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Frank Clarke, author
I began to jot down notes about this on a pen in my scruffy room in Toxteth, Liverpoolin 1981. Four years later, the film was shown in Britain. My idea was of a working-class romance between a couple of girls from my hometown of Kirkby and two Russian sailors on holiday around the port of Liverpool, with a subtle political message at the height of the Thatcher presidency and the cold war. There were many anti-Russian publications in the press, but I was not ready to hate the entire nation because it was demonized by the media of Robert Maxwell.
I sent my script to every TV company in the country. They all said they liked it, but they didn’t do it. I guess that’s how censorship works. They don’t reject you, they just say there is no money. But I was gay and there were always people pointing at my bed. One night, heiress Fiona Castleton falls asleep after missing the ferry back to the Isle of Man. He left me a note saying: “If you are in the area, come and say hello.” I was on the next boat, pen under my arm. His brother Charles liked the story, and it was his money that helped us start production.
The main love of the film is between Elaine (Alexandra Pigg) and the Russian sailor Peter (Peter Firth), but it is the relationship between Elaine and her friend Teresa, played by my sister Margi, that is the greatest journey for me. Elaine has the courage to follow her dreams and go to Russia to find Peter, while Teresa – who is engaged to Sergei (Alfred Molina) – stays behind, working at Kirkby’s chicken factory.
I grew up in a family of seven sisters, having a front row seat to their fights and forgiving each other. They were quick, especially if someone needed a tongue lashing. So all the strong dialogues in the film, the characters and the laughs, went through my pen, but it was my sisters who gave me the insight.
I have now read the script for the theater. It’s like going to an old friend’s house, finding all the people you used to hang out with still there, and saying: “Can we give them another whirl on the dance floor?”
Margie Clarke, psaid Teresa
It still amazes me that Letter to Brezhnev was the first thing Frank ever wrote – and that he managed to get Peter Firth and Alfred Molina to appear. I think they thought we’d be like most students, running around with a Super 8 camera, but we weren’t that smart. I lived in Brookside as CND’s wife Fran, and gained exposure through my punk band Margox and as a TV presenter. Alexandra was also present at Brookside and several other events.
It was Chris Bernard’s first film to direct but his stage background meant he was great with the actors, helping us get to the bottom line and steeling our nerves – when he called “act!” on set, the actor’s heartbeat is like a car crash. But my first experience is still worrying. Teresa, fresh from the chicken factory, is still in a dirty white uniform as she walks into the bar to meet her friends. Chris wanted me to do it without makeup, which I hated. I sneaked in an extra smile on his lips, but Chris saw me and pulled me away.
Fortunately, I also had this convertible, which was housed in Liverpool’s famous old hall The State. I suddenly exit the women as it will change the peroxide blonde in a red dress. We were all immersed in old Hollywood movies, and that scene came to light Now Voyager, where Bette Davis he goes on the boat looking like a dirty duddy and arranges things in a spectacular way.
I am proud of how the Letter changed the Russian people, at a time when Rambo was killing them. I love the scene where Sergei throws me over his shoulder. But the film was also a tribute to Kirkby and his people. When we were told the film would be set in London, Frank said: “We either do it in Kirkby or we don’t. All the people – many of them extras – turned up. More than 500 crammed into my mother’s council house for a party, spilling out into the garden. It’s still talked about. Instead, years later, a bar opened in the area called The Premiere.”
