Keeley (and David Tennant) in The Last September (1999).
Click for previous Last September post.
(Photos from Any Old Actress.) Read More......
Sunday, December 31, 2006
"The Last September"
Keeley (and David Tennant) in The Last September (1999).
Click for previous Last September post.
(Photos from Any Old Actress.) Read More......
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Some Miscellaneous Pictures
A couple of miscellaneous pictures. The middle one was a publicity still from Sex and Lies (2004) and the bottom one is of KH recording the dialogue for Tomb Raider: Legend (2006).
(Pictures from Keeley Fans.) Read More......
Sunday, December 10, 2006
"The Last September"
KH as Lois Farquar in The Last September (1999), with David Tennant and Gary Lydon.
(Production stills from Keeley Fans.) Read More......
"Me and Mrs. Jones"
Keeley (and Robson Green, top) as Jane in Me and Mrs. Jones (2002).
(Pictures from the Masterpiece Theatre website.) Read More......
Saturday, December 09, 2006
"Jarhead" Screening
Keeley and Sienna Guillory after a screening of Jarhead (2005) at the Charlotte Street Hotel, Dcember 13, 2005 in London.
(Pictures from Getty Images.) Read More......
Article: "This Cultural Life: Keeley Hawes"
What are you currently reading in bed?
I'm re-reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night- time, because I'm probably going to be in a drama of the true story of an autistic boy in the New Year. Also, my husband Matthew and I have been reading together a fantastic book called Eats, Shites and Leaves, just because it makes us giggle.
Which book have you re-read most frequently?
The most dog-eared book I could find in our collection is The Lord of the Flies. I was introduced to it at school, and it's remained a favourite. And now, having a little boy, I see it in a whole new light.
Is your mind an art gallery or a porn cinema? If neither, which civic building is it?
Does anybody ever say anything other than a porn cinema? Because, if they do, they must be fibbing. I suppose mine is a porn cinema, more than the other two. I'm only being honest.
What are you listening to in the kitchen?
We have Radio 4 but, once a week, the cleaner comes round and changes it to Magic FM. It's quite hypnotic, Radio 4, isn't it? And you can get a bit of culture without having to stop doing other things.
And in the car?
Anything by Jack Johnson. Quite relaxing, quite nice to drive to. And easy listening like Cat Stevens. I do sing along. It's quite nice, isn't it, to sing along to Cat?
What's the least disposable pop song?
I suppose, memory-wise, my mum was a big fan of Leo Sayer, so any time I hear something of his, that is quite evocative of my mum in the 1980s. Not a particular song. Just his voice. Just Leo. I sat next to him once in John Frieda. He had to have two people to hold down his hair to do his roots. I had a good look. A hilarious way to spend an afternoon.
Who should play you in your Hollywood biopic?
The other night I watched Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the girl in that [Ziyi Zhang] " she would be quite good. Obviously not because she looks like me, but just because she was brilliant and she would go quite well with my nemesis, who is Mojo Jojo, the little green man from The Powerpuff Girls. He's quite fearsome. They'd be a fantastic pairing, those two. I would win, though. I would chop his head off with one kick " deadly but graceful!
What is your ideal alternative job?
Something to do with neurosurgery. I think there's very little else that's as worthwhile. And, as an actress or an actor, you find yourself thinking, well, I could possibly be doing something a little bit more worthwhile. There's the argument that you're giving lots of people pleasure but, still, it would be wonderful to come home at the end of the day and to have altered someone's life so dramatically. I may be inspired by the neurosurgery in Ian McEwan's Saturday. Christ, it's clever.
And the realistic alternative?
I'd quite like to teach. My son and his friends are so funny. 'Mummy, come and sit in here with me,' he said yesterday. 'I'm feeling all leftover.'
Which painting most corresponds with your vision of yourself?
This is quite exciting, because Stuart Pearson Wright is in the middle of doing a portrait of me. He sent me a letter asking to paint me, so of course I said, yes please! I think he's brilliant and I can't wait to see it. I hope I won't be offended. I don't think you can be when it's someone else's view of you.
What was your cultural passion at 14?
I spent a lot of time smoking and playing Playstation. I don't think I had any culture in my life whatsoever. I was just having a great time and getting stoned, which is what you should do when you're 14.
Which cultural item would you most like to steal?
