Drawing: Gemma Arterton in Runner Runner and Byzantium

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Gemma Arterton has always been fan friendly and has signed a number of my sketches over the years at premieres and stage doors. She is currently starring as Rita O’Grady in Made In Dagenham – the stage musical about the Ford sewing machinists strike of 1968 concerning equal pay for women at London’s Adelphi Theatre.

I had drawn this montage of Gemma from her roles in the films Runner Runner and Byzantium some time ago and had it in my folder, I just so happened to be passing the Adelphi stage door last week when she emerged from and veining performance to catch up with the gathered admirers. I waited, then asked her if she wouldn’t mind signing the drawing, which she was happy to do.

Made in Dagenham continues until 11 April.

See my other Gemma Arterton sketches:
A Little Dog Laughed
Made In Dagenham
The Duchess of Malfi

Drawing: John Lithgow in The Magistrate at the National Theatre

Posted on February 26, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

I finally got the brilliant John Lithgow to sign a sketch for me.

The New York-born 69 year-old has appeared in more than 30 films, with two Oscar nominations and an equally impressive television list that includes the Emmy-award winning 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN and DEXTER.

John’s distinguished stage career has spanned over four decades on both sides of the Atlantic. His 1973 Broadway debut in David Storey’s THE CHANGING ROOM earned him the Tony and Drama Desk Awards. He won his second Tony for his portrayal of J.J Hunsecker in the Broadway adaption of the 1957 film SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS in 2002.

During the winter of 2012/13 John crossed the ditch to appear on the London stage as the title character, police magistrate Aeneas Posket in the National Theatre’s revival of Arthur Pinero’s THE MAGISTRATE. I was lucky enough to catch a saturday matinee.

The following summer he retuned to New York and the Delacorte stage in Central Park’s Public Theatre’s production of KING LEAR, where he last appeared in 1975 in the role of Laertes in HAMLET. John listed playing ‘Lear’ at the top of his bucket list..”so there’s an empty space there now.” he quipped.

When asked what he disliked most about his appearance, John replied, “I have a love/hate relationship with my height-I am 6 foot 4 inches.”

John signed this sketch depicting his stage appearances in THE MAGISTRATE and KING LEAR at the John Golden Theatre in New York where he has just finished the limited season of Edward Albee’s A DELICATE BALANCE alongside Glenn Close. He actually dedicated it ‘To Mark’,but my letter must have been under the drawing because the inscription was written on the top of it with the most important sig on the sketch.

Sketch: Ashley Jensen

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

BAFTA and Emmy-nominated Scottish actress Ashley Jensen found fame alongside Ricky Gervais in EXTRAS and then as Christina McKinney in the award-winning American comedy-drama UGLY BETTY or four seasons. Playing the socially inept Maggie Jacobs in the BBC Two/HBO television series EXTRAS, Ashley won the Best TV Comedy Actress and newcomer gongs at the 2005 British Comedy Awards and a BAFTA nomination. In the 2007 Christmas special she earned an Emmy nom.

After six years amongst the tinseltown glitterati, Ashley moved back to the UK, making her West End debut in Alan Ayckbourne’s A CHORUS OF DISAPPROVAL at London’s Harold Pinter Theatre in the Winter of 2012. Returning to her roots, she played the role of Hannah, the repressed wife in the Trevor Nunn directed revival, eleven years after her last stage appearance.

Ashley can currently be seen on the small screen in the British sitcom CATASTROPHE.

Sketch: Julianne Moore

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Prior to winning her first Oscar last night for her portrayal as a woman with dementia, Julianne Moore was in London collecting the BAFTA. A number of cunning plans were hatched in my mind to secure her sig on a sketch.

Plan A. Send a drawing to the Academy… The British Academy that is, at their HQ in Piccadilly, paying extra to have it delivered on time and signed for. That didn’t work and it came back quicker than it was sent with a large, red ‘REFUSED’ on it.

Plan B. I found out at short notice that Julianne was doing a Q+A after a screening of Still Alice on the Friday evening before Sunday’s ceremony the Curzon Chelsea, a small cinema on the King’s Road in Knightsbridge. I didn’t have the returned sketch on me, so quickly did this one in 5 minutes, hence the minimal detail, but enough to get recognition.

The usual suspects had gathered in the confined entrance to the cinema. Julianne was running late, or as the security said, she will be just on time, arriving at the end of the screening. And she did, getting out of the car on the drivers side. She didn’t even make it to the curb before she was mobbed with 8x10s and all manner of writing instruments.I was by the door… may as well been on the moon, (which incidentally was in its ‘fool’ phase above us). A quick passage was negotiated after signing as many as poss in 30 seconds as she was whisked inside.

Plan C. I went to the local pub and watched the first half of the Six Nations Rugby match between England and Wales, returning to hopefully get her exiting. Not a soul there. I went around the corner and as night follows day there they all were, lining three deep by the side door,opposite a vehicle that had its motor running. The lunacy continued, right timing, just couldn’t find a place.

Plan D. Door… or doors in this case. The building had a number of doors along this side. I noticed a security person standing at another one to the one where all and sundry were gathered. This was about 10 metres from the mob. I stood there… Moore chance I thought.

