Editing Billy Elliot (section)

==Production==

=== Development ===
Lee Hall developed ''Billy Elliot'' from his play ''Dancer'', which premiered as a rehearsed reading in 1998 at the [[Live Theatre]] in [[Newcastle upon Tyne]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Lee Hall interview: Why Lee will always love Live Theatre |date=17 June 2014 |url=http://www.thejournal.co.uk/culture/culture-news/lee-hall-interview-lee-always-7279467 |work=[[The Journal (Newcastle upon Tyne newspaper)|The Journal]] |access-date=6 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150106235237/http://www.thejournal.co.uk/culture/culture-news/lee-hall-interview-lee-always-7279467 |archive-date=6 January 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He was heavily influenced by photographer [[Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen]]'s book ''Step by Step'', about a dancing school in nearby [[North Shields]]. Writing in 2009, Hall said that "almost every frame of ''Billy Elliot'' was influenced by ''Step by Step'' [...] as every member of the design team carried around their own copy."<ref>{{cite book |title=Byker Revisited |first=Sirkka-Liisa |last=Konttinen |page=vi |publisher=Northumbria Press |isbn=978-1904794424 |year=2009}}</ref>

Hall met with director Stephen Daldry, who was working at the [[Royal Court Theatre]] at the time. At first, Daldry was not convinced with the script, but said, "I liked the emotional honesty of ''Billy Elliot.'' Also Lee writes brilliant kids. And there's a series of themes in it I rather enjoyed: Grief; finding means of self-identification through some sort of creative act, in this case dance; and the miner's strike itself."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2000/10/interview-stephen-daldry-dances-to-success-with-billy-elliot-81337/|title=Interview: Stephen Daldry Dances to Success with "Billy Elliot"|date=2000-10-17|website=[[IndieWire]]|language=en|access-date=2020-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102200205/https://www.indiewire.com/2000/10/interview-stephen-daldry-dances-to-success-with-billy-elliot-81337/|archive-date=2 January 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Working Title Films]] approached Daldry to become director and he accepted the offer. The [[BBC]] financed the project.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/sr247/mitchell.htm|title=Interview: Lee Hall, screenwriter of Billy Elliot|website=pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk|access-date=2020-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704151046/http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/sr247/mitchell.htm|archive-date=4 July 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Casting ===
Thousands of boys were considered for the lead role. The producers were looking for a boy in a specific geographical area with a dance background. Jamie Bell had about seven auditions in total before eventually in mid-1999, it was announced that he would play the lead role in the film.<ref name=":0" /> [[Peter Darling]], the film's choreographer, worked with Bell for "eight hours a day for three months, finding out what drove him as a dancer." Julie Walters accepted the role of Sandra Wilkinson. Walters called the script "moving", explaining, "It was a diamond in the sand [...] I loved the character, and the fact that she was disappointed on every level possible. She was so grim and jaded. Her relationship with the boy was so unusual".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/may/14/features|title=Julie Walters: An actress in her prime|last=Mottram|first=James|date=2001-05-14|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-01-02|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102200204/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/may/14/features|archive-date=2 January 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>

In preparation for filming, Gary Lewis met with miners which he said was beneficial.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web|url=http://www.erasingclouds.com/02lewis.html|title=The Good Times: films, awards and Italy. An interview with actor Gary Lewis.|last=Battista|first=Anna|date=2001|website=www.erasingclouds.com|access-date=2020-04-03}}</ref> Lewis stated that his own personal experience of the miners' strike made the role enjoyable. "My family and I were very active in supporting the miners: I stood in picket lines, I raised money for the miners and I was involved in the whole campaign to stop [...] closing the pits. Basically, it was the state that launched a complete attack on a section of the work force, a section of the working class. Lots of people responded with solidarity and that was a key element in the script: solidarity working at different levels, the collective solidarity, the economic solidarity."<ref name=":7" />

