FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES Presents In Association with PARTICIPANT MEDIA and IMAGENATION ABU DHABI A BLUEPRINT PICTURES Production JUDI DENCH BILL NIGHY PENELOPE WILTON DEV PATEL CELIA IMRIE RONALD PICKUP with TOM WILKINSON and MAGGIE SMITH DIRECTED BY.......................JOHN MADDEN SCREENPLAY BY.....................OL PARKER BASED ON THE NOVEL “THESE FOOLISH THINGS” BY.........DEBORAH MOGGACH PRODUCED BY.......................GRAHAM BROADBENT ..................................PETE CZERNIN EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS...............JEFF SKOLL ..................................RICKY STRAUSS ..................................JONATHAN KING CO-PRODUCERS......................CAROLINE HEWITT ..................................SARAH HARVEY DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY...........BEN DAVIS BSC PRODUCTION DESIGNER...............ALAN MACDONALD FILM EDITOR.......................CHRIS GILL COSTUME DESIGNER..................LOUISE STJERNSWARD MUSIC BY..........................THOMAS NEWMAN CASTING BY........................MICHELLE GUISH ..................................SEHER LATIF C.S.A. 1
Transcript
FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURESPresents
In Association with PARTICIPANT MEDIA and IMAGENATION ABU DHABI
A BLUEPRINT PICTURES Production
JUDI DENCHBILL NIGHY
PENELOPE WILTONDEV PATEL
CELIA IMRIERONALD PICKUP
with TOM WILKINSONand MAGGIE SMITH
DIRECTED BY.......................................................JOHN MADDENSCREENPLAY BY.................................................OL PARKERBASED ON THE NOVEL “THESE FOOLISH THINGS” BY.........................DEBORAH MOGGACHPRODUCED BY.....................................................GRAHAM BROADBENT.................................................................................PETE CZERNINEXECUTIVE PRODUCERS..................................JEFF SKOLL .................................................................................RICKY STRAUSS .................................................................................JONATHAN KING CO-PRODUCERS...................................................CAROLINE HEWITT.................................................................................SARAH HARVEY DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY........................BEN DAVIS BSCPRODUCTION DESIGNER...................................ALAN MACDONALDFILM EDITOR........................................................CHRIS GILLCOSTUME DESIGNER.........................................LOUISE STJERNSWARDMUSIC BY..............................................................THOMAS NEWMANCASTING BY.........................................................MICHELLE GUISH.................................................................................SEHER LATIF C.S.A.
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THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL is supposed to be India’s answer for the
UK’s most elegant retirees – a place where they can spend their golden years surrounded by lush
amenities – that is, until seven retirees who are in need of a transformation find themselves on the
front steps of the not-quite-ready resort. Thus begins a comic, romantic and poignant adventure
in a land full of unexpected pleasures, brought to life by some of the most honored and
accomplished screen actors of our time.
Arriving in sun-baked Jaipur, with only the hope to begin their life anew amidst their own
personal baggage are: the bereaved and financially stranded Evelyn (Judi Dench), the
disillusioned High Court Judge Graham (Tom Wilkinson), the quarrelsome couple Douglas and
Jean (Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton), the die-hard love seekers Norman (Ronald Pickup) and
Madge (Celia Imrie), and Muriel (Maggie Smith) – who intends to have her hip replaced and
immediately leave India for good. They are all at the mercy of the hotel’s ambitiously naïve
young owner, Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel), who inherited the once sophisticated building from his
father hoping to turn it into a high end luxury hotel. So far, he might only have chaos to offer,
but what Sonny lacks in resources, he makes up for in enthusiasm.
Still, the new residents are aghast to find “improvements” to the property have stalled, leaving
such amenities as water, electricity and phones iffy at best. They are equally disoriented by an India
full of contrasts, at once intoxicating and frightening, traditional and modern, beautiful and strange. At
first, these seven newcomers seem unsure about what the future might hold. However, as they begin
to forge new friendships, they make some unexpected discoveries and start to let go of the past.
Fox Searchlight Pictures Presents, in association with Participant Media and ImageNation Abu
Dhabi, a Blueprint Pictures Production, a film by John Madden, THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD
HOTEL, with a cast including Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Penelope
Wilton, Celia Imrie, Ronald Pickup and Dev Patel. The film is directed by John Madden
(SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE) from a script by Ol Parker and based on the novel “These Foolish
Things” by Deborah Moggach. The producers are Graham Broadbent and Peter Czernin of Blueprint
Pictures. The executive producers are Jeff Skoll, Ricky Strauss and Jonathan King.
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THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD
HOTEL
“In India, we have a saying – everything will be all right in the end. So if it is not all right, it is not yet the end.”
-- Sonny Kapoor
When the first seven brave souls arrive at India’s debut retirement hotel catering to British
citizens in their autumn years, it is nothing like what was advertised. The manager promises them a
transformation, but it is not just the building that is transformed in John Madden’s THE BEST
EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL.
Their adventures began in the mind of British novelist Deborah Moggach, who imagined a
group of cash-strapped pensioners who find themselves “outsourced” to India, each willing (or forced)
to try relocating to an exotic locale at a fraction of the usual retirement price. The book won praise for
its characters that, at an age when most people are slowing down and staying close to home, embark
on the journey of a lifetime.
Producers Graham Broadbent and Peter Czernin saw the potential for an unusual and original
film experience. “We loved her concept of outsourcing retirement, taking our outsourcing of everyday
tasks like banking and customer service one step further,” says Broadbent. “Deborah had pondered
where she would like to end up in her golden years, and decided living above an Indian bazaar would
be endlessly fascinating. The wonderful part is that just when her characters could be entering a greyer
period of their lives, a whole new chapter opens up, with a literal explosion of color and brightness,
and an opportunity to reinvent themselves.”
Screenwriter Ol Parker took that scenario and ran with it. “I saw an opportunity to create a
romantic comedy for a different generation, centered on people in their 60s and 70s,” says Parker, who
last wrote and directed the twenty-something romantic comedy IMAGINE ME & YOU. “What was
so appealing to me is that as we get older, we tend to not stray out of our comfort zones, I loved the
idea of taking this group of people and putting them somewhere where they are completely out of their
element. I also enjoyed the idea of a love story about men and women who have had a whole lifetime
of experience.”
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To direct the film, Broadbent and Czernin approached John Madden, one of England’s most
lauded, cinematic storytellers, whose films include the Best Picture Oscar® winner SHAKESPEARE
IN LOVE and the recent thriller THE DEBT. Madden found the premise irresistible: seven people –
stranded for different reasons at the point in their lives where opportunities have disappeared –
dropped into a strange, intoxicating and threatening new world. It offered the comedy of dislocation
alongside the melancholy of loss – and the tribulations and joys of trying to grow older with grace and
vitality.
“The script is funny and rich, and it’s not just a comedy,” notes Madden. “It also deals with
bereavement, loneliness and isolation, and confronts the question of what is really possible as you get
older. Can you still start over again? Is it ever too late to change?”
The answer for those at the Marigold Hotel might seem uncertain, but it becomes a resounding
“No” for most of the characters, although in very individual and unique ways.
Madden was excited from the start to pull together an ensemble cast who could bring each of
these journeys alive in vivid and human ways. “A lot of my work has been with ensembles, and I’m
interested by stories of people in suspension, where different rules apply, where only the present tense
matters.” he says. “In SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, the characters were suspended in the enchanted
universe of the theatre, and of the play; in THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL the characters
are in an analogous kind of geographical suspension. They’ve entered a strange world removed from
their former reality, cut off from their past, where they have to invent a new life for themselves.”
The fact that the characters are in the latter part of life turned out to be a real advantage.
“Since the characters are all of a certain age, it was a chance to cast actors who are at the peak of their
abilities,” explains Madden. “They were the most extraordinary resource and they brought the story
alive. The sheer level of comic talent, acting skill and depth of experience was staggering. The only
thing we had to do was bring them together with an equally skilled ensemble of Indian actors, and then
watch them collide with this magnificent country.”
“In this story, definitions of age and maturity completely fall away,” sums up Madden,
“because the characters are made young again by the situations they find themselves in. Challenged
and overwhelmed by the experience of modern India, caught in different forms of emotional
realignment - friendships, liaisons, rivalries – as well as in unfinished business that sparks in comic
eruptions – they find that ultimately the only thing that matters is what is happening right then and
there, between them.”
