Paul Andrew Williams Song For Marion

Song For Marion

Cast: Terence Stamp, Vanessa Redgrave, Gemma Arterton, Christopher Ecclestone
Director: Paul Andrew Williams
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Music
Running Time: 93 minutes

Synopsis: London, present day.
Every week Arthur Harris, a grumpy OAP (Old Age Pensioner), collects his wife, Marion, from choir practice at the local community centre. Because Marion is wheelchair-bound, Arthur cares for them both. He grumbles about it - he grumbles about everything – but Marion knows that he loves her. The same cannot be said of their only son, James, a mechanic, whom Arthur constantly criticises. The two men seem incapable of any closeness. Arthur is a prickly man who considers emotion a weakness. However Arthur is affectionate towards James's little daughter, Jennifer. When the choir's pretty young volunteer leader, Elizabeth, enters the singing oldies into a competition, Arthur discourages Marion from taking part, fearing the rehearsals are exhausting her. Perhaps, he is right. As the choir rehearses one of their typically unorthodox numbers, Marion collapses and is taken to hospital for a few days. Missing Marion's warmth beside him, back at home Arthur poignantly sleeps clutching a hot water bottle. A doctor tells Marion and Arthur that Marion's cancer has now spread and recommends she go home to enjoy what little time is left to her. Back at their home Arthur bluntly breaks the bad news to James, who is devastated. Marion makes James promise to help Arthur when she is gone and not let him become a recluse.

The next morning the choir serenades Marion outside her window. Marion is thrilled, Arthur isn't. He hurls abuse and he and Marion have a rare fight. When Arthur returns to apologise, Marion tells him he must apologise to the choir - or she will never speak to him again. He does – very ungraciously. The choir is delighted to have Marion back and Elizabeth assigns her a solo in the competition. As time goes on, Marion becomes increasingly weak and Arthur begrudgingly joins rehearsals to assist her. Arthur starts to enjoy being part of the choir despite himself. One day he even makes Marion, James and Jennifer laugh by attempting to rap.

Competition day. More bad blood as Arthur wrongly blames James for not picking him and Marion up, when in fact he never asked him to. Meantime it's a sunny day and a big local crowd watches the -OAP'z' rock out to outrageous covers like Let's Talk About Sex. But it's Marion's solo True Colors, which she dedicates to Arthur that truly strikes a chord. It's too much for Arthur, who feels he's failed Marion as a husband. She, as ever, comforts and understands him.

As Marion deteriorates Arthur finds himself unable to mend his rift with James. And when Marion passes away in her sleep, James, in turn, finds himself unable to comfort a grieving Arthur. During the wake Arthur hides in his bedroom. He doesn't know, or want to know, Marion's many friends. After confessing he's been a bad father, he tells James he never wants to see him again. A lonely Arthur sleeps on the sofa and makes daily visits to Marion's grave. He finds himself drawn back to the community centre choir where Elizabeth lends a sympathetic ear. In turn, one night a tearful Elizabeth pitches up at Arthur's flat. She has been dumped and doesn't know who else to confide in. He is kind and fatherly.

Encouraged by Elizabeth, Arthur joins the choir and eventually allows himself to enjoy it. He visits Jennifer at school playtime and asks her how James is. After one of the old people is hospitalised attempting the -robot' dance, Elizabeth asks Arthur to do a solo in the competition final. Reluctantly, Arthur agrees to practice this song but only in the presence of Elizabeth, never truly intending to perform in the competition.

As Arthur continues to enjoy singing, the music unlocks something within him. He attempts to reach out to James, but James rejects him, saying it's too late. Upset, Arthur quits the choir. As they set off the competition final without him Arthur starts to dispose of Marion's things. He finds a bundle of old love letters and photos, including several of him and a little James.

Later James sees Arthur has left him this bundle wrapped up in a competition flyer. He is touched. The choir is sound checking at the venue. Arthur appears and asks to be included again, not wanting to perform his hard-practiced solo. When the stuffy competition organisers suddenly axe the OAP'Z, citing that they -dumb down' their programme, Arthur leads a charge onto the stage. The audience soon gets with their beat as the choir belt out Love Shack. Arthur has stage fright, but when Jennifer shouts encouragement from the audience he sings his solo to a standing ovation. The choir are thrilled to win third place.

We last see Arthur happily snoring in bed, having accepted a lift back with James and Jennifer. His hand nestling where Marion once lay beside him.

