S53 03 Calendar Girls Notes
Calendar Girls Director's Notes: From Candace Luciano
Calendar Girls is about the ingenuity and resilience of women “of a certain age,” and their willingness to bare all for the sake of friendship. It is about love and beauty and laughter. Based upon the true story of a group of women living in the Yorkshire countryside, it is a tale that could have just as easily unfolded here at Lake Chapala.
In 1999, eleven British ladies, aged 45 – 65, decided to pose nude for an “alternative” Women’s Institute (WI) calendar. Their goal was to raise money for Leukaemia Research in memory of John Baker, the husband of a fellow WI member. They chose a sunflower as the symbol of their efforts because, throughout his illness, John shared this flower’s seeds with friends and family with the expressed hope that he would recover by the time they bloomed. While John did not live, the sunflower continues as a reminder of his life and of the extraordinary accomplishments of these women.
In its first year, the calendar sold more than 330,000 copies and captured the attention of the international press. In 2003, their story was made into a movie starring Helen Mirren and in 2008, the film was adapted into a stage play that has been described as the fastest selling play in British theatre history.
To date, these remarkable women have raised more than five million British Pounds.