How Gordon Brown, Harvey Weinstein and a milkman ensured film was a ‘ghastly disaster’
It is a tale of two bestselling books about 17th century Dutch painters which were both adapted into films. One was a joy. The other a “complete nightmare from start to finish” which ended in flames, along with Harvey Weinstein.
The writers Tracy Chevalier and Deborah Moggach told an audience at Hay festival of their hugely different experiences adapting their novels Girl With a Pearl Earring and Tulip Fever.
It is a tale of two bestselling books about 17th century Dutch painters which were both adapted into films. One was a joy. The other a “complete nightmare from start to finish” which ended in flames, along with Harvey Weinstein.
The writers Tracy Chevalier and Deborah Moggach told an audience at Hay festival of their hugely different experiences adapting their novels Girl With a Pearl Earring and Tulip Fever.
- 5/29/2019
- by Mark Brown Arts correspondent
- The Guardian - Film News
Amma Asante delivers some sharp lessons on slavery in this true story of Britain's first black aristocrat
Amma Asante's powerful, moving and gently subversive romantic melodrama is a finely wrought tale of a woman out of time, a film that plays eloquently upon the heartstrings as it interweaves familiar personal intrigue with stirring social history. Intelligently combining the enticing pleasures of a ripe costume drama with the still shameful legacy and lessons of the slave trade, Belle dresses its entryist agendas in the fashionable finery of a multiplex crowd-pleaser. The result is a handsomely mounted and emotionally engaging drama that smartly examines issues of race, class and gender while leaving nary a dry eye in the house.
Like Girl with a Pearl Earring (both Tracy Chevalier's novel and Peter Webber's subsequent film), Misan Sagay's inventive script takes inspiration from an enigmatic painting upon which the writer...
Amma Asante's powerful, moving and gently subversive romantic melodrama is a finely wrought tale of a woman out of time, a film that plays eloquently upon the heartstrings as it interweaves familiar personal intrigue with stirring social history. Intelligently combining the enticing pleasures of a ripe costume drama with the still shameful legacy and lessons of the slave trade, Belle dresses its entryist agendas in the fashionable finery of a multiplex crowd-pleaser. The result is a handsomely mounted and emotionally engaging drama that smartly examines issues of race, class and gender while leaving nary a dry eye in the house.
Like Girl with a Pearl Earring (both Tracy Chevalier's novel and Peter Webber's subsequent film), Misan Sagay's inventive script takes inspiration from an enigmatic painting upon which the writer...
- 6/15/2014
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
Downton Abbey has added Sue Johnston to the cast for season five. The actress, known largely in the UK for Waking The Dead, The Royle Family and soap Coronation Street, will have the formidable task of playing Denker, Lady’s Maid to Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess. Johnston joins other previously annonced guest actors, Richard E. Grant, Anna Chancellor and Rade Sherbedgia. The Carnival Films produced ITV saga returns in the fall to the UK. Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn is the latest novelist to join the Hogarth Shakespeare project which provides new takes on the works of the Bard. Flynn, who also scripted David Fincher’s upcoming adaptation of Gone Girl for the screen, will tackle Hamlet. The Hogarth Shakespeare program is an international publishing initiative from the Penguin Random House imprint. Per the BBC, Flynn said, “Hamlet has long been a fascination of mine: murder, betrayal, revenge, deceit,...
- 5/30/2014
- by NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor
- Deadline TV
Megan Simpson Huberman has agreed to direct Salvation Creek, an Australian movie about a high-flying magazine editor whose husband and brother die within three days of each other.
The producer is Heather Ogilvie, CEO of Galvanized Film Group, who collaborated with the director on her two previous features, Alex (1992) and Dating the Enemy (1996).
Ross Grayson Bell is writing the screenplay based on the novel by Susan Duncan, which has sold more than 250,000 copies. The narrative follows the grief-stricken protagonist as she throws in her city job and buys a rundown shack on Sydney.s Pittwater, where she finds friendship, love and a new life.
Ogilvie optioned the book in 2010 and has developed the project with the support of Screen Australia and Screen Nsw. Grayson Bell is working on the third draft and shooting is planned for mid-.2014.
The producer has an in-principle agreement for Australian distribution with Paramount Pictures. MD Mike Selwyn.
The producer is Heather Ogilvie, CEO of Galvanized Film Group, who collaborated with the director on her two previous features, Alex (1992) and Dating the Enemy (1996).
