Blue Juice
Encyclopedia
Blue Juice is a 1995 British film directed by Carl Prechezer and starring Sean Pertwee
Sean Pertwee
Sean Pertwee is an English actor known for his television, film and voice-over work.-Career:In the early 80s, he auditioned for a place at the Surrey County Youth Theatre where he was cast as Captain Fitzpatrick in the play Tom Jones, based on the novel by Henry Fielding...

, Catherine Zeta Jones, Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...

 and Steven Mackintosh
Steven Mackintosh
-Personal life:Mackintosh was born in Cambridge, the son of Dorothy and Malcolm Mackintosh. He has a sister, Lynda Ellingham .He is married to the actress Lisa Jacobs and the couple have two children, Martha and Blythe.-Film:...

. It follows JC (Pertwee) as he attempts to reconcile his surfer lifestyle and loser friends with the pressure to grow up from his girlfriend (Jones). Blue Juice was set in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

, and released in 1995 by FilmFour productions
Film4 Productions
Film4 Productions is a British film production company owned by Channel 4. The company has been responsible for backing a large number of films made in the United Kingdom. The company's first production was Walter, directed by Stephen Frears, which was released in 1982.- History :Before 1998, the...

.

Plot

JC seems to have it all figured out. By day he runs a surf school, at night he lies down next to his beautiful girlfriend Chloe. However, when his mates arrive from London unannounced it releases tensions which have long been simmering under the surface of JC and Chloe's seemingly perfect relationship. His friends, especially drug-dealer Dean are intent on causing mischief and sucking JC back into his old habits, which Chloe had hoped were long gone.

Wardrobe and props

Many of the film's characters are dressed in clothing from the pressure group Surfers against Sewage
Surfers against Sewage
Surfers Against Sewage is a campaign for clean, safe recreational water free from sewage effluents, toxic chemicals, nuclear waste and marine litter. SAS also campaigns to protect surf spots from environmental damage, negative impacts on wave quality and to safeguard wave riders right of access....

. Many characters also wear the Australian surfwear label Mambo Graphics
Mambo Graphics
Mambo is an Australian surf and street clothing brand. It was launched in 1984, by and business partner, Andrew Rich in the Sydney suburb of Alexandria.- Early Days :...

 and Stussy
Stussy
Stussy, or Stüssy , is a clothing brand and private company started in the early 1980s by Shawn Stussy. The company is one of many that benefited from the surfwear trend originating in Orange County, California, United States but has largely been adopted by the streetwear and hip-hop...

 hats. Wetsuits used in the film and in publicity shots were manufactured by the Cornish Surf brand Gul. Other surf brands seen throughout the film, in the form of stickers or clothing, include Body Glove and Quiksilver.

Surfers Against Sewage stickers and posters are widely used throughout the film, visible in the Aqua Shack scenes and applied to the blue Bedford CF van driven by JC and Chloe for the surf school.

Pertwee used toupée
Toupee
A toupée is a hairpiece or partial wig of natural or synthetic hair worn to cover partial baldness or for theatrical purposes. While toupées and hairpieces are typically associated with male wearers, some women also use hairpieces to lengthen existing hair, or cover partially exposed scalp...

 tape to hold a sock in place, in the scene where JC appears nude apart from a black sock. "...I came up with this ingenious ploy - wrapping toupée tape on my chap. You won't believe how difficult it is to remove..." In a 1995 interview with FHM, Zeta-Jones recalled the filming of the sock scene; "It was a brown Marks & Spencer
Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...

 one, though. If it was a Stussy one, or something like that, it might have been more interesting."

Professional surfer Steve England
Steve England
Steve England has spent over 35 years in radio production and at present runs a jingle production company in Leek, Staffordshire, which was established in 1997...

 was a body double for Peter Gunn
Peter Gunn
Peter Gunn is an American private eye television series which aired on the NBC and later ABC television networks from 1958 to 1961. The show's creator was Blake Edwards...

's character, Terry. To replicate Gunn's look and larger build he had to have his long hair cut and wear two wetsuits with towels packed around his stomach.

