THE MOVIE PAGES presents RUPERT GRINT & JULIE WATERS in DRIVING LESSONS drivinglessons.htm

What Do The Critics Say?

"Pic relies on chemistry that fairly crackles between the principals to successfully deliver its teen hero from familial repression and rescue its pubescent lead from child-star roles."
Ronnie Scheib VARIETY
"This understated comedy-drama allows Walters and Grint a great opportunity to step out of their familiar roles as mother and son Molly and Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films."
M K Terrell CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
"Brock creates a sensitive, personal tale of an underdog coming into his own. Choosing red-headed Rupert Grint, better known as Ron Weasley in the "Harry Potter" movies, to play the ultimate outcast proves a shrewd casting choice."
Sue Pierman MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
"Its heart is in the right place but Driving Lessons never quite gets into gear, despite a terrific performance from Julie Walters."
Matthew Turner VIEWLONDON
"Despite its slight and vaguely silly premise, Driving Lessons turns out to be sweet, never cloying, and amusing in an understated British way."
Connie Ogle MIAMI HERALD

"Driving Lessons is a poignant miniature that offers [Julie] Walters a chance to be typically wonderful — saucy but deep — and [Rupert] Grint to stretch quite commendably."
Tom Keogh SEATTLE TIMES
"It has an appealing feel-good factor and could be this year’s "Calendar Girls", another Brit-flick sleeper hit. It’s an agreeable piece of whimsy, much of it based on director Brock’s own background and upbringing, and the personal touch obviously adds elements of authenticity."
Richard Mowe BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE
"Amiable performances and a gentle, generous chemistry between Walters and Grint make the ride pleasant. It's rather rich that Walters, who plays Ron Weasley's mum, tries to save Grint's Ben from his mother's joyless ride."
Lisa Kennedy DENVER POST
"Julie Waters' fine performance helps center this sentimental British drama. The film plays to Walters' strengths as a grand dame of light British drama."
Ken Fox TV GUIDES MOVIE GUIDE
"Driving Lessons, with perfectly cast actors, a poignant and often hilarious script and original music, is a study in how fun British humor can be."
Annemarie Moody ARIZONA REPUBLIC

The Inside Story With "Driving Lessons", writer/director Jeremy Brock finally realized a long-held dream. The writer of successful screenplays "Mrs Brown" and "Charlotte Gray", and the co-creator of British television’s most successful medical drama, "Casualty", had started the screenplay of "Driving Lessons" some five years earlier. The subject is intensely personal, a rites of passage story about the influence that an older actress has on an awkward young teenager, the son of a vicar, when he goes to work as her assistant. This story is loosely based on a vignette from Brock’s own adolescence when he, also the son of a vicar, worked for legendary actress Dame Peggy Ashcroft (1985 Oscar winner "A Passage to India" and three time BAFTA Award winner). It was only when Brock showed the screenplay to producer Julia Chasman ("Polish Wedding" & "The Invisible Circus") that making "Driving Lessons" became real. Julia Chasman wanted a debut project for her new production company, RubberTreePlant and "Driving Lessons" was it. The involvement of the UK Film Council’s Premiere Fund changed the dream to a reality. Chasman and Brock worked closely together refining the script. They hired Alexandra Ferguson ("Starlight Express 3D" and "Bugs!") as co-producer and together began interviewing crew for the project. As casting director they enlisted the help of Priscilla John ("A Fish Called Wanda", "Brassed Off" and "Miss Potter"), doyenne of casting directors, whose considerable experience includes "Quills", "Aragon", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Van Helsing", "Little Voice", "Seven Years in Tibet", "Frankenstein", "Little Buddha", "City of Joy" and "A Passage to India". Brock’s script, also worked its magic on actors: Julie Walters talked about the truth of the screenplay. "It’s been five years in the writing, it’s really textured and real and the people are completely layered and whole, all of them, no matter how small."

She was keen to play eccentric, exasperating, hilarious actress Eve Walton. A trip to America and a meeting with Laura Linney gave Brock a second committed player. "There’s something very satisfying about working with first time directors," said Linney. "I’ve worked with a lot of them. They have complete understanding of the material, particularly if they are directing their own screenplays. They understand how actors work and they have a decency of character about how to treat a crew." The third piece of absolutely vital casting was the adolescent who would play Ben, Linney’s screen son who goes to work for Evie and finds the whole world opens up to him. Rupert Grint of the phenomenally successful "Harry Potter" films, in which he plays Ron Weasley, was keen to play a rites of passage role that would acknowledge that fact. Grint was signed to play Ben. While casting continued, other principal crew were hired – director of photography David Katznelson worked tirelessly with Brock before shooting started, poring over Brock’s storyboards, traveling with him to potential locations. The appointment of production designer went to Amanda McArthur ("Passion in the Desert" & "Broken Thread"). "We saw a lot of designers but I thought Amanda’s work was fantastic," said Brock. "The moment I met her I knew she was the right combination of being highly organised and very confident of the graphic look I wanted the film to have." Trevor Waite was hired as editor. Waite has a wealth of experience with directors spanning three decades. Kevin Spacey’s "Beyond the Sea", Tim Roth’s "The War Zone" and Michael Winterbottom’s "Welcome to Sarajevo" are only a few. Location manager Algy Sloane found location options to entice. Looking back on the film, Brock singled out three locations for special praise: the salsa club in west London, where young Ben is initiated into a frenzy of salsa dancing by the sparky young Scot called Bryony (played by Michelle Duncan who recently appeared in "Chosyu Five" as Emily), the loch filmed in a haze of typically Scottish weather during three days on location in and around Edinburgh, and the extraordinary Georgian house in Greenwich which served as the set for Evie’s home. The house boasts one of the biggest private gardens in London.