Release Date: April 25th, 2013

Director's Notes

"Song for Marion" is an incredibly affecting project and possibly the most personal script I've written. Not because the characters are all relatable to me, (some aspects in the film certainly), but the fact that I have tried to make elements of the film personal to everyone. Ever since I started writing I have always tried to bring truth and the natural complexity of human nature to my characters, never more so than now.

I often wondered what would make a tough old man, come out of their shell and be prepared to open oneself up. A father and grandfather who is grumpy and difficult and hard to extract emotion from. What makes a certain generation unhappy unless they are being unhappy or making everyone else unhappy?

To have emotions buried inside, with the ability to see life a bit brighter, so I wanted to explore what would bring it all out.

The film hints at the relationship between my grandfather and grandmother, the love and duty of their generation and how the working-class "normal person" deals with emotion, loneliness and loss. And how, maybe, by the end they could possibly come out of it all, with a smile and a dance. My Grandfather, loved my Gran. In fact I would say she was the one positive thing in his life that had any effect on him. He would do anything for her, and she for him. She accepted him for all his moaning and bitterness because she could see that underneath it all, he was a good man. He had taken care of her, been there for her, made her laugh and every now and again dipped his toe into romance for her.

When she got every type of cancer she could, he looked after her, nursed her and loved her with something totally unconditional. When she eventually died, he was in great pain and for the first time in his life he sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.

I was inspired by seeing how my grandfather cared for my grandmother, the sacrifices he made, and the effect of the hammer blow of losing someone you've spent every night with for fifty years. And how the fear of admitting one's frailties or needs, can eat someone up and destroy those around them. Perhaps, with a troubled father son relationship, like Arthur and James, once the one thing that they both did love had gone, would they crumble and give up? Or could there be something that might force them to change their outlook on life, and want to be better? Perhaps a group of old, unashamed pensioners dancing round the room like kids and singing at the top of their voices...
- Paul Andrew Williams


A Very Personal Story

-It's a very personal story for me' says writer/ director Paul Andrew Williams, who drew on his own family experience to create Song for Marion -I guess you could call it semi-autobiographical: there were scenes where I cried because it reminded me of losing elder family members.'

Yet Marion's illness and how it affects relationships within her family, made up of her cantankerous husband, Arthur and their only son, James, is only one element of Song for Marion -It's basically about a man finding himself' Paul Andrew Williams summarises -That at whatever age you are – something can change you, dramatically.'

A frequently hilarious and ultimately uplifting, aspirational comedy drama, Song for Marion doesn't wallow in misery. -Some people have this idea that old people are sat at home, dribbling', says Paul Andrew Williams who has a bracingly British attitude to schmaltz. -They actually do have fun, they do get together and they do talk about sex. I wanted to make sure that people see that actually old people do have a good laugh.'

-Paul Andrew Williams is a very funny guy, but he also writes very truthfully. I defy anyone to watch this film and not get emotionally involved and a bit teary' adds producer Ken Marshall. The two men have collaborated together ever since Paul Andrew Williams's award-winning debut, the gritty Brit thriller London to Brighton. That was followed by The Cottage – a slapstick comedy horror – and then tense ordeal drama Cherry Tree Lane.

Compared to them Song for Marion, a gentler, far more sentimental movie, feels like a radical creative departure in terms of tone.

-Most of my films are a lot darker' admits Paul Andrew Williams -People may be like where's the killing? Where's the sex?!' However to him, Song for Marion is an organic progression. -For me, Song for Marion is just like all my other films in that I want the characters' relationships to be natural. It's still dealing with emotions. It's just dealing with different emotions. I think there's still elements of harshness, though parts of it are very funny. What I attempt to do is just to capture real life.'

-It's the PG film we've been wanting to make!' Ken Marshall jokes. -It's the one we can take our mums and nans to.'

A Story for Everyone

-The terrific' and -wonderfully well-written script' is what made legendary actress Vanessa Redgrave (Coriolanus, Atonement) instantly sign up for Song for Marion. Though Hollywood has recently rediscovered the lucrative power of the -grey pound', as the ever socially conscious 75-year-old Vanessa Redgrave points out, aside from rare classics like The Bridges of Madison County, there still aren't many movies about older people. -Old Age Pensioners don't get a look in anywhere really, in our society, and I'm not just talking about the film world. In life they get abused, their funds get taken away from them and they get treated very badly. I love the fact my character, Marion, has become a member of an Old Age Pensioners' choir. That is a very, very special subject for a story. But the point is not just the subject, it's how well-written it is. And there are many different layers to the story. There's the layer of what an extraordinary life-giving role the choir has, the live-giving element of Elizabeth's story and the story of my husband and our son. This is really a film about three generations.'

