{"id":2892,"date":"2014-09-27T09:57:12","date_gmt":"2014-09-27T09:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theduanewells.com\/?p=2892"},"modified":"2018-07-29T03:46:56","modified_gmt":"2018-07-29T03:46:56","slug":"on-location-with-leonie-prendergast-jimi-all-is-by-my-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theduanewells.com\/staging3\/on-location-with-leonie-prendergast-jimi-all-is-by-my-side\/","title":{"rendered":"On Location with Leonie Prendergast | \u2018Jimi: All is By My Side\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Andre-3000-Playing-Guitar\"<\/a><\/p>\n

His meteoric rise to fame in 1967, underwritten by the performance during which he literally set his guitar alight on stage and co-signed by his premature death at the age of 27 in 1970, secured an iconic place of honor for Jimi Hendrix among the pantheon of rock music gods. And yet the story behind the ascent of one of music\u2019s most mythical figures has never truly been told. That is, until now.<\/p>\n

Jimi Hendrix was definitively born in Seattle and, arguably, musically reared in New York City, but it was in London that the former Johnny Allen Hendrix would first find fame before ever experiencing the same in America. The new film, Jimi: All is By My Side,<\/em> offers a snapshot of the singer\u2019s journey from Harlem to the heights of fame on the other side of the pond. Interestingly, however, the film was shot in Dublin, Ireland which acts as a stand-in for the swinging 60\u2019s in London \u2013 a fact that thrilled the film\u2019s Dublin-based Costume Designer Leonie Prendergast.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely!\u201d Prendergast exclaims through peals of laughter when asked if she was excited by the prospect of a film about Jimi Hendrix being shot in her native Dublin. \u201cTo get to design a job that was set in the 60\u2019s and also about Jimi Hendrix was an incredible honor for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou couldn\u2019t dream it up. When I heard the movie was being made, I was like \u2018Oh my god! I have to design that job!\u2019 She continues enthusiastically. Prendergast\u2019s father, a member of a popular 60\u2019s Irish show band himself, played the music of Hendrix, The Beatles, Janis Ian and Joni Mitchell, among others, around the house when Leonie was just a wee little girl. And it was these sounds from her childhood home that, at least in part, inspired Prendergast to push herself to capture the spirit of a narrow space of time in 1960\u2019s London in as true a form as possible with the film\u2019s costumes.<\/p>\n

\"Andre-3000-Streets-of-London\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you want is to get as real and authentic as possible,\u201d the designer explains of her approach to film\u2019s costumes which evoke London\u2019s place at the vanguard of fashion during the era. \u201cSo when I was researching I would not only be looking at fashion plates of the time, but I would be looking at actual pictures of streets of London and interiors of clubs to get a real sense of what the general public was wearing. The main aim was to make it look real and authentic and not too over stylized, in order to capture the real essence of what was going on in London at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the subject of time, Jimi: All is By My Side<\/em>, directed by John Ridley, writer of the Oscar-nominated 12 Years A Slave<\/em> and Three Kings<\/em>, does not attempt to tell the complete story of Hendrix\u2019s life. Instead the movie fashions a compelling introduction to the musician vis-\u00e0-vis a version of events that occurred during the pivotal period between 1966 and 1967 when the virtuoso went from playing empty clubs in New York City as Jimmy James to wowing the world as the creative giant behind The Jimi Hendrix Experience at 1967\u2019s Monterey Pop Festival alongside The Who, Janis Joplin and The Mamas and The Papas. That Ridley accomplishes this feat without the consent of the Hendrix estate or a single original Hendrix song is a testament to both the strength of his directorial debut and Andr\u00e9 3000\u2019s (n\u00e9e Benjamin) engaging embodiment of the rock n\u2019 roll legend. Speaking of which, Andr\u00e9 3000\u2019s performance is one of the film\u2019s standouts. Not only does the Oukast frontman capture the psychedelic 60\u2019s drawl that was Hendrix\u2019s signature, he physically transforms himself in order to mimic the singer\u2019s emaciated person and in the process convincingly sidesteps his own persona to become Hendrix.<\/p>\n

\"Andre-3000-as-Jimi-Hendrix\"<\/a>
Andre Benjamin shows off his guitar skills in the role of Jimi Hendrix<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The film\u2019s success also glides along on the strength of performances by the supporting cast including an intoxicating Imogen Poots in the role of Linda Keith, Keith Richards\u2019 model ex-girlfriend who is credited with having discovered Hendrix in 1966, and Hayley Atwell as Kathy Etchingham, Hendrix\u2019s long-term British girlfriend. Cast aside, however, it is Dublin that is perhaps one of the film\u2019s unexpected stars \u2013 dressed as London though it may be.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Though] the film is shot in Dublin\u2026the production designer, Paul Cross, did a great job replicating interiors and sets for New York and London where Jimi: All is by My Side<\/em> is set,\u201d explains Prendergast who scoured London\u2019s vintage stores for the costumes worn in the films. \u201cA lot of the scenes within the movie were filmed in great music venues in Dublin. Most notably is the scene in which Jimi and The Experience perform “Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Heart Club Band”. They originally performed this Beatles song in the Saville Row Theatre in London [but] it was shot in the Olympia Theatre in Dublin. Secondly the scene where Jimi meets Kathy Etchingham in the Scotch club in London was filmed in The Workmans Club in Dublin.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Andre-3000-Imogen-Poots\"<\/a>
Andre Benjamin and Imogen Poots in “Jimi: All is By My Side”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And yes, in case you were wondering, both Dublin outposts come with Prendergast\u2019s stamp of approval as do other notable points of interest in the city\u00a0including Trinity College and Grafton Street (the city\u2019s main shopping thoroughfare}, the Guinness Storehouse.which the designer describes as a \u201cmust\u201d, and St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral.<\/p>\n

Prendergast\u2019s infectious love for Dublin was clearly shared by the film\u2019s cast and crew who delved into life in the Irish capitol in their off hours. “It was strange,” says Irish born actress Ruth Negga, who portrays a love interest of Hendrix in the film. “I’ve made TV shows in Ireland but I’ve never made a film here. It’s lovely being in Dublin because it’s so much smaller than London. It’s easier to maneuver. We were staying at the Shelbourne Hotel and you’d get home and you’d have Dublin on your doorstep to do whatever you wanted. You’d go for a walk in the park. In the evening, Andr\u00e9 went out exploring Dublin.”<\/p>\n

Perhaps in a nod to the genius of the film\u2019s subject, Prendergast reminds me as we are about to end our conversation that \u201cIreland has produced amazing poets, musicians and writers\u201d all of which has helped earn the country earn its reputation as \u201cthe land of saints and scholars\u201d. Put in that light, Dublin does not at all seem an odd choice as the location for a film about Jimi Hendrix. In fact, it seems as decisively unconventional as the songbook of one of music\u2019s brightest lights.<\/p>\n

Jimi: All is By My Side <\/em>is in theatres now. Watch the trailer below:<\/p>\n