I've been looking for a long time for a print by Gary Winogrand. It's so difficult to obtain one. I went to New York recently and looked in several places but I can't seem to get one. He's sort-of 1950s/1960s black-and-white portraits, and there's a particular section of his work that's in the Bronx zoo, and that's my favourite. A picture of a sea cow with a security guard standing next to it. His work is gorgeous.
Do you like parties?
I don't. I get so embarrassed, I start knocking back the old dry whites as a confidence boost. The last time we went to a party I ended up congratulating Ralph Fiennes on something Kenneth Branagh had done. I was mortified for about three weeks.
Which building would you most like to tear down?
The Trump Tower on Columbus Circle in New York. It's just vile. It symbolises everything that's wrong with society, like Paris Hilton.
What's the most fashionable thing you own?
It's a black dress by a designer called Jean Colonna that was on the cover of The Face about 10 years ago. Kate Moss and Helena Christensen were both wearing it. That's rather cool. Only, it doesn't fit any more!
And the least cool?
My Justin Timberlake phone ring, or my Vanilla Ice T-shirt, from a concert I went to when I was 12. I wear it when I'm not very well.
Are you yourself cool?
No. Oh no. I tried to be cool and I cut my hair into a bob, and my son looked at me and said: 'Ahhhh! Hello, Willy Wonka.' He was thrilled, and I was mortified.
(From The Independent on Sunday, December 18, 2005.) Read More......
I'm re-reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night- time, because I'm probably going to be in a drama of the true story of an autistic boy in the New Year. Also, my husband Matthew and I have been reading together a fantastic book called Eats, Shites and Leaves, just because it makes us giggle.
Which book have you re-read most frequently?
The most dog-eared book I could find in our collection is The Lord of the Flies. I was introduced to it at school, and it's remained a favourite. And now, having a little boy, I see it in a whole new light.
Is your mind an art gallery or a porn cinema? If neither, which civic building is it?
Does anybody ever say anything other than a porn cinema? Because, if they do, they must be fibbing. I suppose mine is a porn cinema, more than the other two. I'm only being honest.
What are you listening to in the kitchen?
We have Radio 4 but, once a week, the cleaner comes round and changes it to Magic FM. It's quite hypnotic, Radio 4, isn't it? And you can get a bit of culture without having to stop doing other things.
And in the car?
Anything by Jack Johnson. Quite relaxing, quite nice to drive to. And easy listening like Cat Stevens. I do sing along. It's quite nice, isn't it, to sing along to Cat?
What's the least disposable pop song?
I suppose, memory-wise, my mum was a big fan of Leo Sayer, so any time I hear something of his, that is quite evocative of my mum in the 1980s. Not a particular song. Just his voice. Just Leo. I sat next to him once in John Frieda. He had to have two people to hold down his hair to do his roots. I had a good look. A hilarious way to spend an afternoon.
Who should play you in your Hollywood biopic?
The other night I watched Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the girl in that [Ziyi Zhang] " she would be quite good. Obviously not because she looks like me, but just because she was brilliant and she would go quite well with my nemesis, who is Mojo Jojo, the little green man from The Powerpuff Girls. He's quite fearsome. They'd be a fantastic pairing, those two. I would win, though. I would chop his head off with one kick " deadly but graceful!
What is your ideal alternative job?
Something to do with neurosurgery. I think there's very little else that's as worthwhile. And, as an actress or an actor, you find yourself thinking, well, I could possibly be doing something a little bit more worthwhile. There's the argument that you're giving lots of people pleasure but, still, it would be wonderful to come home at the end of the day and to have altered someone's life so dramatically. I may be inspired by the neurosurgery in Ian McEwan's Saturday. Christ, it's clever.
And the realistic alternative?
I'd quite like to teach. My son and his friends are so funny. 'Mummy, come and sit in here with me,' he said yesterday. 'I'm feeling all leftover.'
Which painting most corresponds with your vision of yourself?
This is quite exciting, because Stuart Pearson Wright is in the middle of doing a portrait of me. He sent me a letter asking to paint me, so of course I said, yes please! I think he's brilliant and I can't wait to see it. I hope I won't be offended. I don't think you can be when it's someone else's view of you.
What was your cultural passion at 14?
I spent a lot of time smoking and playing Playstation. I don't think I had any culture in my life whatsoever. I was just having a great time and getting stoned, which is what you should do when you're 14.
Which cultural item would you most like to steal?
