Ballet star Carlos Acosta makes movie debut in Day of the Flowers
Alice Jones' Arts Diary
Thursday 29 August 2013
He is one of the finest ballet dancers of his generation; now Carlos Acosta is to make his movie debut.
The Cuban star plays the romantic lead in Day of the Flowers, which will be released in the Autumn. In the British film, two Scottish sisters (Charity Wakefield and Eva Birthistle) travel to Cuba to scatter their father’s ashes.
There they meet a handsome dancer-turned-tour-guide who has returned to Havana following an international performing career.
“We always had Carlos in mind for the part,” the director John Roberts said. “He has the charisma and he’s also Cuban. The only question was whether he could act for the camera.”
Following a screentest, Roberts was “relieved” to discover that Acosta was a “natural”. “He was worried about it too but he said that he felt very comfortable in front of the camera because he is used to finding intimacy in front of very large audiences.”
Acosta dances in the film – “but only discreetly. There’s a bit of salsa and a scene where we see him teaching some children. It’s not about him as a dancer at all.”
Could this be a new start for the ballet superstar? “Yes he’s 40 and in the last couple of years of his dancing career now. It’s definitely something he’d like to do more of and I think he’d be very good at it.”
Carlos Acosta and Eva Birthistle in Day Of The Flowers
Also in the Arts Diary
Tim Minchin and pals perform Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead down under
Wanted: witty, pithy definition of one of life's great questions
@AlicevJones
- 1 Genetic switch left in 'on' position identified by scientists as likely cause of autism in children
- 2 Thousands of Polish workers to take part in the first ever migrant workers strike in Britain
- 3 Photographer Haley Morris-Cafiero's revealing project looks at passers-by, looking at her
- 4 As a former extremist who knew Anjem Choudary, I fear for the mentality of British Muslims
- 5 Guy Martin Dundrod Circuit crash: Video footage emerges of high-speed Superbike crash
-
Using iTunes is now illegal under UK copyright law
-
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May’s new Amazon Prime show has an absolutely insane budget
-
Lenny Kravitz literally rocks his pants off in ultimate #penisgate wardrobe malfunction
-
Prison Break is coming back with a new season thanks to people binging the old ones on Netflix
-
Was William Shakespeare high when he penned his plays?
-
Thousands of Polish workers to take part in the first ever migrant workers strike in Britain
-
Chris Leslie: Jeremy Corbyn's anti-austerity agenda will harm the poor, says Labour shadow Chancellor
-
Jeremy Corbyn: Tony Blair could face war crimes trial over 'illegal Iraq invasion'
-
Indian Air Force 'beats RAF 12-0 in training exercise' – using Russian-designed jets
-
Anjem Choudary: Radical London cleric is charged with 'inviting support for Isis'
-
Landlords renting properties to illegal immigrants to face up to five years in prison