Literature to Film, lecture on Atonement (2007) Compiled by Jay Seller Atonement (2007) Universal Pictures Director: Joe Wright Screenwriter: Christopher Hampton Novel: Ian McEwan 123 minutes Cast Cecilia Tallis Keira Knightley Robbie Turner James McAvoy Briony Tallis,Briony Romola Garai Older Briony Vanessa Redgrave Briony Taliis,Briony Saoirse Ronan Grace Turner Brenda Blethyn Singing Housemaid Allie MacKay Betty Julia Ann West Lola Quincey Juno Temple Jackson Quincey Charlie Von Simpson Leon Tallis Patrick Kennedy Paul Marshall Benedict Cumberbatch Emily Tallis Harriet Walter Fiona MacGuire Michelle Duncan Sister Drummond Gina McKee Police Constable Leander Deeny Luc Cornet Jeremie Renier Police Sergeant Peter McNeil O’Connor Tommy Nettle Daniel Mays Danny Hardman Alfie Allen Pierrot,Pierrot Jack Harcourt Frenchmen Michel Vuillemoz Jackson,Jackson Ben Harcourt Frenchmen Lionel Abelanski Frank Mace Nonso Anozie Naval Officer Tobias Menzies Crying Soldier Paul Stocker Police Inspector Peter Wright Solitary Sunbather Alex Noodle Vicar John Normington Mrs. Jarvis Wendy Nottingham Beach Soldier Roger Evans, Bronson Webb, Ian Bonar, Oliver Gilbert Interviewer Anthony Minghella Soldier in Bray Bar Jamie Beamish, Johnny Harris, Nick Bagnall, Billy Seymour, Neil Maskell Soldier With Ukulele Paul Harper Probationary Nurse Charlie Banks, Madeleine Crowe, Olivia Grant, Scarlett Dalton, Katy Lawrence, Jade Moulla, Georgia Oakley, Alice Orr-Ewing, Catherine Philps, Bryony Reiss, DSarah Shaul, Anna Singleton, Emily Thomson Hospital Admin Assistant Kelly Scott Soldier at Hospital Entrance Mark Holgate Registrar Ryan Kiggell Staff Nurse Vivienne Gibbs Second Soldier at Hospital Entrance Matthew Forest Injured Sergeant Richard Stacey Soldier Who Looks Like Robbie Jay Quinn Mother of Evacuees Tilly Vosburgh Evacuee Child Angel Witney, Bonnie Witney, Webb Bem 1 Primary source director’s commentary by Joe Wright. Compiled and copyright @ 2008 by Jay Seller. Literature to Film, lecture on Atonement (2007) Compiled by Jay Seller Crew Director Joe Wright Novel Ian McEwan Screenplay Christopher Hampton Original music Dario marianelli Cinematography Seamus Mcgarvey Film Editing Paul Tothill Casting Jina jay Production design Sarah Greenwood Chapter 1: First Play, England, 1935 Commentary by director Joe Wright, providing the commentary from a hotel over the banks of the Thames River in London, Joe Wright spent two and a half years making this movie. Originally the title sequence that Wright had in mind was a little puppet sequence. And these puppets would have lived in this dolls house that you see here, Wright’s mother is a puppeteer and made a complete set of Tallis family puppets. But they felt that the beginning was too long, so they cut it. The idea was that they were playing with scale, that Briony, or rather the writer of this piece or the storyteller is God and manipulates people’s lives in fiction. Wright’s interest in playing with scale is why they start with the doll’s house and then introduce you to Briony. Young Briony appears to be enormous, as the camera approaches her, due to playing with that scale. Think of the enormity of what Briony does, and see how scale plays a factor. Wright purposefully keeps Briony’s face obscured from the audience, with the idea that her wit and knowledge is always just a little bit ahead of the audiences, too allusive. Biography for Joe Wright (IV) Date of Birth 1972, London, England, UK , Height 5' 9" Trivia • His parents founded Islington's Little Angel Theater, a puppet theater. • Is Dyslexic and left school with no O-levels. • His father was 65 when he was born. • In 2007, he became the youngest director in history to have a film open the Venice Film Festival (his film Atonement was chosen to open 64th Venice International Film Festival). • Attended the Camberwell College of Arts. • Named one of Variety's "10 Directors to Watch" (2006). • Trained as a filmmaker at London's St. Martins art school. • Became engaged to actress Rosamund Pike in September 2007. They met on the set of Pride & Prejudice (2005). • Directed Keira Knightley in an Oscar-nominated performance as Lizzie Bennet in Pride & Prejudice (2005) in what was his directorial film debut. • Father died when the director was only 19 years old. • Suffers from dyslexia. This was the last HD DVD release by Universal Studios. Release prints were delivered to theaters with the fake title ‘Saturday’ (which is the title of author Ian McEwan’s subsequent, though unrelated, novel). Budget, $30 million. Filming dates, May 2006 to August 2006. 