Frozen

Richard Armitage's largest film role in his early career was in Frozen, a small-budget British film written and directed by Juliet McKoen.

It's a haunting film starring Shirley Henderson as Kath, a young woman whose sister Annie has disappeared two years previously. Unable to grieve for her properly, she sets about trying to find out what happened to her.

Richard Armitage plays Steven, who helps her in her search.

"He works for the British Port Authorities. He's a security guard. She re-ignites something and he goes on a journey with her. He takes her on part of her journey as well. But it's a can of worms that's about to open and he has to keep the lid on it," he said. [1]

The film is beautifully shot - it's set and filmed in Fleetwood, a town on the southern side of Morecambe Bay. The vast empty landscape of the mud-flats of the bay almost becomes another character in the film, adding to the atmospheric feel of the piece. Fleetwood also contributes to the atmosphere, as Richard Armitage explained.

"It feels like a kind of ghost town in a way. It feels like a place that once was something, and that's now become something else. It's quite sparse, quite a lonely place." [1]

The sparseness is enhanced by the fact that cars are almost never seen on-screen, something which lends a sense of stillness to the film.

Frozen won a number of awards at film festivals in 2005, and Shirley Henderson won the Best Actress award at the Scottish BAFTAs.

Links

Official Frozen website

Source

[1] Interview with Richard Armitage in "The Making of Frozen" on the Frozen DVD.

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