I've been looking for a long time for a print by Gary Winogrand. It's so difficult to obtain one. I went to New York recently and looked in several places but I can't seem to get one. He's sort-of 1950s/1960s black-and-white portraits, and there's a particular section of his work that's in the Bronx zoo, and that's my favourite. A picture of a sea cow with a security guard standing next to it. His work is gorgeous.
Do you like parties?
I don't. I get so embarrassed, I start knocking back the old dry whites as a confidence boost. The last time we went to a party I ended up congratulating Ralph Fiennes on something Kenneth Branagh had done. I was mortified for about three weeks.
Which building would you most like to tear down?
The Trump Tower on Columbus Circle in New York. It's just vile. It symbolises everything that's wrong with society, like Paris Hilton.
What's the most fashionable thing you own?
It's a black dress by a designer called Jean Colonna that was on the cover of The Face about 10 years ago. Kate Moss and Helena Christensen were both wearing it. That's rather cool. Only, it doesn't fit any more!
And the least cool?
My Justin Timberlake phone ring, or my Vanilla Ice T-shirt, from a concert I went to when I was 12. I wear it when I'm not very well.
Are you yourself cool?
No. Oh no. I tried to be cool and I cut my hair into a bob, and my son looked at me and said: 'Ahhhh! Hello, Willy Wonka.' He was thrilled, and I was mortified.
(From The Independent on Sunday, December 18, 2005.) Read More......
Article: Interview from 2000
In this coming May's The Last September, a studied but sensuous look at Ireland's last days under British rule in 1920, Keeley Hawes proves herself a seductive new screen talent as an innocent wild child with a Louise Brooks bob and a sexual energy she barely comprehends. This daughter of a Cockney cabbie has already intrigued British TV audiences with her fine performances as corseted Victorians in Oars. Mutual Friend and Wives, and Daughters and broke type as '50s screen siren Diana Dors in Blonde Bombshell. Hawes made her movie debut in 1958's The Avengers and recently completed her third film, Complicity, a contemporary thriller co-starring Jonny Lee Miller.
DAVID BAHR: How did you get into acting?
KEELE HAWES: I grew up in Marylebone in London and the Sylvia Young Theater School was across the road from where I lived. I used to walk past it and hear them all singing. I was like, I went to go there. So my mum got me in. I gut a grant, so it was free. I stayed there for ten years.
DB: Emma Bunton--Baby Spice--went to the same school, right?
KH: Yeah. I lived with her for about six months. [laughs] We used to go on caravan [trailer] holidays.
DB: Did you stay friends?
KH: We did for a while. I'm thrilled for her. We are very similar: My father was a cab driver and hers was a milkman.
DB: So what did you do when you graduated?
KH: I worked at Casino and then modeled for a year.
DB: How was that?
KH: I didn't enjoy it. I was doing lots of catalogs and young magazines--the cheesy end of the business-- not runways. You have to be much thinner than I am to do that. When I started, it was when Kate Moss was launched and suddenly everybody was stick thin. But I've got all these bits and pieces [grabs her butt].
DB: How'd you get your first break?
KH: A casting director who saw my picture in some magazine wanted me to audition for Karaoke, one of the last TV plays Dennis Potter wrote before he died. Saffron Burrows and I were both launched in that.
DB: You did The Avengers. Was it unnerving working with Sean Connery, Ralph Fiennes, and Uma Thurman?
KH: It was certainly unnerving being introduced to them all in one day.
DB: I never saw the film.
KH: Well, I wouldn't put yourself out if you've got other things to watch. It was odd. You could smell the money and I didn't like that. It seemed like that's why everybody was there.
DB: Did you know much about Diana Dors before you took the role in Blonde Bombshell?
KH: I had no idea she had been this sex symbol starlet. I remember when she died in the '80s. At the time, she was on morning TV programs doing interviews. By then she'd ballooned out and wasn't very well. She looked like Elvis.
DB: You put on fifteen pounds for the part. Was that traumatic?
KH: It was actually quite lovely. Having a reason to do it suddenly made it OK. I've never been tiny anyway.
DB: Did it make a difference to your career in Britain?
KH: I think it did, only because people were used to seeing me playing lots of Victorians. When you play the pretty young thing in costume dramas, it's very easy to keep batting your eyelids.
DB: Dors had more of an unrestrained sexuality than the parts you usually play. Did you feel uncomfortable doing that?
KH: It was completely overt. It was huge camp fun. I mean look at her--you couldn't help but camp it up. I looked like a drag queen. I'm five foot eight and with heels on, I'm towering. I was bigger than all the guys in the film. There was something quite nice in that.
