Kent’s most celebrated artistic connection is with JMW Turner, and a biopic film released this weekend throws the spotlight on the painter’s love affair with the county. Jo Roberts reports.

The Kent coast was the inspiration for many of painter JMW Turner’s acclaimed works and so, as you would expect, it also features heavily in a new film of the artist’s life.

Mike Leigh’s Mr Turner – starring actor Timothy Spall, who has strong Kent connections of his own – is released in cinemas nationwide from Friday, October 31.

In focuses on the twilight years of Joseph Mallord William Turner’s life when he was a frequent visitor to a Margate guesthouse to enjoy the coastline’s breath-taking sunsets, which Turner quoted as “the loveliest skies in all Europe”.

Turner, who was born in London but lived in Margate on-and-off from the age of about 11, produced more than 30,000 works in his lifetime, more than 100 of which can be traced to his time in Thanet.

Having already set the Cannes film festival alight, where it won Timothy the Best Actor gong, the film is expected to be a box office hit in Kent with fans of both the artist Turner and the actor Timothy.

Born in London himself, Timothy also spent time living in Margate, where his mum Sylvia made her home.

Timothy became a household name with 1980s TV hit Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and has gone on to appear in films including The King’s Speech, in which he played Winston Churchill, and the Harry Potter series as Peter Pettigrew.

Following his Cannes win for Mr Turner in May, the 57-year-old actor paid tribute to mum Sylvia, who lives in Cliftonville, telling journalists: “I said, ‘Your son’s won best actor at Cannes, Mum’. It perked her up. I could tell it cheered her. My mum was a hairdresser and I grew up above Sylvia’s salon in Margate.

“You never forget where you come from. Now I’m in Cannes surrounded by all these famous people with an award for best actor.”

It is hoped the movie will also bring more tourism into the county, as fans retrace Turner’s steps to Margate.

The town’s Turner Contemporary gallery is urging tourists to book onto the two-day JMW Turner’s Margate Tour, which includes a film showing, a gallery visit, champagne afternoon tea at the Sands Hotel and a stay at the Crescent Victoria Hotel for a limited period.

For more information, visit www.turnercontemporary.org

Spotting the local sights

Kent film fans will enjoy spotting some familiar sights within the movie, including the impressive HMS Gannet.

Turner supposedly had himself lashed to the mast of a boat in order to make sketches for his painting Snow Storm – Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth, and filmmakers turned to the 136-year-old sloop, moored at Chatham’s Historic Dockyard, to film the scene.

The vessel doubles as a pleasure boat on the Thames in the movie.

Stangate Creek on the River Medway in Swale was also used for a rowing scene: Stangate Creek was immortalised in a watercolour by Turner circa 1823.

Much of the film’s action, including scenes supposedly set in Thanet, was filmed in Cornwall, however.

Shooting in Kent was limited to three days plus two pre and post-production days, and cost an estimated £32,000.

Gabrielle Lindemann of Kent Film Office told What’s On: “They looked at various other Kent locations to double both for Margate and London, but most of our coast is too modern now to make a convincing set for the early 19th century which the film covers.”

Fair criticism?

While actor Timothy Spall has revealed he spent two years learning to paint in preparation for the role of Turner, some art critics remain unimpressed with the authenticity of his technique.

Andrew Wilton, chairman of the Turner Society and a trustee of the Turner’s House Trust, has said: “Spall draws with his pencil or chalk held like a needle at the extreme end away from the point, incapable of fine manipulation.

“Broad gestures make for good cinema, but they are a travesty of the infinitely delicate execution we find in the work itself.”

But Timothy’s art tutor, Tim Wright, has said: “He never cut corners and was very diligent – it was quite impressive to see.

“It was important for him to look natural and not like he was thinking about what he was doing.”

Seaside SOS

Timothy Spall famously had to call the lifeboat out to rescue him off the Kent coast in 2011.

The star, along with his wife Shane and a film crew, had to call out the Sheerness RNLI lifeboat after getting in a muddle on the Medway while filming a BBC series called Back At Sea.

He subsequently nominated the RNLI for a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Volunteering Award in 2012, citing: “They are an inspiration, and have our eternal gratitude and respect.”

REVIEW: Mr Turner (12A)

Anchored by a magnificent central performance from Timothy Spall, Mr Turner is another glorious ensemble piece from Mike Leigh, the writer-director of Topsy-Turvy and Vera Drake.
Developed through improvisational workshops, which are the trademark of Leigh’s filmmaking process, the script melds historical fact with personal interpretation to burrow deep beneath the surface of the characters and expose the desires and fears which drove some to greatness and others to despair.
When it comes to greatness, Spall’s embodiment of an artist with few social graces and a surplus of talent is the stuff that Oscars were made of.
The 150-minute running time passes too quickly, holding our attention with ravishing costumes and period detail as well as a haunting orchestral score from composer Gary Yershon. Very nearly a masterpiece.

Rating: ****