| School for seduction | School for seduction stars Kelly Brook, Dervla Kirwan, Margi Clarke, Emily Woof and Tim Healy. Dervla Kirwan also appears in the Tyneside based BBC 1 drama, 55 Degrees North. The movie was produced by the local production company, Ipso Facto films. |
Kelly Brook is best known as a TV presenter and glamour icon, but she's now moving into the world of acting and movies in School for Seduction. Kelly made her feature film debut in the thriller "Ripper" in 2001, but since then the movie offers have been thin on the ground. Perhaps unfairly, Kelly has been typecast as the 'bimbo from Big Breakfast', but now she's challenging her critics with her latest big screen role. Life is never easy for a model-turned-actress, but Kelly gives a half-decent performance in School for Seduction, mastering Italian and Geordie accents with some style. The Full Geordie School For Seduction has been described as "The Full Monty meets Calendar Girls". Kelly Brook plays Sophia Rossellini, an Italian seductress, who sets about transforming the lives of four Tyneside women. | "Sophia feels that we've lost the essence of being a woman. So she's saying, okay, we've got equal rights, now let's embrace being a woman again." | | Kelly Brook |
Finding the actress who would play the seductive Sophia became a five year long search for the film makers. Kelly Brook's name had been discussed early on, but she was involved with TV's Big Breakfast. "We thought she would be perfect for the part of Sophia, but the timing was not right," explains Newcastle born producer Christine Alderson. "Fortunately for us, as it transpires, the script was not ready either." Strong women For director Sue Heel, Kelly was perfect for the role of Sophia, "She's gorgeous, yes, but more relevant than that is her strength. She took some real stick during her stint on the Big Breakfast." "But she bounced back and showed them all that they were wrong. I thought she'd draw on that and bring it to the character - and she did - very effectively." The script was sent to Kelly whilst she was on holiday. "I just instantly related to the character of Sophia; a woman who is sick and tired of being judged on her looks." "I just thought it was one of the funniest things I've read for a while. It reminded me a lot of the Full Monty, but it's the women taking control and sorting their lives out." Sophia is a woman's woman, as Kelly explains, "she is an intelligent and powerful woman who exudes confidence." "But she is only too aware of what women have to struggle with in their everyday lives. The demands of modern life leave little room for expressing one's femininity. Newcastle is no exception." "So Sophia decides it's time to bring a bit of old fashioned glamour back to Newcastle. She sets up this School for Seduction to teach the Geordie women how to reconnect with their femininity and feel like women again." Women on top Kelly is well aware of the film's message is that women can take their destiny into their own hands.  | | Kelly Brook serves up more than chips |
"School For Seduction is ultimately about empowering women. I think women have come so far in terms of equal rights, but you only have to go out in to a nightclub to see that some women are taking it a step too far, and losing touch with their feminine side, in some cases swearing more than men, even drinking more than men." "I think Sophia feels that we've lost the essence of being a woman. So she's saying, okay, we've got equal rights, now let's embrace being a woman again." "So Sophia decides it's time to bring a bit of old fashioned glamour back to Newcastle. She sets up this School for Seduction to teach the Geordie women how to reconnect with their femininity and feel like women again." In the classes, Sophia teaches these women primarily how to be confident in themselves. "Regardless of what hair colour you have, what you look like, what accent you have, what you do for a living even, it's all about how you feel, and about being comfortable in your own skin." "The women in School For Seduction are not doing it for men, they're doing it for themselves," enthuses Kelly. The future Kelly Brook looks to be developing a healthy career in the movies, plus she's also bagged a Hollywood boyfriend in current partner Billy Zane. Brook has a whole raft of movies lined up for coming year and the future looks bright for the former glamour model. We'll next see her in the two-hour telepic "Romy and Michele: Behind the Velvet Rope" and the sci-fi thriller "Absolon" with Christopher Lambert and Lou Diamond Phillips. It's easy to forget that Kelly is only 25 years old, but she has already successfully established herself as a versatile and talented actress, television host, and model. It's a long way from the young woman who attended the Italia Conté stage school, studying dance, drama and singing for three years. And it seems somewhat ironic that Kelly had to come to Tyneside and play an Italian Geordie to really make her mark in the movies!
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