Last August I was invited by Penguin to the filming of
upcoming film ‘How I Live Now,’ based on the book by Meg Rosoff. Within minutes
of arriving, I was being offered toast by the Carnegie winning author herself
and whisked around the set to meet the cast and crew.
First up was Harley Bird, who plays Piper in the film and is
also known for being the voice of Peppa Pig (even recording me my own personal
message!) Next was Tom Holland (Isaac), who’d already been wrapped (that’s film
talk for having finished filming all his scenes) but had turned up because he’d
missed his “film-family.” Then came Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan, who plays the
lead role of Daisy. Unlike her Manhattanite
character, Saoirse is actually
Irish (her name is pronounced like Seer-sha) and it was amazing to watch hit
flit in and out of her strong Irish accent to an American twang when filming.
Finally, I was nervously introduced to the Oscar winning (and one of my
personal favourites) director Kevin Macdonald, who spoke about how much he
adores the story of ‘How I Live Now’ and how he was thrilled to be working with
such a young, talented cast.
I learnt how the lead actors had been having their own movie
nights together each night whilst filming in rainy Wales and Surrey, how
Saoirse can cry on
cue and how the sound man had begged to be part of the film
as he loved the book so much: “I even have email-evidence of my grovelling!” I even
got to listen into discussions regarding the soundtrack and hear the first
ideas from composer Jon Hopkins, who has now released the the beautiful song ‘Garden’s
Heart’ co-written with Bat for Lashes’ Natasha Khan for the film.
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