Summary

TAPE_NUMBER: EN9925A IN_TIME: 10:38:49 LENGTH: 03:58 SOURCES: APTN/PORTMAN ENTERTAINMENT RESTRICTIONS: No re-use/re-sale film/video clips without clearance FEED: VARIOUS (THE ABOVE TIME-CODE IS TIME-OF-DAY) SCRIPT: xfa JOAN COLLINS RETURNS IN PERIOD DRAMA Story: The Clandestine Marriage Location: Cannes Date: Recent Hogarth's England of 1776 is the setting for the new comedy 'THE CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE' Up and coming stars NATASHA LITTLE and PAUL NICHOLLS joined old hand NIGEL HAWTHORNE at the Cannes film festival recently; but fans of Joan Collins , who also stars in the film, were left disappointed when the UK legend failed to show The film centres around the intended merging of two families - the Sterlings and Oglebys - the first has new money but no class and the latter, country aristocrats with class but no money Their need for each other is absolute - but of course, the merging of the two houses is complicated and fraught with difficulty The story begins with 'the clandestine marriage' between Lovewell (Paul Nicholls) clerk to the autocratic Mr Sterling, and the pregnant Fanny (Natasha Little), daughter of Mr Sterling They are forced to keep the marriage secret - but when they return to Fanny's family estate, the new bride must fight off the unwanted attentions of a Lord Ogleby (Nigel Hawthorne) and his son Sir John, (pledged to marry Fanny's sister, Betsey); as well as deal with the anger of a jealous sister and furious aunt , Mrs Heidelberg (Joan Collins) Sir John secretly strikes a deal with Sterling (Timothy Spall) to exchange one daughter for the other But the infamous Mrs Heidelberg refuses to countenance such an idea and the planned marriage of Sir John and Betsey goes ahead - but not before the secret marriage of Fanny and Lovewell is revealed during a pageant before the the real wedding Director CHRISTOPHER MILES says the story, based on the 18th century play by George Coleman and actor David garrick, has as much relevance today as two centuries ago 'It's about greed, it's about passion, it's about stocks and shares, it's about success and failure, and of course the main thing - it's about love' The film marks the return to the big screen for UK legend Joan Collins Thje actress says she was desperate to play the part of Mrs Heidelberg after seeing the stage version 'When an actress reaches 35 or 40 in this game ' says Joan 'the babe parts arne't there anymore, so you've got to start looking at other things' Actor Nigel Hawthorne first played the role of Lord Ogleby in the West End version of the play 'In an age where we're making Mansfield Park and all these costume flicks, with enormous sincerity and seriousness, it's lovely to have something which is quite racy and naughty' says the actor ' But at the same time, it maintains the characteristics of the sort of thing we do best in this country which is drama' The film marks the cinematic debut of young hot British actor Paul Nicholls A veteran of British TV, the young actor is often touted as the 'british' Leonard di Caprio - and certainly commands the same levels of attention from his young British female fans The film also features TOM HOLLANDER as Sir John and EMMA CHAMBERS as Betsey For further information contact PORTMAN Entertainment (tel) + 44 171 468 3456 SHOTLIST: CLIP FROM 'CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE' ; SOT TOM HOLLANDER ; CLIP FILM ; SOT NATASHA LITTLE ; CLIP FILM ; SOT NIGEL HAWTHORNE (ON PAUL NICHOLLS) ; SOT PAUL NICHOLLS ; CLIP FILM ?