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THE RESIDENTS
At THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL, everything centers around the needs and
wishes of the residents -- which turn out be astonishingly tricky and diverse. They include:
Evelyn/Judi Dench
Marital Status: Newly widowedFinancial Status: Inherited her husband’s mounds of hidden debtLooking for: A job (and her first real taste of independence)
Evelyn thought she had a perfect marriage, but when her husband suddenly dies, leaving her
with his secret life of financial ruin, she starts to question everything about her past and, more
importantly, her now uncertain future. Desperate to find a way out of her son’s offer to move in with
his family, she resolves to teach herself computer skills, and stumbles on the website of the Marigold
Hotel. She knows that India will be nothing like her life in London, but as daunting as it seems, it
offers her hope, and she consoles her incredulous son with the promise of a regular blog.
Playing Evelyn is Dame Judi Dench, the Academy Award® winning leading lady who has a
knack for making every character she plays both real and transcendent. Dench previously worked with
Madden on MRS. BROWN and SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, garnering as Oscar nomination for the
first and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the latter.
“In this film, Judi plays a woman who is forced to take control of her future when she has
never done so in her entire life,” notes Madden.
“She is really the heart of the story,” adds Graham Broadbent. “And like Judi, Evelyn is the
most wonderfully sympathetic person.”
Dench says of Evelyn’s journey: “I think she feels she has nothing left to lose when she finds
herself with no husband, no money and no real plan for the future, so she comes to India and then fully
embraces it. That was not hard to act, because I found that being in India you are drawn each day to
learning about the people and culture.”
She adds: “This is a story I really wanted to be a part of, because it is about people who don’t
quite know what’s going to happen to them at this point in their lives and yet each discovers a different
answer. It was also an opportunity to work with people I know -- Maggie Smith, Penelope Wilton,
Celia Imrie, Bill Nighy, Ronald Pickup, Tom Wilkinson and, of course, John Madden – and a chance
for us to all be together for the first time.”
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Muriel/Maggie Smith
Marital Status: A lifelong live-in housekeeper Financial Status: The only thing she needs is a new hipLooking for: The fastest way out of India
Muriel is a salty, opinionated, retired housekeeper who would have happily stayed in her own
narrow little corner of the world – were it not for a pesky hip that forces her to India for surgery. She
is quite convinced she will find the whole experience appalling until India slowly starts to unseat her
assumptions. One of the world’s most famed and distinguished actresses, multiple Academy Award
winner Maggie Smith, takes on the crucial role of the woman who becomes the hotel’s unlikeliest
champion.
Once he knew Smith was cast, screenwriter Ol Parker went to town with the character. “It was
tremendous fun to write for Maggie, who has such a way with words, and it was also one of the great
honors of my life,” he says. “Muriel has a fear of all things foreign and a hatred of going abroad, so
India starts out as her worst nightmare, but that makes the way she changes more interesting.”
Continues John Madden: “Muriel is not an uncommon figure, anywhere, and certainly not in
England: instinctively xenophobic, never stepping out of her comfort zone in any way. Her journey is
one of the most interesting amongst the seven, as she struggles with the unfamiliar. Ironically, she
forms a friendly relationship with the hotel’s lower caste Indian housekeeper, with whom of course she
finds she has something in common.”
Graham Broadbent notes that it was Smith’s ability to show subtle flashes of the long-buried
human compassion and curiosity underneath Muriel’s intolerance that gives the performance lightness
and poignancy. “Muriel’s journey is very human and Maggie allows the audience to come to love
her,” he says. “Despite her sometimes cruel and unbending attitudes, you start to see the very smart
and funny woman she can be from within.”
Graham/Tom Wilkinson
Marital Status: Single and unattached Financial Status: Well-heeled but at a cost to his joie de vivreLooking for: A past he left behind
Graham is the only new resident at the Marigold Hotel with previous experience in India, the
land where he grew up. After leading a life of conventional success and status as a High Court judge,
he finds himself with just one burning thing left to do: come to terms with his early life in India, and to
right a wrong which has haunted him ever since. Taking the role is Tom Wilkinson, who garnered
Oscar nominations for his indelible roles in MICHAEL CLAYTON and IN THE BEDROOM.
Wilkinson says that Graham is drawn to India to make a full circle of his life. “He’s been a
judge his whole adult life, and now he’s decided he’s had enough of the law and he goes to India to 6
rediscover his past, rediscover love and most of all, rediscover who he really is,” he says. “I found it
very interesting because it is a story that has to balance humor with emotion. The hard part is that it
can’t become sentimental because that’s the enemy of a story like this.”
Unlike his character, Wilkinson had never been to India before and found it both exhilarating
and overwhelming. “It’s a huge, variegated, complicated country with such a mixture of beauty and
poverty that it is hard to take it all in,” he observes. “But I think the film gives a realistic impression
of all those contrasts. For Graham, India is full of memories of youth, friendship and even now, love.”
John Madden, who has worked with Wilkinson on several previous films, says that “Tom’s
character is someone who starts out no longer able to tolerate the stifling conformity of the judicial
world, so he walks out of that life and returns to India, where he lived as a child. What we don’t realize
at first is that he is actually on a very personal kind of search for someone he used to know, someone
who holds the key to issues that he needs to resolve to find peace. He’s a very rich character who
brings a very different color to the narrative.”
Adds Graham Broadbent: “Tom really responded to something in this character. Every day
he brought something extraordinary, a kindness and gentleness that I don’t think people have seen in
his roles before.”
Douglas/Bill Nighy
Marital Status: Married with childrenFinancial Status: Made the mistake of lending his retirement fund to his daughter Looking for: Ways to appease his wife . . . and, just maybe, a change
Douglas might be a mild-mannered government official, hen-pecked husband and out-of-luck
father who lent his daughter the money intended for his retirement, but in India, he finds himself
shedding his repressed identity and becoming a rather different man. Taking on this comic and subtle
transformation is Bill Nighy, the British actor who rose to global fame after playing an aging rocker in
LOVE ACTUALLY and has gone on to roles in such blockbusters as the PIRATES OF THE
CARIBBEAN series and HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS.
“India gives a second chance to all of the characters,” says Nighy of his attraction to Douglas.
“He had a life in England that didn’t suit him and he’s married to a wife who is continually
disappointed by him, but coming to India affects him in a way that surprises him. He is set free by the
newness which opens him up, making it impossible to go back to the way things where before. He’s
having too much fun.”
As Douglas begins to shed his armor, he also finds a fellowship with the widow Evelyn,
played by Judi Dench, constructing a sticky triangle. “Evelyn laughs at his jokes, which is obviously
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the way to a man’s heart,” observes Nighy. “But being decent English people, they try to resist what is
happening – almost to the point of disaster.”
It’s all part of what Nighy believes makes the script for THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD
HOTEL stand out among romantic comedies. “My favorite thing is comedy in disguise – comedy that
seems like it came out of nowhere from authentic characters and details,” he says.
Graham Broadbent says this style capitalizes on Nighy’s estimable skills. “Whatever he does,
Bill has enormous charisma and a beautiful lightness about him. He inhabited this role so naturally.”
Ol Parker found himself mesmerized by what Nighy did with his words. “When I watched
him, I would think ‘I’m sure I wrote these lines but I honestly feel like I’m hearing them for the first
time.’ There’s no one who does that like Bill. He’s so idiosyncratic that he makes it utterly his own.”
Jean/Penelope Wilton
Marital Status: Grumpily married to husband DouglasFinancial Status: Not ready to face a life of drab, beige retirement villagesLooking for: Something that doesn’t disappoint
Jean comes to India in a last-ditch effort to retire in luxury at a cut-rate price, only to find that
nothing – not the Marigold Hotel, nor India, and certainly not her husband – lives up to her shallow
expectations. While the rest of the residents begin to explore and discover, Jean stays behind to brood
and complain. Penelope Wilton, whose film roles range from CALENDAR GIRLS to SHAUN OF
THE DEAD and who was recently seen in the hit television series DOWNTON ABBEY, tackled the
role with sympathy for Jean’s very different journey.
