Potato Peel Pie film arrives on big screen
YEARS of preparation, the odd false dawn and months of shooting came to fruition last night when the film of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society received its world premiere.
The Curzon Cinema in Mayfair, London, was the venue for the red carpet event, which saw stars Lily James and Michiel Huisman joining other members of the cast and crew for the glamorous occasion.
There was something of a delegation from Guernsey, too, including Policy & Resources president Gavin St Pier: ‘Having extended a personal trip to London, I am honoured and excited to be able to attend the world premiere of the #GuernseyMovie this evening,’ he tweeted, adding that he was joined by representatives of Visit Guernsey and Economic Development president Charles Parkinson plus members Andrea Dudley-Owen and Dawn Tindall.
Tonight the public will get a chance to see the film, when it will be followed by a question and answer session with actors Lily James and Glen Powell, director Mike Newell, and screenwriter Thomas Bezucha.
Next stop will be Guernsey itself, when these two actors, the director and writer plus fellow star Sir Tom Courtenay, the novel’s co-author Annie Barrows and the producers attend a special screening at Beau Sejour on Thursday.
The island was promoted at the premiere yesterday, with tubs of Guernsey ice-cream available featuring bespoke lids with images from the film as well as samples of locally made Wheadon’s Gin.
Elsewhere in the capital, Guernsey cream was included in a themed afternoon tea for the press and ‘social media influencers’ at the Soho Hotel.
The film goes on general release in UK cinemas on 20 April, and cinema releases in Australia, France and Germany are set to follow.
In the USA, where the novel was a New York Times bestseller, the film will be distributed by Netflix. The streaming giant will also handle distribution in Latin America, Italy, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia. It is unclear if this will involve any cinema screenings, or be restricted purely to online.
Reviews of the film have yet to appear, but it has been described as ‘an irresistible romantic mystery’ by Telegraph film critic Robbie Collin. He gave it a four out of five stars rating that joined similarly good scores on publicity material such as the advert appearing on the side of London buses, one of which was photographed in The Strand by States of Guernsey chief operating officer Jason Moriarty, who happened to be in the city.