It was a major location for the film, and the unit spent a full week there filming interiors and exteriors. Jeremy discovered that the actors, once cast, sometimes developed their characters beyond the point that he had envisaged. "Nicholas Farrell as Robert interpreted the role in a much bolder way, and suddenly he became a more significant player. I’d seen him as transitory and peripheral, but he became a real fighter, so much so that I re-wrote a couple of scenes for him," says Brock. Once filming started, it was a kaleidoscope of six-day weeks that crisscrossed London, and ended with three days filming in Scotland. The shooting schedule coincided with the shocking events of quadruple bombings in the capital on July 7th 2005 and the aborted bombing attempts on July 21st. A day’s shooting was lost as the producers could not risk the safety of cast and crew during a terrorist attack, but the show did go on, with the film now safely in the can. As filming ended, the filmmakers paused to reflect on the experience. Julia Chasman said her biggest surprise was how emotionally touching the story was. "When you develop a script over a number of years, you do fall in love with it and have your favorite characters, and lines, and so much ofthat was about the comedy. That was all there, of course, but I hadn’t realized until we shot it, how moving the story was." "Driving Lessons" was Executive Produced by Alessandro Camon ("Thank You for Smoking", "Owning Mahowny" and "The Cooler"), Robert Jones ("Opal Dream", "The Proposition" and "Gosford Park") and Edward R Pressman ("Amazing Grace", "The Cooler" and "Party Monster"). Synopsis

After a lifetime of being reined in by his overbearing, deeply religious mother, seventeen year old Ben enters into the social world via his job as assistant to one spitfire of a diva, the washed-up actress Eve Walton. Walton, unable to accept the disintegration of her once-lauded career, chews up the scenery with her theatrics, culled from both plays of her past and creations of her fertile imagination (she constantly invents stories to tell Ben, forgetting them only hours later). Yet it is exactly this overdramatic flair for life that awakens something in the actress’s repressed assistant, and, for the first time, Ben begins to assert himself and his ideas. Of course, this is much to the chagrin of his pious, controlling mother, Laura, who struggles in her stern way to keep her son on the leash she has worked so hard to tighten around him. Thanks to Eve, and a trip to Edinburgh, Ben is about to loose the leash.

The Verdict "Most younger viewers will recognize them as mother and son Molly and Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter films. "Driving Lessons" should have given Rupert Grint the chance to step out from the highly successful Potter franchise and show that he has the 'balls' to make it on his own. It will come as little surprise then that all you get is Ron Weasley dressed up differently and just as uninspiring. Thankfully the film is saved by a gloriously strong performance from two time Academy Award nominee and the 1984 ("Educating Rita") & 2001 ("Billy Elliot") BAFTA Film Award winner Julie Walters. Walters lets it all rip stealing every moment she is on-screen as the loveable Evie, an eccentric retired actress who is without a doubt vulgar, dignified, childish, vulnerable and manipulative. Walters infectuous performance somehow makes up for all the weaknesses and flaws in "Driving Lessons", even the glaringly obvious ones like Linney's accent lapses and Grint's pathetic acting. Cashing in on the 'Potter connection' is very one sided, but at least one side got it right. Older viewers will get the best value out of "Driving Lessons". 3 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "DRIVING LESSONS" stars .......
2006 Moscow International Film Festival Best Actress Award winner Julie Walters ["Billy Elliot", "Calendar Girls", "Wah-Wah" and "Becoming Jane"]; Rupert Grint ["Thunderpants" and "Harry Potter 1-4"]; Nicholas Farrell ["Arthur's Dyke", "Charlotte Gray", "Bloody Sunday" and "Amazing Grace"]; Jim Norton ["Even Hitler Had a Girlfriend", "Mad About Mambo", "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and "Oyster Farmer"]; Michelle Duncan ["Waterloo" and "Chosyu Five"]; Oliver Milburn ["Holiday Romance", "Paranoid" and "The Descent"]; Tamsin Egerton ["Keeping Mum"] and 2002 & 2004 Emmy Award winner Laura Linney ["Kinsey", "The Exorcism of Emily Rose", "Man Of The Year" and "Breach"] as Laura Marshall.
"DRIVING LESSONS" was .......
directed by Jeremy Brock ["Driving Lessons"]; screenplay by Jeremy Brock ["Her Majesty, Mrs Brown", "Charlotte Gray" and "The Last King Of Scotland"]; edited by 1996 BAFTA winner Trevor Waite ["Welcome to Sarajevo", "The Claim", "24 Hour Party People" and "Beyond the Sea"]; costume design by Robin Fraser-Paye ["Coming Through" and "A Room for Romeo Brass"]; production design by Amanda McArthur ["Crush", "Piccadilly Jim" and "The Mistress of Spices"]; director of photography 2007 BAFTA winner David Katznelson ["Skin Deep", "Talking with Angels" and "Shoot the Messenger"]; original music by Clive Carroll ["Driving Lessons"] and John Renbourn ["The Lion at World's End"]; produced by Julia Chasman ["Quills", "Antitrust", "Crush" and "25th Hour"]. Who's Who?

Julie Walters
Rupert Grint
Laura Linney
Nicholas Farrell
Jim Norton
Michelle Duncan
Oliver Milburn
Tamsin Egerton
Rupert Holliday-Evans
Jordan Young
John Yule
Jacques Kerr
Rose Keegan
Iain McColl
Annabelle Apsion

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Evie Walton
Ben Marshall
Laura Marshall
Robert Marshall
Mr Fincham
Bryony
Peter
Sarah
Store Manager
Receptionist
Hotel Manager
Waiter
Emma Pagent
Policeman
Trendy Mum