“I think Jean is someone who arrives with a typical outsider’s view of India, where she sees all
these things that she can’t control and she can’t understand, and it feels threatening,” Wilton explains.
“She can’t cope with the way people behave or the heat. It all seems jumbled up and at the same time
the resentment in her marriage has been building. India seemed like it would be a chance to change
things, but for her, it is not at all what she envisioned.”
Part of the fun is the way her trajectory so completely opposes that of her husband. “While
Douglas discovers an appetite for everything about India and its culture, Jean recoils, succumbing to a
kind of nervous breakdown, unable to leave the hotel,” says John Madden. “But she also seeks her
own solace in her friendship with Tom Wilkinson’s Graham.”
In many ways, Wilton had one of the hardest roles, as the character who instead of coming out
of her shell, turns inwards. Says Graham Broadbent: “Penelope brings empathy and affection to a
difficult character. She inhabits beautifully the one character who truly needs to go back home.”
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Madge/Celia Imrie
Marital Status: Multiple divorcée seeking next husbandFinancial Status: Making the most of what she’s gotLooking for: Love in all the wrong places
Madge has come to India not just for some rest and relaxation but for some serious husband-
hunting. She immediately sets out to the local clubs in search of romance. Celia Imrie, renowned for
her comic performances including a lead role in CALENDAR GIRLS, takes on the vibrant character
who Graham Broadbent says “won’t stop dancing until the lights go out.”
Imrie says, “I adored Madge right away. Laurence Olivier always said: ‘you must love the
person you’re playing’ and I really do love Madge. I think she’s such a good sport. She’s had quite a
few husbands and probably a few other people’s as well, but she’s someone who lives in the moment
and is ready for something new. She plans to keep having fun until it’s too late.”
She also was excited to join such a varied ensemble of characters. “Every person who comes
to the Marigold Hotel is searching for something new and different. They’re all quite intrepid to take
such a chance,” she observes. “For some it works out and for others it doesn’t, but marvellously,
there’s nothing neat and tidy about it and nothing sentimental. The great thing is that as actors we all
more or less know each other and that has been a huge help because it meant that we could have a
laugh even while we were playing people who have never met!”
Norman/Ronald Pickup
Marital Status: Life-long singletonFinancial Status: Money can’t buy him loveLooking for: All the passion he’s missed
Norman has retired to the Marigold Hotel in the hopes of a late-life adventure – preferably a
sexual one. After a lifetime of loneliness, and trying to be someone he’s not (including pretending that
he’s only 40 at speed-dating clubs), he has just one thing on his mind, but he could never imagine what
he finally finds in India. Playing Norman is Ronald Pickup. “John Madden brought him in because he
has worked with him in the theatre,” recalls Graham Broadbent. “I didn’t know him very well but he
turned out to be so delightful in the role. He really has to walk a tightrope because Norman has a kind
of outrageous sexual desire that could get out of hand, but Ronald stayed right on the funny and
charming side of that line.”
Madden says that Pickup honed in on Norman’s need to break out of solitude, no matter what
it takes. “He’s really a man beset by profound loneliness, but he dresses that up in a kind of gigolo
behaviour, extravagantly and inappropriately forward,” the director comments. “I think Norman is
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someone who had very little in his life, so when the door to India opens, he steps right in and finds a
very unexpected scenario.”
Pickup was won over by his character’s efforts, however over-the-top, to keep believing he
will find that perfect moment of passion he’s been seeking his whole life. “He’s a wonderful character
to play because on the one hand, he’s a very silly man, but he’s also looking for something deeper in
his life that he’s never, ever found: a soul mate,” he says.
As for joining the film’s stellar cast, many of whom Pickup has worked with on the stage, he
sums up: “There’s almost nothing you could say about this cast that doesn’t sound like a cliché, but
working with this group lifted me every day, moment by wonderful moment.”
THE MANAGEMENT
At the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, the residents are attended to with a charming sense of
aplomb – and panic -- by the management. Despite the boasts of the hotel’s lavish brochure, this turns
out to be the one-man operation of Sonny Kapoor, an endearingly ambitious youngster who
nevertheless is in completely over his head.
The filmmakers knew the casting of Sonny – who comes up with the ingenious idea of
“outsourcing British retirement to India” without anticipating the pitfalls – would be key to the story’s
whole chemistry. After all it is only Sonny’s can-do attitude that keeps the residents from fleeing the
moment they arrive!
The need for an actor with just the right blend of believable charisma and comic chops led to
the casting of Dev Patel, whose starring role in the international hit SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
brought him to the attention of the world. “Dev is a spectacular talent,” says Madden. “He’s a comic
natural – a sort of Jacques Tati figure, with amazing physical presence and fantastic instincts.”
Adds Judi Dench: “He’s a born comedian, and he has the assurance of someone who has been
doing this for a long, long time. We were all bewitched by him.”
Patel was taken with his character’s contradictions. “In a nutshell, Sonny is the most
disorganized person you’ll ever meet in life, and at the same time, he is extremely eager to please,” he
describes. “He photo-shopped the brochure for the Marigold Hotel to make the place look idyllic, and
now, he has to try to make the guests believe that it can become all that he has promised. At the same
time, he is trying to persuade his very traditional mother that he can succeed. To complicate matters
even further, he is in love with a modern girl his traditionalist mother doesn’t approve of.”
What makes Sonny’s hopes for the hotel more than just delusions of grandeur is that they are
based on a very real dream– to turn his father’s failure into a meaningful achievement. For Sonny,
“there’s a strong emotional attachment for Sonny to the hotel because it is connected to his father, who
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was desperate for it to be a success, but who nevertheless failed, as he did in everything in his life,”
Patel explains. “That’s why Sonny comes up with the idea of creating a place for old people that is
beautiful and idyllic, even if that is not yet the reality.”
Patel also had a personal connection to the story. “My mother has actually worked as a
caretaker for the elderly,” he notes, “and I was enticed by how vivid these characters are, by their
sarcasm and their wisdom. I fell in love with the script because every character shines in his or her
own different way and you believe in each of them.”
As for working with Dench, Smith, Wilkinson, Nighy, Wilton, Imrie and Pickup, he says: “It
was phenomenal – and that’s an understatement. It was amazing for me just to watch them. I was
nervous with this weighty cast, of course, but John gave me the confidence to be free. Even the
smallest scenes were great lessons for me.”
Patel also enjoyed working with the many Indian actors in the production, including Lillete
Dubey as Sonny’s mother, who disdains the modernization of Indian culture, and newcomer Tena
Desae, as Sunaina, Sonny’s girlfriend, a typical 21st century Indian girl who works in a call center.
Dubey is a well-known screen and stage actress in India and Madden notes, “It helped that
Dev was already a little afraid of her!” Dubey immediately empathized with Mrs. Kapoor’s
exasperation with her son. “Mrs. Kapoor is a character I know well, because I come from Delhi
originally. She is an urban, middle class mother, elegant but a bit old-fashioned, who calls the shots
with her three sons. There’s both shading and a lot of humor to her,” comments Kapoor.
Desae makes her English language debut in THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL,
revealing her comic skills as a young woman whose forbidden relationship with Sonny puts her into
compromising positions. Her chemistry with Patel allowed their relationship to come alive. “When
you see Dev and Tena with each other you root for them to stay together. Tena held her own against
this highly experienced cast,” says Graham Broadbent.
For Desae, the experience was one of a kind. “Everyone was very approachable, very humble,
very warm, very encouraging – and most of all, a lot of fun,” she confides.
THE SIGHTS
The allure of the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel starts with its location – in the middle of
Rajasthan, one of the most romantic of India’s states, a kaleidoscopic place replete with ornate
temples, ancient kingdoms and colorful saris, all alongside the dizzying pace of rapidly modernizing
cities. The surroundings the residents find on arrival are certainly every bit as lush and exotic as one
could imagine – but equally overwhelming and incomprehensible to life-long British residents,
resulting in instant culture shock.
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In the script, Ol Parker and John Madden had made the most of the natural tension that arises
from transplanting people set in their ways to a place that requires a whole new way of being. But the
real surprises were yet to come, as the cast and crew began to experience their own passage to India,
which had a profound impact on every one of them.
