Profiles

Miss Potter

The Cumbrian landscape is the unbilled star of the Renee Zellweger movie Miss Potter which explores the early life of the author Beatrix Potter. The DVD of the film is to be released on Monday 23 April.

Renee Zellweger

Texan Renee Zellwegger takes the lead role and Ewan McGregor is Beatrix Potter's publisher, Norman Warne.

Beatrix Potter spent her summers as a child in the Lakes, and when she made money from her books she bought farms including Hill Top and Yew Tree.

She bred Herdwicke sheep and after she died she left hundreds of acres to the National Trust with the hope of preserving and protecting working areas of the Lake District.

Beatrix ends up marrying a Cumbrian - William Heelis - who's played by Lloyd Owen.

Hill Top Farm

BBC Radio Cumbria's Helen Skelton went to the Premiere in London on Sunday December 3, and managed to blag her two minutes with the stars.

You can listen to here interviews here and the Beatrix Potter content available on this web site.

We've also added Helen's observations from the Premiere below ... not quite Jonathan Ross, but some amazing insights into the land of celebrity that even Hello and OK can't give!

Helen: On the red carpet

"I watched the fans arrive, the barriers go up and what felt like an age later the actual film.

You'll appreciate that I had a few hours to kill. I'd watched the red carpet arrive in three rolls.

People put out lamp posts with signs saying things like Tarn Hows.

I was loitering by the edge of the pen which fenced in the tv crews when someone grabbed me by the arm and told me I was in the wrong place ..."

Helen: On local connections

"Lloyd Owen plays William Heelis, the man who Beatrix marries, and the Cumbrian in the film.

You can find many Heelis's in Cumbria, I don't think any were at the film last night. I asked and the press people I spoke to didn't think they were. But he did come across well - you see him as a young man and then when Beatrix returns to the lakes and buys Hill Top.

Hill Top isn't actually in the film though - Yew Tree farm is.

That was another of Beatrix's farms that they made to look like Hill Top by building a wall and a porch on it. They couldn't use Hill Top because it was too busy."

Helen: On Renee

"I know what you are thinking what about Renee? Well we waited for more than two hours - we were told to be there from 2.30 at the latest and she finally came toward us at twenty to five.

As I have explained there is a big gang of you so we were told in no uncertain terms to get in a group of four and we could ask one question between us - we had to agree on something"