Blue Juice

Infobox Film
name = Blue Juice


image_size =
caption = Promotional film poster
director = Carl Prechezer
producer = Simon Relph
writer = Carl Prechezer
Peter Salmi
Tim Veglio
narrator =
starring = Sean Pertwee
Catherine Zeta Jones
Ewan McGregor
Steven Mackintosh
music = Simon Davison
cinematography = Richard Greatrex
editing = Michael Ellis
distributor =
released = September 15, 1995
runtime = 90 min.
country = UK
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0112537

"Blue Juice" is a 1995 British film directed by Carl Prechezer and starring Sean Pertwee, Catherine Zeta Jones, Ewan McGregor and Steven Mackintosh. It follows JC (Pertwee) as he attempts to reconcile his surfer lifestyle and loser friends with the pressure to grow up from his girlfriend (Jones). Blue Juice was set in Cornwall, England and released in 1995 by FilmFour productions. It was rated 15 by the British Board of Film Classification.

Plot

JC seems to have it all figured out. By day he runs a surf school, at night he lies down next to his beautiful girlfriend Chloe. However, when his mates arrive from London unannounced it releases tensions which have long been simmering under the surface of JC and Chloe's seemingly perfect relationship. His friends, especially drug-dealer Dean are intent on causing mischief and sucking JC back into his old habits which Chloe had hoped were long gone...

Wardrobe and Props

Many of the film's characters are dressed in clothing from the pressure group Surfers against Sewage. A lot of the Characters also wear the Australian Surfwear label Mambo Graphics and Stussy hats. Wetsuits used in the film and in publicity shots were manufactured by Gul. Other surf brands seen throughout the film, in the form of stickers or clothing, include Body Glove and Quicksilver.

Surfers Against Sewage stickers and posters are widely used throughout the film, visible in the Aqua Shack scenes and applied to the blue Bedford CF van driven by JC and Chloe for the surf school.

Pertwee used toupée tape to hold a sock in place, in the scene where JC appears nude apart from a black sock. “...I came up with this ingenious ploy - wrapping toupée tape on my chap. You won't believe how difficult it is to remove..." [Empire Magazine, October 1995] In a 1995 interview with FHM magazine Catherine Zeta Jones recalled the filming of the sock scene; “It was a brown Marks & Spencer one, though. If it was a Stussy one, or something like that, it might have been more interesting.” [FHM Magazine, 1995]

Professional surfer Steve England was a body double for Peter Gunns character Terry. To replicate Gunns look and larger build he had to have his long hair cut and wear two wetsuits with towels packed around his stomach. [Guardian Newspapers, Limited, December 11th, 1994]

A reference is made in the film to the 1960s comic book character the Silver Surfer. On the way to find the rave, JC, Josh, Dean and Terry pass a man painted entirely in silver carrying a silver surfboard who waves at them. Terry, under the influence of drugs supplied by Dean, then copies this by painting himself silver.

There are a couple of errors in the story. Early on when the radio DJ says the cows will be coming in for milking it cuts to a herd of Hereford cattle blocking a road. Herefords are farmed for beef not milk. In the scene where Wigan Caino is discissed the order given of Three before Eight records is wrong.

Supporting Cast

Blue Juice features an appearance from Jenny Agutter as a retired actress turned hotel proprietor, called Mary Fenton, who had found fame playing the role of Guinevere in a fictional television show called Arthur’s Knights.

The film also features late soul singer Edwin Starr as the fictional soul singer Ossie Sands, who had hits with Movin' On Up and The Price Of Pain, as sampled by Josh. The songs featured were recorded by Starr for the film. Continuing the Northern Soul theme, an appearance is made by legendary soul and funk DJ, Keb Darge. He can be seen wearing a yellow top, dancing in the soul disco at the village hall.

Actor, comedian and writer Keith Allen had a small part as Mike, a tabloid newspaper editor, who pays the Ewan McGregor character, Dean, for stories about record producer Josh.

The role of Shaper, played by actor, artist and writer Heathcote Williams, was also offered to Nigel Terry, best known for his portrayal of King Arthur in the1981 John Boorman film Excalibur [IMDB, retrieved April 2008] .

Mark Frost, who played Moose, appeared in the 2008 ITV soap Echo Beach, also set on the Cornwall coast and featuring aspects of surf culture.

Filming Locations

The main location of the Aqua Shack is in Mousehole, whilst other locations in Cornwall included a rock high above Chapel Porth for the mystical seaweed scene, Godrevy, Newquay and St Ives for some of the street scenes. The scene filmed at the train station was in St. Erth, just outside of Hayle. The map examined by JC, Josh and Dean whilst trying to work out where Terry has gone on the bike shows Godrevey Point and the B3301 road, a few miles north of Hayle. The scene where JC and Chloe argue through the windscreen of the van have is at Trevellas Porth Valley, also known as Blue Hills, between St. Agnes and Perranporth. The location of the second Aqua Shack is Kynance Cove Cafe, at Kynance Cove on Lizard Point. The hotel where Josh and Dean take Terry for the cream tea is the Tregenna Castle Hotel, on the outskirts of St Ives, whilst the village hall scene was filmed at Rose Hill, just off Bunkers Hill in the Downalong area of St Ives.

The large wave and surfing sequences were filmed in Lanzarote, whilst some of surf action close ups were filmed in a specialist wave pool, as shown in the documentary that accompanies the DVD release.

Additional shots were filmed in London and at Pinewood Studios.

In a 2008 interview with the The Independent, Sean Pertwee stated that his favourite place in the British Isles was St. Agnes in Cornwall. “I spent a lot of time there when filming Blue Juice, which was about surfers. The walk along the top of the cliffs is beautiful.” [The Independent (London), January 12th, 2008]

oundtrack

*“Movin' On Up” performed by Edwin Starr (a cover of the Primal Scream song)
*“The Price Of Pain” - performed by Edwin Starr
*“Freedom Bug” - performed by Heavy Stereo, written by Gem
*“Get It On” - performed by Marc Bolan and T.Rex
*“Leave Them All Behind” - performed by Ride
*“Half The Man” - written and performed by Jamiroquai
*“Duel” - performed by Swervedriver
*“Lonely For You Baby” - performed by Sam Dees
*“I Need Something Stronger” - performed by Apollo 440
*“You're The One” - performed by Gillian Wisdom
*“You Were The Dream” - Roscoe Shelton

The original score in the film was written by Simon Davison.

The soundtrack has never been commercially available.

DVD Artwork

For the year 2000 DVD release, the DVD case artwork for the international market was redesigned with a picture of Ewan McGregor replacing Sean Pertwee on the cover, even though McGregor had a smaller role. McGregor is depicted clean shaven and in a wetsuit, despite the fact his character in the film isn't a surfer and had a beard and long hair. Several reviewers and consumers picked up on this, including a review at www.dvdverdict.com which stated: While it is perfectly understandable to attempt to sell the disc to consumers, it is questionable whether or not this marketing push steps over the line into disinformation [Case Number 00408, Blue Juice Review, http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/bluejuice.php retrieved March 2008] .

A later release on DVD in 2004 reverted to the original artwork featuring Sean Pertwee and Catherine Zeta-Jones, whilst a further release in 2008 saw the artwork entirely redesigned with FilmFour branding and a fresh image of Pertwee and Zeta-Jones.

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0112537|title=Blue Juice