New film about Mormons set in London

Piccadilly Cowboy Rides In with Special Screening

A new romantic comedy, ‘Piccadilly Cowboy’ (www.piccadillycowboy.com), will be given a special screening in London on Saturday ahead of this month’s release in the United States. The 100 minute film has been shot on location in London and the Scottish Highlands on a budget of less than £300,000, by Utah based Ford Films (www.fordfilms.com).

The screening of ‘Piccadilly Cowboy’, which will take place at 6pm on Saturday, March 17, at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts’ Princess Anne Theatre, 195 Piccadilly, London, WIJ 9LN.

‘Piccadilly Cowboy’ is a classic ‘fish out of water’ romantic comedy about a Montana cowboy, living in London, who can’t marry the girl he falls in love with until he first finds a suitable husband for her older sister.

Jaelan Petrie plays Carson Wells, the 30-year-old who has never been a real ladies’ man until his cowboy hat, boots and American charm win the heart of beautiful British girl Lucy Armstrong (Kate Foster-Barnes). Everything seems to be going well for Carson in the big smoke, and after three months of dating he asks Lucy’s grandfather, Mr Armstrong (James Greene), for her hand in marriage.

The unexpected reply is that he must first find a husband for Lucy’s older sister, Gemma (Sophie Shaw). While finding her a potential mate, Carson’s life changes for ever… ‘Piccadilly Cowboy’ will be released in Salt Lake City, Utah, this month. It has been directed, produced and co-written by Mormon filmmaker Tyler Ford, who started the project after graduating from the London Film School in 2004.

“I wanted ‘Piccadilly Cowboy’ to be light-hearted, and watchable, and I hope cinema-goers will find it an entertaining alternative to the kind of violent gangster movies a lot of British filmmakers seem to be preoccupied with,” says Ford.

“As an independent production. we were able to get some great discounts on London services and equipment hire, enabling us to shoot this film on a budget of less than £300,000. Although it was a struggle at times, I’m extremely happy with the film, and confident it will be well received.”

‘Piccadilly Cowboy’ was shot on high definition video at 3 Mills Studios, in East London, as well as on location in the capital and in Scotland. Ford recruited Daniel Shantakumar, a fellow Mormon from Utah, to act as executive director.

It is the first film to be made in England with Mormons as the main characters since ‘Trapped by the Mormons’ was made 1922, and the filmmakers hope to find their core audience in the mountainous US States around Utah. Jaelan Petrie has previously starred in ‘Handcart’, and James Greene was in both ‘Empire of the Sun’ and ‘Johnny English’.

Other principal cast members include Gwyneth Powell (‘Back to the Secret Garden’, ‘Face of Darkness’), Tom Butcher (TV’s ‘Doctors’ and ‘The Bill’), Dermot Keaney (‘Pirates of the Caribbean 2’ and ‘Pirates of the Caribbean 3’), Sophie Shaw, and Kate Foster-Barnes.

The film was shot by English director of photography Gareth Pritchard, and casting director was Lucy Jenkins. ‘Piccadilly Cowboy’ features music by Alan Hawkshaw, who was nominated for a ‘Best Drama Score’ BAFTA for the TV series ‘Love Hurts’, and awarded ‘Best Arrangement’ by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for ‘I Honestly Love You’. A re-recording of the song, originally sung by Olivia Newton-John, was produced for ‘Piccadilly Cowboy’. Hawkshaw’s ‘Move, Move, Move’ featured in ‘Nacho Libre’, and was on the soundtrack.

Ford Films is an independent production company based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The company was launched in 2005 to develop and produce high-quality and commercially viable productions for film and television. It recently completed ‘Piccadilly Cowboy’, its first feature film.

www.piccadillycowboy.com Ford Films 8415 South Colene Drive Sandy Utah 84094 USA Tel:+ 801-674-9591 www.fordfilms.com

You might also like to check out the following links to the film that the producers proudly mention, Trapped by the Mormons (a UK-made anti-Mormon film from 1922) www.imdb.com/title/tt0013705

Nobody seems to have told Ford Films that in Britain a Piccadilly Cowboy has another meaning. fortunately nothing too distasteful. A member of the British Household Cavalry is referred to as a Piccadilly Cowboy.

Incidentally a remake of Trapped by the Mormons has been made. But for some reason the producers decided to have an undead Zombie Joseph Smith strutting his funky stuff which was certainly NOT found in the original film. Although maybe it should have been...

It seems that Cherry Red, an experimental theatre group, makers of the remake (whew! THAT was clumsy done by yours truly!) were responsible for other such exciting and interesting projects as: "Cannibal Cheerleaders on Crack" and "Baked Baby".

You can link to the remaked film at www.trappedbythemormons.com

And for those of you who have not seen the Ausie Atheist John Saffren, you can find his film/movie/programme/program at www.ifilm.com/video/2798459