Acclaimed celebrity photographer Andy Gotts has opened a new exhibition of his work in Leicester, bringing one of the most famous stars featured with him in person.
Andy, who studied a Masters in photography at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU), gave a talk at Phoenix cinema and art centre to mark the opening of Nemesis, a new collection of his work featuring actors who have appeared as villains in the James Bond franchise.
To help celebrate the occasion, Andy invited one of the baddies – the last, most elusive of the set – to join him for a Q&A in front of a packed audience.
Veteran actor Charles Dance, who played mercenary Claus in For Your Eyes Only, spoke about the experience of working with Andy in a discussion chaired by Dr James Russell, Deputy Dean for Computing, Engineering and Media at DMU.
Charles, himself a former DMU graduate, first met Andy at an alumni dinner hosted by the university a few years ago.
Andy said that moment was the spark which helped him secure Charles’s time to shoot his portrait.
He said: “The whole idea for the Nemesis exhibition came in lockdown, when as a photographer, I couldn’t get out and take any photographs.
“I was putting together a retrospective book looking at my 34-year career and I realised that I had taken photographs of most of the Bond villains. But not all. There were six of the actors still living who were missing.”
Over the next two years, Andy set out to complete his collection, using contacts secured throughout his career to convince the performers to pose for him.
One of those was Charles, who throughout a long and busy career has played many iconic roles, including Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones and Lord Mountbatten in The Crown.
The free exhibition, which runs at Phoenix until April 14, also features memorable portraits of Andrew Scott, Sean Bean, Alan Cumming, Rami Malek, Javier Bardem and Christopher Lee.
Andy said that the lessons he learned from his postgraduate degree at DMU still informed his work years on.
He said: “The reason I did the MA was that I wanted to know more about photographic history and theory.
“I felt, if I was giving a talk about my work, that I might feel a bit of a fraud without that knowledge.
“It gave me the space and time to really research, to use the wonderful Kimberlin library and follow my interests. To me, it was invaluable.”
And while the passing of time has left Andy with a number of Bond villains he can no longer capture, there is one he’d give anything to portray.
“Auric Goldfinger,” he said, “as played by Gert Frobe. He had the knack of being a villain who, actually, if he won, you wouldn’t mind.”
Posted on Monday 25 March 2024