E.M. Forster noted that ‘once you’ve visited India, your life is never the same,’ and for the
cast this was also the case. Says Bill Nighy: “Most of us had never been to India before, and since
most of our characters hadn’t either, the experience was similarly profound. The major thing you
notice is the graciousness of the people and the way we were welcomed in the most wonderful way.”
Judi Dench was equally moved by the people she met, and loved the surprises of each day in
India. “It’s not often in life that you can return to your digs in the evening after a day of work and find
elephants walking by,” she muses.
For Celia Imrie, who had traveled through India 20 years ago, it was a reawakening. “There
wasn’t anything I didn’t enjoy about every single day there,” she muses. “It is an enchanting place in
every way, a country both poor and rich, with such energy, enthusiasm and joy everywhere.”
Adds Ronald Pickup: “I can only quote something Judi Dench said on our fourth or fifth day
here . . . ‘India is a constant assault on your senses and on everything you’ve taken for granted.’ It’s a
place full of contrasts and it does change you. It’s an experience unlike any other in the world – one
that is at times thrilling, ravishing, shocking and full of every aspect of life.”
Madden collaborated with cinematographer Ben Davis, who had just shot THE DEBT with the
director, to try to capture all of that energy and teeming humanity on the screen. They did not want to
shoot a postcard-style India, but rather give the audience a more realistic sense of what these new
arrivals might see and feel.
“There are images of India that we associate with tourist guidebooks. Those can certainly be
found, but what Ben and I talked about was trying to capture the texture of Indian life the way you
actually feel it,” he explains. “There is so much that strikes you when you first arrive. Everything is
crumbling and dilapidated and noisy and chaotic, but there is a joyousness that comes at you, and a
profound sympathy and openness. Visually it’s overwhelming: extraordinary fabrics and colors
everywhere, and an incredible sense of life.”
One of the first tasks in India was to find the best, most exotic environs for the actual Marigold
Hotel. “The hotel is a character itself, and it was probably the most difficult to cast,” says John
Madden.
They knew that they wanted to set the hotel at the edge of the city of Jaipur – aka “The Pink
City” -- once home to Raj rulers but now a frenetic metropolis jammed with an ever-increasing traffic
mix of cars, camels, elephants, bikes and trucks streaming down its narrow streets. “We explored
different areas of India, and settled on Jaipur because the culture, the colors and the atmosphere are all
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so overpowering and oozing with energy, especially compared to the drab English winter our
characters have left behind,” explains Graham Broadbent.
As for the hotel itself, the filmmakers ultimately chose Ravla Khempur, a royal palace turned
equestrian hotel that is attached to the tiny village of Khempur just outside the scenic lake district of
Udaipur. “The palace was built around a courtyard, with grand verandas from which the tribal chief’s
harem could survey the world, with lots of different levels and vantage points, and a slightly mad
quality... Crucially, the building had a magic about it, and an unmistakable charm,” explains Madden.
“It had that something special that could ultimately draw the characters in. It had these wonderful cool
dark interiors, with glimpses of saturated light and the teeming life outside its walls.”
The task of decorating the hotel with all the ambition and naiveté of Sonny Kapoor fell to
production designer Alan MacDonald, whose films include Stephen Frears’ THE QUEEN and CHERI.
MacDonald says Sonny was his inspiration throughout. “Once you understand Sonny, you can
visualize the quirkiness and eccentricity of the hotel. His aspiration is to have a boutique hotel, but that
is not his taste,” laughs the designer. “He is a living culture clash, facing his past and embracing his
future, and that’s how we decorated the hotel. Lots of interesting furniture inspired by colonial India,
mismatched local textiles, all mixed together with modern plastic bits and pieces, with everything
distressed and weather beaten.”
The owner of Ravla Khempur, who caters mainly to Indian tourists, was so pleased with the
rooms built for Madge and Evelyn on the balcony, and Norman’s eyrie on the roof, that he decided to
keep the structures in place and use them for his guests.
Around the hotel, MacDonald recreated a lively, Jaipur-style market. “Outside the real
building was just a dirt track, so first we laid a road, and then we built a bustling Indian market from
scratch,” he explains. “My research in Jaipur showed me that everything is mixed up in India - the
architecture, the colours, the textures, so I put together a living collage in layers. We built shop fronts,
and went to the local town and moved shopkeepers and their wares to Khempur, adding bikes, camels,
goats and cows. There is a sense of chaos and order at the same time.”
Filming also took place in the center of Jaipur, around the City Palace, the Marigold market,
on the crowded city buses and in the highrise call center, from which a vast expanse of the city can be
seen. On the outskirts of the city, locations included the Kanota Fort which stood in for the Viceroy
Club where both Madge and Norman hope to meet new partners. When young lovers Sonny and
Sunaina meet, he takes her to the Step Well, a 10th century watering spot surrounded by ten stories of
pale golden stone steps, creating a visual maze in which one never ascends or descends by the same
route.
The shoot quickly took on Indian rhythms, as filming navigated around some major Indian
festivals and holidays that took place during production Before shooting began, a local holy man
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performed a puja, a blessing on cast, crew and even on camera equipment. Only delicate diplomacy
allowed the cast to avoid playing their first scenes with red bindi marks on their foreheads without
offending local traditions. Director and cast were invited by the Maharaja of Udaipur, His Royal
Highness Arvind Singh Mewar, to attend his lavish Diwali celebrations, including a bagpipe welcome
and a fireworks display that illuminated the surrounding lake and the whole city. They also accepted
invitations to a royal wedding, replete with elephants and rock stars mingling with the high society of
India on the grounds of the Rambagh Palace Hotel.
But it was on the streets of Jaipur that both cast and filmmakers received endless inspiration.
“The truth is that you can’t fail to be affected by India, and this is as true for the characters in the film
as it was for the actors themselves, who embraced the experience,” says Madden. “You see how
people exhibit devoutness, spirituality and optimism in the face of levels of austerity that would be
regarded as deprivation by western standards. It is a very challenging environment and shouldn’t be
sentimentalised. It’s not the film’s intention to tell convenient untruths about the place, and we hope it
will incite curiosity about a fascinating country.”
It was not only India’s visual electricity that fascinated Madden, but its sounds as well, which
were woven into a score by ten-time Academy Award nominee Thomas Newman, who also found the
project a process of discovery.
“This was certainly a different direction for me as I‘ve never done a movie set in India
before,” he notes. “But I have a real interest in sound color and it was a challenge I wanted to take on
and to do respectfully. I’m very interested in traditional Indian instruments, but people spend their
entire lives studying traditional Indian music and for me to pretend I had that kind of knowledge would
be silly. So, instead, I wanted to approach it from a more naïve perspective, as someone delighting in
Indian musical colors and phrases, but in the context of the film. The emphasis was on a kind of
creative joy, evoking the feelings of the film in chords and music.”
The feelings of the characters seemed to entwine with cast and crew as friendships, admiration
and a love of India grew between them. For screenwriter Ol Parker, who traveled to India with the
production, it was gratifying to see the impact of India mirror what happens in the story. “The most
wonderful thing for me was to hear people say that the trip was life-changing,” he concludes, “Because
that’s the idea behind the entire movie – that it’s never too late to change your life and find something
new.”
# # # # #
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ABOUT THE CAST
JUDI DENCH (Evelyn Greenslade) played Ophelia in Hamlet at The Old Vic Theatre
over 50 years ago, and has since garnered wide popular and critical admiration for a career
marked by outstanding performances in both classical and contemporary roles. She has won
numerous major awards, including an Academy Award, ten BAFTA Awards and a record six
Laurence Olivier Awards, for work encompassing stage and screen. In recognition of her many
achievements, she received an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 1970, became a DBE (Dame
of the British Empire) in 1988, and in 2005 was awarded a Companion of Honour. This year the
BFI awarded Dench a fellowship for Outstanding Contribution to Film, and she also received the
Japan Arts Association’s prestigious Praemium Imperiale Laureate Award for Film and Theatre.
Her distinguished list of film credits include iconic performances as Queen Victoria in
MRS. BROWN, for which she won a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe®, and was nominated for
an Academy Award, and Queen Elizabeth I in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, for which she
received an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress. She is also
known internationally for her role as M in the Bond films TOMORROW NEVER DIES. THE
WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH, DIE ANOTHER DAY, CASINO ROYALE, and QUANTUM OF
SOLACE, and she is currently at work filming the latest installment in the series for director Sam
Mendes.
