The naked sirens who braved Nazi air raids
IT WAS about this time a year ago that Kelly Reilly found herself posing naked in a draughty soundstage at Shepperton Studios. Kelly corrected me. Her dignity, she insisted, was always preserved — by The Statue Of Liberty, no less, and other famous landmarks. The actress is one of the principal players in Stephen Frears’heartfelt new movie Mrs Henderson Presents, which stars Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins. Kelly plays Maureen, who is discovered by Vivian Van Damm (Hoskins). Together, Van Damm and the slightly dotty Laura Henderson (Dench) founded the Windmill Theatre’s nude revue in the Thirties. The theatre became famous in World War II for never closing during air raids. ‘ The first time we had to do the tableaux it was quite nerveracking, but we were beautifully lit in all the right places and we had Sandy Powell’s costumes to shield us,’ Kelly told me. Frears insisted that Kelly and the other actresses who play the Windmill girls not lose any weight for their roles.‘Women then did not go to the gym every day. I think Frears was worried we’d all go on the Atkins diet,’ Kelly said. Working on Mrs Henderson Presents was an oasis of calm compared to the intensity of shooting the 17th-century romp about the Earl of Rochester called The Libertine (opening next week) opposite Johnny Depp.‘That was full on,’ Kelly said, feigning a bleary-eyed look. Then there’s her performance as Caroline Bingley in the hugely successful Pride And Prejudice. Next up? Terry Johnston, who cast her in the stage version of The Graduate, has written a play for her called Pianoforte in which she’ll star alongside Alicia Witt at the Royal Court next year.
AWARD- WINNING director Stephen Frears will take part in a Q & A following an evening screening of Mrs Henderson Presents at the Tricycle Cinema, Kilburn, NW London, on November 25. Call 0207 328 1000 for information.