An acclaimed celebrity photographer has opened a new exhibition of his work in Leicester, bringing one of the most famous stars featured with him in person.
Andy Gotts, who studied a Masters in photography at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU), gave a talk at Phoenix arts 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.
