Local filmmaker's fantasy comes to life Local filmmaker's fantasy comes to life (February 11, 2005)

Movie opens in Mountain View next week

By Julie O'Shea

For 13 years, "Her Majesty" languished in a bottom desk drawer.

The screenplay about a young girl's fascination with Queen Elizabeth II has been filmmaker Mark Gordon's pet project for the majority of his professional career.

Gordon, a Mountain View native who moved to Los Angeles in the early '80s to attend UCLA's prestigious film school, spent years trying to find a distributor for his family-friendly movie.

But Hollywood didn't seem very enthused with the small independent film. Gordon, now 43, was forced to find a different way to bring "Her Majesty" to the big screen. And that's exactly what he did, thanks to about 35 investors, mostly from Silicon Valley, and one big-time producer (Walter Coblenz, "All the President's Men") who all believed this film would be a smash hit.

After making its rounds on the film festival circuit, where it won several awards, Gordon's pet project will finally make its Northern California premiere on Feb. 18 with screenings at several Bay Area movie houses including Century Cinema 16 in Mountain View.

"If we had the budget of one of 'The Lord of the Ring' movies, we could have made 50 'Her Majesties,'" mused Gordon in a phone interview from the Palo Alto home of his older sister, Lisa, who is one of the film's executive producers. "We are competing with studio films. ... You've got to perform well the first weekend, or you just don't stick around."

Based on the warm reception a test audience gave it during a recent screening in San Francisco, "Her Majesty" could have a good run in area theaters.

"Did anyone else cry in the movie besides me?" Tracy Benbassat of San Francisco blurted out shortly after the screening Monday night.

"I think it should do really well," Benbassat added. "It has a really good story to tell."

Indeed, many milling about the lobby of Dolby Laboratories on Monday said they appreciated Gordon's well-thought-out story that didn't use profanity and sexual innuendo.

"It's a wonderful movie," commented Rita Losch of El Granada, who brought her young daughter to the screening. "I wish there could be more movies like this. It was refreshing."

Set in 1953 New Zealand around the time of the Royal Coronation, "Her Majesty" seems almost like a cross between a "Leave It To Beaver" episode and an after-school special. Gordon peppers his script with more than one moral lesson, a loveable hero, caring parents and even a "dreamy" gym instructor.

The plot is simple: Elizabeth Wakefield (an adorable Sally Andrews, who won the best actress award at the San Diego Film Festival) is fascinated by the newly crowned Queen of England and begins a letter-writing campaign to convince the British monarch to pay a visit to her hometown. When word arrives that Middleton is on the queen's tour route, the residents, Elizabeth especially, are ecstatic.

A group of town busybodies assumes the role of the welcoming committee and sets about cleaning up the town. Problems arise when the group tries to convince an old Maori woman to tear down her dilapidated wooden shack before the queen's visit. The woman, Hira Mata (Vicky Haughton), refuses. However, the snobby leader of the welcoming committee will stop at nothing to make sure all eyesores, including Hira's shack, are removed before the big day.

"I knew I wanted it to be a period piece," said Gordon, who came up with the story idea after coming across an old newspaper clipping of the 1953 coronation.

"I don't necessarily write in a linear fashion. Sometimes I don't write a story until I know the end. It's been a long process," added Gordon.

But it looks like "Her Majesty" may be well worth the wait.

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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