Because of that, Song for Marion is a film that everyone can identify with. Not only do the majority of people have a parent or grandparent; the story touches a universal chord.

Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who, The Shadow Line) who plays James, Marion's adult son, likens it to Charles Dickens's timeless classic A Christmas Carol. To him Arthur, like Ebenezer Scrooge is a miser, not of money, but of emotion – particularly towards his only son. As Christopher Eccleston sees it, Song for Marion is about -a kind of spiritual rebirth of this older man who has really been quite unhappy and depressed, but by the end of the film he's opened up.'

An actor from a younger generation, 26-year-old Gemma Arterton (Tamara Drewe, Prince of Persia) was, like Vanessa Redgrave, also attracted to the project because of the script. -Paul Andrew Williams's such a great writer. So simplistic and beautiful. Just like real life' she says. Gemma Arterton, who plays Elizabeth, the choir's enthusiastic young volunteer leader responded strongly to a story set in a world she recognised -I grew up on a council estate. Arthur is like the dads and granddads where I grew up. The community centre we used was like the one I used to go to for Brownies.'

All the lead cast, young and old, have their pick of big projects, yet all responded so strongly to Paul Andrew Williams's script that they worked for below their usual rates. Gemma Arterton explains why -Simply it just spoke to me and made me cry. I wanted to do it so badly. I said to Paul Andrew Williams, -look, I'll do it for free, it's so good.' He said -I might take you up on that!'

The Cast

-Terrifying' is how director Paul Andrew Williams, more used to working with inexperienced young actors and unknowns, recalls the prospect of working with British acting royalty Vanessa Redgrave and Terence Stamp. -I mean you have an Oscar-winner and a cinematic icon. And obviously you don't get them to read, and we had no budget for rehearsal time, so you have no idea what they are going to do until you literally get the first take. They were both very much like -trust me.' And I did.'

Paul Andrew Williams wasn't the only person on set who felt intimidated. Rising young star Gemma Arterton (Prince of Persia, St Trinian's, Tamara Drewe), who spent six months learning the piano for her role, admits to being -really nervous' at working with -one of the best actresses ever in the whole world'. Despite starring in several big budget action blockbusters like Quantum of Solace and Clash of the Titans, aside from her theatre work, Gemma Arterton considers Song for Marion -one of the most challenging jobs for me so far.' That was partly due to the lack of rehearsal time and the fact that her character in the film, Elizabeth, is so unlike herself. -She's very bubbly, but she's plain Jane-y and ungainly and she doesn't really have a life because all her time is spent teaching or with the choir. I didn't want to make her annoying, but she's got to be the sort of person that is not really cool or appealing to her own age group. I tried to remember the classical musicians at school who didn't really go out and get wasted as teenagers because they always had choir practice!'

Another actor who struggled to relate to his character was Terence Stamp (The Limey, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert). Strikingly handsome, the vigorous, Oscar-nominated star has always had a magnetic on screen presence and struggled to picture himself as an -old man'. -I had a lot of trepidation' he confesses -It wasn't that I didn't feel I could do it. It just felt like a big reach. Arthur is not really older than me, but I visualise him as older. I'm not like Arthur, I've very active and fit, so on a vanity level it was a kind of unnerving commitment.' Arthur is in almost every scene. -It really is Arthur's film. It's his journey' says producer Ken Marshall. -Finding Terence Stamp to play that part was almost unbelievable. It's an amazing role and we really wanted someone who could do the part justice.' Terence Stamp knew it was vital that he connected to his character if he was to carry the film.

The moment of revelation came when he met and talked to writer/director Paul Andrew Williams. -Paul Andrew Williams told me he envisaged Arthur as kind of based on his dad and I then realised it was kind of about my dad as well. My father was unusually good looking and my mother was completely besotted with him, even though he was emotionally closed down.'

For Christopher Eccleston, who plays Marion and Arthur's son, James, the decision to sign up for Song for Marion was an easy one. From Our Friends In The North to Flesh and Blood he's been frequently drawn to father / son relationships. Though Christopher Eccleston has a -fantastic' relationship with his own father, he recognised the truth of the Arthur/ James dynamic. -I think in Britain the way working class men of past generations of fathers and sons related to each other is that there was an awful lot of love without a lot of closeness. There was no expression of love. And the relationship that me and Terence portray very much draws from that pool. But with the loss of their mother and their wife they're forced into each other's orbit and it's important in the film that they move towards redemption.' To Christopher Eccleston the lack of rehearsal time for the film didn't really matter because -the three of us were well cast together as a family.' A well-established and respected actor himself, he still felt very much the eager-to-learn junior.