DB: I noticed the guy you came in with. Is he your boyfriend?
KH: Yeah. His name's Spencer.
DB: What did he think of your physical transformation into Dors?
KH: I don't think the liked it very much. He preferred me in the morning. By the time I came home, I was covered in pancake and had no eyebrows. They just plucked them all and drew them in.
DB: What does Spencer do?
KH: He's a bit of an entrepreneur. He's got an adult cartoon in production. We are going to try and make a documentary. That gets me going, doing things like that. We like to sit around and use our imaginations.
DB: So do you want to be famous?
KH: I'm ambitious, but I'm not ruthless in any way. It was never something that I was hungry for. I don't come from that. I come from something so normal. I know that I can always do something else besides act. It's not going to drive me crazy.
DB: So you're not plotting your career out like some actors do?
KH: That's hilarious. You can't plot out this business. So you shouldn't even try.
(From Interview, February 2000, by David Bahr.) Read More......
DAVID BAHR: How did you get into acting?
KEELE HAWES: I grew up in Marylebone in London and the Sylvia Young Theater School was across the road from where I lived. I used to walk past it and hear them all singing. I was like, I went to go there. So my mum got me in. I gut a grant, so it was free. I stayed there for ten years.
DB: Emma Bunton--Baby Spice--went to the same school, right?
KH: Yeah. I lived with her for about six months. [laughs] We used to go on caravan [trailer] holidays.
DB: Did you stay friends?
KH: We did for a while. I'm thrilled for her. We are very similar: My father was a cab driver and hers was a milkman.
DB: So what did you do when you graduated?
KH: I worked at Casino and then modeled for a year.
DB: How was that?
KH: I didn't enjoy it. I was doing lots of catalogs and young magazines--the cheesy end of the business-- not runways. You have to be much thinner than I am to do that. When I started, it was when Kate Moss was launched and suddenly everybody was stick thin. But I've got all these bits and pieces [grabs her butt].
DB: How'd you get your first break?
KH: A casting director who saw my picture in some magazine wanted me to audition for Karaoke, one of the last TV plays Dennis Potter wrote before he died. Saffron Burrows and I were both launched in that.
DB: You did The Avengers. Was it unnerving working with Sean Connery, Ralph Fiennes, and Uma Thurman?
KH: It was certainly unnerving being introduced to them all in one day.
DB: I never saw the film.
KH: Well, I wouldn't put yourself out if you've got other things to watch. It was odd. You could smell the money and I didn't like that. It seemed like that's why everybody was there.
DB: Did you know much about Diana Dors before you took the role in Blonde Bombshell?
KH: I had no idea she had been this sex symbol starlet. I remember when she died in the '80s. At the time, she was on morning TV programs doing interviews. By then she'd ballooned out and wasn't very well. She looked like Elvis.
DB: You put on fifteen pounds for the part. Was that traumatic?
KH: It was actually quite lovely. Having a reason to do it suddenly made it OK. I've never been tiny anyway.
DB: Did it make a difference to your career in Britain?
KH: I think it did, only because people were used to seeing me playing lots of Victorians. When you play the pretty young thing in costume dramas, it's very easy to keep batting your eyelids.
DB: Dors had more of an unrestrained sexuality than the parts you usually play. Did you feel uncomfortable doing that?
KH: It was completely overt. It was huge camp fun. I mean look at her--you couldn't help but camp it up. I looked like a drag queen. I'm five foot eight and with heels on, I'm towering. I was bigger than all the guys in the film. There was something quite nice in that.
DB: I noticed the guy you came in with. Is he your boyfriend?
KH: Yeah. His name's Spencer.
DB: What did he think of your physical transformation into Dors?
KH: I don't think the liked it very much. He preferred me in the morning. By the time I came home, I was covered in pancake and had no eyebrows. They just plucked them all and drew them in.
DB: What does Spencer do?
KH: He's a bit of an entrepreneur. He's got an adult cartoon in production. We are going to try and make a documentary. That gets me going, doing things like that. We like to sit around and use our imaginations.
DB: So do you want to be famous?
KH: I'm ambitious, but I'm not ruthless in any way. It was never something that I was hungry for. I don't come from that. I come from something so normal. I know that I can always do something else besides act. It's not going to drive me crazy.
DB: So you're not plotting your career out like some actors do?
KH: That's hilarious. You can't plot out this business. So you shouldn't even try.