===Filming===
[[File:Avon Street, Easington Colliery.jpg|thumb|Terraced homes on Avon Street, [[Easington Colliery]], were used for filming, where Andrew and Alnwick Streets once stood. |alt=Terraced homes on Avon Street|195x195px]]
[[Principal photography]] lasted seven weeks, beginning in August 1999.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":8">{{Cite web|url=http://cinema.com/articles/160/billy-elliot-production-notes.phtml|title=Billy Elliot : Production Notes|website=cinema.com|access-date=2020-04-03}}</ref> Most of the film, including the interior of the Elliot home at 5 Alnwick Street, was shot on location in the [[Easington Colliery]] area, with the producers using over 400 locals as extras.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/sep/28/billy-elliot-musical-easington-village-screening |title=Village shares its Billy Elliot stories at live screening of West End show |work=[[The Guardian]] |publisher=Guardian News and Media |date=28 September 2014 |access-date=9 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180410072410/https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/sep/28/billy-elliot-musical-easington-village-screening |archive-date=10 April 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> The mining scenes were filmed at the [[Ellington Colliery|Ellington]] and [[Lynemouth Colliery]] in [[Northumberland]], with some filming in [[Dawdon]], [[Middlesbrough]] and Newcastle upon Tyne.<ref name="bbctyne_feature">{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/tyne/content/articles/2006/04/07/hollywood_on_tyne_billy_elliot_04_2006_feature.shtml|title=Feature: Billy Elliot|date=17 October 2006|work=BBC Tyne|publisher=[[BBC]]|access-date=6 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629123134/http://www.bbc.co.uk/tyne/content/articles/2006/04/07/hollywood_on_tyne_billy_elliot_04_2006_feature.shtml|archive-date=29 June 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> Andrew Street and Alnwick Street, where the characters live, were two of several streets demolished in 2003 after becoming [[Urban decay|derelict]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2386705.stm|title=Billy Elliott's house to be bulldozed|date=1 November 2002|website=BBC|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180410074943/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2386705.stm|archive-date=10 April 2018|access-date=9 April 2018}}</ref> The cemetery scene was filmed at Lynemouth Cemetery.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Dying+for+someone+to+take+care+of+cemetery%3B+PLEA+FOR+LANDOWNERS+TO...-a0181664854 |title=Dying for someone to take care of cemetery; Plea for landowners to clean up overgrown graveyard |work=[[Evening Chronicle]] |publisher=[[Trinity Mirror]] |date=22 July 2008 |access-date=9 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180410072235/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Dying+for+someone+to+take+care+of+cemetery%3B+PLEA+FOR+LANDOWNERS+TO...-a0181664854 |archive-date=10 April 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> School scenes were filmed in [[Langley Park, County Durham|Langley Park]] Primary School.<ref name="locations">{{Cite web|url=http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/b/Billy-Elliot.php|title=Filming Locations for Billy Elliot (2000)|website=The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations|access-date=2020-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200101130142/http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/b/Billy-Elliot.php|archive-date=1 January 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> Other filming locations include the Green Drive Railway Viaduct in [[Seaham]], [[Tees Transporter Bridge]], [[New Wardour Castle]] and [[Theatre Royal Haymarket|Theatre Royal]] in [[Haymarket, London|Haymarket]].<ref name="locations" /><ref name="reel">{{Cite web|url=https://www.reelstreets.com/films/billy-elliot/|title=Reelstreets {{!}} Billy Elliot|website=www.reelstreets.com|access-date=2020-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200101130143/https://www.reelstreets.com/films/billy-elliot/|archive-date=1 January 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>

Daldry remarked in an interview: "The shooting schedule was a nightmare; we only had seven weeks. Kids can only work nine to five and you can't work Saturdays. And the kid had to dance the whole time. So it was tight."<ref name=":0" /> Producer Jon Finn spoke of the difficulties of seeking filming locations: "We didn't realise how hard it would be to find working [[Open-pit mining|pits]]."<ref name=":8" />