City puts on the glitz for Mister Lonely premiere

Richard Batson A dash of red carpet glamour is coming to a Norfolk cinema as a local actress holds a Hollywood style premiere of a movie in which she appears as a pop legend lookalike.

Richard Batson

A dash of red carpet glamour is coming to a Norfolk cinema as a local actress holds a Hollywood style premiere of a movie in which she appears as a pop legend lookalike.

Melita Morgan plays a Madonna double in the arthouse film Mister Lonely (15), which follows the fortunes of a group of impersonators brought together in a theatrical commune in Scotland.

The Aylsham mother-of-three has attended its launch at the Cannes Film Festival and a premiere in London but is now poised to stage a glitzy launch at Norwich's Cinema City at the end of the month.

“I am keen to raise awareness of the film, and film-making here in our region - and show how we are a talented bunch too, by inviting musicians, artists and models to the screening,” she explained.

The invitation-only event at the 180-seater theatre on April 30 would have the tuxedo and red carpet glamour of a major premiere and be “an event Norwich will remember”.

The film stars Samantha Morton as a Marilyn Monroe double, who strikes up a relationship with Diego Luna's Michael Jackson - before heading to the oddball gathering where they also rub shoulders with characters ranging from the Queen and Pope to James Dean and Little Red Riding Hood.

Melita plays a Madonna double - a role she has carried off, along with also being Marilyn, over more than 15 years of doing cabaret, corporate and charity work - though she has tackled roles as diverse as a grey haired nurse in a ballet to a harbour hooker in a film.

Mister Lonely, by American filmmaker Harmony Korine, has had mixed reviews from being tagged “enjoyably weird” to “tiresome” and “pretentious”.

Melita admitted it was “not the sort of movie where you sit back and munch your popcorn” but was intended to be thought-provoking and tried to show the worth and spirituality of people by digging down deeper then today's celebrity obsessed world.

“When I sat down and read the script, I did not realise how beautiful it would be,” she added.

Her daughter, Angel, now nine,

also has a part in the film, which Melita felt would become a “cult classic”.

Other cast members from the show are expected at the Norwich premiere including Mal Whitely and Daniel Rovai, who play two of the Three Stooges, and Michael-Joel Stuart, who plays a character called Buckwheat.

There is a public screening of Mister Lonely at Cinema City on Thursday May 8 at 8pm, where Melita will also be holding a question and answer session.

A pair of tickets for the invitation-only premiere can be won, on a first out of the hat basis, by writing to Melita Morgan, care of Amber Models UU, PO Box 12, Cromer, Norfolk, NR27 9NL.