(From Interview, February 2000, by David Bahr.) Read More......
Article: "How we met: Keeley Hawes & Gina Bellman"
Gina Bellman was born in New Zealand in 1965, but came to the UK with her parents at 11. She started her acting career at the National Theatre, aged 14, before appearing in Dennis Potter's `Blackeyes'. She currently stars in the BBC comedy `Coupling'. She is single and lives in London.
Keeley Hawes, 28, is the daughter of a London cab driver. At 16, she was scouted by a model agency, before turning to acting. She currently stars in the BBC drama `Spooks'. She has a son, Myles, and is expecting a child with her fiance and co-star, Matthew MacFadyen.
GINA BELLMAN
The first time I met Keeley was when we both got sent to New York on publicity trips - me for Coupling, Keeley for Spooks. I remember getting to the hotel, which was one of those intimidating upscale places with millions of bellboys; Keeley was in front of me at reception and as soon as she got her room key she handed it over to a bellboy and said, "Can you take my bags to my room. I'm going to the bar." And I thought, "Great!" so I did the same. And, basically, by the end of the week, we were sharing a room!
Keeley's one of those people who will eke every little thing out of an experience and I'm a bit like that. There was a sense on that trip that there was no time to waste. We'd start with brunch at the Mercer or SoHo Grand, and then end up at five in the morning in some dive bar in the East Village. And we did all those stupid things people shy away from, like going on a horse and carriage in Central Park - only we did it at two in the morning with champagne.
On the last day, we'd been so debauched, up all night talking and bar- crawling, that we were like, "We've got to do something healthy today," so we bought swimsuits and went to the hotel pool intent on swimming out the toxins. When we arrived, there were a couple of people doing laps so we were like, "We'll just sit on these lounge chairs until it empties out. Shall we just have a little bottle of wine while we wait?" We ended up six hours later lying by the pool having finished two bottles. We never did dip our toes in that water. We just clicked on that playful level, which was great because as you get older you don't expect to find playmates.
Since we've been back, we've set up a production company called Submission Films. It's called that because we're very strong women; actresses who want to play powerful roles. I'd seen Keeley in Tipping the Velvet but I hadn't seen Spooks. She's incredibly soulful and vulnerable in her work and there's definitely that vulnerability in real life, but then there's this tough cookie that's very sardonic with a dry outlook.
Keeley moves to her own drum in terms of time. I'm a really punctual person and I return calls, but if you have something important to discuss with Keeley, leave a message and say it's urgent and she'll get back to you 10 days later. It would drive me mad but it's an element of her I love. Even her flaws are things I find charming. She looks so demure and composed but there's an anarchist there. I accept that the anarchic strain in her personality is going to be part of our business relationship, too.
KEELEY HAWES
We first met when we went to New York to publicise the DVDs for our shows. I'd actually never set eyes on Gina before and hadn't seen Coupling but I knew we had both worked with Dennis Potter. While we were there, we had to go out for this horrendous PR lunch on a boat: I can't think what it was called - I'm seven months' pregnant and my mind's going.
We ended up sitting next to each other and got talking and, after the lunch, went out for a wander about New York with one of the actors from Coupling - again, I can't remember a name - and had a scream. It was that kind of afternoon where we just found everything funny.
I was staying an extra couple of days in New York and Gina ended up moving into my room, so by the end of the first week of knowing each other we were sleeping in the same bed! I'm not very good with girls - I don't have many girlfriends - so it was kind of weird for me. It takes me a long time to become friends, but this was such an immediate thing. Admittedly, a lot of it is based on alcohol, but that's not a bad thing. A lot of happy marriages are based on alcohol. It was a bit like a holiday romance, really.
We have completely different lives going on: I've got a little boy whereas she's young, free and single. Anyway, when we got back I had to go off to film Spooks, then we had this idea for a series: it was one of those drunken things when you wake up the next day and think, "What was all that about?" but for once it wasn't just nonsense and we got quite excited about it. The production company is called Submission because of the nature of the project that we're working on.
I don't think there's anything about Gina I don't get. She's a good 10 years older than me but, in a way, because I've been married and divorced and have a son, there's a bit of a crossover going on. I'm envious of her single life - everyone's single life! - but because I did a lot of partying from when I was about 14, I don't really feel envious of friends doing that. My son comes in to see me in the morning, so I have that instead. And I don't miss the hangovers.
(From The Independent on Sunday, October 10, 2004.) Read More......