Dench has received Academy Award nominations for performances in four other films:
Lasse Hallstrom’s CHOCOLAT, for which she was also nominated for a Golden Globe; IRIS,
directed by Richard Eyre, for which she also won a BAFTA Award; MRS. HENDERSON
PRESENTS, directed by Stephen Frears, for which she was further nominated at the BAFTAs
and the Golden Globes; and NOTES ON A SCANDAL, directed by Richard Eyre, which also
brought her BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations.
Her other film credits include TEA WITH MUSSOLINI, directed by Franco Zeffirelli; A
ROOM WITH A VIEW and A HANDFUL OF DUST, both of which brought her BAFTA
Awards for Best Supporting Actress; 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD, directed by David Jones;
HENRY V and HAMLET, both directed Kenneth Branagh; and NINE, directed by Rob Marshall,
for which she shared with her ensemble a Screen Actors Guild Award® nomination. Most
recently, she appeared in JANE EYRE, directed by Cary Fukunaga, Rob Marshall’s PIRATES
OF THE CARIBBEAN ON STRANGER TIDES, and in MY WEEK WITH MARILYN, directed
by Simon Curtis, and J. EDGAR, directed by Clint Eastwood for Warner Bros.
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Dench is also revered for her television roles, her work including “The Last of the Blonde
Bombshells,” for which she won received a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award and an
Emmy® Award nomination, and the long-running hit BBC sitcom, “As Time Goes By.” She
starred as Miss Matty in the critically acclaimed BBC series “Cranford,” for which she received
Best Actress nominations at the BAFTA Awards, the Golden Globes and the Emmy Awards, and
“Cranford: Return to Cranford,” for which she was nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe.
Dench’s achievements on screen are mirrored by her celebrated career on stage. She has
won Laurence Olivier Awards for Macbeth and Juno and the Paycock for the RSC, Pack of Lies
at the London Lyric, and Anthony and Cleopatra, Absolute Hell, and A Little Night Music, all at
The National Theatre, and her performance in Amy’s View, directed by Richard Eyre, brought her
a Critics Circle Award and an Olivier Award nomination when it played in London at The
National and Aldwych, followed by a Tony® Award for Best Actress when the play transferred
to Broadway. Her other theatre credits include: The Royal Family, directed by Peter Hall; The
Breath of Life, directed by Howard Davies and co-starring Dame Maggie Smith; All’s Well That
Ends Well, for the RSC; Hay Fever, directed by Peter Hall; The Merry Wives of Windsor, for the
RSC; Madame de Sade, directed by Michael Grandage for The Donmar West End and Peter
Hall’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Rose Theatre, Kingston.
BILL NIGHY (Douglas Ainslie) won the BAFTA Film Award for Best Supporting
Actor for his iconic role as Billy Mack in LOVE ACTUALLY and the BAFTA TV Award for
Best Actor for his role in “State of Play.” He has also received a Golden Globe for his role in the
television film “Gideon’s Daughter” and was further nominated for Richard Curtis’s “The Girl in
the Café.” This year he has appeared in David Hare’s critically acclaimed “Page Eight” as well as
voicing the role of Grandsanta in Aardman’s ARTHUR CHRISTMAS.
Further film credits include roles in HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY
HALLOWS: PART 1, GLORIOUS 39, CHALET GIRL, G-FORCE, VALKYRIE,
UNDERWORLD, UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION, UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE
LYCANS, PIRATE RADIO, PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST,
PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN: AT WORLD’S END, SHAUN OF THE DEAD, ENDURING
LOVE, EASY VIRTUE, HOT FUZZ, STILL CRAZY, and THE CONSTANT GARDENER,
among many others. On the stage, Nighy was nominated for an Olivier Award for his
performance in Blue/Orange. He also starred in David Hare’s Skylight and Vertical Hour
opposite Julianne Moore on Broadway, Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, revivals of Harold Pinter’s
Betrayal and A Kind of Alaska, and Chekhov’s The Seagull. Films for release next year include
WRATH OF THE TITANS and TOTAL RECALL.
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Born in England to a former actress and businessman father, PENELOPE WILTON
(Jean Ainslie) moved to London when she was young and attended the Drama Centre. Acting
since the early 1970s, her first love was the stage. Among the many honors for her stage work,
Wilton has twice won the London Critics' Circle Award for Best Actress: in 1981 for Much Ado
About Nothing and in 1993 for The Deep Blue Sea.
Wilton has appeared in several Masterpiece productions including “Country Matters,”
“The Tale of Beatrix Potter,” “Wives and Daughters” and “Lucky Jim.” Other notable film and
television projects include “The Borrowers,” IRIS, CALENDAR GIRLS, SHAUN OF THE
DEAD, MATCH POINT, and “Doctor Who.”
DEV PATEL (Sonny Kapoor) delighted audiences as the underdog leading man, Jamal,
in the runaway hit SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, which won eight Academy Awards, including
Best Picture. He received rave reviews for his performance and garnered a number of award wins
including the National Board of Review Award for Best Breakthrough Performance, The British
Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer, The Broadcast Film Critics Choice
Award for Best Young Actor, and The Chicago & Washington Film Critics’ Awards for Most
Promising Performer.
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE was only Patel’s second acting role — British audiences
know him from the Channel 4 cult series “Skins,” where he was selected from an open casting
call of hundreds to play the role of Anwar.
Dev was last seen in theaters starring in M. Night Shyamalan’s THE LAST
AIRBENDER, and recently wrapped shooting a starring role opposite James Franco and Ashley
Hinshaw in the independent film CHERRY. He is currently shooting a starring role opposite Jeff
Daniels, Emily Mortimer and Allison Pill in Aaron Sorkin’s upcoming HBO series THE
NEWSROOM which Scott Rudin is producing.
CELIA IMRIE (Madge Hardcastle) is perhaps best known for her regular characters in
the award-winning TV series “Acorn Antiques,” “Dinnerladies,” and “Absolutely Fabulous.” She
is due to play Dotty Otley in Noises Off at the Old Vic theatre, and most recently was on stage in
the Drama at Inish at The Finborough, Hay Fever at the Rose Theatre, Acorn Antiques – The
Musical which was directed by Trevor Nunn, and Habeas Corpus at the Donmar which was
directed by Sam Mendes. Her many screen credits include CALENDAR GIRLS, HILARY AND
JACKIE, NANNY MCPHEE, WAH WAH, Aunt Una Alconbury in BRIDGET JONES’S
DIARY and BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON, and Matron in ST. TRINIAN’S and
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ST. TRINIAN’S II: THE LEGEND OF FRITTON’S GOLD. She recently completed filming
Julian Fellowes’ “Titanic” series for the BBC.
RONALD PICKUP (Norman Cousins) was born in Chester, England in 1940. He
attended the King’s School, followed by Leeds University and then spent two years in London at
the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
His first professional job after graduating from RADA was a small part in DR. WHO. His
stage debut was at Leicester Rep in 1964.
Ronald’s first London appearance was on the stage of the Royal Court Theatre in a
production of Julius Caesar, directed by Lindsay Anderson.
There soon followed a series of productions at the Royal Court (1964-66) under the
artistic directorship of William Gaskill: Shelley, Saved, Sergeant Musgrave’s Dance.
There followed seven years at the National Theatre (1966-73) under Sir Laurence Olivier,
appearing in: Juno and the Paycock, Love for Love, Much Ado About Nothing, The Three Sisters,
Peter Brook’s production Oedipus, the all-male production As You Like It, John Lennon’s In His
Own Write, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Mrs
Warren’s Profession, Measure for Measure, Danton’s Death, Long Day’s Journey into Night,
Richard ll, The School for Scandal, Macbeth, Trevor Griffith’s The Party. And then a return in
1977 to appear in The Madras House.
Other theatre credits: The Norman Conquests (Globe Theatre), Hobson’s Choice (Lyric
Hammersmith), Uncle Vanya (Haymarket Theatre), The Cherry Orchard (Aldwych Theatre),
Amy’s View (National Theatre, Aldwych Theatre and Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York,
Olivier nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role), Proof (Donmar Warehouse), Waiting
for Godot (Theatre Royal, Haymarket).
