When writer/director Jeremy Brock said "Action" for the first time on the set of "Driving Lessons" it was the realisation of a long-held dream.   The writer of successful screenplays "Mrs Brown" and "Charlotte Gray", the co-creator of British television's most successful medical drama, "Casualty", had started the screenplay of "Driving Lessons" some five years earlier.   The subject was intensely personal, a rites of passage story about the influence that an older actress has on an awkward young teenager, the son of a vicar, when he goes to work as her assistant.   
This story was loosely based on a vignette from Brock's own adolescence when he, also the son of a vicar, worked for legendary actress Dame Peggy Ashcroft.
It was only when Brock showed the screenplay to producer Julia Chasman that the possibility of making "Driving Lessons" became real.   Until then, everyone wished him well, but nobody was prepared to take a chance on the first-time director. 
Julia Chasman was different.   She and Brock worked together on the script. Then she helped packaged the project, approaching the cast and financiers who were prepared to give Brock his directing opportunity.   "I loved the script," said Chasman.   She wanted a debut project for her new production company, RubberTreePlant and "Driving Lessons" was it.  The involvement of the UK Film Council's Premiere Fund changed  the dream to a reality.
Chasman and Brock had worked closely together refining the script.  Now they put their attention to finding the perfect production team.  They hired Alexandra Ferguson as co-producer and together began interviewing crew for the project.   As casting director they enlisted the help of Priscilla John, doyenne of casting directors, whose considerable experience includes"Quills", "Aragon", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Van Helsing", "Little Voice", "Seven Years in Tibet", "Frankenstein", "Little Buddha", "City of Joy", "A Passage to India" and "Jewel in the Crown".
Brock's script that so delighted Chasman, also worked its magic on actors: Julie Walters talked about the truth of the screenplay.   "It's been five years in the writing, it's really textured and real and the people are completely layered and whole, all of them, no matter how small."   She was keen to play eccentric, exasperating, hilarious actress Eve Walton.
A trip to America and a meeting with Laura Linney gave Brock a second committed player.   "There's something very satisfying about working with first time directors," said Linney.   "I've worked with a lot of them.   They have complete understanding of the material, particularly if they are directing their own screenplays.   They understand how actors work and they have a decency of character about how to treat a crew."
The third piece of absolutely vital casting was the adolescent who would play Ben, Linney's screen son who goes to work for Evie and finds the whole world opens up to him.   Rupert Grint, mainstay of the "Harry Potter" series of phenomenally successful films in which he plays Ron Weasley, was growing up fast and keen to play a rites-of-passage role that would acknowledge that fact.
Grint was signed to play Ben.
While casting was continuing, other principal crew were hired - director of photography David Katznelson worked tirelessly with Brock before shooting started, poring over Brock's storyboards, travelling with him to potential locations, easing the new director towards the high anxiety of the shooting period.   "He had a wonderfully gentle but determined approach," commented Brock.   "He was incredibly generous with his time.   If my main relationship on the film was with Julia Chasman, my most important ally in terms of actually making the film was with David Katznelson.   He was key to me feeling as confident as I did on the set, and had that relationship not been as symbiotic as it was, I'd have had real difficulties."
The crucial appointment of production designer went to Amanda McArthur.   "We saw a lot of designers but I thought Amanda's work was fantastic," said Brock.   "The moment I met her I knew she was the right combination of being highly organised and very confident of the graphic look I wanted the film to have.
"I like to be clear with people about what I want, referencing other films and my likes and dislikes, but then I like to trust people to deliver.   As the director you can't take it all on.   In retrospect, now I've got this far in the process, I find the mythologising about the director's role by many directors  very amusing.   There are an enormous number of people on a film who are there to interpret and enhance the director's ideas.   Let nobody forget it is a huge collaboration.   Design looks as it does because of the designer.   Shots look like they look because of the director of photography.   The director has an overall view, but without their care it would never work."
Trevor Waite was hired as editor and Brock was confident that this, too, would be a valuable choice.   Waite has a wealth of experience with directors spanning three decades. Kevin Spacey's "Beyond the Sea", Tim Roth's "The War Zone" and Michael Winterbottom's "Welcome to Sarajevo" are only a few.
