Editing Billy Elliot (section)

=== 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" />