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Jacqui Jackson
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When Jacqui Jackson found out that Helena Bonham Carter would be playing her in
Magnificent 7 the first thing she did was search on the internet to find a picture
of her.
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"I'm afraid to say I didn't know who she was. I'm usually too busy to be watching
films and the boys can't stand the cinema for lots of reasons, so it's probably 20
years since I've been to the cinema.
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"But my girls had seen Fight Club and found
it highly amusing that their (and their boyfriends'!) memories of her was from a
scene where she was naked," she laughs.
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But it wasn't long before they were introduced and the pair are still in touch
today.
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"I spoke to Helena on the phone quite a few times," explains Jacqui.
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"And then, as
she was learning the script, she'd phone me up several times a day - she was
really thorough with it - and ask me about particular scenes, what did I do, what
would I have done, what's happened in the past and how I'd react, and how I would
engage with all the children on different levels at the same time.
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"She came and spent a day here, and we went out for a meal, and ended up driving
around Blackpool looking for somewhere to eat because of course I don't go out for
meals very often so I didn't know where to take her.
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"We ended up just going to a
local Italian place, sitting in the window and nattering, more about ourselves
than the part particularly."
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"If we hadn't got on so well, I think it would have been quite hard watching the
filming, but she seems very similar to me in character so it amuses me to see bits
of me in her like my scattiness. I think her outlook on life is very similar to
mine."
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Jacqui's kids and their on-screen counterparts also met up when Jacqui took them
to the set to be formally introduced.
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"In a way it was quite strange because the cast
were nervous about meeting my kids whereas my kids tend not to get nervous about
anything.
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"But they got on really well together in their different ways especially
Joe and Josh (who plays Davey). They're still in contact daily. They've both got
the same obsession with one particular computer game and I've had Josh at our
house, staying here."
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Jacqui is no stranger to television as she was thrust into the public eye when a
documentary about her and her extraordinary life – My Family and Autism – was
screened on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ TWO in 2003.
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Despite being incredibly busy taking care of her
seven kids and studying for a phd, she has been heavily involved with Magnificent
7 all the way through – from initial consultation to advising on scripts and
spending time on set and in the editing room.
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And now that it's finished she
admits that she has found aspects of it difficult to watch.
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But she made time for
the project because of her commitment to raising awareness of autism in its
various forms.
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She says: "A lot of people ask me if I'm looking forward to it coming out, but I
consider it quite a brave thing I've done to let this film be made... I'm doing it
for all children on the autistic spectrum so that professionals all over the place
will learn more about it.
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"For every child and parent in the situations shown in
the drama, there are also people in schools, doctors and assessors that are
misunderstanding things.
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"So I hope some of them will watch and maybe recognise
some of it – pupils they thought were just naughty or rude but will now think
maybe they've got ADHD or AS - and understand them a bit better.
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"Also, I've met new people. My life on a personal level is only ever dealing with
parents of autistic children, or people that come through the house, or the little
autistic ones or doing work with the professionals to do with autism.
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"So anything
that takes me out of that is like a holiday for me. And obviously it moves on my
perception of my life because you see it being played out which I suppose is
always a good thing anytime – self-awareness.
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"I'm a bit of a Pollyanna so I tend not to see the negative very much but watching
this drama has changed an awful lot about my perception of myself, and life and
the future.
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"It's made quite a big shift for me, in terms of letting the children
go a bit and watching them move on; and teaching them things rather than being so
involved dealing with day to day stuff... And that's all totally down to the way
the script plays out."
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Despite finding certain things painful to see, Jacqui is pleased with the way it
has turned out, saying it is an accurate picture of her life and things that have
happened.
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She is particularly happy with the way the drama conveys the
different viewpoints of the kids, giving viewers a glimpse of the world through
their eyes, as well as all the little incidents that occur and that with hindsight
are so amusing.
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"I think there's some very clever bits of direction that show an inside
perspective from the boys which is what I wanted to do. For example, there is a
particularly clever meltdown scene of Curtis's.
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"When Ben has an episode like that,
the fear is so pervasive. From the outside it would look like I'm being attacked
by Ben but from the inside it's just this overwhelming fear that makes him lash
out and not be able to control anything at all.
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"The camera angles and different
bits of writing show things a lot more clearly than somebody talking about or
reading about it because you can actually see it."
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In Magnificent 7 there is a scene where Davey convinces Maggi that everyone has to
dress up as cowboys for the parents' evening.
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In real life, Joe told Jacqui that
on one parents' evening it was Red Clothes Day rather than Red Nose Day.
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"I
dressed up like a complete twit with a red hat, red pair of trousers, red jumper,
red gloves and red shoes and dressed him exactly the same and went into school and
everyone else was sat there in their suits and ties," she laughs.
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"I had to go
round and do it and not one person commented on the fact that we both looked
absolutely ridiculous!"
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After the documentary, Jacqui received thousands of emails of support from
members of the public but otherwise life carried on as before and she still had to
fight numerous battles over support for the boys.
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But now the family are in what
Jacqui describes as a good phase with both Luke and Joe receiving full time
support which is allowing them to flourish at school and college.
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And Magnificent
7, which spans a period of a year, has also enabled Jacqui to focus on how far she
has been able to move the kids on, something which she feels very positive about.
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"Two years ago at Christmas we had to put Ben in another room with an abacus or
something that he could just mesmerise himself with.
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"But now we're at the stage
where Ben's looking forward to it. He can't open a present - he hates it, but he
knows that I can say tomorrow's Christmas and at half past ten there'll be
Spiderman II game or whatever and that's massive progress just in our own way and
the drama makes you realise that.
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"Nowadays eating a bowl of red stuff - if it was
the right texture - would be accepted on a good day."
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