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Yet according to the locals, the true tale of 11 middle-aged
Yorkshire lasses who stripped to make a semi-nudie
calendar has divided the tiny Tyke village of Rylstone.
It's the talk of the village that the ladies have
fallen out over managing the calendar's runaway success
and now barely speak to each other.
According to Entertainment Tonight, one unnamed villager
claims 'It's split the village in two', said. 'If
you had asked me three years ago, I'd have said this
was the greatest place in the world to live in. Now
we're thinking about moving'.
Oscar-nominated actresses Helen Mirren and Julie Walters
play two of the women - Tricia Stewart and Angela
Baker -- who in real life are members of the Women's
Institute. That's the venerable British institution
famous for making jam and flower-arranging.
Stewart suggested the group pose naked -- with strategically
placed objects protecting their modesty - to raise
money for leukemia research after Baker's husband
John died from the disease.
Before launching the calendar in 1999, the women thought
they would sell about a 1,000 copies. Today over 200,000
have been bought worldwide, raising £650,000 ($1 million).
All the group's royalties from 'Calendar Girls' will
also go to charity.
Local artist Terry Logan, who took the photographs
for the calendar, said five of the group thought making
a film would be intrusive but were outvoted by himself
and the other six women, clearing the way for the
tale to be shot in Kettlewell, 10 miles away.
Ron Studholme, who runs the pub in nearby Cracoe,
said the women dreamed up the calendar idea in the
back room of his pub, but now the two groups sat at
different tables and one would not talk to the other.
'Half wanted to do the calendar and forget about it.
Then Trisha and Angela wrote a book and then they
wanted to make a movie. That's what caused the animosity',
Studholme said.
Despite the rift, 'Calendar Girls' is set to give
Rylstone, renamed Knapley in the film, a welcome boost
to tourism when it appears in September.
'It will do the Yorkshire Tourist Board a heck of
a lot of good because it shows the area off wonderfully',
said Logan. 'It is done so sensitively. I thought
it was absolutely terrific'.
Logan said he had already photographed the six remaining
members of the WI group for a follow-up 2004 calendar
also featuring several actresses from the film, to
raise more money for leukemia research.
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