English rose enjoys a thorny encounter with Michael Caine in Quills.
Talk about your bad omens. Ameila Warner's
first sex scene in her first major movie with her first
major star (Michael Caine, no less), and the sun blacked
out. "It was the day of the eclipse," laughs
the 18 year-old, "and in the middle of this scene
which was really intense, we all ran outside, me and
Michael both in these kinds of chiffon nighties."
Celestial events apart, Warner thoroughly enjoyed work as Simone in Philip Kaufman's Marquis De Sade drama, Quills - especially convincing Caine of his iconic status: "He wouldn't believe that he had this cult cool. So y'know The Dispensary - that really cool shop - they have Get Carter T-shirts and I showed him, and he was like, 'Oh my God, I am cool!'"
The daughter of TV actress Hettie Eckblom, Warner got her first movie break in Mansfield Park (1999), in a part credited as 'Teenage Fanny'. "It's good, isn't it?" she giggles. "She's going to go on into the Marquis De Sade definitely..."
However Warner hasn't decided on acting as a career yet - she has a place at university to study History of Art - and although she's about to jet off to LAfor the Quills premier - "Its a free holiday" - she's happier in an East End caff. "Oh yeah," she says looking around Rossi's cafe. "Just a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich. Do me fine."
Colin Kennedy
Amelia turned up as number 93 on a list of 100 'up-and-coming starlets' to look out for during the next year. It included a little picture from Quills.
The single child of actress Annette Ekblom, Warner learnt independence from a very early age after her parents split up shortly after her birth. Raised by her mother, she often found herself hanging around in stage dressing rooms and television studios. 'It was me and her against the world. It must in some ways have influenced me about acting.'
Should the acting thing not work out, she'll return to her original dream of 'opening a little gallery in Portobello Road'. To this end, a trio of ace A-levels has secured a place at Goldsmiths' to study History Of Art. With luck and a fair wind, the lecturers will have to struggle on without her for some time to come. Move over, Helena Bonham Carter, there's a new bodice in town.
Chances are if you saw the BBC's version of Kingsley Amis's Take A Girl Like You, you'll remember Amelia Warner; it seems the 18-year-old is everywhere. The trailers for Lorna Doone, the BBC's big Christmas adaptation of R.D. Blackmore's romantic adventure, have been hard to miss. Warner plays the lead.
She also uses the same mix of innocence and sexuality she displayed in Take A Girl to startling effect in Quills, Philip Kaufman's black comedy about the Marquis de Sade which is released next month. Kate Winslet is the female lead, but Warner is the true Sadean heroine. Raised in a convent, she becomes the reluctant bride of the bullying Dr Royer-Collard (Michael Caine). Warner claims she wasn't worried about working with Caine. 'My friends made me watch Alfie and The Italian Job.'
Warner's mother is actress Annette Ekblom, who tried to put her off show business, but at 16, Amelia appeared in the BBC's Aristocrats and the film Mansfield Park. Still, she insists she is going to get a degree.
Lorna Doone starts on Christmas Eve on BBC1.
Five things you should know about Amelia Warner.
1. Her first screen role was on Kavanagh QC.
2. She wasn't allowed to ride in the action scenes in Lorna Doone.
3. Having turned 18 in June, she is now legally allowed to see Quills.
4. She made her US debut in a TV version of Don Quixote with Bob Hoskins.
5. Despite her film and TV commitments, she managed to get three decent A-levels.