A proud mum has got the Champagne on ice as she prepares to watch her son at the BAFTAs.
Lee Sandales has been nominated at tomorrow night's prestigious ceremony in the production design category for his impressive work on The Batman. The ECHO spoke to the 51-year-old's overjoyed parents, Audrey and Charlie Sandales, who said the award nod is well-deserved recognition for their son's dedication to his craft.
She told the ECHO: "We've got to be proud of him, haven't we? He's a local Gateacre lad, who has just worked really hard to get to where he is today."
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Lee is aiming to win the award for the second time after he picked up the gong in 2020 for his work on epic war film, 1917. It is the fifth time he has been nominated in the category - but Audrey said this time is particularly special as The Batman was filmed in Liverpool.
The 71-year-old added: "He's been brought up with good roots. He loves our great city. That's why this one means so much to him and the family. If he did win it, he's bringing it home to the community here."
Lee was instrumental in bringing the blockbuster production of The Batman to Merseyside. The talented set designer was part of a team tasked with finding a real life location to replicate Gotham and noticed Liverpool was the perfect substitute for the sprawling metropolis during a day out in the city.
Audrey said: "When he looked out across the rooftops from the Liver Building, it was giving him ideas. He took it back and then from there, the location manager came out and that was it.
"For Batman to be filmed here, that was all down to him. It wasn't a venue they were looking at until he came home."
Lee has lived in London since he moved away for university to study craftmanship but continues to be proud of his Scouse heritage and regularly returns to the city. The designer has forged an incredible career in the industry that has involved working with cinematic giants such as Steven Spielberg and Sir Sam Mendes.
Audrey explained the key to her son's continued success is his passion and how he always remains true to his humble beginnings. She said: "We can't take any credit for it. It's just a normal thing for him.
"He never builds his hopes up. He loves his job whether he gets a nomination or not. He just does what he does because he loves it."
Lee quite clearly enjoys a strong relationship with his family and even brought a little slice of home to his breakthrough job designing the set of Harry Potter. Audrey laughed as she revealed Lee had the genius idea to make Harry's bed in the earlier films out of sleeping bags from their family home in Gateacre.
She said: "I washed and dried them before he took them and they're the actual bed Harry sleeps on under the stairs. They're now in a museum in America."
Audrey recalled how Lee's interest in film was sparked at the Odeon on London Road when her and Charlie took him to see Star Wars when he was six years old. She told the ECHO: "He said 'I'm going to make a film like that' and then 38 years later he was offered to work on one of the Star Wars films so it just shows that dreams can come true."
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