A reference is made in the film to the 1960s comic book character the Silver Surfer
Silver Surfer
The Silver Surfer is a Marvel Comics superhero created by Jack Kirby. The character first appears in Fantastic Four #48 , the first of a three-issue arc that fans call "The Galactus Trilogy"....

. On the way to find the rave, JC, Josh, Dean and Terry pass a man painted entirely in silver carrying a silver surfboard who waves at them. Terry, under the influence of drugs supplied by Dean, then copies this by painting himself silver.

There are a couple of errors in the story. Early on when the radio DJ says the cows will be coming in for milking it cuts to a herd of Hereford cattle blocking a road. Herefords are farmed for beef not milk. In the scene where Wigan Casino is discussed, the order given of Three before Eight records is wrong.

The red and yellow ‘TASTY’ surfboard that Ewan MacGregor used in the film, was sold at a film memorabilia auction in 2001 at Sotheby’s in New York, to raise money for children born with Aids in Africa.

Supporting cast

Blue Juice features an appearance from Jenny Agutter
Jenny Agutter
Jennifer Ann "Jenny" Agutter is an English film and television actress. She began her career as a child actress in the mid 1960s, starring in the BBC television series The Railway Children and the film adaptation of the same book, before moving on to adult roles and relocating to Hollywood.She...

 as a retired actress turned hotel proprietor Mary Fenton, who is famous for playing Guinevere
Guinevere
Guinevere was the legendary queen consort of King Arthur. In tales and folklore, she was said to have had a love affair with Arthur's chief knight Sir Lancelot...

 in a fictional television show called "Arthur's Knights".

The film also features soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 singer Edwin Starr
Edwin Starr
Edwin Starr was an American soul music singer. Starr is most famous for his Norman Whitfield produced singles of the 1970s, most notably the number one hit "War".-Biography:...

 as a soul singer named Ossie Sands. The songs featured were recorded by Starr for the film. Continuing the Northern Soul theme, an appearance is made by legendary soul and funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

 DJ Keb Darge
Keb Darge
Keb Darge is a Scottish DJ of the genres of Northern Soul and Rockabilly music.He began his career in local disco dance competitions in the North of Scotland, and made an appearance in the nationally televised 1979 UK disco dance finals. He was also a dancer for the Wigan Casino, whilst...

. He can be seen wearing a yellow top, dancing in the soul disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...

 at the village hall. In the recording studio scene, the sound engineer is played by Paul Reynolds
Paul Reynolds
Paul Reynolds may refer to:*Paul Reynolds , Ex-footballer, convicted sex offender.*Paul Reynolds , British actor*Paul Reynolds , BBC's World Affairs correspondent...

, whose largest role before Blue Juice was as Christopher Craig, the accomplice of Derek Bentley in the film Let Him Have It
Let Him Have It
Let Him Have It is a 1991 British film, which was based on the true story of the case against Derek Bentley, who was hanged for murder under controversial circumstances on 28 January 1953. While Bentley did not directly play a role in the murder of PC Sidney Miles, he received the greater...

.

Keith Allen had a small part as Mike, a tabloid newspaper editor, who pays the Ewan McGregor character, Dean, for stories about record producer Josh.

The role of Shaper, played by Heathcote Williams
Heathcote Williams
Heathcote Williams is an English poet, actor and award-winning playwright. He is also an intermittent painter, sculptor and long-time conjuror...

, was also offered to Nigel Terry
Nigel Terry
Nigel Terry is an English stage and film actor probably best known by film audiences for his portrayal of King Arthur in John Boorman's Excalibur . However, he has had a long career in classical theatre....

, best known for his portrayal of King Arthur in the1981 John Boorman film Excalibur.

Mark Frost, who played Moose, appeared in the 2008 ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

 Echo Beach
Echo Beach (soap)
Echo Beach was a short-lived British teen-drama series that aired on ITV in 2008. Set in the fictional Cornish coastal town of Polnarren, it ran for twelve weekly episodes from 10 January to 21 March 2008...

, also set on the Cornwall coast and featuring aspects of surf culture
Surf culture
Surf culture includes the people, language, fashion and life surrounding the art of surfing.The culture began early in the 20th century, spread quickly during the 1950s and 1960s, and continues to evolve. It affected fashion, music, literature, films, jargon, and more...

