‘Almond and the Seahorse’ Filmmaker Celyn Jones Units ‘Madfabulous’

Welsh actor, author and director Celyn Jones has set “Madfabulous” as his subsequent directorial enterprise.

The British indie relies on the true story of Henry Cyril Paget, fifth Marquess of Anglesey, who was as soon as one of many richest males in Britain however died penniless and forgotten on the age of 29 in France.

“It’s stuffed with pathos and humanity, it’s very a lot a personality who desires to get the eye of his household who don’t need him and he retains upping the ante along with his spending, his flamboyance and his dancing,” Jones instructed Selection concerning the Nineties-set movie. “What occurs if you’re a theatrical, and you’re very gender fluid at a time when when folks didn’t even know what that was? And also you’ve bought all the cash on the planet to do this. Nicely, in fact, you purchase a theater firm, you purchase each jewel you could possibly get your fingers on, you invent the selfie, you do these wonderful and fabulous issues which can be very relatable in the present day, whenever you take a look at the digital social media world.”

Jones describes Paget as “David Bowie and Marc Bolan rolled into one” and likens the story to “The Favorite,” “Amadeus,” “Marie Antoinette” and “Brewster’s Hundreds of thousands.”

Mad As Birds, the corporate Jones runs alongside Sean Marley and Nicola Pearcey, will produce in partnership with Ffilm Cymru Wales. Principal pictures will start this summer season on Jones’ residence island of Anglesey, Wales. “Dylan Thomas, which was our first movie at Mad As Birds – “Set Hearth to the Stars,” [2014] which I wrote and performed Dylan – if that was a black and white punk movie a few poet, then we’re about to go disco, and even full technicolor,” Jones stated.

Jones additionally has three theatrical releases this yr. Finn Bruce and Brook Driver’s “Swede Caroline,” a mockumentary set on the planet of aggressive vegetable rising, is at the moment on launch. The ensemble forged consists of Jo Hartley, Jones, Richard Lumsden, Alice Lowe, Aisling Bea and Ray Fearon. Releasing May 10 is Jones’ characteristic directorial debut, the Zurich debuting and Dinard-winning “The Almond and the Seahorse,” the place he stars alongside Rebel Wilson in her first dramatic function. Right here, Jones performs a traumatic mind damage survivor. And due in July is Janie Pugh’s Edinburgh and Toronto title “Chuck Chuck Child,” following a gaggle of ladies led by Louise Brealey working in a hen manufacturing facility, that showcases Jones’ darker facet as an actor.

“Three very totally different roles, very totally different characters and really totally different movies… they’re all led brilliantly predominantly by girls. And likewise girls doing it for the primary time – Jo Hartley main a movie for the primary time in ‘Swede Caroline,’ Insurgent Wilson main a drama for the primary time after which Louise Brealey in ‘Chuck Chuck Child,’ that’s been a very fabulous component to all of it,” Jones stated. “They’re all British impartial movies which have performed internationally and theatrically. And that’s uncommon. Simply the truth that these movies have been finished with a lot care, love and a spotlight, they usually’ve all bought on to the large display screen, is a credit score to the individuals who’ve actually bought behind them.”

Jones co-wrote “The Almond and the Seahorse” with Kaite O’Reilly, on whose play it’s based mostly, and co-directed with Tom Stern. He says that he discovered the viewers response to the movie “transferring and overwhelming” at its pageant outings and notably at its U.Okay. premiere, which was attended by survivors of traumatic mind damage.

“They had been saying issues like, it’s the primary time they’d ever seen themselves represented so precisely on display screen. And that the circumstances or diseases weren’t used as a tool or a mechanism to push a narrative or an agenda, the truth that within the movie, they’re proven so clearly and nuanced and precisely they usually they had been very moved and touched by it. They usually can see the humor and pathos in it,” Jones stated.

On what informs his decisions as an actor, Jones stated, “I’m in search of the monster within the man or the person within the monster, I’m in search of some depth, nuance, an opportunity to be courageous and take a leap. As a result of that’s the place the most effective work is, which is the scariest place to be as a result of failure lives very near success. I’m not afraid of the darkish facet of the human situation, I’m fairly sturdy and prepared to discover these parts as an actor. And on the similar time, I’ve bought no downside with love, positivity, hope and kindness.”

Jones has been energetic as an actor for 25 years and as a screenwriter for half of that point. “As a director, like an actor, I’m drawn to character and to distinctive storylines which can be stranger than fiction,” Jones stated.

“Madfabulous” goes into pre-production in June.