“Phil on Film” – TWR takes a look at the celluloid appearances by Phil Collins.
Phil got off to an early start in the cinema. His stage school training led him to be part of the original theatre version of the Lionel Bart musical, Oliver! But he was not to grace the silver screen in the film adaptation of it. His cinematic beginnings were much more lowly...
We start with a bit of controversy. It is claimed, not least by Phil himself, that he appears as an extra in The Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night. Dutiful scanning of the crowd in this film has failed to turn up any credible image of young Mr Collins but we believe ya, Phil!
Calamity The Cow (appropriate title) was to be his first film in 1967. The somewhat contrived story of a young farmer's son who rescues a cow at auction and asks to raise it. Not a very promising scenario on which to base your debut eh? Even less when, due to your somewhat precocious nature, you try to tell the director how to do his job resulting in your removal from the film for most of its duration only returning to provide the happy ending required. This was a staple of the Saturday Morning Picture Show which was something any child – your editor included – used to look forward to and I distinctly recall seeing this film on one such screening – if only I knew then what I know now eh?
More contoversy with the 1968 film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, where Phil has mentioned that he was in a scene with other children having be caught by The Childcatcher, however it has also been mentioned that the scene ended up being cut. |
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Fast forward to the mid-Eighties by which time Phil was well on his way to superstardom. His hit song Against All Odds swept the boards as the theme song to the film of the same name and then hit TV series, Miami Vice came calling... Phil was to make one brief but memorable appearance as gameshow host and conman Phil Mayhew (AKA: Phil The Shill) he even re-worked the B side The Man With The Horn as Life Is A Rat Race especially for the episode – he does not sing in the show though! Phil is evidently thoroughly enjoying his brief moment to ham it up on screen. Phil's music also featured as part of the 1985 film White Nights in the shape of Separate Live which was yet another hit for Phil.
| Two years later and Phil got his first major role in the re-telling of the life story of one of the Great Train Robbers - “Buster” Edwards. Even though the Great Train Robbery had taken place over twenty years before, the story still provoked controversy in some circles. Phil plays the lead character, Buster Edwards who, after taking part in the robbery and escaping first to Switzerland and then to South America tires of life on the run and returns to the UK and served out the rest if his sentence. Phil is impressive in this role and was joined by the equally talented Julie Walters as his long suffering wife. Despite his initial insistence that he was not going to have anything to do with the film's soundtrack, he eventually ended up writing several for the film not least A Groovy Kind Of Love and Two Hearts both of which were massive hits for him in 1988/89. The Four Tops also performed another Collins composition Loco In Acapulco which was featured in the soundtrack as was the Collins-penned Big Noise. The film went on to win several awards with an Academy Award nomination for Two Hearts and Golden Globe and Grammy wins for Best Song In A Motion picture. |
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Two years later and Phil had another role this time as Inspector Good in the Robin Williams vehicle Hook, itself an adaptation of the Peter Pan Story. The inspector is responsible for investigating the disappearance of the Darling Children (Peter and Wendy) representing the mundane world that they have left behind.
In 1993, Phil took on a role which surprised many, the true story of a gay San Francisco bath house owner, Eddie Papasano in the film And The Band Played On, itself a story about the early days of the AIDS outbreak. His character is known for his defiant attitude threatening to sue if his business is closed down and for his cynical attitude to the health crisis.
In 1993 Phil also landed another role into which he could sink his teeth as he played Roland Copping, a sociopathic and eccentric insurance investigator in Frauds a black comedy also starring Hugo Weaving. Copping blackmails a young couple who have filed a bogus insurance claim tormenting them with childish pranks rather than reporting them. Phil evidently relished the chance to play the bad guy and the film is moderately amusing. |
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Phil's next film in 1995 didn't actually see him on screen. Instead he was the disembodied voice of a pair of orphaned polar bear cubs, Muk and Luk. Balto, loosely based on the true story of the husky dog Balto who helped save children infected with diphtheria in the 1925 serum run to Nome. Balto is voiced over by Kevin Bacon and Phil's long-time pal Bob Hoskins is also included as the voice of Boris The Goose.
Phil continued work with animation company Disney to produce 1999's Tarzan for which he wrote the soundtrack. This was to prove to be Phil's most successful contribution to film to date as it won the Academy Award for best soundtrack.
Phil briefly appeared as the voiceover of Lucky in the 2003 animation The Jungle Book before returning to film soundtrack composition for Brother Bear for Disney also on 2003.
So, while Phil might not have become a latter-day Laurence Olivier (thank god!) his roles have been sufficiently varied to prove that the man does have genuine thespianic talent – is there nothing our hero cannot do?! |
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