2 Primary source director’s commentary by Joe Wright. Compiled and copyright @ 2008 by Jay Seller. Literature to Film, lecture on Atonement (2007) Compiled by Jay Seller James McAvoy considered the script the best he had ever read. Joe Wright had wanted Keira Knightley to play the role of Briony in her late teens, but Knightley immediately liked the character of Cecilia, and also wanted to get away from playing girls on the brink of womanhood and play a more mature character for once. Biography for James McAvoy Date of Birth 21 April 1979, Glasgow, Scotland, UK , Birth Name James Andrew McAvoy, Height 5' 7" Spouse Anne-Marie Duff (18 October 2006 - present) Trivia • Trained at Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. • McAvoy and Jessica Brooks were the first actors to tackle the complex roles Leto II & his twin sister Ghanima Atreides, the strange prescient "Children of Dune" (2003) based on Frank Herbert's novel of the same name. Although Leto and Ghanima were only nine years old in the novel, their ages were bumped up about seven years making them about sixteen for the Sci-Fi Channel's miniseries in March 2003. • His sister is Joy McAvoy, a singer in the Scottish girl group Streetside • His parents divorced when he was seven. • As a child, he wanted to become a missionary. • Shares a birthday with Luis Guzmán. • After his parents divorced, McAvoy and his sister moved in with their maternal grandmother. • After growing up in Glasgow, he moved to London at the age of 20. • Before he went into acting, he wanted to join the Navy. • While filming The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), Georgie Henley never saw McAvoy in his Mr. Tumnus costume before filming their scenes together. Henley's scared reaction upon seeing McAvoy is genuine surprise. • Former roommate of Jesse Spencer when they were both living in London. • Fan of Glasgow Celtic Football Club. • Joe Wright considered him for a role in his Pride & Prejudice (2005). Both director and actor refused to name the part. • Born to James McAvoy, a builder, and his then wife Elizabeth Johnstone, a psychiatric nurse. • Attended St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary in Jordanhill, Glasgow. • Enjoys science fiction, including Star Trek and the new Battlestar Galactica. • Was ranked #18 on Entertainment Weekly's '30 Under 30' the actors list. (2008). • While growing up, he wanted to be a priest. • Chosen as one of People Magazine's Sexiest Men Alive for 2007. Retrieved from: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0564215/bio This was the opening film of the 2007's Venice Film Festival. Director Joe Wright, at 35, is the youngest directors to have a film open this prestigious event. 0:01:58 This music that you are listening to was recorded prior to them shooting, so they were able to play the music as they were shooting this scene, to add a sort of rhyme to the movement of the actors. It added a great excitement to the day, and gave her the right pace for this scene. It is nice how the film starts in the beginning, there is a life before the film starts and there is a life after the film. Here you get hints to the life before the film started with the dialogue of the actors and the busyness of the household. It is a little bit resembling of the opening to Pride and Prejudice, this kind of interrupting of the world. John Macevo here, now watch how he puts his gloves on, kind of disheveled, not perfect, which is great. Wright states he hates it when things in movies are always so perfect. 3 Primary source director’s commentary by Joe Wright. Compiled and copyright @ 2008 by Jay Seller. Literature to Film, lecture on Atonement (2007) Compiled by Jay Seller 0:03:15 Most importantly, this is a story about a writer, the mind of a writer and a story about storytelling. The play she has written is The Trials of Arabella. 0:03:29 Again playing with scale, that first shot was of the doll’s house and then we arrive to the shot of these two on the lawn. The shot depicts the characters as dolls, in the eye of God. Omniscient shot. Keira Knightly spends her opening shots with her eyes shot in this scene. All of her costumes here are patterned after floral treatments. This helps to build into this section of being over burdened with patterns and textured of sorts, as opposed to the later sections where things were a bit sparser. The delivery of the lines from each of the actors is something that was rehearsed. The reason for the emphasis on delivery is what can the accent or what can the delivery tells us about the character make-up. 0:04:13 Rack focus as the two girls lay back on the grass and we shift focus from Kiera to Briony. 0:04:46 None of these children had curly hair, and they were all slightly alarmed by their hairstyles for the picture. 0:04:56 The wallpaper behind Briony here was the largest they could find, again in a attempt for her to look smaller. It represents the magic garden that she lives in.