VENUS

Year: 2006
USA: Miramax Films
UK: Buena Vista International UK
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Leslie Phillips, Jodie Whittaker, Richard Griffiths, Vanessa Redgrave, Beatrice Savoretti, Philip Fox, Lolita Chakrabarti Carolina Giammetta, Kellie Shirley, Ashley Madekwe, Ony Uhiara, Cathryn Bradshaw, Joanna Croll, Liam McKenna, Meg Wynn-Owen, Sam Spruell, Tom Brooke, Harvey Virdi, Emma Buckley, Marlene Sidaway, Christine Bottomley, Daniel Cerqueira, Sam Kenyon, Andrea Riseborough, Tom Mison, Paul Chahidi, Piers Harrisson, Bronson Webb, Tim Faraday
Director: Roger Michell
Country: UK
USA & UK: 94 mins
USA Rated: R for language, some sexual content and brief nudity
UK Certificate: 15 contains very strong language
USA Release Date: 21 December 2006 (Limited Release - New York and Los Angeles)
UK Release Date: 26 January 2007

UK Distributor

Synopsis

Maurice (Peter O'Toole) and Ian (Leslie Phillips) are old friends, veteran English actors who never hit the big time. Now in their Golden Years, they continue to work - Maurice, for example, is playing a moribund patient in a television drama - but their comfortable routines and banter over breakfast in a favourite cafe are disrupted by the arrival from the provinces of Ian's grand-niece, Jessie (Jodie Whittaker). She quickly tries her great-uncle's patience; but Maurice is taken with the girl, and proceeds to show her the cultural sights of the capital. As Maurice tries to give Jessie the benefit of his experience, he is surprised to discover how very little he actually knows about himself now that his life is drawing to a close.

Director Roger Michell's latest feature, VENUS, from an original screenplay by Hanif Kureishi, was filmed during the winter of 2005/6 for eight weeks on location in and around London and at Ealing Studios. Its remarkable cast includes Academy Award and BAFTA winner Peter O'Toole, British veteran Leslie Phillips, recent Tony Award winner Richard Griffiths, and Academy Award winner Vanessa Redgrave. The film marks the feature debut of newcomer Jodie Whittaker, winner of the 2005 Guildhall School of Music and Drama Gold Medal for Acting.

A wry, affectionate coming of very-old-age story, VENUS reunites the team behind both the award-winning film "The Mother" and the television series "The Buddha of Suburbia": director Roger Michell, writer Hanif Kureishi and producer Kevin Loader.