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Jerry Hall gets intimate
by Luke Leitch Arts Reporter
One cruel critic may have described Jerry Hall's breasts as "two fried eggs in the gloaming" at her West End appearance in The Graduate last year but, undaunted, she has returned to deal with another part of the female anatomy - the vagina.
A wildly enthusiastic - and predominantly female - audience bayed its approval as Ms Hall joined Josette Simon and Pam Ferris for her first night of duty at the The Vagina Monologues at The New Ambassadors theatre.
Eve Ensler's brilliantly provocative piece, based on interviews with hundreds of women about their vaginas, has sparked sensation - some prurient, some positive - around the globe.
Texan-born Ms Hall, 45, admitted that the show had even taught her something she didn't know before: vibrators are illegal in the Lonestar State.
She also admitted that appearing on stage fully clothed to unpick the intricacies of the vagina was far more nerve-wracking than baring all in The Graduate.
"It was more scary than The Graduate because we only had an hour before the show to rehearse," she said at the cast party in The Ivy after the performance. "It is a show for women really, but I think men enjoy it too - they all end up laughing when they recognise the sound of their girlfriends' orgasms."
Ms Hall,who split with Mick Jagger after his affair with Brazilian model Luciana Morad hit the headlines, added that, while her acting career may be proceeding apace, she has no set ambitions.
"I really enjoy it, that's all. I don't have any particular longterm plans, I'm just free-falling and working with anyone I meet along the way whose ideas I like. I'm just going with the groove."
Ms Hall, none of whose children were at the New Ambassadors last night, will not be on stage for the next two evenings due to a prior commitment to shoot a part in a new Merchant Ivory film. However, she will return for this weekend.
What a Saga for Jagger!
by Tom Sykes
Getting old, the young Mick Jagger once noted, is a drag. There is no denying the 58-year-old Rolling Stone has done his best to resist traditional ageing patterns - most notably by divorcing Jerry Hall and embarking on an allegedly short-lived high-profile affair with the 23-year-old model Sophie Dahl.
Pensioners' pin-up: Jagger, who has always had a gorgeous girl on his arm
So it may come as some surprise to learn that the ageing rocker is the cover star for this month's Saga Magazine, a publication exclusively for the over-fifties and read by Victor Meldrews everywhere, Jagger's distinctive features jostling for space among advertisements for orthopaedic chairs and beds, retirement homes and non-slip bathmats.
Saga magazine may seem an inappropriate medium for a man who recently fathered a young son, Lucas, with a Brazilian model, Luciana Morad (the affair was blamed for his marriage break-up) but in his dotage Jagger appears to have realised that maturity can present a good marketing opportunity - especially if you are producing a new film about the Enigma code breakers at Bletchley Park during the Second World War.
As Saga editor Paul Bach said today: "He's got a new film coming out and for our readers, Enigma is a very interesting subject, so he was happy to talk about it. Many of them would have worked there during the war. Some of our detractors wrongly think that Saga Magazine relates to old age and feebleness, but if you do your sums you will quickly realise that people of 60 or 70 would have been in their teens themselves when Jagger was beginning to make his mark in the world."
Mr Bach added that Saga, which claims a circulation of one million although many copies are given away free, had also recently featured celebrities such as Twiggy and Goldie Hawn on its covers.
In the magazine interview Jagger does not talk about getting older, preferring to concentrate on his film Enigma, which is due for release at the end of next month.
Jagger bought the rights to the best-selling novel by Robert Harris, and commissioned a screenplay by Sir Tom Stoppard, who won an Oscar for the script of the film Shakespeare In Love.
Enigma stars Kate Winslet, Dougray Scott and Saffron Burrows trying to break the Nazis' secret code with the help of the Enigma machine. Ironically, Jagger was unable to find British backers for the film and it has been financed with German money. "I put in seed money, not heavy stuff," Jagger says in the interview. "It's an absolute rule."
He also approached American companies for financial backing, but says: "We could not get American money to make this unless we changed it to an American story. I believe in British films and British talent."
Having featured on its pages and been introduced to its delights, will Mick Jagger now become an avid Saga reader? "Like most people, he would probably say he would not," says Mr Bach, "but when he opens it up and sees how good it is, he would probably change his mind." And with features such as "Raging Grannies: A Pressure Group With A Difference," who could argue?
How Mick could get savings satisfaction
As an over-50, Mick Jagger would be able to take advantage of these Saga offers:
25 per cent off spectacles at Dollond and Aitchison.
Half-price mini-cruise from Portsmouth to Bilbao with P&O ferries.
Half-price weekend breaks at Moat House Hotels.
Half-price tickets for The King And I.
�5 off when spending more than �25 at Whittards.
Cheap pet insurance.