Ross Grayson Bell is writing the screenplay based on the novel by Susan Duncan, which has sold more than 250,000 copies. The narrative follows the grief-stricken protagonist as she throws in her city job and buys a rundown shack on Sydney.s Pittwater, where she finds friendship, love and a new life.
Ogilvie optioned the book in 2010 and has developed the project with the support of Screen Australia and Screen Nsw. Grayson Bell is working on the third draft and shooting is planned for mid-.2014.
The producer has an in-principle agreement for Australian distribution with Paramount Pictures. MD Mike Selwyn.
- 8/20/2013
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Striking scenes and costumes straight out of the Dutch Golden Age don't compensate for a colourless plot in this Vermeer period piece
Reading on mobile? Click here to watch video
Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)
Director: Peter Webber
Entertainment grade: C–
History grade: B+
Johannes, or Jan, Vermeer (1632-1675) was a Dutch painter. He is considered among the greatest artists of his age.
Style
Fictional tile-painter's daughter Griet (Scarlett Johansson) goes into service at the home of moody artist Jan Vermeer (Colin Firth). Vermeer's wife, Catharina Bolnes (Essie Davis), is pregnant and bad-tempered. Her costume is based on Vermeer's Woman in Blue Reading a Letter, sometimes said to depict the real artist's wife. Opinions among art historians differ over whether she is pregnant in the painting, or whether 17th century Dutch fashion just made everyone look that way. The film deserves the widespread acclaim it won for its sumptuous design and incredible Vermeerish appearance.
Reading on mobile? Click here to watch video
Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)
Director: Peter Webber
Entertainment grade: C–
History grade: B+
Johannes, or Jan, Vermeer (1632-1675) was a Dutch painter. He is considered among the greatest artists of his age.
Style
Fictional tile-painter's daughter Griet (Scarlett Johansson) goes into service at the home of moody artist Jan Vermeer (Colin Firth). Vermeer's wife, Catharina Bolnes (Essie Davis), is pregnant and bad-tempered. Her costume is based on Vermeer's Woman in Blue Reading a Letter, sometimes said to depict the real artist's wife. Opinions among art historians differ over whether she is pregnant in the painting, or whether 17th century Dutch fashion just made everyone look that way. The film deserves the widespread acclaim it won for its sumptuous design and incredible Vermeerish appearance.
- 7/25/2013
- by Alex von Tunzelmann
- The Guardian - Film News
In a move to bolster its growing presence in the publishing world, ICM Partners has formed a pact with New York-based Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents. The alliance brings noted authors including Jeffery Deaver, Tracy Chevalier, David Nicholls, David Rabe, Chris Bohjalian, Carolyn Hart and Meg Gardiner under ICM Partners' umbrella. The lit agency, run by Jane Gelfman and Deborah Schneider, will now operate under the name Gelfman/Schneider/ICM Partners, and will keep its offices on Seventh Avenue. The deal allows agents from ICM Partners to co-sign authors and journalists with the new entity. ICM Partners’ media rights department will
read more...
read more...
- 6/18/2013
- by Rebecca Ford
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
ICM Partners has formed a strategic alliance with New York-based literary firm Gelfman Schneider, home to best-selling authors such as Tracy Chevalier, David Rabe and Meg Gardiner. Gelfman Schneider, run by Jane Gelman and Deborch Schneider, will remain in its same offices but operate under the name Gelfman/Schneider/ICM Partners. http://www.thewrap.com/sites/all/themes/custom/thewrap/images/bg.png); background-position: 50% 0%; "> ICM Partners will co-represent authors and journalists, and exploit the boutique agency's library of books for film, theater and TV projects. Recent books adapted into other mediums include Jeffrey Deaver's "The Bone Collector" and Tracey Chevalier's...
- 6/18/2013
- by Lucas Shaw
- The Wrap
Breaking: New York-based Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents has under its banner authors including Jeffrey Deaver, Tracy Chevalier, David Nicholls, David Rabe, Chris Bohjalian, Carolyn Hart, Meg Gardiner, Alan Lightman, Madison Smartt Bell, John Burdett, Jacquelyn Mitchard, Glen Duncan and Evan Hunter/Ed McBain. The alliance with ICM Partners just announced today will see the formation of a new entity, Gelfman/Schneider/ICM Partners, with the agency co-signing authors and journalists and also repping film, television and media rights from the rich library of titles now at its disposal. ICM’s Media Rights Department has had plenty of success in this realm, brokering deals for such projects as Steve Jobs, Lincoln, No Country For Old Men and Sex And The City. Gelfman Schneider will keep its offices on Seventh Avenue, with ICM Partners’ agents down the road in their Fifth Avenue HQ doing the deals. The pact comes after ICM Partners...
