Michael Sheen narrates a new film that aims to improve the way climate change is discussed in schools.
The movie, You said we should talk about the weather, which was launched nationwide, was shot on a re-wilded farm on the Westacre Estate near King’s Lynn in Norfolk.
Written in collaboration with young farmers, it asks why discussions about the weather are so common, compared to discussions about climate change.
Environmental campaign group Climate Majority Project hopes the five-minute film will help students and teachers speak ‘honestly and sensitively’ about the issue.
The film stars young Norfolk actor Hemi Grimsby and Ben Mansfield, who has appeared in science fiction dramas Primaland Florence Wright, who starred in the film The flash.
It was written by King’s Lynn-born playwright Emma-Louise Howell, who spent time talking to young farmers in the province about their experiences of climate change.
“They were really into it and they almost shouted into the void and said, ‘we have an answer, by working with nature,’” she said of the response she received from farmers.
Howell continued, “You can’t control the weather, but they have to adapt to the change in climate every day.”
“It’s not conceptual to them,” she added.
Howell said he worked with Sheen, whose screen appearances include Good omens And The Twilight sagawas a dream come true for her.
“It was very surreal for me as a writer to hear the person you always imagined narrate, read – say those words and say them with such incredible charisma. It was really a very special moment,” she added.
Furthermore, the director, Harry Tomlin, said that the Westacre Estate was the ideal place to tell the story:
“We wanted to tell it through the eyes of a child, set against the rural Norfolk landscape and in a gritty folk-horror genre. This film provides an accessible way for audiences to engage with climate education and start the conversation, without feeling like they’re being pushed or patronized.”
