'Venus' set visit

Time Out heads for the Kentish coast to see Peter O'Toole shoot his first major film role in years in 'Venus'.

Jan 25 2007

Whitstable beach is a fine place to be on a summer's day, but somewhat less relaxing on a freezing February morning, with biting winds obliterating any warmth from the clear, sunny sky. It's here that director Roger Michell is overseeing the penultimate day's shooting on 'Venus', his latest collaboration with writer Hanif Kureishi, following the BBC adaptation of 'The Buddha of Suburbia' and 2003's 'The Mother'. In today's scenes, the lead characters – Maurice, an elderly actor played by Peter O'Toole, and Jessie (newcomer Jodie Whittaker), the obstreperous teenager to whom he has taken a shine – embark on a day-trip so he can introduce her to the joys of oysters.

For O'Toole, 'Venus' represents both a return to the frontline – he hasn't taken so substantial a film role since 'My Favorite Year' in 1982 – and, arguably, a kind of farewell: although he's already completed several other, smaller parts, it's hard not to see his performance as Maurice – whose illustrious, bibulous, libidinous past is illustrated with photos and clips of O'Toole in his heyday – as a barnstorming swansong. 'I think the fact that he's decided to take on this role after so many years of not carrying a film says a lot about the way in which he thinks he fits the role,' Michell suggests.

The part wasn't written exclusively for O'Toole but 'he was high up on a very short list' when casting began. 'We were trepidatious of him because of his extreme fame and his slight reserve from the normal cut and thrust of the business,' Michell reports, 'but he responded very quickly and with enormous appetite.' The production had proved more of an ordeal than expected for O'Toole, who was still recovering that February day from breaking his hip the previous December, mid-way into the shoot. He was back on his feet within weeks but remained frail; it was hard not to draw comparisons with Maurice, who discharges himself from hospital prior to the pair's seaside jaunt.

This afternoon the crew is crammed into the pokily characterful Old Neptune pub, setting the lights to catch the dripping oyster juice just so. As the wait continues, O'Toole sits out of sight in a pop-up tent (decked out in what one crew member refers to as 'the papal colours' of yellow and white) while Whittaker struggles to make the most of Jessie's chavvish wardrobe, wrapping a Puffa jacket around her shivering mini-skirted thighs. Finally the shot is called and O'Toole emerges, somewhat gingerly, in greatcoat and scarf. Installed at a table, he looks on with vicarious delight as his companion slurps away. ('They're yum!' 'I knew you'd like them.') A few takes later, the brief scene is in the can and the crew retire to a restaurant up the road for champagne and shellfish, courtesy of the star.

It's not Whittaker's own first taste of oysters, she reports, but not far off: on learning she'd got the part in 'Venus', the Huddersfield native and her boyfriend took a celebratory trip to Harvey Nichols' oyster bar 'to pretend we were posh', but suspects they fooled nobody. ('We were hacking away at them…') Whittaker only graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2005 but has already been seen onstage at the Globe and the Almeida, as well as in BBC2's 'This Life + 10'. Still, she admits to being worried that she'd 'get acted off the screen' in her first cinematic role, especially with the likes of Vanessa Redgrave in the cast. 'You want these amazing opportunities to come along, but you want a bit of practice.'

Whittaker was able to draw on aspects of her local, er, cultural heritage in terms of costume research for Jessie, who comes to London from Yorkshire. 'Kids down here dress really urban but up north it's a different look – there's lots of white bomber jackets, the wrong size jeans. I'm not big but if you wear jeans a size too small you look fat.'

Still, Jessie's look is more than acceptable to Maurice, who, like May (Anne Reid) in 'The Mother', becomes infatuated with a much younger acquaintance. Michell, however, stresses the films; differences. ''Venus' is much sweeter, much more forgiving. And it's not really about sex in the same way, lust and carnality; it's more about yearning or love or mortality.' In any case, he and Kureishi are already at work on a project with younger subjects. 'I don't think you should anticipate a series of films featuring old people having sex from us in the years to come…'

'Venus' is out on Friday.

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