Fast Girls, a film about a British women's sprint relay team, might just repeat the success of the 1981 Oscar winner
When the film director Hugh Hudson and producer David Puttnam sought the perfect cast to play the athletes in Chariots of Fire, they wanted relative unknowns in the lead roles. Their strategy worked: the film went on to win four Oscars in 1981, earning the status of a British classic.
The director and producer of Fast Girls, a new British film about the UK athletics team, started from the same principle and with hope for the same outcome. Regan Hall, a New Zealander directing his first feature film, was determined to find young actresses who could be credible as elite athletes.
After holding racing auditions in Regent's Park, London, he and his producer, Damian Jones, selected those who would become the stars of their GB sprint relay team, training for six weeks alongside their real-life Olympic counterparts.
"We had to take advice from our athletics advisers about who had the correct gait, and who might never make it," said Hall. "The production was so closely involved with UK Athletics, we had to do them proud and make it convincing."
With little experience of athletics, the actresses had to prove they were capable of gaining speed and eventually looking like the real thing. "We had to have that serious phone call with each of the girls we wanted to cast," said Hall. "We explained that they must be prepared to train solidly at top level."
His cast have since confessed they were not prepared for the physical commitment. "We all said 'fine' straight away," said Dominique Tipper, who plays the character of Sarah, "but we had no idea what was coming."
By the end of the gruelling seven-week programme, the cast had moved from 500 sit-ups to an astonishing 1,000 as a daily part of their six-day-a-week training schedule.
"Because we were training with the British team, we got as competitive as them," said Tipper at a Cannes press conference on the beach to launch the film. "We were secretly trying to do as many sit-ups as them."
Early concerns about performing in tiny, Lycra running suits disappeared during the training regime. "It became so real. You are just thinking about showing your abs, your power and your weight distribution," she added.
Tipper was a trained dancer, but most of the other actresses had no recent history of daily workouts or team sport. "I did run when I was younger," said Lorraine Burroughs, who plays Trix. "So I thought I stood a good chance of coping well, but it was a real shock."
The film, which will be released on 15 June in the run-up to the Olympics, tells the fictional story of the struggle to be included in the GB relay team for the World Championships. The screenplay was written by Roy Williams, author of the acclaimed stage play Sucker Punch. The actor and writer Noel Clarke, best known for Kidulthood, also contributed to the script and plays the part of a coach. While the drama of the sprint finals in Chariots of Fire was aided by the hit theme from Vangelis, the soundtrack for Fast Girls is supplied by artists such as Labrinth and Emeli Sandé.
"This will be the first major British film about athletics since Chariots of Fire, and certainly the athletes who saw a preview screening this month told me we have pulled it off," said Jones. "Teenage girls love it, and sports fans too, of course. We are hoping that the family appeal will bring everyone else in."
The lead part is played by Lenora Crichlow, best known for the BBC3 fantasy Being Human. The decision not to base the film on the London Olympics followed legal discussions about trademarks and the realisation that the film might not work if it predicted the result of a competition yet to take place.
Instead, Jones worked with UK Athletics and its sponsorship brands to create a World Championships competition that would look authentic. Extras not in the GB squad are all club athletes from London, Loughborough and Edinburgh and trained with the actors through the winter at Crystal Palace stadium, south London. The stars had to do everything the Olympic squad does, including pulling weighted sleds and hill running.
Former British Olympic relay sprinter Shani Anderson, who helped coach the cast, hopes the film will focus attention on women athletes. "Fast Girls will highlight the real girls, training up and down this country, who these actresses are representing," she said. "I hope it raises the profile of athletics in Britain."
"The chance to show young girls having fun and being successful is great," said Burroughs. "To give an audience that is a really good thing."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/may/27/fast-girls-crichlow-chariots-fire
Alexa Rae Alexander Korda Alexander Mackendrick Alexander Payne
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