"Grandkids for a Quid" at Warwick Castle. A full-price paying adult can take an under-16 into the castle for �1
From This is London
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Mick Jagger grows up
Claire Cozens
Wednesday August 22, 2001
Saga's front cover
Mick Jagger may seem to be doing his best to avoid the trappings of middle-age, but an appearance on the front cover of next month's Saga magazine suggests he has finally bowed to the inevitable.
The magazine for the over-50s has a history of impressive scoops.
It hit the headlines last year when Mo Mowlam called for the royal family to be scrapped in an interview with the magazine.
"It was a close-run thing between Mick and Cilla but Mick won in the end," said editor Paul Bach. The magazine will also carry an interview with Cilla Black.
"People think Saga magazine is for old people but actually it's for over-50s, many of whom would have listened to the Rolling Stones in their teens.
"You tend to stick with your pop idols so we think our readers will be very interested in an interview with Mick Jagger," he added.
The interview was offered to Saga by Garth Pearce, a regular freelance writer for the magazine. In it Jagger talks about his new film, Enigma.
Previous Saga cover models have included Twiggy, Pierce Brosnan and Anita Roddick |
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A good light gives Jagger satisfaction
BY ALAN HAMILTON
YOU can make the surface of the Moon look smooth if you use the right lighting, according to the photographer who took the portrait of Mick Jagger for the front cover of next month�s Saga magazine, the monthly journal of the over-fifties.
You can also obliterate a lifetime of sex, drugs and rock �n� roll.
Jagger, who turned 58 this year and has therefore been eligible for a Saga holiday and cut-price car insurance for eight years, looks almost boyish in the picture published to accompany an interview with him about his backing of the film Enigma, based on the Robert Harris novel of life in the wartime codebreaking centre at Bletchley Park.
The Rolling Stones frontman seems to defy the ageing process in other ways, such as conducting a much-publicised affair with Sophie Dahl, the 23-year-old model. But Clive Arrowsmith, the photographer who captured the old rou� for the magazine cover, admits that he bestowed upon Jagger the kindness of soft lighting. The picture is also at least six years old.
�The camera is a tool to express whatever we want, but Mick looked OK on the day; he had just been on a long holiday,� Mr Arrowsmith said. �You can�t really compare it with news pictures; a single flash going off in your face will always show you at your worst.�
Paul Bach, the editor of Saga, is delighted to have Jagger on his cover but pointed out yesterday that he recently featured another surprisingly over-fifty as his cover girl � the model Twiggy.
�The subject of the Jagger interview is Bletchley Park in wartime, and many of our readers will have worked there, or at least be familiar with it,� Mr Bach said.
With a circulation of over one million copies a month, Saga was not exclusively about stairlifts, orthopaedic beds and dietary supplements, Mr Bach said. �Saga is not about the old and frail; Mick Jagger typifies the new young generation who are coming to us full of life, energy and ambition. And don�t forget that people now in their 60s and 70s would have been youngsters when Jagger was beginning to make his mark on the world.�
Jagger once said that getting old was a drag, although that was before he was old. Besides fathering children by young Brazilian models, he can now get cheap spectacles from Dollond and Aitchison, half-price tickets for The King and I, and use the cruise ship Saga Rose, from which under-fifties are banned. Strange that he hasn�t signed up yet. |
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Jagger is over-50s
pin-up
Mick Jagger will release a solo album in November
Veteran rocker Mick Jagger has become the
new pin-up for the over 50s - his face adorns
the latest cover of Saga Magazine.
The Rolling Stones singer features in the
publication, which goes out to an older
readership, to promote his new film Enigma.
He tells the magazine of his frustration trying
to get UK financial backing for the film,
eventually securing German funding.
Jagger's company,
Jagged Films, produced
the movie, adapted
from Robert Harris'
book set in 1943.
It tells the dramatic
tale of the British
codebreaking triumphs
by the experts at
Bletchley Park in
Buckinghamshire during
the Second World War.
Their exploits are believed to have shortened
the war by at least two years.
Hijack
Jagger told Saga Magazine about his efforts to
stave off attempts by US movie-makers to
hijack the film and turn it into a story about an
American triumph.
He said: "We could not get the American
money to make this unless we changed it to an
American story and how can you translate this
to a place like Philadelphia."
The film stars a host of British talent including
Kate Winslet, Dougray Scott and Saffron
Burrows.
Jagger added: "We've had some of the best
technicians and film crews around for years.
"We are now getting a
crop of strong young
actors coming through
who are acceptable to
the Americans.
"I am not against
having an American
actor in any film so
long as they are good.
Where it goes wrong is
having to employ an
American who is no
good, just to keep the
financiers happy."
Jagger, 58, has a solo album due out in
November, collaborating with such artists as
U2's Bono, Lenny Kravitz and rap star Missy
Elliott.
Enigma received its UK premi�re at the
Edinburgh Film Festival and will go on general
release in September |
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