. Also part of the surfing crew was Cornish girl Andreya Wharry, who features throughout the film but is most prominently seen in the cafe scene where Josh tries to pay for Junior's food with his credit card. After Blue Juice, Wharry featured as a contestant on the TV show Gladiators, became a world top 10 kite surfer and set the world distance record for kite surfing, traveling from Cornwall to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, in September 2005 . Another surfer was played by Martin Dorey, author of The Campervan Cookbook and presenter of the BBC2 series One Man and His Campervan.

Chloe and JC's baby is played by Astrid Weguelin, the daughter of the film's make-up artist Kirstin Weguelin.

Filming locations

The main location of the Aqua Shack is in Mousehole
Mousehole
Mousehole is a village and fishing port in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately 2½ miles south of Penzance on the shore of Mount's Bay.The village is in the civil parish of Penzance...

, while other locations in Cornwall included a rock high above Chapel Porth for the mystical seaweed scene, Godrevy
Godrevy
Godrevy is an area of west Cornwall, United Kingdom, found on the north coast within St. Ives Bay and is popular with both the surfing community and walkers. It is home also to some areas administered by the National Trust, and a lighthouse maintained by Trinity House.- Godrevy Head :The headland ...

, Newquay
Newquay
Newquay is a town, civil parish, seaside resort and fishing port in Cornwall, England. It is situated on the North Atlantic coast of Cornwall approximately west of Bodmin and north of Truro....

 and St Ives
St Ives, Cornwall
St Ives is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times it was commercially dependent on fishing. The decline in fishing, however, caused a shift in commercial...

 for some of the street scenes. The scene filmed at the train station was in St. Erth, just outside Hayle
Hayle
Hayle is a small town, civil parish and cargo port in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated at the mouth of the Hayle River and is approximately seven miles northeast of Penzance...

. The map examined by JC, Josh and Dean whilst trying to work out where Terry has gone on the bike shows Godrevey Point and the B3301 road, a few miles north of Hayle. The scene where JC and Chloe argue through the windscreen of the van have is at Trevellas
Trevellas
Trevellas is a village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, situated midway between St Agnes and Perranporth.The village had a post office and shop until the 1980s when it was closed and is now divided into two dwellings. The shop was owned by Mrs Menadue and was known as Menadue drapers and...

 Porth Valley, also known as Blue Hills, between St. Agnes
St Agnes, Cornwall
St Agnes is a civil parish and a large village on the north coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom. The village is situated approximately five miles north of Redruth and ten miles southwest of Newquay....

 and Perranporth
Perranporth
Perranporth is a small seaside resort on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is southwest of Newquay and northwest of Truro. Perranporth and its long beach face the Atlantic Ocean....

. The location of the second Aqua Shack is Kynance Cove Cafe, at Kynance Cove
Kynance Cove
Kynance Cove is a cove in southwest Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated on the Lizard peninsula approximately two miles north of Lizard Point...

 on Lizard Point. The hotel where Josh and Dean take Terry for the cream tea is the Tregenna Castle
Tregenna Castle
Tregenna Castle, in St Ives, Cornwall, was built by John Stephens in the 18th century. The estate was sold in 1871 and became an hotel, a purpose for which it is still used today.The castle is a Grade II Listed building...

 Hotel, on the outskirts of St Ives, whilst the village hall scene was filmed at Rose Hill, just off Bunkers Hill in the Downalong area of St Ives.

The large wave and surfing sequences were filmed in Famara, Lanzarote
Lanzarote
Lanzarote , a Spanish island, is the easternmost of the autonomous Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 125 km off the coast of Africa and 1,000 km from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering 845.9 km2, it stands as the fourth largest of the islands...

, while a few close ups were filmed in a specialist wave pool, as shown in the documentary that accompanies the DVD release.

Additional shots were filmed in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and at Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton...

.

In a 2008 interview with The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

, Sean Pertwee stated that his favourite place in the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...

 was St. Agnes in Cornwall. "I spent a lot of time there when filming Blue Juice, which was about surfers. The walk along the top of the cliffs is beautiful."