Another crucial decision for the director is his first assistant director, the man who keeps the action working efficiently behind the camera, thus freeing the director to concentrate on the actors.   For this important job Brock chose Irishman Konrad Jay, whose credits include "Ella Enchanted", "Laws of Attraction" and "In America".  Konrad kept things moving on the set, but kept the mood light, despite countless obstacles.
While producer Chasman and co-producer Ferguson worked tirelessly to get Brock as seamless a shooting period as possible, location manager Algy Sloane found location options to entice.   
Looking back on the film, Brock singled out three locations for special praise:   the salsa club in west London, where young Ben is initiated into a frenzy of salsa dancing by the sparky young Scot called Bryony,   the  loch filmed in a haze of typically Scottish weather during three days on location in and around Edinburgh, and the extraordinary Georgian house in Greenwich which served as the set for Evie's home.   The house boasts one of the biggest private gardens in London.   It was a major location for the film, and the unit spent a full week there filming interiors and exteriors.
Among the casting decisions that Brock was particularly pleased with are the two young actresses, Tamsin Egerton as Sarah, and Michelle Duncan as Bryony.   "Tamsin is only 16 and her maturity, interpretation and delivery were incredible," said Brock.  Egerton is just starting her career and with her stunning looks and talent has a long journey ahead of her.  "Another startling revelation is Michelle Duncan as Bryony.   She's a wonderful actor, wholly original, who never delivers lines in the way you expect. She's given us the most wonderful sideways performance that is a joy to watch."
Jeremy discovered that the actors, once cast, the sometimes developed their characters beyond the point that he had envisaged.   "Nicholas Farrell as Robert interpreted the role in a much bolder way, and suddenly he became a more significant player.  I'd seen him as transitory and peripheral, but he became a real fighter - so much so that I re-wrote a couple of scenes for him."
Once filming started, it was a kaleidescope of six-day weeks that criss-crossed London, and ended with three days filming in Scotland.    The shooting schedule coincided with the shocking events of quadruple bombings in the capital on July 7, 2005 and the aborted bombing attempts on July 21.   A day's shooting was lost as the producers could not risk the safety of cast and crew during a terrorist attack, but the show did go on, with the film now safely in the can.
As filming ended, the filmmakers paused to reflect on the experience.   Julia Chasman said her biggest surprise was how emotionally touching the story was.   "When you develop a script over a number of years, you do fall in love with it and have your favourite characters, and lines, and so much of that was about the comedy.   That was all there, of course, but I hadn't realised until we shot it, how moving the story was."
Chasman has considerable experience with directors ranging from Martin Scorsese to Spike Lee, from Phil Kaufman to Peter Howitt.   She was singularly impressed by how Jeremy Brock took up the challenge.  "He's up there with people I respect enormously.   In terms of knowing what he wanted, preparing with great seriousness and responsibility.   His talent is with people - the actors rave about him, and so do the crew - he's so open and collaborative that everyone loved working with him.   They would have done anything to give him what he wanted.
"I'd love to work with him again.   If I had my way, we'd do everything together!   I have a feeling he is now hooked on directing… hopefully with a bigger budget next time, even though I don't believe we  compromised unduly on this one."
Brock accepted the information that he didn't behave like a first time director at all and put it down to preparation and having grown up in a good school.   "I'm obviously not aware of myself in that sense although I take pains to give people clear instructions because I believe that's part of my brief.   If there's one thing that twenty years as a writer affords you, it is the ability to articulate what you want.   I think that's an essential element in being a boss: you have to accept that responsibility.   Plus I've had good teachers - I've watched directors like John Madden and Anthony Minghella who are wonderfully benign patriarchs and they are my creative touchstones and role models."
"Driving Lessons", was produced by Julia Chasman and written and directed by Jeremy Brock, with Alexandra Ferguson as co-producer.   David Katznelson was the director of photography and Amanda McArthur the production designer.   The film was edited by Trevor Waite.   Starring Julie Walters, Rupert Grint and Laura Linney.   "Driving Lessons" is a RubberTreePlant production.

