I Capture the Castle | |
---|---|
Directed by | Tim Fywell |
Screenplay by | Heidi Thomas |
Based on | I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith |
Produced by | David Parfitt [1] |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Richard Greatrex |
Edited by | Roy Sharman |
Music by | Dario Marianelli |
Production companies |
|
Distributed by | Momentum Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 117 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | $8 million |
Box office | $6,586,341 |
I Capture the Castle is a 2003 British romantic comedy film directed by Tim Fywell. It is based on the 1948 novel of the same name by Dodie Smith, with the screenplay written by Heidi Thomas. The film was released in the UK on 9 May 2003.
Romola Garai played the lead role of Cassandra Mortmain alongside Bill Nighy, Rose Byrne and Tara Fitzgerald.
The film follows 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain, and her eccentric family, struggling to survive in genteel poverty in a decaying English castle. The characters include her father, a writer who hasn't written anything in the 12 years since the spectacular success of his first novel; her older sister, Rose, who rails against their fate and hopes to marry for money; and their bohemian stepmother, Topaz, an ex-model still apt to sunbathe in the nude. The possibility of salvation seems to loom in the form of their wealthy American landlord, Simon Cotton, and his brother, Neil. Although Simon initially spurns her, Rose is determined to make him fall in love with her and succeeds. A wedding is arranged, and Cassandra appears to be left on the sidelines. Cassandra is confused by her feelings for not only the Cottons but also Stephen Colley, the handsome son of the Mortmains' former cook who acts as a handyman to the family and is deeply in love with Cassandra. But events spiral out of control, and before the summer ends, many expectations will have been overturned.
Parts of the film were shot in Laxey film studio on the Isle of Man. Manorbier Castle in Pembrokeshire, Wales, supplied exteriors for the castle, and Eltham Palace in London some interiors. [1]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 78% of 85 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.7/10.The website's consensus reads: "A handsome and charming adaptation of the novel." [2]
Topaz is a 1969 American espionage thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Based on the 1967 novel of the same title by Leon Uris, the film is about a French intelligence agent (Stafford) who becomes entangled in Cold War politics before the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and then the breakup of an international Soviet spy ring.
William Francis Nighy is an English actor. Known for his work in several stage, television and film productions, he has received several awards including a British Academy Film Award and a Golden Globe Award, and also has had nominations for an Academy Award, a Tony Award and a Laurence Olivier Award.
Mary Rose Byrne is an Australian actress. She made her screen debut in the film Dallas Doll (1994), and continued to act in Australian film and television throughout the 1990s. She obtained her first leading film role in The Goddess of 1967 (2000), which brought her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress, and made the transition to American cinema with a small role in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002), followed by bigger parts in Hollywood productions of Troy (2004), 28 Weeks Later (2007) and Knowing (2009).
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights is a 2004 American dance musical romance film directed by Guy Ferland and starring Diego Luna, Romola Garai, Sela Ward, John Slattery, Jonathan Jackson, January Jones, and Mika Boorem. The film is a standalone prequel of the 1987 blockbuster Dirty Dancing, and serves as the second feature film in the titular franchise. While the movie follows a similar plot structure, the story takes place in Cuba during the Cuban Revolution. Patrick Swayze, star of the original film, appears as a dance instructor.
Romola Sadie Garai is a British actress and film director. Known for her extensive work on stage and screen, she often acts in period films. Her early film roles include Nicholas Nickleby (2002), I Capture the Castle (2003), Inside I'm Dancing (2004), and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004). She has gained prominence for her performances in the critically acclaimed costume dramas such as Vanity Fair (2004), As You Like It (2006), Amazing Grace (2007), Atonement (2007), Glorious 39 (2009), and Suffragette (2015).
Inside I'm Dancing, also released under the title Rory O'Shea Was Here, is an 2004 Irish comedy-drama film directed by Damien O'Donnell and starring James McAvoy, Steven Robertson, Romola Garai, and Brenda Fricker. The film revolves around two disabled young men who pursue physical and emotional independence in direct defiance of "protective" institutional living and their society's prevailing standards and attitudes, especially pity.
Nadja is a 1994 American horror film written and directed by Michael Almereyda, starring Elina Löwensohn in the title role and Peter Fonda as Abraham Van Helsing. Nadja is a vampire film that treats genre elements in an understated arthouse style. It received mixed reviews from critics.