Film credits include: THE DAY OF THE JACKAL, MAHLER, THE THREE SISTERS,
THE THIRTY NINE STEPS, NJINSKY, EINSTIEN, WAGNER, ELENI, GREYFRIARS
BOBBY, MY FRIEND WALTER, DANNY AND THE CHAMPION OF THE WORLD, THE
MISSION, A DRY WHITE SEASON, and PRINCE OF PERSIA.
Television appearances include: “Orwell on Jura” (BAFTA nomination for Best Actor),
“Jennie,” “The Fight Against Slavery,” “The Life of Verdi,” “Fortunes of War,” “The Nightmare
Years,” “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” “The Letter,” “Henry IV,” “Waters of the Moon,”
“Absolute Hell,” “Not With a Bang,” “The Riff-Raff Element,” “Featherboy,” “The Worst Week
of My Life” and the BBC production of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” for which he
was the voice of Aslan the Lion.
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Amongst his numerous radio credits are: Wordsworth’s “Prelude,” Byron’s “Don Juan,”
“Reynard the Fox,” “A Winter’s Tale,” “Hamlet,” “The Awful Insulation of Rage” (Sony, Best
Actor).
TOM WILKINSON (Graham Dashwood) is a multi award-winning actor who’s
worldwide career includes theatre, film and television.
The actor was honored with both an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Ben
Franklin in the HBO mini-series “John Adams,” a supporting role that also garnered him a SAG
Award™ nomination. He also received a SAG nomination for “A Number” opposite Rhys Ifans
for HBO/BBC. Wilkinson also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting
Actor in Tony Gilroy’s MICHAEL CLAYTON, and an Academy Award nomination for Best
Actor for his unforgettable performance in Todd Field’s drama IN THE BEDROOM. Wilkinson
also received a BAFTA nomination, won the Independent Spirit Award, a Sundance Film Festival
Special Jury Prize and a New York Film Critics Film Circle Award for the role. Wilkinson
recently received an Emmy nomination for the mini-series “The Kennedy’s” playing Joe, Sr.
opposite Greg Kinnear and Barry Peppar.
Previously, Wilkinson won a BAFTA for his role in the 1997 international box-office
sensation THE FULL MONTY and garnered another BAFTA nomination the following year for
his performance in the Oscar-winner for Best Picture SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE. In addition,
he received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for his performance in HBO’s film “Normal,”
opposite Jessica Lange, and another Emmy nomination for his role in “Recount.”
Next up is Paramount’s MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL starring Tom
Cruise; the voice of Joseph Goebbels in the animated film JACKBOOTS ON WHITEHALL,
which offers a satirical alternative history of WWII, in which the Nazis seize London; LITTLE
BOY, Alejandro Monteverde’s independent film with Kevin James and Emily Watson; and THE
SAMARITAN opposite Samuel L. Jackson.
Wilkinson recently appeared in Michel Gondry’s THE GREEN HORNET opposite Seth
Rogen; THE CONSPIRATOR, Robert Redford’s story of Mary Surratt (Robin Wright-Penn);
THE DEBT opposite Helen Mirren, directed by John Madden; BURKE AND HARE, John
Landis’ black comedy starring Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis and Isla Fisher. Wilkinson has also been
seen in Tony Gilroy’s DUPLICITY opposite with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen; VALKYRIE,
directed by Bryan Singer and starring Tom Cruise and Kenneth Branagh; and in Guy Ritchie’s
ROCKNROLLA with Gerard Butler.
Other film credits include roles in Woody Allen’s CASSANDRA’S DREAM;
Christopher Nolan’s BATMAN BEGINS; Michel Gondry’s ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE
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SPOTLESS MIND; THE LAST KISS; STAGE BEAUTY; WILDE; THE GOVERNESS; Ang
Lee’s SENSE AND SENSE AND SENSIBILITY; SMILLA’S SENSE OF SNOW; Gillian
Armstrong’s OSCAR AND LUCINDA; RIDE WITH THE DEVIL; THE IMPORTANCE OF
BEING ERNEST; GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING; Roland Emmerich’s THE PATRIOT; A
GOOD WOMAN; RIPLEY UNDER GROUND; THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE; and
SEPARATE LIES.
An accomplished stage actor, Wilkinson has played the role of John Proctor in The
Crucible at the Royal National Theatre; the title role in King Lear at the Royal Court; the role of
Dr. Stockmann in the award-winning West End production of Enemy of the People; a London
Critics Circle Awards-winning performance in Ghosts; and David Hare’s production of My Zinc
Bed.
On the British small screen, Wilkinson received BAFTA TV Award nominations for his
roles in “Cold Enough for Snow” and the award-winning BBC miniseries “Martin Chuzzlewit.”
MAGGIE SMITH (Muriel Donnelly) is a highly regarded actress who portrayed
Minerva McGonagall in the HARRY POTTER films. Her credits also include NANNY
MCPHEE AND THE BIG BANG, FROM TIME TO TIME, BECOMING JANE, KEEPING
MUM, LADIES IN LAVENDER, DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD, and
GOSFORD PARK. For the latter, Smith’s performance earned nominations as Best Supporting
Actress at the Academy Awards, BAFTA Film Awards and Golden Globes.
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ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
JOHN MADDEN (Directed by) was born in Portsmouth and educated at Clifton
College and Cambridge. He began his career as Artistic Director of the Oxford and Cambridge
Shakespeare Company, moving later to the BBC to work in television and radio drama.
He moved to America in 1975 to develop radio drama with Earplay, the National Public
Radio drama project. Winning the Prix Italia with Arthur Kopit's Wings, he subsequently directed
the play for the stage at Yale, Broadway and the National Theatre in London. Further stage work
included the premieres of Jules Feiffer's Grown Ups, Christopher Durang's Beyond Therapy, and
Arnold Wesker's Caritas. During this time, he taught in the acting and playwriting programmes at
the Yale School of Drama.
In 1984 he began to work extensively in film, directing for the BBC and for commercial
television. His films included “Poppyland,” “After the War” - a series of films by Frederic
Raphael, “The Widowmaker,” and several films in the “Inspector Morse” series.
He returned to America in 1990 to make his first feature film: ETHAN FROME staring
Liam Neeson and Patricia Arquette, followed by GOLDEN GATE, a story of cultural collision in
Chinatown, San Francisco in the 1950's and 60's that stars Matt Dillon and Joan Chen.
“Prime Suspect – The Lost Child” received a BAFTA nomination for Best Series and his
BBC film “Truth Or Dare,” starring John Hannah and Helen Baxendale, won the Scottish
BAFTA for Best Single Drama.
His film MRS BROWN, screenplay by Jeremy Brock, starring Dame Judi Dench and
Billy Connolly, received two Oscar and eight BAFTA nominations, including Best Film.
John then directed SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, screenplay by Tom Stoppard and Marc
Norman. It stars Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Ben Affleck,
Dame Judi Dench and Tom WiIkinson. It received three Golden Globe Awards, four BAFTA's
and seven Academy Awards including Best Picture.
John’s film CAPTAIN CORELLI’S MANDOLIN is based on the best-selling novel by
Louis de Bernieres. It stars Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz, Christian Bale, David Morrissey and
John Hurt.
John directed the Pulitzer Prize winning play Proof by David Auburn at the Donmar
Warehouse, starring Gwyneth Paltrow. He then directed Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins,
Jake Gyllenhaal and Hope Davis in the screen version.
John followed PROOF with KILLSHOT, based on Elmore Leonard’s novel, and stars
Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane, Thomas Jane, Joseph Gordon-Levitt & Rosario Dawson.21
John then directed THE DEBT starring Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, Ciaran Hinds,
Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington & Marton Csokas.
John Madden is married and lives in London.
OL PARKER's (Screenplay by) new film NOW IS GOOD (which he adapted from
Jenny Downham’s novel Before I Die) is in post production for Blueprint Pictures/Warner
Bros/BBC Films starring Dakota Fanning, Jeremy Irvine, Paddy Considine and Olivia Williams.