30 seconds later Julianne steps out right in front of me. Security said she was in a hurry and wouldn’t be signing, but she said, “I’ll sign this sketch, ” climbed into the car and drove off.

I returned to the second half of the rugby and was over the moon with the evening’s harvest.

Drawing: Dakota Johnson in Fifty shades of a 4B pencil

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Dakota Johnson and I have one thing in common. We use pencils. That’s where the similarity ends. BDSM for me means Bad Drawing and Sketching Materials (as you’ll learn about later).

On the day of the Fifty Shades of Grey UK premiere at the Odeon in London’s Leicester Square the studio shared a new film still of Dakota’s character, writer Ana Steele, provocatively pressing a pencil to her lips. It’s a very long pencil with ‘Grey Enterprises’ printed on it. The simple, subtle, but suggestive pose is a good deal more innocent than other images they could have released.

So I took my trusty Pilot super grip clutch pencil with its 4B lead and did this quick sketch, rolled up at the premiere, standing amongst mostly female fans of the book, screaming for “Jamie, Jamie!” (The Grey guy in the film) who didn’t walk the line, signing for the throng. Dakota, however, did. I put the sketch out and she happily signed it “Good job…. nice” using a thick, blue felt pen marker.

The sketch proved too hot, however, for the two sheets of plastic corflute I sandwiched it between to protect it from damage and the weather ‘melting’ the ‘graphite content’ and leaving a lineal imprint of my lead with the corrugated lines through Dakota’s face.

Drawing: Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Former Bond Girl Rosamund Pike‘s performance as missing wife Amy Elliott-Dunne in David Fincher’s psychological thriller Gone Girl has garnered a lot of awards attention this year.

The film had its world premiere on the opening night of the 52nd New York Film Festival on 26 September 2014, to both critical and commercial acclaim.

Rosamund’s performance was particularly praised. She received Best Actress nominations for the Academy Award, the BAFTA, the Golden Globe and the SAG Awards.

She has already won 16 awards for the role including the Palm Springs International Film Award an the London Film Critics Circle Awards.

Sketch: Anna Maxwell Martin in King Lear at The National Theatre

Posted on January 20, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Sam Mendes astonishing and absorbing production of King Lear at London’s National Theatre last summer included Anna Maxwell Martin playing the mad King’s eldest daughter with Simon Russell Beale in title role.

Lloyd Evans in The Spectator summed up the critics’ reviews, “There are outstanding performances from Anna Maxwell Martin, whose Regan is a hysterical sex freak turned on by torture.”

Anna has won two BAFTA awards, the first for her portrayal of Esther Summerson, the central character in the 2005 BBC adaption of Charles Dicken’s Bleak House. Her second was for playing ‘N’, a long-term mentally ill patient in Poppy Shakespeare three years later.

She was also nominated in 2011 for her role as Sarah Burton in South Riding.

Sketch: Ray Winstone and John Hurt in 44 Inch Chest

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Emmy award winning British ‘hard man’ actor Ray Winstone headed the cast of the crime drama 44 Inch Chest as car salesman Colin Diamond alongside recently knighted Sir John Hurt, playing the crotchety and bigoted Old Man Peanut – a role that won him a Cordon Film Critics’ Circle Best British Supporting Actor nomination.

The film had its premiere screening at the BFI London Film Festival in October 2009, before a UK release in January 2010. Ray and Sir John signed this sketch after a preview and Q+A at the BFI in January 2010.

Sketch: Indira Varma

Posted on January 13, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Indira Varma

I’ve drawn British actress Indira Varma a couple of times as her stage characters. This is a simple portrait of ‘her as herself’, so-to-speak. I sketched the Game of Thrones star and she signed while she was playing Miss Cutts in Harold Pinter’s tragicomedy Hothouse at the Trafalgar Studios in London, in June 2013,

Indira currently leads the cast of the Hampstead Theatre’s production of Tiger Country until 17 January.

Drawing: Linda Gray in Cinderella at the New Wimbledon Theatre

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Isn’t that Sue Ellen from Dallas??? Oh, no it isn’t. Oh, yes it is! Well, it is Linda Gray who played JR Ewing’s long-suffering drunken wife in the cult TV series Dallas making her panto debut in Cinderella at London’s New Wimbledon Theatre. Although it’s not Linda’s first appearance on the London stage, it is her first in the British festive tradition. She was encouraged by Patrick Duffy, aka Bobby Ewing, Dallas‘s other surviving star, who played Baron Hardup (Cinderella’s father) in London and told her, “you’ve got to do it!” Linda mixes a touch of the Texan with the familiar fairy tale, playing the stetson-toting, hip flask swigging Fairy Godmother who helps Cinders get to the ball. Her stage credits included the role of Mrs Robinson in The Graduate on both the West End and Broadway stages in the early 2000’s. And here’s a piece of trivia: it’s Linda’s uncredited leg in the iconic 1967 poster for The Graduate film. Her anonymous stocking-clad stem stood in for the film’s star Anne Bancroft at $25 a leg. Cinderella continues at the New Wimbledon Theatre until 11 January 2015.