “piece of social documentary” in years to come, as many of the places they filmed in have already been demolished as part of regeneration of King’s Cross. He called the controversial transformation of the area “amazing”. |
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