Julian Jarrold On Brideshead Revisited

03-10-2008 12:07

Julian Jarrold began his career behind the camera as a director and producer in British television working on shows such as Silent Witness and Canterbury Tales before moving into feature films.

'For British feature films it's good preparation because there is never enough money to do exactly what you want to do so you are constantly trying to find the most efficient way to film the most elaborate scenes and get the maximum amount of beautiful shots for the minimum amount of time so it's a very useful and interesting way in.'

He made the transition to the big screen in 2005 with Brit flick Kinky Boots which followed a drag queen who comes to the rescue of a man who, after inheriting his father's shoe factory, needs to diversify his product if he wants to keep the business afloat.

Next he teamed up with Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy in 2007 for Becoming Jane which looked at pre-fame Jane Austen and her romance with Irishman Tom Lefroy.

He sticks with the period movie for his new project which sees him helm the big screen adaptation Brideshead Revisited, based on the novel by Evelyn Waugh.

'Well I was daunted at first but I had a very good script writer who convinced me that there was some very interesting, provocative and contemporary themes in the book and when I went back to it I became fascinated and drawn in by it and over the course of a year and a half of preparation we explored those things we thought would resonate with a modern audience.'

Matthew Goode stars as lower-class Londoner Charles Ryder, an aspiring artist who is beginning his studies in history at Oxford in the 1920s. A chance encounter with dandyish aristocrat Sebastian Flyte changes the course of his life.