Ray Winstone's hard-man image falls to Ashes

Ray Winstone plays an Alzheimer's patient on the run in his new film, Ashes - a disturbing drama inspired by the father of the young director. Laura Barton visits the island very very rainy all Rights

Under the glow of the big spruce projector seems to be dead. They are pale and fragile, ghostly thorns pressed against the darkness. The night is so silent through the trees, stumbling blocks, Ray Winstone, quickly followed by Jim Sturgess googly eyes. Winstone burning wood. Sturgess limits after him, shouting, "Daddy! Papa Papa "and somewhere in a clearing, is Lesley Manville, his unsharp mask, the rain running down the hair.

This is the day nine of the ashes of fire. The early hours of the morning, freezing cold, and we are in a forest on the Isle of Man. The rain fell furiously, striking a tattoo stable against the crew hoods and covers the camera, which raises questions about the perception of the glamorous film industry.

Ashes is the latest offering from director Mat Whitecross, who made his name with the famous Ian Dury biopic Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, and will return later this year with Spike Island on young indie pilgrimage to see the Stone Roses. Ashes is less musical and more personal. Essentially a thriller, stars as Frank Winstone once hardnut now weakened by Alzheimer's disease. Sturgess plays James, the son who was abducted from his home nursing and flees Manville is pining for wife-Cathy Winstone

is a disturbing story, the discovery of an unexpected delicacy Winstone, Whitecross and marked as one of the most interesting young filmmakers in Britain. But the film was difficult to finance and release: some fans could see the charm, or marketing of a film about Alzheimer's disease. "We crossed the city about 14 times," remembers Whitecross. "There was a recession, people have become much more cautious ... but it does not fit in one box. It was very frustrating. "

When funding comes largely from the Isle of Man Film Board, Whitecross found transplanting the story of a small island with a single dual carriageway, working on half the budget in part of the half of the time. "But now," he said, "and with this cast, I would have been happy to get in my phone."

The film is in many ways a tribute to the father of Whitecross, Richard, who died of Alzheimer's disease. "My father got sick when I finished uni," he explains. "I think everyone goes through this process not to believe, so I started writing a diary, trying to make sense of this difficult situation, surreal." Aware that dementia rarely seen portrayed on screen, decided to convert part of the log to a script. "Dementia affects their identity in a way that is different from cancer or a car accident and the funny thing is that this is a very cinematic The person who are like a time traveler : one minute can be 60 - ... ..-Year-old man to the hospital, and the next you're a kid on the way to school every day is a mystery Each day is like being stuck in a thriller "

Whitecross

worked with Winstone in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (Ian Dury played the father) and was intrigued by the idea of ??giving the role of a character more vulnerable - "to show what that the disease can make someone so strong. "It was also a nod to gangster movies had loved his father. When we met, Winstone is sitting on a wall next to the truck restoration with saggy tracksuit Frank - the uniform of the long institutionalized. He has tattoos all over his fingers. "I play in the skin of my teeth," he said, with that familiar voice, painting. "There is no model - trying to feel your way You know how everyone has a different fingerprint Alzheimer Well Well yes, in a way that can fall any way with him.? "..

Winstone dementia research before shooting begins: I saw the documentary, scientific studies and reading logs poignant patients and caregivers, joined a trip to bowling in West London for those in the early stages of the disease, but also spoke to Whitecross, of course, and I've seen pictures of his father. "It is not the man I'm going to play," he said, "but it is almost like a voyeur in someone's life. Are very careful with what you say. "

Day 10. Another night shot. On the crest of a hill in open moorland, Sturgess, who arrived in the new game of Hollywood success one day alongside Anne Hathaway, shepherd's tent again Winstone in a car on the highway, Winstone is doing hard work. The rain is endemic, tighten crew lenses clean, feather coat

Manville took refuge in a caravan near the wettest scenes you have a double, wearing a pair of tight pants. She says she remembers being at a ceremony in London when Whitecross knelt beside his chair and asked if he could send a script. "When I read a couple of weeks later, he hit me because my mother died of dementia last year, I thought it was great, but the problem is that Cathy was not really very important,. There was nothing for me to get. "

She was in the wake of Mike Leigh, Another Year, and the most important pieces offered elsewhere - called Whitecross to explain their concerns. "And he said," Well, well, go further and build up. "And I thought," Well, that's impressive. Then the script arrived, and immediately became more attractive. "
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