An interview with Emily, the mom behind Arthur Recreates

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Arthur Recreates… Teen Wolf.

Internet, get ready to fall in love with Arthur and his mom, writer Emiley Cleaver. Emily started the website Arthur Recreates Scenes from Classic Movies earlier this year, and it’s rapidly taking the digital world by storm. I asked her a few questions about the site and her son, and here’s what she had to say!

First, tell us a little about you and Arthur:
I live in Oxford, UK with my partner Richard and son Arthur, and until recently I was the manager of a bookshop. I now look after Arthur full-time, as well as doing some freelance writing. I have a book published on the subject of women’s careers, called More To Life Than Shoes: How To Kick-start Your Career and Change Your Life, which I wrote under the name Emily Nash.

Arthur Recreates is a photo blog of my six-month-old baby posing in recreations of iconic film scenes — taking the pictures keeps me stimulated and Arthur entertained!

How did the idea of Arthur Recreates come about?
I was dressing Arthur in his sleepsuit one day and playing with his toy rabbit when the idea for the Alien shot just popped into my head. I took the picture with my mobile and posted it on my Facebook page. My friends loved it, so I did a couple more, which got a really good response from people I knew. Several people suggested I should make it into a website, so I did!

Arthur Recreates… American Beauty.

What’s your set-up process like?
Once I have an idea for a film, it takes me a while to work out how best to do it — the shots that work best are really simple, but it’s quite tough not to get carried away with elaborate props! Once I’ve worked out how to do it, I just have to catch Arthur in a good mood, and he loves it. I take lots of shots and choose the best one.

How easy is it to translate what you envision in your head to what actually happens when you take photos of Arthur?
Not easy at all! I don’t think any of the shots have turned out quite as I pictured them — it’s impossible to get a wriggly baby to pose just how you want — so I have to improvise! A couple of times an idea hasn’t worked at all, and I’ve had to abandon it.

Arthur Recreates… Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Do you have a list of movies, or are you picking classics as they come to you?
A bit of both — I have a list of ideas, but sometimes a perfect film just occurs to me and we do that.

How long do you think you’ll continue this project?
As long as I can think of films to recreate!

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