-I've seen Vanessa Redgrave on stage many, many times and sat in the audience in awe. It's a big deal for an actor to get to work with an actor like that.'

The other key relationship in the film is that between Marion and Arthur. -Most people today would be divorced 60 times over if they were to be married for as long as these two' says writer/director Paul Andrew Williams who wanted his story to show the -deep connection and love that elderly married couples have that is different from today.'

-She just adores him' Vanessa Redgrave says simply of her character Marion's relationship to husband, Arthur. -And he adores her – but it's more hidden. And nuanced. Because like many couples, to an outsider it would seem like, well, this isn't much of a marriage, but actually the two of them love each other very much.'
-Vanessa Redgrave is a legend' declares producer Ken Marshall -She's not only an Oscar-winner and a BAFTA Fellow she's won and been nominated for countless awards: Tonys and Emmys. She's a creative force. It's humbling when someone like that really responds to the script. I think we were almost hesitant at first that she might be too big for this film. But she and Paul Andrew Williams really connected and he said -she's the one.'

The Choir

The aim for Song for Marion was to create an authentic adult community choir. When producer Ken Marshall and writer/ director Paul Andrew Williams were scouting in the North East they came across a fund-raising choir competition to benefit St Oswald's Hospice. Their ears were caught by Heaton Voices. An open-to-all choir (no auditions) from Newcastle-on-Tyne it was set up in 2000 by Richard Scott and thanks to the ever-increasing vogue in singing thanks to TV shows like The Choir and The Voice, now has a hefty waiting list. -I think they were intrigued by my arrangements' he suggests -I work from a jazz approach using riff-based accompaniment rather than harmonisation.' Richard Scott became the musical arranger for Song for Marion. -I had no idea what I was letting myself in for!' he chuckles.

Richard Scott is used to being unconventional in his choice of choir material. -At Heaton Voices we tend to do a really eclectic mix. We'll do African songs, Eastern European songs, Gospel, jazz numbers and even things like Moon Dance or Under My Skin.' But nothing prepared him for what was about to hit him. -I was given the list of songs and I was a bit taken aback!' he admits -Ace Of Spades? Love Shack?' His approach was to strip the songs right back to the melody and then build them up again -I tried to get over the character of the song, but at the same time in a way that the choir feel that they can enjoy and perform naturally.'

Rather than just enlist Richard Scott's existing choir, the Song for Marion production team put out an advert for people who were already singing in choirs to come along to a casting. Choir leader Richard Scott led some singing workshops whilst director Paul Andrew Williams went round with a camera looking for likely -characters'. But it wasn't meant to be the X-Factor. -We didn't want audition voices' insists Richard Scott -In a community choir you have strong voices, you have weak voices. When we chose the choir we'd never even heard them sing! We struggled to begin with. Some people could keep pitch, others not so well, but it was a joy to watch a disparate group of individuals turning into a unified choir.'

Some of those individuals, of course, will already be familiar to audiences, including national TV treasures like Anne Reid (Dinner Ladies, Coronation Street) and Ram John Holder (Desmonds), but the actors so integrated themselves into the ranks that Richard Scott found himself forgetting that this was anything other than an authentic community choir. Even so there were occasions that were anything but ordinary. -I have worked with a great many voices' he sighs -but watching Vanessa Redgrave and Terence Stamp sing their solo songs for the first time was something very special. The intensity took me by surprise. On set their performances reduced many of the choir to tears.'

A veteran of singing on screen and stage in productions ranging from Camelot to the Three Penny Opera, Vanessa Redgrave still confessed to being -a bit nervous' before her big solo, though she hugely enjoyed being part of the choir -I felt extraordinarily lucky, I found all these wonderful people. We had some of the best sessions'. As she recounts it -I've always loved singing. My father gave me loads of singing lessons as a child. When I sang in a benefit with my Natasha [Richardson] for the Roundabout Theatre in New York, we did a Little Night Music, my Natasha put me in touch with her brilliant singing coach John Mace who found my voice back again for me.' That she was asked to sing the solo True Colors in Song for Marion was -a big big thing for me' not just because she loves singing, but because -I find it very life giving.' To Vanessa Redgrave -The point of Marion's song when I sing it in the film is that I am giving my life to my husband. And that is a very lovely thing.'