- 6/18/2013
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
One of the most famous paintings in the world is also one of the most mysterious. Tell us what you think really happened
Johannes Vermeer's The Girl with The Pearl Earring, otherwise known as The "Mona Lisa of the North" – one of the most famous and mysterious marvels of the art world – is back in the Us for the first time since 1995, when it caused a sensation in Washington DC.
Gallery owners say they're expecting a stampede of visitors, when the painting begins its Us tour tomorrow, Saturday, at the de Young/Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
Exactly why the painting is the source of such fascination is difficult to explain, since very little is known about the painter and even less about his subject. Experts say the mystery is part of its allure. "Sometimes the questions are more intriguing because they can't be answered," Melissa Buron, assistant curator...
Johannes Vermeer's The Girl with The Pearl Earring, otherwise known as The "Mona Lisa of the North" – one of the most famous and mysterious marvels of the art world – is back in the Us for the first time since 1995, when it caused a sensation in Washington DC.
Gallery owners say they're expecting a stampede of visitors, when the painting begins its Us tour tomorrow, Saturday, at the de Young/Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
Exactly why the painting is the source of such fascination is difficult to explain, since very little is known about the painter and even less about his subject. Experts say the mystery is part of its allure. "Sometimes the questions are more intriguing because they can't be answered," Melissa Buron, assistant curator...
- 1/25/2013
- by Ruth Spencer
- The Guardian - Film News
Tracey Chevalier's Remarkable Creatures is set in the early 19th century on the coast of England. Elizabeth Philpot and her sisters are relocated to this area of England from London by their brother upon his engagement. This area of the country is less expensive than London, and less exciting and entertaining as well. Elizabeth's younger sister, Margaret, having been the sister with the most prospects in London, is the most unhappy about the change, but Elizabeth and her other sister, Louise, manage to make do in this small town.
Louise finds interesting flora in the area and turns to gardening, but Elizabeth occupies herself in a different manner. She hunts fossils. The area of Lyme, and the surrounding coast, are particularly special geological areas. Fossils are frequently found on the beaches and are sold to tourists by the locals as "curies." One skilled curie finder Elizabeth meets is Mary Anning,...
Louise finds interesting flora in the area and turns to gardening, but Elizabeth occupies herself in a different manner. She hunts fossils. The area of Lyme, and the surrounding coast, are particularly special geological areas. Fossils are frequently found on the beaches and are sold to tourists by the locals as "curies." One skilled curie finder Elizabeth meets is Mary Anning,...
- 3/10/2010
- by Dustin Rowles
Girl With a Pearl Earring is a fictional exploration of the world of Dutch master Johannes Vermeer and the painting of his most enigmatic and beloved portrait, Girl With a Pearl Earring. The movie takes us deep into the intimate realms of artistic inspiration. Based on Tracy Chevalier's best-selling novel, Olivia Hetreed's screenplay has imaginative fun, speculating on who that girl in the painting is and why she looks both amused and sad. The film, the directorial debut by television director Peter Webber, also offers lively lessons in the techniques and methodology of 17th century painting. This is an art film in spades.
Boasting inspired performances by Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson -- the queen so far of this year's Toronto film festival, based on her work in Lost in Translation and this film -- Girl is not likely to move beyond the art house, but the film does succeed where few others have in penetrating the life of a painter and the source of his art.
Cinematographer Eduardo Serra and designer Ben van Os make every frame of this picture a living tribute to Vermeer, utilizing his composition and lighting to capture the look of 1665 Holland. They use the famed "northern lighting" that catches faces and objects in a warm half light that opens up common domestic scenes to the beauties of color and form. The film bathes its actors, furniture and open spaces in a glorious incandescence.
