When director Stephen Cookson read the premise of Arthur’s Whisky he was immediately taken with it. “It felt really original,” he says. “I hadn’t seen it in quite that way before – age and coming to terms with growing older. And I just thought, this is interesting.”
Cookson developed the script with producer Peter Keegan, his partner at CK Films. After some work shaping the story they felt the time was right to send it to Julia Stuart, Director of Original Film at Sky. “Julia had a major input into the script,” notes Keegan and as it evolved, the team brought on screenwriter Alexis Zegerman.
In Arthur’s Whisky, Joan and her friends Linda and Susan discover a means to transform. Drinking a special ‘whisky’ invented by Joan’s late husband, their bodies, temporarily, morph into their younger selves. But is this the answer to all the issues that confront the friends as they grow older?
“The moral of the story is, you don’t have to be young to enjoy life to the full,” says Keegan. “They’re all complaining about their aches and pains, regretting growing older, and they get a chance to take this potion. Suddenly they look young again – but is this really for the better.”
“I liked the idea this is not the more often explored idea of older women revisiting their younger lives. This is older ladies in younger women’s bodies!” says producer Pippa Cross, at CrossDay Productions, who joined to complete development and help shepherd the film into production. She too appreciated the uniqueness of Arthur’s Whisky. “The maturity and the lives they have lived are all still inside them when they’re in their younger bodies, and that feels fresh.”
Widower Joan (Patricia Hodge) and her two friends Linda (Diane Keaton) and Susan (Lulu) find a new lease of life when they discover her husband’s greatest invention. Distilled in secret, Arthur’s whisky turns back the clock for anyone who takes a sip, giving them a few hours to feel young again. As the wrinkles disappear, Joan and her friends hit the bars and nightclubs with a renewed lust for life. But will they find the secret to happiness before the elixir runs dry?
Naturally, finding the right women to play Joan, Linda and Susan was always going to be key to the success of Arthur’s Whisky.
The team went out first to the beloved singer and actress Lulu, casting her as Susan – Joan’s friend, who has never been married.
Lulu was hugely excited by the idea of taking on Arthur’s Whisky. “The script was amazing and the subject matter, I thought, was amazing, too; the fact that it is about these three women who are seemingly so different, but really, they are more alike than they know,” she explains. “Women are just great beings, great as friends. This really showcases the strength of women.”
The star felt a kinship with her character right from the off. “I think she has a lot of attributes that a lot of women have, and certainly that I have.” With no husband or family to speak of, Susan has put all her energies into hobbies and her friendships. “When our friends revert back to their younger years, they have all sorts of experiences that ‘wake them up’,” Lulu continues. “Bottom line, they’re all looking for love! There’s not a lot of things you generalize about, but aren’t we all? So each of them sets off to deal with their particular situation. Mine is that I actually meet a younger guy. And it’s very, very scary. But with the support of her friends, Susan is able to feel the fear and go for it anyway!”
When it came to finding an actress to play Linda, Cookson and co. went out to the legendary Diane Keaton. “We wanted an American as part of our ensemble,” says Cookson. “And Diane really liked the project. I had a couple of conversations with her over the phone and she committed to it.” Needless to say, everyone was delighted to secure the services of the Oscar-winning actress. “If you pitch high, then see what you can get!” laughs Keegan.
With the shoot fast approaching, the production still continued the search for the perfect Joan. Wonderful English actress Patricia Hodge was just becoming available after a gruelling run in London’s West End and luckily as soon as she read the script, she was on board, as well as being delighted when she discovered who her co-stars would be. “In both cases they’re very much women that I wanted to spend time with,” says Hodge.
The script’s high-concept was something Patricia gave some thought to. “I’m not particularly a fantasist,” says Hodge. “I’m quite a realist, I think. So I had to stretch my mind and think, ‘Well, hmm, this might be interesting.’ And the more I got into it, the more I thought it was making a very good point. What would it be like….? It’s rather like people wondering, ‘What would it be really like to fly?’ You have to stretch your imagination. So, yes, in our story you can turn the clock back and see what happens. Well worth exploring.”
As Hodge notes, Arthur’s Whisky is very much about the bond between these three women. “Friendships are always based on something not easy to define. I think humour has to be a major part of it, it really does, because these are very disparate women. But they’ve obviously forged a bond through shared laughter and deeper views of life. It’s been enduring. And they’ve always been drawn back to each other.”