Soundtrack

  • "Movin' On Up" performed by Edwin Starr
    Edwin Starr
    Edwin Starr was an American soul music singer. Starr is most famous for his Norman Whitfield produced singles of the 1970s, most notably the number one hit "War".-Biography:...

     (a cover of the Primal Scream
    Primal Scream
    Primal Scream are a Scottish alternative rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie and Jim Beattie and now based in London. The current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes , Martin Duffy , and Darrin Mooney...

     song)
  • "The Price of Pain" - performed by Edwin Starr
  • "Freedom Bug" - performed by Heavy Stereo, written by Gem
    Gem (band)
    GEM is a band from Utrecht, The Netherlands. The five-piece, founded in 2003, plays energetic rock, mixing grit with melody. GEM has released two albums of which Escapades is the newest.-Biography:...

  • "Get It On" - performed by Marc Bolan
    Marc Bolan
    Marc Bolan was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and poet. He is best known as the founder, frontman, lead singer & guitarist for T. Rex, but also a successful solo artist...

     and T.Rex
  • "Leave Them All Behind" - performed by Ride
    Ride (band)
    Ride were a British alternative rock band that formed in 1988 in Oxford, England, consisting of Andy Bell, Mark Gardener, Laurence "Loz" Colbert, and Steve Queralt. The band were initially part of the "shoegazing" scene. Following the break-up of the band in 1996, members moved on to various other...

  • "Half the Man" - written and performed by Jamiroquai
    Jamiroquai
    Jamiroquai is a British jazz funk and acid jazz band formed in 1992. Jamiroquai were initially the most prominent component in the early-1990s London-based acid jazz movement, alongside groups such as Incognito, the James Taylor Quartet, and the Brand New Heavies. Other Acid Jazz artists such as...

  • "Duel" - performed by Swervedriver
    Swervedriver
    Swervedriver are an English alternative rock band from Oxford. The band went on hiatus in 1998 before reforming in 2008 for a world tour, which included a performance at the high-profile Coachella Festival...

  • "Lonely for You Baby" - performed by Sam Dees
    Sam Dees
    Sam Dees is a soul singer, songwriter and producer.Dees was born into a large family and quickly distinguished himself with his voice. At the age of 9, already champion of several singing contests, he founded his own vocal group, the "Bossanovians"...

  • "I Need Something Stronger" - performed by Apollo 440
    Apollo 440
    Apollo 440 are an English band formed in Liverpool in 1990. Apollo 440 have written, recorded and produced four albums, collaborated with and produced other artists, remixed as Apollo 440 and as ambient cinematic alter-ego Stealth Sonic Orchestra, and created music for film, television,...

  • "You're the One" - performed by Gillian Wisdom
  • "You Were the Dream" - Roscoe Shelton
    Roscoe Shelton
    Roscoe Shelton was an American electric blues and R&B singer. He is best remembered for his 1965 hit single, "Strain on My Heart," and his working relationships with both The Fairfield Four and Bobby Hebb. Other notable recordings include "Think It Over" and "Baby Look What You're Doin' To Me"...



The original score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...

 in the film was written by Simon Davison.

The soundtrack has never been commercially available.

DVD artwork

For the 2000 DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 release, the DVD case artwork for the international market was redesigned with a picture of McGregor replacing Pertwee on the cover, even though McGregor had a smaller role. McGregor is depicted clean shaven and in a wetsuit, despite the fact his character in the film is not a surfer and had a beard and long hair. Several reviewers and consumers picked up on this, including a review at www.dvdverdict.com which stated: "While it is perfectly understandable to attempt to sell the disc to consumers, it is questionable whether or not this marketing push steps over the line into disinformation
Disinformation
Disinformation is intentionally false or inaccurate information that is spread deliberately. For this reason, it is synonymous with and sometimes called black propaganda. It is an act of deception and false statements to convince someone of untruth...

."

A later release on DVD in 2004 reverted to the original artwork featuring Pertwee and
Zeta-Jones, while a further release in 2008 saw the artwork entirely redesigned with FilmFour branding and a fresh image of Pertwee and Zeta-Jones.
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