Keeley Hawes, 28, is the daughter of a London cab driver. At 16, she was scouted by a model agency, before turning to acting. She currently stars in the BBC drama `Spooks'. She has a son, Myles, and is expecting a child with her fiance and co-star, Matthew MacFadyen.
GINA BELLMAN
The first time I met Keeley was when we both got sent to New York on publicity trips - me for Coupling, Keeley for Spooks. I remember getting to the hotel, which was one of those intimidating upscale places with millions of bellboys; Keeley was in front of me at reception and as soon as she got her room key she handed it over to a bellboy and said, "Can you take my bags to my room. I'm going to the bar." And I thought, "Great!" so I did the same. And, basically, by the end of the week, we were sharing a room!
Keeley's one of those people who will eke every little thing out of an experience and I'm a bit like that. There was a sense on that trip that there was no time to waste. We'd start with brunch at the Mercer or SoHo Grand, and then end up at five in the morning in some dive bar in the East Village. And we did all those stupid things people shy away from, like going on a horse and carriage in Central Park - only we did it at two in the morning with champagne.
On the last day, we'd been so debauched, up all night talking and bar- crawling, that we were like, "We've got to do something healthy today," so we bought swimsuits and went to the hotel pool intent on swimming out the toxins. When we arrived, there were a couple of people doing laps so we were like, "We'll just sit on these lounge chairs until it empties out. Shall we just have a little bottle of wine while we wait?" We ended up six hours later lying by the pool having finished two bottles. We never did dip our toes in that water. We just clicked on that playful level, which was great because as you get older you don't expect to find playmates.
Since we've been back, we've set up a production company called Submission Films. It's called that because we're very strong women; actresses who want to play powerful roles. I'd seen Keeley in Tipping the Velvet but I hadn't seen Spooks. She's incredibly soulful and vulnerable in her work and there's definitely that vulnerability in real life, but then there's this tough cookie that's very sardonic with a dry outlook.
Keeley moves to her own drum in terms of time. I'm a really punctual person and I return calls, but if you have something important to discuss with Keeley, leave a message and say it's urgent and she'll get back to you 10 days later. It would drive me mad but it's an element of her I love. Even her flaws are things I find charming. She looks so demure and composed but there's an anarchist there. I accept that the anarchic strain in her personality is going to be part of our business relationship, too.
KEELEY HAWES
We first met when we went to New York to publicise the DVDs for our shows. I'd actually never set eyes on Gina before and hadn't seen Coupling but I knew we had both worked with Dennis Potter. While we were there, we had to go out for this horrendous PR lunch on a boat: I can't think what it was called - I'm seven months' pregnant and my mind's going.
We ended up sitting next to each other and got talking and, after the lunch, went out for a wander about New York with one of the actors from Coupling - again, I can't remember a name - and had a scream. It was that kind of afternoon where we just found everything funny.
I was staying an extra couple of days in New York and Gina ended up moving into my room, so by the end of the first week of knowing each other we were sleeping in the same bed! I'm not very good with girls - I don't have many girlfriends - so it was kind of weird for me. It takes me a long time to become friends, but this was such an immediate thing. Admittedly, a lot of it is based on alcohol, but that's not a bad thing. A lot of happy marriages are based on alcohol. It was a bit like a holiday romance, really.
We have completely different lives going on: I've got a little boy whereas she's young, free and single. Anyway, when we got back I had to go off to film Spooks, then we had this idea for a series: it was one of those drunken things when you wake up the next day and think, "What was all that about?" but for once it wasn't just nonsense and we got quite excited about it. The production company is called Submission because of the nature of the project that we're working on.
I don't think there's anything about Gina I don't get. She's a good 10 years older than me but, in a way, because I've been married and divorced and have a son, there's a bit of a crossover going on. I'm envious of her single life - everyone's single life! - but because I did a lot of partying from when I was about 14, I don't really feel envious of friends doing that. My son comes in to see me in the morning, so I have that instead. And I don't miss the hangovers.
(From The Independent on Sunday, October 10, 2004.) Read More......
Article: "Interview: Keeley Hawes - I went to hospital with a Filet-o-Fish and came out with a baby boy!"
It's not often that a woman who's just had a baby admits that she mistook her labour pains for hunger pangs, but that's exactly what happened to Keeley Hawes.
