The film My Beautiful Laurdrette was released on this day in 1985, following a premiere that September at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Written by Hanif Kureishi, and directed by Stephen Frears, it was one of the first films made by Working Title Films, and was the first motion picture lead role for actor Daniel Day-Lewis.
Set in London under the government of Margaret Thatcher, it reflected the fraught relationship between the Pakistani and and English communities in the early 1980s, while also sharing a same-sex love story between the two main characters.
The film focuses on Oscar, played by Gordon Warnecke, a British man of Pakistani origin and his reunion and eventual romance with childhood friend Johnny, played by Day Lewis. When they are reunited Johnny has become a street-punk, but together they become the caretakers and managers of a launderette.
The film was originally shot for television, but when it got a great response it was upgraded to a cinema release. In 1999 the British Film Institute listed it as one of the 50 greatest British films of all time.
In 2021 the Vauxhall building which served as the launderette in the film was given a rainbow plaque to note its importance.
Author Hanif Kureishi was nominated for the Oscar and BAFTA for Best Screenplay, and went on to write many novels, plays and screen projects in the years that followed, including a 2019 theatrical version of My Beautiful Laundrette.
For the theatrical version Gordon Warnecke returned, but this time played the father of the character he had played in the 1985 film. The play had a soundtrack created by the Pet Shop Boys.
Kureishi has written nine novels. Notably his debut novel 1999’s The Buddha of Suburbia which focuses of a young gay man from a Pakistani family was turned into a television series with David Bowie supplying the soundtrack. His most recent novel is 2019’s What Happened? His plays Sammy and Rosie Get Laid and London Kills Me were also adapted into films.
Director Stephen Frears had only made two feature films prior to this project, but in the years that followed he has become one of the world’s most sought after directors. Among his works are Dangerous Liaisons, Hero, High Fidelity, Mrs Henderson Presents, The Queen, Florence Foster Jenkins, and Victoria & Abdul.
