Inside every one of us is a special talent waiting to come out. The trick is finding it.
County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.
- 7.6
- 2000
- Released
- 1h 51m
Jamie Bell
Billy Elliot
Gary Lewis
Jackie Elliot
Julie Walters
Mrs Wilkinson
Jean Heywood
Grandma
Jamie Draven
Tony Elliot
Stuart Wells
Michael Caffrey
Mike Elliot
George Watson
Billy Fane
Mr BraithwaiteNicola Blackwell
Debbie WilkinsonCarol McGuigan
Librarian
Joe Renton
Gary PoulsonColin MacLachlan
Mr Tom Wilkinson
Janine Birkett
Billy's mother
Trevor Fox
PC Jeff Peverly
Charlie Hardwick
Sheila BriggsDenny Ferguson
MinerDennis Lingard
NCB Official
Matthew James Thomas
Simon
Stephen Mangan
Ballet Doctor
Paul Ridley
Tutor in Medical
Patrick Malahide
Principal
Barbara Leigh-Hunt
Vice-Principal
Imogen Claire
Tutor 1
Diana Kent
Tutor 2
Neil North
Tutor 3
Lee Williams
Tutor 4Petra Siniawski
TeacherMerelina Kendall
Secretary
Zoë Bell
Sandra
Tracey Wilkinson
Geography TeacherMerryn Owen
Michael (aged 25)
Adam Cooper
Billy (aged 25)Dylan Barnes
PC White (uncredited)Liam Elcoat
Young boy (uncredited)
Adam Galbraith
Dancer in 'Swan Lake' (uncredited)
Darren Jacobs
Dancer in 'Swan Lake' (uncredited)Hendrick January
Dancer in 'Swan Lake' (uncredited)
Sharon Percy
Jenny Poulson (uncredited)Leonard Silver
Dancer (uncredited)Lee Smikle
Dancer in 'Swan Lake' (uncredited)Catherine Turgoose
Teenage Party Guest (uncredited)Damian Winter-Higgins
Dancer in 'Swan Lake' (uncredited)
Released
en
$5,000,000.00
$109,280,263.00
- #dancing
- #friendship
- #dreams
- #dancing class
- #northern england
- #workers' quarter
- #strike
- #small person
- #homophobia
- #hope
- #mentor
- #sadness
- #socialism
- #youngster
- #letter
- #ballet dancer
- #street riots
- #coming of age
- #ballet
- #young boy
- #cross dressing
- #crying
- #single father
- #audition
- #dance class
- #retrospective
- #lgbt
- #revolt
- #ballet school
- #emotional vulnerability
- #helping children
- #smart kid
- #street kid
- #dance teacher
- #1980s
- #miners strike
- #father son relationship
- #80s throwback
- #ballet dancing
- #gay theme
- #late 20th century
- #teen playing kid
- #ya
- #generational divide
- #celebratory
Reviews
I hadn't seen this film since it was released when it was shown recently as a part of the Glasgow Youth Film Festival. The fact that it was chosen by the kids of today in what would have been just as unlikely a setting for this film as the North of England speaks volumes as to it's effect on challenging and breaking the stereotypical moulds that the British working class in the early 1980s was ste