Parker's directorial debut (which he also wrote) IMAGINE ME AND YOU premiered at the
Toronto Film Festival (2005). Starring Lena Headey, Piper Perabo and Matthew Goode, the film
was released by Fox Searchlight. In addition to his work as a director, Parker has worked steadily as a writer since
graduating from Cambridge University. Parker's previous work includes the adaptation of
Sebastian Faulkes' novel Birdsong for Working Title Films and the Jimi Hendrix biopic
CROSSTOWN TRAFFIC for director Paul Greengrass. He re-wrote ADIOS for Little Bird
(Thaddeus O’Sullivan to direct) and adapted Pat Barker's novel The Eye in the Door for Jonathan
Demme/USA. Parker wrote “Diabolical Liberties,” a three-part television drama for
Parallax/Channel 4, created the series “Parklife” for Cougar Films, and adapted Comrade
Rockstar for Tom Hanks and Walter Parkes.
DEBORAH MOGGACH (Based on the novel by) is the author of sixteen successful
novels, including the bestselling Tulip Fever, and two collections of stories. Her screenplays
include the film of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, which was nominated for a BAFTA. She lives in
North London.
GRAHAM BROADBENT’S (Produced by) first producing endeavor, Michael
Winterbottom’s WELCOME TO SARAJEVO, screened In Competition at the 1997 Cannes
International Film Festival, garnering rave reviews. Broadbent continued working with some of
the most respected and cutting-edge filmmakers on such projects as Danny Boyle's MILLIONS,
Pete Hewitt's THUNDERPANTS. Gregg Araki’s SPLENDOR and SOME VOICES, starring
Daniel Craig which played at Director’s Fortnight in Cannes.
In 2005 Broadbent partnered with Pete Czernin forming Blueprint Pictures, a London-
based feature film production company.
Blueprint has collaborated twice with writer-director Martin McDonagh on two films
including the critically acclaimed Academy Award®, Golden Globe®, and BAFTA® award-
nominated IN BRUGES starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, and the upcoming SEVEN
22
PSYCHOPATHS also starring Colin Farrell as well as the dynamic cast of Sam Rockwell,
Christopher Walken, Woody Harrelson, Tom Waits, Abbie Cornish, and Olga Kurylenko. CBS
Films will distribute SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS in the U.S.
Blueprint also recently completed shooting NOW IS GOOD directed and penned by Ol
Parker, based on a novel by Jenny Downham. This coming of age love story stars Dakota
Fanning and Jeremy Irvine, and will be distributed in the U.S. by Sony Pictures.
Blueprint’s recent productions include film projects include the independent feature
BECOMING JANE starring Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy distributed by Miramax, and
WIND CHILL starring Emily Blunt, Executive Produced by Steven Soderbergh, and George
Clooney.
PETE CZERNIN (Produced by) lived and worked in Los Angeles for nearly ten years,
where he worked for a number of production companies and studios. As President of Denise Di
Novi’s Warner Bros-based company he found, developed and oversaw a slate of around fifty
movies. He was named “a talent to watch” in The Hollywood Reporter’s “Next Generation
Executives” issue of 1999.
Now back in the UK, Pete formed Blueprint Pictures in 2005 with Graham Broadbent. He
has produced a number of films, including WIND CHILL released in 2007 and Martin
McDonagh's IN BRUGES starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, which was financed by
Focus and Film Four.
Czernin is currently in post production on NOW IS GOOD, which Blueprint shot over
the summer starring Dakota Fanning and Jeremy Irvine. Witten and directed by Ol Parker, the
film is based on the bestselling book Before I Die by Jenny Downham.
JEFF SKOLL (Executive Producer) is a philanthropist and social entrepreneur. As
founder and chairman of the Skoll Foundation, Participant Media and the Skoll Global Threats
Fund, he is bringing life to his vision of a sustainable world of peace and prosperity.
As the first full-time employee and first President of eBay, Jeff developed the company’s
inaugural business plan and led its successful initial public offering. eBay has since become the
world’s largest on-line marketplace, connecting hundreds of millions of buyers and sellers.
eBay’s transformational trading platform democratized economic opportunity throughout the
world, empowering individuals to become successful online entrepreneurs.
After pioneering the creation of the eBay Foundation through the allocation of pre-IPO
shares, Mr. Skoll then founded the Skoll Foundation in 1999. It quickly became the world’s
largest foundation for social entrepreneurship, driving large-scale change by investing in,
23
connecting, and celebrating social entrepreneurs and other innovators dedicated to solving the
world’s most pressing problems. Its flagship program, the Skoll Awards for Social
Entrepreneurship, currently supports 85 leading social entrepreneurs whose extraordinary work
serves the neediest populations in over 100 countries.
The Skoll Foundation also co-produces the annual Skoll World Forum on Social
Entrepreneurship with the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School at
the University of Oxford. The Skoll World Forum unites acclaimed social entrepreneurs with
essential partners from the social, finance, private and public sectors. Each year, the Skoll World
Forum attracts 800 distinguished delegates, including such renowned world figures as
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, the Honorable Mary Robinson, Dr.
Paul Farmer, and Nobel Laureates Al Gore, Muhammad Yunus, Jody Williams, and Dr. R.K.
Pachauri.
In 2009, Skoll founded the Skoll Global Threats Fund. Its initial focus is on five global
issues that, if unchecked, could bring the world to its knees: climate change, water scarcity,
pandemics, nuclear proliferation and Middle East conflict.
Jeff founded Participant Media in 2004 with the belief that a story well told has the power
to inspire and compel social change. Participant’s films are accompanied by social action and
advocacy campaigns to engage people on the issues addressed in the films. Jeff has served as
Executive Producer on over 25 films to date, which have collectively received a total of 4
Academy Awards® and 18 nominations. Participant’s films include, among others, GOOD
NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK, NORTH COUNTRY, SYRIANA, AN INCONVENIENT
TRUTH, THE KITE RUNNER, CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR, THE VISITOR, THE
INFORMANT!, THE SOLOIST, THE COVE, COUNTDOWN TO ZERO, WAITING FOR
‘SUPERMAN,’ and FOOD INC. In 2008, Participant launched TakePart.com, an on-line Social
Action Network™ that enables people to learn, inspire, connect and get involved in major issues
which shape our lives.
Jeff received a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of
Toronto and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He has been awarded an
honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Toronto and an honorary Doctor of
Public Service from Santa Clara University. Jeff’s other recent honors include Barron’s 25 Best
Givers (2010, 2009), Huffington Post’s “Ultimate Game Changer in Entertainment” among the
world’s top 100 game changers (2010), Environmental Media Awards Corporate Responsibility
Award (2010), the Producers Guild of America’s Visionary Award (2009), Global Green USA’s
Entertainment Industry Environmental Leadership Award (2009), Business Week’s 50 Most
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Generous Philanthropists (2003-2007), Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People (2006), and
Wired Magazine’s Rave Award (2006).
A long-time motion picture production and marketing executive, RICKY STRAUSS
(Executive Producer) joined Participant Media in March 2005 as President. In his post, he
presides over all of Participant’s feature film production, acquisition and marketing efforts, as
well as its television and publishing activities.
In 2011, Participant had the number one box office hits THE HELP and CONTAGION,
with LAST CALL AT THE OASIS slated for 2012. Participant’s movies include such Academy
Award-winning or nominated narrative films as GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK, NORTH
COUNTRY, THE KITE RUNNER, CHARLE WILSON’S WAR, THE VISITOR, and
SYRIANA; and such Academy Award-winning or nominated documentaries as AN
INCONVENIENT TRUTH, THE COVE, FOOD, INC. (winner of two Emmy awards) and
MURDERBALL. Other Participant titles include THE SOLOIST, THE INFORMANT!, THE
CRAZIES, FAIR GAME, THE BEAVER, and CIRCUMSTANCE as well as the documentaries
JIMMY CARTER MAN FROM PLAINS, DARFUR NOW, STANDARD OPERATING
PROCEDURE, PRESSURE COOKER, CASINO JACK and THE UNITED STATES OF
MONEY, COUNTDOWN TO ZERO, WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN,” and PAGE ONE:
INSIDE THE NEW YORK TIMES.
Participant’s companion books for FOOD, INC. and WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN,”
published by PublicAffairs, were both New York Times best-sellers.
Prior to joining Participant, Ricky ran his own film and television production company,
Ricochet Entertainment, where he executive produced THE SWEETEST THING, starring
Cameron Diaz, among other projects. Before Ricochet, Ricky served as Senior Vice President of
Production at Sony, where he developed and supervised film projects for the studio. From 1988 to
1997, he served as an advertising executive at Columbia Pictures, creating award winning ad
campaigns for many feature films.
