Ten years after Bafta-winning British film Pride came out, its legacy remains larger than ever for cast, crew, real-life activists and the LGBTQ+ community. In many ways, it’s remarkable this unlikely love story between two communities – which recounts the true story of the 1984 strike that united the lesbian and gay community with Welsh miners – even exists. First, there are the challenges of producing an LGBTQ+ film of this calibre and scale on an indie budget during a time when homophobia was still rooted within the mainstream film industry and these themes were seldom explored.
Then (through some miracle) the film effortlessly secured a star-studded cast featuring legends such as Imelda Staunton , Bill Nighy , Dominic West , Faye Marsay , Paddy Considine , Jessica Gunning 10 years before her internationally-acclaimed role in Baby Reindeer, and countless more. The spark for the game-changing idea came to writer Stephen Beresford 30 years ago after a chance discussion with his boyfriend introduced him to the unlikely comrades-in-arms. Years later he revisited the idea.
‘Everyone that I spoke to before [producer] David Livingstone quite rightly said: “Look, you’ll never bring a commercial audience to a story about gay people.” ‘It probably was the case, really. Back then, it was difficult.
That has definitely changed,’ Stephen told Metro.co.uk .
And former Swansea East MP Sian James, who is portrayed by Jessica in the film , was ‘sceptical’ about the fi.