When things started stirring down below, as it were, instead of heading for the hospital - where, ironically, she'd just been for a check up - Keeley asked her fiance to take her straight to McDonald's. But within minutes she was en route to maternity - still clutching her meal.
"I went to hospital with a Filet-o-Fish and came out with a baby boy," she jokes.
"He was two weeks early. Everyone had said to me, 'Oh, first baby? Bound to be late, they always are'.
"Actually, I had been for a routine check only an hour before. I was sitting waiting when a midwife came up to me and said, 'Excuse me, but I think you might be in labour. I have been doing this for a long time and you just have that look about you.' I was so surprised I just went, 'Ha ha, me? In labour now? I feel fine'. A doctor examined me and said I was OK to go home. So off I went, but I felt ravenous so I got Spencer to drive me to McDonald's. I got my food, but he ended up whizzing me back to hospital."
After an enviable six-hour labour Myles - a bouncing nine-pounder - appeared to the joy of his first-time parents.
That was five months ago and as Keeley talks about his impromptu arrival, his piercing cries frequently emanate from a back room where he is being cuddled by a doting dad at the couple's smart new home in Esher, Surrey.
Keeley, 25 next month, has that distracted air of a new mother who can't believe her luck, but doesn't quite know what she's doing... yet. She and Spencer, 28 - a designer in animation - moved into the house just a month before Myles made his surprise appearance.
"I know moving house and doing the decorating and all that stuff when you are heavily pregnant doesn't sound like great planning. It was actually planned much better than that, but we had the whole house-buying chain nightmare and had to wait longer than expected to move in.
"And I certainly didn't expect to be coming out with a baby so early. It was all such a shock."
Keeley, who got her TV big break at 17 in Dennis Potter's Karaoke, was back at work eight weeks after giving birth and next month will be seen in her first comedy, Channel 5's feature-length Hotel, which has been billed as "Die Hard meets Crossroads". So far becoming a mother has been "absolutely nothing" like she expected. But then again, neither was the birth. She cringes when she thinks of her on- screen portrayal of childbirth in the Beggar Bride.
"When I think of it now!" she squirms. "My God, I was so awful, you just don't have a clue when you haven't gone through it.
"I remember sitting down with the producer and watching this video so I could see what it was like before filming. I didn't watch any videos before having Myles. I read a couple of books, but nothing can really prepare you. A few hours after the birth I was sitting up in bed and decided to change his nappy. I had the curtains drawn around the bed and ended up covered in the contents of his nappy. I was up to my elbows in it. I was praying no one would open the curtains. I thought if they see this they won't let me take him home. They'll think there's just no way this woman is fit to look after a baby!"
Keeley, who has also starred in Blonde Bombshell, the Diana Dors story and Wives And Daughters, is the youngest of four children from the close- knit family of a London taxi driver (her two elder brothers are also cabbies).
She admits that part of the reason she was so unprepared for the birth was that she got so fed up of all the horror stories that she banned family and friends from telling her any more.
"Everyone just kept telling me how awful it was. People would tell me how long they were in labour and it just seemed to get longer and longer. Even my sister Jan said giving birth was the worst thing that had ever happened to her. No one tells you anything positive so I said I didn't want to hear any more."
Keeley had Myles at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, West London. "It is the hospital where I was born and they are renowned for their baby expertise. I had loads of drugs while I was in labour - anything and everything. I was such a typical actress!" she says, with an infectious chuckle. "There was this woman down the hall from me and it sounded like she was being murdered and chopped up into little pieces. I asked a doctor what was going on and they said, 'Oh, she's opted for a natural birth with no pain relief.' No way was that for me. I mean, you wouldn't have your appendix out with no anaesthetic would you?" Spencer was at the birth and because he works from home for the Cartoon Network, has ended up as primary child-carer when Keeley is working.
Before becoming pregnant, Keeley had accepted the role of feisty receptionist Tricia in Hotel.
It also stars Lee Majors as the US President, Paul McGann as Tricia's fiance, Peter Capaldi as her would-be seducer, and Art Malik and Lysette Anthony as terrorists.
(From the Sunday Mirror, January 21, 2001, by Annie Leask.) Read More......
When things started stirring down below, as it were, instead of heading for the hospital - where, ironically, she'd just been for a check up - Keeley asked her fiance to take her straight to McDonald's. But within minutes she was en route to maternity - still clutching her meal.
"I went to hospital with a Filet-o-Fish and came out with a baby boy," she jokes.
"He was two weeks early. Everyone had said to me, 'Oh, first baby? Bound to be late, they always are'.
