Mark Rylance and Game Of Thrones star Jodhi May strip down for FishLove campaign
Between them they have picked up every award going but Mark Rylance and Emma Thompson had their hands full with their latest co-stars.
The actors, along with Game Of Thrones star Jodhi May, stripped off for Fishlove to highlight the dangers of overfishing and pollution.
Rylance, 56, who won a best supporting actor Oscar and Bafta for Bridge Of Spies, is photographed with a smooth-hound shark.
He said: “I felt I was holding a very old being. Our skins were very different, mine smooth and soft, hers, like sandpaper, yet somehow similar as well.
“Fish are a mystery to me. They are like creatures from dreams. They are evolution.
"They are also limited and I believe we must create great wildlife parks in the oceans where no human pursues the fish in order to sustain their livelihood and our own.”
Thompson, 56 — whose film awards include a best actress Oscar for Howards End — and her actor husband Greg Wise, 49, got to grips with two black scabbardfish.
They said: “You do feel a little guilty holding a huge dead fish while you are very much alive, but by doing this Fishlove portrait we want to make clear the message — if we don’t end the overfishing and pollution of the ocean, all these beautiful creatures are threatened.”
The Fishlove photographs were commissioned by Covent Garden seafood restaurant J Sheekey Oyster Bar.
Miriam Margolyes, who also appears in the BBC’s The Real Marigold Hotel, said: “I’m usually asked to keep my clothes on, but Fishlove is a cause I believe in so it was easy to say yes.
"It was very uncomfortable and the spikes on the fish tore my skin but if these photos make people aware of our responsibilities to the next generation — to conserve fish stocks — then it’s worthwhile.”
Other actors who took part in the J Sheekey Oyster Bar Fishlove Theatre Series to call for greater marine protection in UK waters included Dougray Scott, Chipo Chung from Doctor Who, Haydn Gwynne, Ade Edmondson and Tom Bateman of Jekyll And Hyde .
Tim Hughes, chef director for Caprice Holdings which owns the restaurant, said: “We are passionate about marine conservation, and make sure that the suppliers and fishermen we work with are as committed to fish sustainability as we are.”
