Britt to attend premiere of Sellers film
Britt Ekland has finally given her blessing to a new film about her former husband Peter Sellers.
At the world premiere of The Life and Death of Peter Sellers in Cannes tonight, Ekland will walk down the red carpet hand in hand with the actress who plays her, Charlize Theron.
It is a remarkable about-face for Ekland, who has been opposed to the project since it was first announced.
She branded the casting of Oscar-winner Theron a “nonsense” and threatened to sue over her portrayal in the movie.
But in Cannes today, Theron revealed she and Ekland would be attending the premiere together.
“She’s my date,” Theron said.
The film is partly based on the biography of the same name by Roger Lewis, which Ekland did not like and which many felt presented an unsympathetic picture of the troubled comic genius.
But Ekland’s character is largely based on her own autobiography.
The one-time Swedish bombshell has complained that Theron, who won the best actress Oscar this year for Monster, did not have the right physical presence to play her – Theron is six feet tall while Ekland is 5’5" - and Theron is several years older than Ekland was when she married Sellers.
Tonight will be the first time the two women have met and the first time Ekland has seen the film.
Theron, 28, said she tried not to get caught up in presenting a perfectly accurate portrayal of the Swedish star.
“The thing for an actress playing a real person is that if you think about that primarily, it becomes a lot of pressure. There’s only so much that’s going to be 100% accurate.
“I read about her, I did as much research as I possibly could. Our director Stephen Hopkins had met with her numerous times so I spent a lot of time with him just picking his brains,” she said.
Ekland, 61, was Sellers’ second wife – they married in 1964 after a 10-day romance, and divorced in 1968.
Director Hopkins said: “Britt didn’t enjoy the [Roger Lewis] book which is one of the many books the film is based on.
“I have met with Britt but we didn’t go into any detail with her about the role. A lot of it is taken from her own book. She hasn’t seen the film yet but hopefully she is going to be able to make it tonight.”
Michael Sellers, the actor’s son, has also expressed his unhappiness at the film but Hopkins said he and the rest of the family will have a private screening in London next week.
Australian actor Geoffrey Rush plays Sellers, star of The Goon Show and the Pink Panther movies.
Rush said the most memorable description of Sellers he ever heard was from actress Goldie Hawn, who said being in his company was “like watching a man balanced on a pin“.
The film is not a straight biopic – instead it is a mixture of fact and fantasy, reflecting Sellers’ own troubled mind.
“There used to be a me behind the mask, but I had it surgically removed,” he once said, and the film blurs the line between truth and fiction.
It portrays his marriage to first wife Anne Howe, played by Emily Watson, and his imagined affair with Sophia Loren, played by Italian actress Sonia Aquino.
“It is a metaphorical film and a fantastical film more than an accurate depiction,” Hopkins said.
“I don’t think we debunked the myth of Peter Sellers. The film is a reasonably compassionate views of someone who had a very difficult life.
“I don’t think anyone really knows who the real Peter Sellers is – all you have is 20,000 versions from people who think they knew him.
“If you really want to find out about Sellers you have to watch his movies a lot, because that’s the only way he really spoke, the only way he could get out what was inside him.”
The film, a co-production between the BBC and HBO, is in competition for this year’s Palme d’Or prize. The winner will be announced tomorrow by jury president Quentin Tarantino.
