“Hipsters will only come to central London for a very trendy party, so well done W Hotel for making its screening of fashion film Animal Charm so cool all of Shoreditch came to Soho. Guests, including Sadie Frost and Leah Weller, downed Grey Goose vodka cocktails in the Wyld Bar while Sally Phillips also did a turn accompanied by her baby boy. Daniel Lismore was wonderfully striking in a huge gold necklace and director of the film Ben Charles Edwards spent the night sipping wine with his co-writer Dominic Wells. Best lipstick goes to Leah, whose pink pout was even better than Daniel’s.”

ANIMAL CHARM – Released Film Festivals Globally 2012

FUR FOX SAKE, ALL ANIMALS ARENT EQUAL

CAST:
Sadie Frost, Sally Phillips, Boy George, Michael Urie, David Hoyle, Emily Beecham, Neeraj Singh.

Under the glare of stage lights and in the blue moonlight that falls through the windows of an isolated country farmhouse… and finally in the flashing police lights of a strange and horrifying climax, two fashion giants of yesteryear play out their rivalry and take a grudge to the bitter end. This is a true bonfire of the vanities.

Anne Thrope (Sadie Frost) used to be the biggest in the business and with an ego to match. Once a much feted and successful fashion designer, the lights of the catwalk have now faded and her glory days are behind her. In a disastrous attempt to reignite her celebrity and reinvent herself as a West End star, and with the help of her trusty ass-kissing assistant Verdell (Neeraj Singh) she has produced and taken the central role in a new musical adaptation of Animal Farm, entitled “Animal Charm”, which is an unapologetic defence of her use of fur and a vulgar vanity project, and is sinking faster than the Titanic with critics and audiences alike. But Anne captures the headlines once again when she is snatched from the stage during a musical number; abducted by masked animal rights activists led by Audrey Hoober (Sally Phillips), along with her right hand woman, model/animal rights terrorist Jezebel (Emily Beecham).

Audrey and Anne were friends and came up through the fashion ranks together, until their rivalry and the love of a man came between them. Audrey’s own fashion career crashed and burned long ago after a particularly hideous fashion faux pas and over the years her mind has gone the way of the cuckoo bird and her resentment of Anne has turned into a vengeful obsession. Now she has Anne where she wants her… or so she thinks. Over the course of a single night, while Anne’s assistant Verdel tries to convince butch, non-nonsense policeman (Boy George) to take the disappearance seriously, this conflict reaches its horrible conclusion, and all concerned realise just how much fashion has changed.

Featuring a diverse host of colourful cameos from Nancy Dell’olio to Princess Julia and The Puppini Sisters who wrote the final credit song exclusively for the film, Animal Charm is a gleeful poke in the eye of the fashion industry and its attendant egos; a loving homage to camp cinema classics such as ‘Sunset Boulevard’ and ‘Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?’ and plays on Orwell’s Animal Farm to ask whether all animals really are equal.

BOY GEORGE SHARES HIS BUTCH SIDE:

No.26 To Hackney. Featuring Lola Coca, London (2011)

Exhibited at the following museums:

Short clip from ‘No.26 To Hackney’

Appetite. Featuring Princess Julia, London (2011)

Exhibited at the following museums:

Short clip from ‘Appetite’

‘Like’ The Facebook group for Animal Charm (2011)

View On Harper’s BAZAAR

Oct 06, 2011 06:00:00 AM by Sadie Frost | 0 Comments

On Tuesday, I had a screening of a couple of films I’ve been working on at The W Hotel in Leicester Square. I served my guests hardcore cocktails made with Vestal Vodka. Jodie Harsh, Kate Moss and former Libertine Carl Barat, joined my family and friends, while we waited with anticipation for the first screening of my short film, ‘Suzie Lovitt’. It’s about a boy with a vivid imagination and a passion for dressing up in women’s clothes directed by Ben Charles Edwards, with whom I struck up a trés bon working relationship after acting in his film, ‘Animal Charm’ – the second screening of the night. I play a wonderful character, a Cruella de Vil type femme-fatale, who commits ‘a crime against fashion’. It’s very funny and I’m sure you fashion bunnies will love it! It also stars Sally Phillips, Stephanie Beecham and there’s an interesting cameo from the delicious Boy George!

On Wednesday I attended an exhibition by photographer Tim Bret-Day, who has been photographing characters from the London club scene for some time, featuring the magnificent Jodie Harsh and her entrepreneurial club movement ‘Circus’. The photos tell a wonderful story and are a great who’s who of the club world. There are some colourful, seedy and sexy characters and, if you look closely, you can spot some familiar faces such as Jaime Winston, Mathew Horne and myself hidden in the hedonistic crowd. At the event beautiful people swanned around looking even more glamorous than their photos. And beware: they are a hot crowd!
So, the week followed on with the strangest end to September and oddest beginning to October; the weather was glorious. The sun has been out! Life is good! And my life is certainly not a drag! But it’s still fun to dress up in it (sometimes).

Short film following iconic British fashion designer Giles Deacon as he prepares for London Fashion Week and up to the evening of the event, as seen by Ben Charles Edwards for Vogue Italia.

CLICK HERE to view the full film on Vogue.it