'From The Ashes' Premiere

Just like London buses, you wait for one then two come along at once. Perhaps it is the nice weather that has bought it on but we’ve ended up with two great cricket films out at once.

On Monday night we were at the premiere of ‘Fire In Babylon’, and then last night we went along to the Mayfair Curzon to have a chat with the stars attending the premiere of ‘From The Ashes’.

Whilst ‘Fire In Babylon’ concentrated on the great West Indies team of the 70s and 80s, ‘From The Ashes’ details the infamous 1981 Ashes Test series which has become more widely known as ‘Botham’s Ashes’.

We asked the legend that is Sir Ian Botham how he felt about being immortalised on the big screen:

“This is the first time I’m going to see the film so it’s going to be interesting; I’m actually a bit apprehensive to see what the guys have said about me”

“There were a lot of things that made ’81 special; the situation that was going on around the country with the race riots in Bristol, the country was in turmoil. It was great that sport could break these barriers down. We happened to be the vehicle that was used.”

Just as with his previous film ‘One Night In Turin’ the film’s director James Erskine portrays the sporting event amongst its cultural and social context and he told us he intended the film to be as much about that year as about Cricket itself:

“I decided to make a film about 1981, and was looking for a story. I wanted one about English victory and this is one of my first sporting memories.”

“It was a little easier making this film than ‘One Night In Turin’ as that was the first time we had attempted making a film in this genre and we approached this one in a slightly different way, we included interviews.”

After two great sporting documentaries, it will be interesting to see what Erskine takes on next and he was keeping his lips sealed last night:

“I’ve got lots of plans but if I actually pull any of them off is a different question! Maybe another sporting film. Or maybe something different, maybe a sci-fi film”.

Following the film’s premiere, a Q&A session with some of the players that made that 1981 England side took place and was hosted by politician Alastair Campbell who summed up his feelings about the main man to us:

“I did a series in The Times recently and Botham was the only English player who got in my top three. He’s probably the best English player ever.”
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For more info about the film click on over to the official website now: http://www.fromtheashesthefilm.com/