''Set Fire to the Stars'' is a 2014 Welsh semi-

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Andy Goddard Andy Goddard (born 1968) is a Welsh director and screenwriter, best known for writing and directing his feature debut '' Set Fire to the Stars'' (2014) and directing and co-producing his second feature '' A Kind of Murder'' (2016). Goddard has a ...

in his

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

. Co-written by Goddard and Celyn Jones, the film stars

Elijah Wood Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of Frodo Baggins in the ''Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy (2001–2003) and '' The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'' (2012). Woo ...

as poet John M. Brinnin and Jones as Dylan Thomas with supporting roles by

Kelly Reilly Jessica Kelly Siobhán Reilly (born 18 July 1977) is an English actress. She first appeared on screen in 1995 on the series '' The Biz''. Her other television work includes starring roles in the British crime drama '' Above Suspicion'' (2009– ...

Steven Mackintosh Steven Mackintosh (born 30 April 1967) is an English actor and narrator. He is perhaps best known for his role as Andreas Tanis in the action horror films '' Underworld: Evolution'' (2006) and '' Underworld: Rise of the Lycans'' (2009). Mack ...

Shirley Henderson Shirley Henderson (born 24 November 1965) is a Scottish actress. Her accolades include two Scottish BAFTAs, a VFCC Award and an Olivier Award, as well as BAFTA, BIFA, London Critics' Circle, Chlotrudis, Gotham, and Canadian Screen Award ...

, and

Kevin Eldon Kevin Eldon (born 2 October 1959) is an English actor and comedian. He featured in British comedy television shows of the 1990s including ''Fist of Fun'', '' This Morning with Richard Not Judy'', '' Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge' ...

. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 7 November 2014.

Premise

In 1950s New York,

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

graduate and aspiring poet

John Malcolm Brinnin John Malcolm Brinnin (September 13, 1916 – June 26, 1998) was a Canadian-born American poet and literary critic. Life and work Brinnin was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, to American parents John A. Brinnin and Frances Malcolm Brinnin ...

(

) embarks on a week-long retreat to save his hero, acclaimed Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (Celyn Jones).

Cast

* Celyn Jones as Dylan Thomas *

as Shirley *

as Caitlin Thomas *

as Jack * Andrew Bicknell as Loomis * Kate Drew as Janet *

Adam Gillen Adam Gillen (born 11 September 1985, Manchester) is a British actor, best known for his role as Liam Conroy in the ITV hit series ''Benidorm'', Brian in the Channel 4 comedy '' Fresh Meat'' and Gavin in BBC's '' Prisoners’ Wives''. In 2019 ...

as Harvey * Nicola Duffett as Lady Lye *

Steve Spiers Steve Speirs (born Steven Roberts, 22 February 1965) is a Welsh actor and writer who has appeared in films such as ''Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' and '' Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest''. Early life He was born as S ...

as Mickey * Ken Drury as Doctor *

Maimie McCoy Mary McCoy, professionally known as Maimie McCoy is an English actress. She portrayed Milady de Winter in ''The Musketeers'' (2014–2016), and is the female lead in the ITV reboot series ''Van der Valk'' (2020–). Early life McCoy was born in ...

as Rosie *

Richard Brake Richard Colin Brake (born 30 November 1964) is a Welsh-American character actor, known for his supporting roles as Joe Chill in '' Batman Begins'' (2005), Doom-Head in '' 31'' (2016), and the chemist in '' Mandy'' (2018), as well as his lead ro ...

as Mr. Unlucky * Polly Hemingway as Ms. Missy 1 * Sue Maund as Ms. Missy 2 *

as Stanley * Weston Gavin as Edgar S. Furniss

Release

''Set Fire to the Stars''

premiered A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...

at the 2014 Edinburgh Film Festival.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film holds a 58% rating based on 43 reviews. The site's consensus states: "''Set Fire to the Stars'' doesn't quite do justice to its legendary real-life protagonist, but thanks to Celyn Jones' spirited performance, it occasionally comes close." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a 49 out of 100 rating based on 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Set Fire To The Stars 2014 films 2014 biographical drama films British biographical drama films Cultural depictions of Dylan Thomas Films set in New York City Films set in 1950 Films set in Connecticut 2014 directorial debut films 2014 drama films Biographical films about poets 2010s English-language films 2010s British films