My thoughts about books, writing, life and so many other things….Judy Leigh/ Elena Collins.
I’ve been writing and editing pretty much non-stop since the new year, and the index finger still hasn’t healed properly. Not that I’m complaining – being an author is just the best thing. But balance is important and I’ve made sure that I’ve taken time out to rest a bit. (The football has been impressive!) …
I loved watching Peaky Blinders. Here are my ten reasons why...
I love the way films and live theatre give us as an audience the opportunity to immerse ourselves in a story through the eyes of the characters we meet. It's fascinating how a few lines on a page, a book or a script, can be turned into something visual and vibrant in front of our …
Continue reading Imagine Five French Hens as a Hollywood film with this huge cast…!!
My novels have often been described as uplifting or feel-good, and I like this epithet very much. While I enjoy a good gothic tale or a thriller as much as anyone else, the idea that my stories entertain and make people feel positive about life is a great compliment. Recently, I was sent a message …
Continue reading My top five living-life-and-loving-it feel-good films
Perhaps every writer dreams of seeing her or his work produced on film. After all, great stories make good theatre and good television, or good movies. I love to imagine who’d play the major roles in my novels if they were made into films. I’ve always been fascinated by the psychology of casting and, whenever …
Continue reading If The Old Girls’ Network was a film, who would play the roles…?
I often cast films in my imagination. If I read about a character in a book, an actor will come to mind and I think ‘he or she would be perfect for that role.’ Many times, I’ve considered actors who might be in films of my own novels: Brendan Gleeson and Julie Walters feature a …
Continue reading So, who is the best actor to play Lemmy in a biopic?
I work on the basic principle that novels and films are always valid if the person or people for whom they were created enjoy them. I’m not a fan of self-indulgence on the part of writers but I try never to criticise a genre because it isn’t for me, because there may be others who …
Mary and Max is a 2010 stop motion animated film by Adam Elliot. It is narrated by Barry Humphries: Mary is voiced by Toni Collette and Max is voiced by Philip Seymour-Hoffman. Mary is a young Australian girl with a distant, overworked father and a kleptomaniac, alcoholic mother. Mary is bullied at school and lonely. …
Continue reading ‘Mary and Max’ – ‘All humans are imperfect’
Have you ever seen a trailer for a film and thought 'This looks brilliant. I must watch it.' Then you watch it and all the best bits were in the trailer and the rest of the film is just not for you? That's Francis Ford Coppola's black and white film, 'Tetro'. It's quite an old film now …
Love the poem, love the man, love the film. 'Howl' is a 2015 film about the landmark obscenity trial in 1957, concerning 'Howl', Allen Ginsberg's signature poem. It features excerpts from the poem as we see beat poet Ginsberg reading his work to an adoring audience of famous writers such as Neal Cassady and Jack Kerouac. …
That quintessence of dust 