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Churchill: The Hollywood Years

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Churchill: The Hollywood Years
UK Theatrical release poster
Directed byPeter Richardson
Written byPeter Richardson
Pete Richens
Produced byJonathan Cavendish
Starring
CinematographyCinders Forshaw
Edited byGeoff Hogg
Duncan Shepherd
John Wilson
Music bySimon Boswell
Rod Melvin
Distributed byPathé Distribution
Release date
  • 3 December 2004 (2004-12-03) (UK)
Running time
84 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office£529,546

Churchill: The Hollywood Years is a 2004 British comedy film directed by Peter Richardson, who also wrote the screenplay with Pete Richens. The film stars Christian Slater as Winston Churchill, and Neve Campbell as Elizabeth II. Miranda Richardson and Antony Sher also co-star.

The film is a satire on the Hollywood take on history, such as U-571 (portraying the capture of an Enigma machine as being by the Americans rather than the British) and Pearl Harbor (where American participation in the Battle of Britain was exaggerated).

Plot

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In this parody, the British court and war government consist mainly of idiots and traitors. Adolf Hitler moves into Buckingham Palace and plans to marry into the Windsors. A U.S. Army officer claims the iconic cigar-smoking PM was an actor named Roy Bubbles; however, he was actually USMC lieutenant Winston Churchill who had stolen an Enigma code machine and then almost single-handedly won a very alternative battle for Britain.

Production

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It was filmed between 24 March and 12 May 2003. Mainly filmed at the Royal William Yard, Stonehouse, Plymouth.

Cultural references

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Cast

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Historical characters

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Other

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Reception

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Philip French writing in The Observer called the film "a hit and miss affair".[1] Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian gave it three stars and said "It's wildly uneven and very broad, but there are some laughs in Peter Richardson's The Comic Strip fantasy of Churchill's real life as a kickass action hero".[2] However, Nev Peirce on the BBC's website panned the film, saying "Sadly, Peter Richardson suffers the fate of many satirists; in trying to mock bad movies, he's simply made a bad movie".[3] The film holds a score of 40% on the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes.[4]

The film grossed $288,292 on its opening weekend across 170 screens in the UK. It grossed a total of $478,981 in the United Kingdom.[5]

References

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  1. ^ French, Philip (5 December 2004). "We'll fight them on Sunset Boulevard..." The Observer. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  2. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (3 December 2004). "Churchill: The Hollywood Years". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 29 November 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  3. ^ Pierce, Nev (2 December 2004). "Churchill: The Hollywood Years (2004)". BBC. Archived from the original on 6 September 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  4. ^ "Churchill: The Hollywood Years". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  5. ^ "Churchill: The Hollywood Years". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
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