Griet (Johansson), still a teenager, must leave her Protestant home to enter Vermeer's tumultuous, Catholic household in Delft when her father, a tile painter, becomes blind. The place is run by stern women. Vermeer's penny-pinching mother-in-law, Maria (Judy Parfitt), keeps a close eye on her emotional daughter Catharina (Essie Davis) -- perennially pregnant with another child to feed -- her mischievous granddaughter and a pair of gossipy female servants. On the floor above, in his studio, Vermeer (Firth) labors painstakingly but in peace on his paintings. He is not prolific, taking months to complete a commission, thus straining the household's finances.
In the new maid, the daughter of an artist, Vermeer senses an appreciation of his work no one else in the family shows. He teaches her to buy and mix his paints. He notices her response to his experiments with light and space. And as her husband's interest in this fresh-faced lass grows, so does his wife's jealousy.
The young beauty attracts the attention of two other men: the wealthy Master van Ruijven (Tom Wilkerson), Vermeer's lustful patron, and Pieter (Cillian Murphy), a butcher's son who shyly courts her. Sensing the tensions within Vermeer's household and desiring Griet himself, the cunning van Ruijven dangles a tempting commission before Vermeer. He asks the artist to paint Griet alone, behind his wife's back. Money-hungry Maria allows the commission -- and Vermeer's relationship with Griet -- to proceed.
The film keenly observes the psychological warfare within the household even as it takes the measure to the teeming township outside its door, where animals roam the streets and garbage lies in the canals. All this, the movie seems to say, goes into the painting of one masterpiece, all these tensions, hardships and schemes as well as the life of the times.
Johansson's brave and intelligent innocence is nicely balanced by Firth's worldly, compassionate admiration of his painting's subject. In another time and place, these two would be lovers. But here, distinctions in class, religion and education make this impossible; here, their passion remains cerebral and platonic, though sexual tensions abound.
High marks belong to the film's entire crew, including Alexandre Desplat's elegant score and Dien van Straalen's costumes modeled after Vermeer's work.
GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING
Lions Gate Films
Lions Gate and Pathe in association with U.K. Film Council present an Archer Street/Delux production
Credits: Director: Peter Webber
Screenwriter: Olivia Hetreed
Based on the novel by: Tracy Chevalier
Producers: Andy Paterson, Anand Tucker
Executive producers: Francois Ivernel, Cameron McCracken, Duncan Reid, Tom Ortenberg, Peter Block, Nick Drake, Philip Erdoes, Daria Jovivic
Director of photography: Eduardo Serra
Production designer: Ben van Os
Music: Alexandre Desplat
Costume designer: Dien van Straalen
Editor: Kate Evans
Cast: Vermeer: Colin Firth
Griet: Scarlett Johansson
Van Ruijven: Tom Wilkerson
Maria Thins: Judy Parfitt
Pieter: Cillian Murphy
Catharina: Essie Davis
Running time -- 99 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Boasting inspired performances by Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson -- the queen so far of this year's Toronto film festival, based on her work in Lost in Translation and this film -- Girl is not likely to move beyond the art house, but the film does succeed where few others have in penetrating the life of a painter and the source of his art.
Cinematographer Eduardo Serra and designer Ben van Os make every frame of this picture a living tribute to Vermeer, utilizing his composition and lighting to capture the look of 1665 Holland. They use the famed "northern lighting" that catches faces and objects in a warm half light that opens up common domestic scenes to the beauties of color and form. The film bathes its actors, furniture and open spaces in a glorious incandescence.
Griet (Johansson), still a teenager, must leave her Protestant home to enter Vermeer's tumultuous, Catholic household in Delft when her father, a tile painter, becomes blind. The place is run by stern women. Vermeer's penny-pinching mother-in-law, Maria (Judy Parfitt), keeps a close eye on her emotional daughter Catharina (Essie Davis) -- perennially pregnant with another child to feed -- her mischievous granddaughter and a pair of gossipy female servants. On the floor above, in his studio, Vermeer (Firth) labors painstakingly but in peace on his paintings. He is not prolific, taking months to complete a commission, thus straining the household's finances.
In the new maid, the daughter of an artist, Vermeer senses an appreciation of his work no one else in the family shows. He teaches her to buy and mix his paints. He notices her response to his experiments with light and space. And as her husband's interest in this fresh-faced lass grows, so does his wife's jealousy.