I Capture the Castle is the first novel of English author Dodie Smith, written during the Second World War when she and her husband Alec Beesley, an English conscientious objector, moved to California. She longed for home and wrote of a happier time, unspecified in the novel apart from a reference to living in the 1930s. Smith was already an established playwright and later became famous for writing the children's classic The Hundred and One Dalmatians.
The 24th London Film Critics Circle Awards, honouring the best in film for 2003, were announced by the London Film Critics Circle on 11 February 2004.
Nicholas Nickleby is a 2002 British-American period comedy-drama film written and directed by Douglas McGrath. The screenplay is based on The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens, which originally was published in serial form between March 1838 and September 1839. Charlie Hunnam stars in the title role alongside Nathan Lane, Jim Broadbent, Christopher Plummer, Jamie Bell, Anne Hathaway, Romola Garai, Alan Cumming, and Timothy Spall.
Angel, also known as the Real Life of Angel Deverell, is a 2007 British romantic drama film directed by François Ozon. It is based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Elizabeth Taylor, about the short life of a passionate young woman in Edwardian England for whom the fake world of the pulpy novels she writes replaces reality. The protagonist was portrayed by Romola Garai; other characters were played by Sam Neill, Michael Fassbender and Charlotte Rampling.
Glorious 39 is a 2009 British war thriller film written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff, starring Romola Garai, Bill Nighy, Julie Christie, Jeremy Northam, Christopher Lee, David Tennant, Jenny Agutter and Eddie Redmayne. The film was released on 20 November 2009.
Jane Rogers is a British novelist, editor, scriptwriter, lecturer, and teacher. She is best known for her novels Mr. Wroe's Virgins and The Voyage Home. In 1994 Rogers was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
One Day is a 2011 romantic drama film directed by Lone Scherfig from a screenplay by David Nicholls, based on Nicholls' 2009 novel of the same name. It stars Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, with Patricia Clarkson, Ken Stott and Romola Garai in supporting roles. It was released in the United States on 19 August 2011 by Focus Features and in the United Kingdom on 24 August 2011 by Universal Pictures. A television series adaptation of the same source novel, starring Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall was released on Netflix in 2024.
Daniel Deronda is a British television serial drama adapted by Andrew Davies from the 1876 George Eliot novel of the same name. It was directed by Tom Hooper, produced by Louis Marks, and was first broadcast in three parts on BBC One from 23 November to 7 December 2002. The serial starred Hugh Dancy as Daniel Deronda, Romola Garai as Gwendolen Harleth, Hugh Bonneville as Henleigh Grandcourt, and Jodhi May as Mirah Lapidoth. Co-production funding came from WGBH Boston.
Dad's Army is a 2016 British war comedy film, based on the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army. It is directed by Oliver Parker and set in 1944, after the events depicted in the television series. Catherine Zeta-Jones plays an elegant German spy, posing as a journalist, reporting on the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard platoon.
The Miniaturist is a 2017 BBC television miniseries adaptation of the debut novel of the same name by Jessie Burton. The series was directed by Guillem Morales and stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Romola Garai and Alex Hassell and first aired in two parts from 26–27 December 2017 on BBC One. In the United States, it aired in three parts from 9–27 September 2018 on PBS's Masterpiece.
The Windermere Children is a 2020 British biographical drama television film written by Simon Block and directed by Michael Samuels. Based on the experience of child survivors of the Holocaust, it follows the children and staff of a camp set up on the Calgarth Estate in Troutbeck Bridge, near Lake Windermere, England, where the survivors were helped to rehabilitate, rebuild their lives, and integrate into the British society. The film was produced by Simon Block as 'executive producer' with Nancy Bornat as factual producer and Ben Evans as development producer. The film first aired on BBC Two in January 2020.
Becoming Elizabeth is a historical drama television series, created by Anya Reiss, that follows the younger years of Queen Elizabeth I, who lived in the 16th century. It premiered on Starz on 12 June 2022 and Channel 4 on 15 June. In October 2022, the series was cancelled.
The Critic is a 2023 British period thriller film directed by Anand Tucker and written by Patrick Marber, based on the 2015 novel Curtain Call by Anthony Quinn.