"Actually, I had been for a routine check only an hour before. I was sitting waiting when a midwife came up to me and said, 'Excuse me, but I think you might be in labour. I have been doing this for a long time and you just have that look about you.' I was so surprised I just went, 'Ha ha, me? In labour now? I feel fine'. A doctor examined me and said I was OK to go home. So off I went, but I felt ravenous so I got Spencer to drive me to McDonald's. I got my food, but he ended up whizzing me back to hospital."
After an enviable six-hour labour Myles - a bouncing nine-pounder - appeared to the joy of his first-time parents.
That was five months ago and as Keeley talks about his impromptu arrival, his piercing cries frequently emanate from a back room where he is being cuddled by a doting dad at the couple's smart new home in Esher, Surrey.
Keeley, 25 next month, has that distracted air of a new mother who can't believe her luck, but doesn't quite know what she's doing... yet. She and Spencer, 28 - a designer in animation - moved into the house just a month before Myles made his surprise appearance.
"I know moving house and doing the decorating and all that stuff when you are heavily pregnant doesn't sound like great planning. It was actually planned much better than that, but we had the whole house-buying chain nightmare and had to wait longer than expected to move in.
"And I certainly didn't expect to be coming out with a baby so early. It was all such a shock."
Keeley, who got her TV big break at 17 in Dennis Potter's Karaoke, was back at work eight weeks after giving birth and next month will be seen in her first comedy, Channel 5's feature-length Hotel, which has been billed as "Die Hard meets Crossroads". So far becoming a mother has been "absolutely nothing" like she expected. But then again, neither was the birth. She cringes when she thinks of her on- screen portrayal of childbirth in the Beggar Bride.
"When I think of it now!" she squirms. "My God, I was so awful, you just don't have a clue when you haven't gone through it.
"I remember sitting down with the producer and watching this video so I could see what it was like before filming. I didn't watch any videos before having Myles. I read a couple of books, but nothing can really prepare you. A few hours after the birth I was sitting up in bed and decided to change his nappy. I had the curtains drawn around the bed and ended up covered in the contents of his nappy. I was up to my elbows in it. I was praying no one would open the curtains. I thought if they see this they won't let me take him home. They'll think there's just no way this woman is fit to look after a baby!"
Keeley, who has also starred in Blonde Bombshell, the Diana Dors story and Wives And Daughters, is the youngest of four children from the close- knit family of a London taxi driver (her two elder brothers are also cabbies).
She admits that part of the reason she was so unprepared for the birth was that she got so fed up of all the horror stories that she banned family and friends from telling her any more.
"Everyone just kept telling me how awful it was. People would tell me how long they were in labour and it just seemed to get longer and longer. Even my sister Jan said giving birth was the worst thing that had ever happened to her. No one tells you anything positive so I said I didn't want to hear any more."
Keeley had Myles at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, West London. "It is the hospital where I was born and they are renowned for their baby expertise. I had loads of drugs while I was in labour - anything and everything. I was such a typical actress!" she says, with an infectious chuckle. "There was this woman down the hall from me and it sounded like she was being murdered and chopped up into little pieces. I asked a doctor what was going on and they said, 'Oh, she's opted for a natural birth with no pain relief.' No way was that for me. I mean, you wouldn't have your appendix out with no anaesthetic would you?" Spencer was at the birth and because he works from home for the Cartoon Network, has ended up as primary child-carer when Keeley is working.
Before becoming pregnant, Keeley had accepted the role of feisty receptionist Tricia in Hotel.
It also stars Lee Majors as the US President, Paul McGann as Tricia's fiance, Peter Capaldi as her would-be seducer, and Art Malik and Lysette Anthony as terrorists.
(From the Sunday Mirror, January 21, 2001, by Annie Leask.) Read More......
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
2006 TV BAFTAs
Keeley backstage at the 2006 TV BAFTAs at Grosvenor House Hotel, May 7, 2006. Keeley, who was pregnant with
(Pictures from Getty.)
[Updated 29 January 2007. Many thanks to isfendan for catching my error!] Read More......
Friday, December 01, 2006
"Noddy and the Island Adventure" Premiere
Keeley, Matthew, Myles and Maggie at the charity DVD premiere of Noddy and the Island Adventure at Empire Leicester Square, October 23, 2005 in London.
(Photos of Keeley solo from Isifa; rest from Getty.) Read More......
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