The young beauty attracts the attention of two other men: the wealthy Master van Ruijven (Tom Wilkerson), Vermeer's lustful patron, and Pieter (Cillian Murphy), a butcher's son who shyly courts her. Sensing the tensions within Vermeer's household and desiring Griet himself, the cunning van Ruijven dangles a tempting commission before Vermeer. He asks the artist to paint Griet alone, behind his wife's back. Money-hungry Maria allows the commission -- and Vermeer's relationship with Griet -- to proceed.
The film keenly observes the psychological warfare within the household even as it takes the measure to the teeming township outside its door, where animals roam the streets and garbage lies in the canals. All this, the movie seems to say, goes into the painting of one masterpiece, all these tensions, hardships and schemes as well as the life of the times.
Johansson's brave and intelligent innocence is nicely balanced by Firth's worldly, compassionate admiration of his painting's subject. In another time and place, these two would be lovers. But here, distinctions in class, religion and education make this impossible; here, their passion remains cerebral and platonic, though sexual tensions abound.
High marks belong to the film's entire crew, including Alexandre Desplat's elegant score and Dien van Straalen's costumes modeled after Vermeer's work.
GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING
Lions Gate Films
Lions Gate and Pathe in association with U.K. Film Council present an Archer Street/Delux production
Credits: Director: Peter Webber
Screenwriter: Olivia Hetreed
Based on the novel by: Tracy Chevalier
Producers: Andy Paterson, Anand Tucker
Executive producers: Francois Ivernel, Cameron McCracken, Duncan Reid, Tom Ortenberg, Peter Block, Nick Drake, Philip Erdoes, Daria Jovivic
Director of photography: Eduardo Serra
Production designer: Ben van Os
Music: Alexandre Desplat
Costume designer: Dien van Straalen
Editor: Kate Evans
Cast: Vermeer: Colin Firth
Griet: Scarlett Johansson
Van Ruijven: Tom Wilkerson
Maria Thins: Judy Parfitt
Pieter: Cillian Murphy
Catharina: Essie Davis
Running time -- 99 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 12/26/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
DINARD, France -- Director Peter Webber's visually striking film Girl With a Pearl Earring, starring Colin Firth and Scarlett Johannson, won the top Hitchcock D'Or award on Sunday, at the 14th Dinard Festival of British Films. The film, which was produced by Andy Paterson and Anand Tucker and will be distributed in France by Pathe International, was expected to bag the Dinard audience award, and it did. Inspired by the enigmatic painting of the same name by 17th century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, the film was a "technical tour de force," according to French producer Charles Gassot, who headed the jury of eight. The anonymous girl in the painting and the fact that there is little on record of the Dutch master's life, has generated centuries of historical speculation and three recent books. The film is based on Tracy Chevalier's eponymous tale of a young girl, Griet, who finds work in Vermeer's prosperous Delft household in the 1660s, after her family loses its fortune. The 16-year old girl attracts the master painter's attention and becomes his model until she is driven out of the house by the painter's jealous, perpetually pregnant wife and his meddling mother-in-law.
- 10/6/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
LONDON -- Pathe Pictures, one of the U.K. lottery-backed moviemaking franchises, said Wednesday that it has established a three-picture production fund with U.K. media and entertainment investment/advisory group Ingenious Media. The fund, set up between Pathe and Ingenious Film and Television, is a tax-based vehicle that will allow Ingenious investors to pump cash into three Pathe productions through Ingenious' £50 million ($77.5 million) Inside Track Fund. One of the films the fund will invest in is the romantic comedy Suzie Gold, which started shooting last week. It stars Summer Phoenix and is helmed by debuting director Ric Cantor. It will also invest in The Girl With the Pearl Earring, the film adaptation of the best-selling book by Tracy Chevalier, starring Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth.
- 10/24/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Oscar nominee Tom Wilkinson will star in the dramatic indie feature Girl With a Pearl Earring for director Peter Webber. Shooting begins next month, with Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson also starring. At the same time, Wilkinson has attached himself to star in two other indie features: Gillian Armstrong's fairy-tale drama Seventh Heaven and the dark, quirky drama Living and Breathing for filmmakers Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe (Lost in La Mancha). Earring, based on the novel by Tracy Chevalier, is about a peasant girl (Johansson) who is forced to work as a maid in the home of famed Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer (Firth), where she eventually becomes the model for what would become one of his most famous works. Wilkinson will play the wealthy Van Ruijven, one of Vermeer's top patrons. Pathe Pictures is producing the project, with Lions Gate handling domestic distribution.
- 10/15/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.