STAR: Samantha Barks in period costume for Christmas Candle, filmed in the island
MANX actress and singer Samantha Barks says she was thrilled to be back in the island for her latest starring role.
Sam took time out from filming of period festive drama The Christmas Candle to be crowned best female newcomer at the Empire awards in London.
Speaking back on the set at the Island Studios, she told the Examiner: ‘I am so thrilled to be back in the island. A definite perk for me was to learn I would be filming in the Isle of Man. It’s so special for me.’
She said it was a ‘lovely surprise’ to secure Empire magazine’s best newcomer award at a star-studded ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel.
The Christmas Candle is the 102nd Isle of Man film production since 1995 – and the fourth collaboration with Pinewood. It’s also Sam’s second film acting role – having won plaudits for her performance as Éponine in the triple Oscar winning big screen adaptation of Les Miserables.
Based on a story by best-selling author Max Lucado, The Christmas Candle tells the tale of a sleepy Cotswold village where nothing out of the ordinary happens except at Christmas when legend has it an angel visits the local candlemaker and touches a single candle.
Whoever lights the Christmas Candle receives a miracle on Christmas Eve.
It’s the year 1890 and everything changes with the arrival of a sceptical church minister.
Sam plays Emily Barstow, who doesn’t believe in the legend of the Christmas Candle and becomes friends with the new Reverend.
It is not a singing role and Sam says she is delighted to be able to focus on her acting. ‘You see Emily’s vulnerable side,’ she said.
The Manx singing sensation has really hit the big time since first making her name on BBC’s I’d Do Anything in 2008. Her career took off when she was chosen to play Éponine in the West End production of Les Miserables and then reprised that role for the 2012 movie.
Last month the 22-year-old from Lonan sang a medley of songs from Les Mis at the Oscars with her co-stars including Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway and Russell Crowe.
Sam said that when she left the island to go to drama school as a teenager she ‘never in a million years’ imagined she would go on to appear on stage with Hollywood legends at the Academy Awards.
‘The whole thing has been like a whirlwind,’ she said.
‘When I was singing at the Oscars I felt so proud appearing on stage with the cast. But it was a bitter-sweet feeling as I knew this whole thing was coming to a close.’
In August, Sam and her sister Kim were in Utah to watch their dad Richard break two landspeed records at the legendary Bonneville Salt Flats. ‘He’s a cool dad,’ said Sam.
Much of the filming for The Christmas Candle has been done on location in the Cotswolds, with the cast and production crew then heading to the island for a further week, with all scenes being shot in the studios at the Mountain View Media Village off the Jurby Road, Lezayre.
For the movie, the studio’s main sound stage has been transformed into a series of spectacular sets including a Victorian candlemaking workshop.
Just three months ago, the stage was a sleazy nightclub used for the production of Dom Hemingway.
Sam said: ‘The whole thing has been transformed by the art department. It’s so good. So many parts go into making a film – that makes it so exciting.’
The role of Gladbury’s village candlemaker Edward Haddington is played by Sylvester McCoy, star of stage and screen, a former Doctor Who who is remembered by many for his role in the 70s TV show Vision On and is cast as the wizard Radagas in the three-part movie adaptation of The Hobbit.
Sylvester joked that he was picked for the role as one of his jobs during the hippy era was as a candlemaker.
Enthusing about the set, he set: ‘It’s beautiful. the guy who does all that is a star. If you think about films and theatre we all get the kudos but its behind the scenes where the wizards are.’
He said acting was ‘great fun’. ‘It’s like being a child. As an actor you have to find the child in yourself.’
Sylvester said his role as Edward Haddington had given him the chance to top the famous Two Ronnies ‘Fork Handles’ sketch as he could talk about four King Candles. ‘Ronnie Barker would have thought that’s great!’ he laughed.
After filming, he is to fly to Bonn, Germany, for a hobbit convention and then jetting off to LA and Australia.
Sam, meanwhile, says she will be doing promotion work for Les Mis.
The Christmas Candle, which is directed by John Stephenson, who visited the island in 2003 to make Five Children and IT starring Eddie Izzard and Kenneth Branagh, also stars Britain’s Susan Boyle, John Hannah, Hans Matheson and Lesley Manville.
It is expected to be out in time to hit the big screen for Christmas - and Isle of Man Film bosses hope it will become a regular feature of Christmas TV schedules in future years.
Filming the final scenes of The Christmas Candle has marked the end of an era for Isle of Man Film, whose development manager Hilary Dugdale retired last week. Hilary had been involved with the Manx movie industry since its inception in 1995.
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