Club
Standard 8 stars in Feature Film release
The Standard 8 parked outside
Seller's mothers home
A "Biopic"
of Peter Seller's life was made last year and is now available on
DVD, from which I have captured these scenes. The car that
Sellers drives in early scenes is a Standard 8, that I recognise as
belonging to Roger Barnes of Harpenden. It's the late 1950's and of
course this is the stage when Sellers is impoverished , and
looking for acting parts. As you would expect, he goes on to drive
much more exotic machinery in later life including E-type Jaguars.
Can anyone confirm whether Sellers actually owned a Standard 8?
Whilst the title sequence is
rolling, Sellers is driving in London to his agent's office looking
for his first film part. The dome of St. Paul's is in the background
but I suspect that it is painted on glass.
OK, so I suppose I
ought to review the film:
The film stars
Geoffrey Rush (Pirates of the Caribbean) as Sellers and the cast
includes John Lithgow (The Office) Charlize Theron (Italian Job,
2003 version) and the ubiquitous Stephen Fry. Sellers is portrayed
as a manic depressive, staggering from one crises to another and
from one excess to the
next, never satisfied with what he has achieved in life, be it
professionally or personally, and always looking for the next
thrill. He becomes obsessed with Sophie Loren and then with Brit Ekland (Charlize Theron)
for whom he leaves his wife and family. Behind the comic genius
there was a very unhappy private person and this is well portrayed
in the film.
The Standard is
featured for less that 5 seconds, so don't buy or rent it on that
basis alone!
My thanks to Philippa
Morgan for alerting me of Standard association in the film.
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