A longtime supporter of social issues and community service, Ricky served on the Board
of Directors for Project Angel Food, the Los Angeles-based non-profit organization that delivers
hot meals to homebound persons with AIDS and other serious illnesses. He is currently Interim
Chairman of The Trevor Project, which operates the only 24 hour national suicide lifeline for
troubled gay youth, and is a filmmaker mentor for Project: Involved, a fellowship program
sponsored by Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping independent
filmmakers. Ricky attended the University of Vermont, graduating Phi Beta Kappa (cum laude)
with a BA in English and theater.
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JONATHAN KING (Executive Producer) oversees development and production of
Participant’s slate of narrative feature films. Participant Media's output is driven by the idea that
a good story well told can make a real difference in today's world. Some recent Participant
releases include FAIR GAME, WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN,” THE CRAZIES, FOOD, INC.,
and THE VISITOR.
Prior to joining Participant, Jonathan worked as both a producer and an executive for
companies including Focus Features, Laurence Mark Productions, and Miramax Films. Some of
the movies he has worked on include DREAMGIRLS, THE LOOKOUT, FINDING
FORRESTER, STUDIO 54, GUINEVERE, and JUDAS KISS. He started his film career in
MGM/UA’s New York office, scouting books, theater, and independent films.
Jonathan currently serves on the board of advisors for the Outfest Legacy Project, a
partnership with the UCLA Film and Television Archive that restores and preserves important
works of queer cinema. He also serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council of the Florida State
University Film School and on the board of directors of the John Alexander Project, a new non-
profit dedicated to nurturing and supporting innovative investigative journalism. He lives in
Venice, California.
SARAH HARVEY (Co-Producer) is Head of Development at Blueprint Pictures with
producers Graham Broadbent and Peter Czernin. She has previously worked on a number of
projects, including Martin McDonagh’s IN BRUGES, and Julian Jarrold’s BECOMING JANE.
CAROLINE HEWITT (Co-Producer) has worked as a producer, executive producer,
co-producer, line producer, and executive in charge of production in film and television. Her
credits include films such as THE EAGLE, MR. BEAN’S HOLIDAY, HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE
TO THE GALAXY, BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS, THE OLD MAN WHO READ LOVE
STORIES, LES MISERABLES, BRIGHT STAR, DEATHWATCH, THE NINE LIVES OF
TOMAS KATZ, THE FIFTH PROVINCE, THE YOUNG POISONERS HANDBOOK,
LOADED, HEARTSONGS, BUFFALO SOLDIERS, THE WARRIOR, CHARLOTTE GRAY,
ALL ABOUT LOVE, LUCKY BREAK, THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES, FOOLS OF
FORTUNE, QUEEN OF HEARTS, A WORLD APART, and WISH YOU WERE HERE.
Hewitt’s television credits include “Sweeney Todd,” “GBH,” and “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris.”
BEN DAVIS BSC (Director of Photography) is a British cinematographer, who has
worked with notable directors like Matthew Vaughn, Ol Parker, Peter Webber, John Madden, and
Jonathan Liebsman,26
His work includes films such as LAYER CAKE, IMAGINE ME AND YOU,
HANNIBAL RISING, STARDUST, KICK-ASS, THE DEBT, and THE RITE.
Most recently, Davis just finished work on WRATH OF THE TITANS, the sequel to the
2010 hit film CLASH OF THE TITANS, and he is about to begin shooting Martin McDonagh’s
new film SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS
ALAN MACDONALD (Production Designer) is a British Independent Film Awards
and Art Directors Guild nominated production designer
His work includes films like LOVE IS THE DEVIL, NORA, FORMULA 51, KINKY
BOOTS, THE JACKET, THE QUEEN, THE EDGE OF LOVE, CHERI, and TAMARA
DREWE.
CHRIS GILL (Editor) is a BAFTA Awards nominated editor who has worked with
notable directors such as Danny Boyle, Jullian Jarrold, Ricky Gervais, Neil Marshall, and John
Madden.
His work includes films such as 28 DAYS LATER, MILLIONS, SUNSHINE, 28
WEEKS LATER, OUTPOST, BRIDESHEAD REVISITED, HEARTLESS, THE INVENTION
OF LYING, CENTURION, BHOPAL: A PRAYER FOR RAIN, and THE GUARD.
Recently, Gill just started his work on Eran Creevy’s WELCOME TO THE PUNCH,
which stars James McAvoy and Mark Strong.
LOUISE STJERNSWARD (Costume Designer) is a BAFTA Award nominated
costume designer who has worked with notable directors such as Nigel Cole, John Madden,
Roberto Benigni, Richard Loncraine, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Mark Peploe.
Her work includes work WEST IS WEST, MADE IN DAGENHAM, NUTCRACKER 3-
D, CREATION, I REALLY HATE MY JOB, FADE TO BLACK, THE TIGER AND THE
SNOW, WIMBLEDON, DREAMERS, DOT THE I, TEN MINUTES OLDER: THE CELLO,
THE WARRIOR, SEXY BEAST, THE SECRET LAUGHTER OF WOMEN, SHERGAR, ALL
THE LITTLE ANIMALS, INCOGNITO, VICTORY, STEALING BEAUTY, AFRAID OF THE
DARK, AMERICAN ROULETTE, HIGH SEASON, EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY, and
THE PASSENGER.
THOMAS NEWMAN (Music by) is widely acclaimed as one of today’s most prominent
composers for film. He has composed music for more than 50 motion pictures and television series
and has earned ten Academy Award nominations and five Grammy® Awards.
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He is the youngest son of Alfred Newman (1900-1970), the longtime musical director of 20th
Century Fox and the composer of scores for such films as WUTHERING HEIGHTS, THE
HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, and ALL ABOUT EVE.
As a child, Thomas Newman pursued basic music and piano studies. However, it was not until after
his father’s death that the younger Newman, then age 14, felt charged with the desire to write.
Newman studied composition and orchestration at USC with Professor Frederick Lesemann
and noted film composer David Raksin, and privately with composer George Tremblay. He
completed his academic work at Yale University, studying with Jacob Druckman, Bruce
MacCombie and Robert Moore. Newman also gratefully acknowledges the early influence of
another prominent musician, the legendary Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim, who served as a
great mentor and champion.
A turning point in Newman’s career took place while he was working as a musical
assistant on the 1984 film, RECKLESS, for which he soon was promoted to the position of
composer. And so, at the age of 27, Newman successfully composed his first film score. Since
then he has contributed distinctive and evocative scores to numerous acclaimed films, including
DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN, THE LOST BOYS, THE RAPTURE, FRIED GREEN
TOMATOES, THE PLAYER, SCENT OF A WOMAN, FLESH AND BONE, THE
SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, LITTLE WOMEN, AMERICAN BUFFALO, THE PEOPLE
VS. LARRY FLYNT, OSCAR AND LUCINDA, THE HORSE WHISPERER, MEET JOE
BLACK, AMERICAN BEAUTY, THE GREEN MILE, ERIN BROCKOVICH, IN THE
BEDROOM, ROAD TO PERDITION, FINDING NEMO, LEMONY SNICKET’S SERIES OF
UNFORTUNATE EVENTS, CINDERELLA MAN, JARHEAD, LITTLE CHILDREN, THE
GOOD GERMAN, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, and WALL-E. His most recent projects include
THE DEBT, THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU, THE HELP, and THE IRON LADY. Newman
also composed the music for HBO’s acclaimed 6-hour miniseries “Angels in America” directed
by Mike Nichols. He received an Emmy Award for his theme for the HBO original series “Six
Feet Under.”
In addition to his work in film and television, Newman has composed several works for the
concert stage, including the symphonic work Reach Forth Our Hands, commissioned in 1996 by the
Cleveland Orchestra to commemorate their city’s bicentennial, as well as At Ward’s Ferry, Length
180 ft., a concerto for double bass and orchestra commissioned in 2001 by the Pittsburgh Symphony.
His latest concert piece was a chamber work entitled It Got Dark, commissioned by the acclaimed
Kronos Quartet in 2009. As part of a separate commission by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the
work was expanded and adapted for symphony orchestra and string quartet, and premiered at Walt
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