With all three actresses attached, it was a delicious-sounding ensemble – an intriguing mix of acting experience, styles and personality.
There was little time for rehearsal, especially given Keaton’s busy schedule, so the trio had to hit the ground running when they met. Hodge insisted that she and her co-stars went for dinner before the shoot began, to help forge a bond. “It’s a long friendship. It’s a fifty-year friendship our characters have,” she notes. Cookson joined them and was delighted with the rapport that was so quickly established, and the fun they all had. He was quickly convinced they’d pull it off. “Nobody really knew anybody. But they’ve got so much life experience. They just get on with it and make it feel so believable.”
With that in mind, the producer Peter Keegan feels that Arthur’s Whisky plays well for a diverse range of ages.
“What is fun is watching these three twenty-somethings with their sixty-somethings inside them re-visit some of the stuff that happens to us when we’re young. A lot of that is genuinely funny and insightful and I think it should have a broad appeal.” For example, the nightclub scene, with young Joan, Linda and Susan. “I hope the younger audience will laugh, watching these older ladies in younger bodies navigating the club! But also appreciate the value of deep and long friendship.”
Genevieve Gaunt was cast as Young Linda, Esme Londsdale as Young Joan and Hannah Howland as Young Susan. All three took time to study the actresses whose younger selves they’d play, with Gaunt even going on a binge of Keaton’s past movies. They came in to watch them on set, and also had a chance to meet their alter egos socially when another dinner was arranged. “Obviously they were like sponges, taking in every little thing that they could,” says Cookson.
More than anything, agrees Hodge, it’s a film about the value of friendship. “Each one of our characters has come through hurdles in their life as everybody does. And they’re able to empathize and share.” Bringing a mix of laughter and tears, the team hope Arthur’s Whisky will delight anyone that sees it. “It’s not a sequel, it’s not a remake, it’s not a franchise. It is a feelgood film – and there aren’t many being made,” concludes Cookson. “And hopefully there can be more of this sort of British filmmaking, and particularly comedy – as there are so few being made now.”
Stephen Cookson, Director / Producer / Co-Story
Stephen is an English film director, producer and writer based in London. Prior to developing and going on to direct and produce Arthur’s Whisky he directed Brighton (starring Phil Davis, Larry Lamb, Marion Bailey and Lesley Sharp) which he adapted from the famous stage play Brighton Beach Scumbags, and My Angel which starred Brenda Blethyn, Timothy Spall, Celia Imrie and Mel Smith, and won Best Film, Best Screenplay and Best Director at the Monaco International Film Festival.
Stephen also directed Stanley a Man of Variety starring Timothy Spall which won over 20 international awards including Best Director and Best Actor, Tell Tale Heart (Steven Berkoff, Henry Goodman and Hugh Skinner) which he adapted from Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, Shakespeare’s Heroes and Villains and The Battle of Cable Street both starring Steven Berkoff, Mumbo Mumbo (Joss Ackland, Brian Blessed and Richard O’Brien) for Warner Bros and Journey to the Moon – the first movie musical since Alan Parker’s classic Bugsy Malone to feature an entire cast of children playing adults.
Alexis Zegerman, Screenwriter
Alexis is a writer and BIFA-winning actress best known for her roles in Mike Leigh’s stage and screen productions. In addition to Arthur’s Whisky, Alexis has written Dirty Martini, a feature comedy for BBC Films, and an adaptation of Mark Lamprell’s bestseller The Lovers Guide to Rome as an ambitious feature film for Anonymous Content. Alexis also rewrote All Inclusive, a major comedy feature for West End Films, and is currently working on two original TV series, one for Character Seven – a modern, profound comedy drama, and one for Hartswood – a brilliant, funny female ensemble piece, and The Kickback, a drama for Wild Mercury with Emily Hampshire (Schitt’s Creek) attached. On the theatre side, her play The Steingolds was a finalist for the hugely prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and Holy Sh!t was the first play staged at the Kiln (previously the Tricycle) Theatre. She also wrote The Fever Syndrome for the Manhattan Theatre Club, which had a successful run at Hampstead, and she’s also developed with Manhattan Portrait of a Man, a powerful and intimate drama about JFK and Elaine de Kooning, also available as a feature screenplay. She’s currently writing a new original for National Theatre Connections.