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Julie Walters (Evie):
Born in Birmingham, Julie Walters trained as a nurse.   It is hard to imagine how British television, theatre and cinema could have coped had she stayed in her first profession.
Fortunately she changed her mind, joined the Liverpool Everyman and met playwrights Alan Bleasdale, Alan Bennett and Willy Russell.   And, soon after, Victoria Wood.   These four, and others, keep her supplied with wonderful roles.   Starting with "Educating Rita" and continuing to the present day with Ron Weasley's mum in the "Harry Potter" movies, "Billy Elliot" and "Calendar Girls".  Most recently, a sell-out six months in the West End of London in "Acorn Antiques" by Victoria Wood, directed by Trevor Nunn.
Walters is among a scant handful of British actors who have a special place in the affection of the nation.
In "Driving Lessons" she plays eccentric actress Evie Walton who helps young Ben (Rupert Grint) find himself, and in the process saves herself.   "It's a great rites of passage story.   There's a lot of mutual healing that goes on between this young man and this eccentric older actress.   Evie was just heaven to play."

Rupert Grint (Ben):
Perhaps the most famous young redhead in the world thanks to four "Harry Potter" movies as Ron Weasley, Harry's chum, Rupert Grint now plays his first 'almost adult' role in "Driving Lessons" as Ben, the quintessentially awkward teenager.
Born in Hertfordshire, where he lives with his parents and four siblings (one brother and three sisters), Rupert had appeared in one school play when he heard that auditions were being held for the first "Harry Potter" movie.   A huge fan of the books, Grint prepared a rap (his favourite music) promoting the character of Ron Weasley and his suitability to play him.   A few days later the part was his.
Since then he's made four "Harry Potter" movies - a fifth starts shooting early in 2006; he's completed his education, decided he wants to be an adult actor, not just a child star.   And he's started to notch up credits in between the "Potter" pictures - "Thunderpants" and now "Driving Lessons".
His preference is comedy, but his range is considerably larger.   In fact he's a sensitive and gifted young actor who writer/director Jeremy Brock was delighted to secure for the role of Ben - a role based on some of his own experiences as a teenager.

Laura Linney (Laura):
Born in New York City, Laura Linney is the daughter of playwright Romulus Linney.   A graduate of Brown University, Linney studied acting at Juilliard and  the Arts Theatre in Moscow.   She made an impact on Broadway in plays like "Hedda Gabler", "Six Degrees of Separation" and more recently in Richard Eyre's revival of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible", opposite Liam Neeson.
Adept at moving between theatre, film and television, Linney has considerable film experience both as a champion of the independent sector, and in big studio pictures.
Her first major role was in Paramount's "Congo", while her performance in "Primal Fear" opposite Richard Gere brought her to the attention of director Clint Eastwood, who cast her in "Absolute Power" and later in "Mystic River".   Director Peter Weir cast her with Jim Carrey in "The Truman Show".   She starred in the much admired "You Can Count on Me", winning the first Oscar nomination of her career.   Recently Linney starred in "Kinsey" with Liam Neeson.
Her work in television includes "Tales from the City" based on Armistead Maupin's delightful books about life in San Francisco and several episodes of "Frasier" as Dr Crane's love interest, Charlotte.

Jeremy Brock is the writer/director:
A graduate of the BBC's directors' course, Brock has enjoyed a successful screenwriting career since 1985.   He wrote "Times Like These" starring Greta Scaachi and Tim Woodward.   He adapted Dickens' "Oliver Twist" directed by Phyllida Lloyd at the Bristol Old Vic in 1990.   He co-created (with Paul Unwin), the UK's most successful hospital soap, "Casualty", which has recently sired the spin-off "Holby City".   
"The Widowmaker" for Central Films was directed by John Madden, and "The Life and Death of Philip Knight" was directed by Peter Kosminsky for Yorkshire Television.
Brock's first feature film was the acclaimed "Mrs Brown", directed by John Madden, starring Judi Dench as Queen Victoria and Billy Connolly as John Brown.   Brock won the Evening Standard Award for Best Screenplay and the film went on to be nominated for two Oscars and eight BAFTA awards, including Best Original Screenplay.
"Charlotte Gray", based on Sebastian Faulkes' novel, was directed by Gillian Armstrong and starred Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup and Michael Gambon.
Brock's next project was "Faith", set in the English Civil War.   "Edgardo Mortara", the true story of a Jewish boy kidnapped by the Pope in 1858 hit financing problems just as it was due to go into production with Anthony Hopkins in the lead.   Other screenplays in development include "The Last King of Scotland" and a new version of "Brideshead Revisited".
"Driving Lessons" is Brock's directing debut.

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