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Shadowlands | |
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Genre | |
Created by | Norman Stone |
Based on | |
Written by | William Nicholson |
Directed by | Norman Stone |
Starring |
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Theme music composer | Ken Howard |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Producer | David M. Thompson |
Cinematography | Russ Walker |
Editor | Chris Lawrence |
Running time | 92 minutes |
Production company | British Broadcasting Corporation |
Original release | |
Network | BBC |
Release | June 15, 1985 |
Related | |
Shadowlands, also known as C.S. Lewis: Shadowlands and C.S. Lewis Through the Shadowlands, is a 1985 television film written by William Nicholson, directed by Norman Stone and produced by David M. Thompson for BBC Wales. The film is about the relationship between Oxford don and author C. S. Lewis and the American writer Joy Davidman. It stars Joss Ackland as Lewis, with Claire Bloom as his wife Joy Davidman.
Oxford professor, world-renowned writer and confirmed bachelor C.S. Lewis (Joss Ackland) finds himself famed and admired from the success of his recently published series of Narnia books for children. One day, Lewis receives a captivating letter from an American woman, New York divorcée: Joy Gresham (Claire Bloom). A mother of two boys, Gresham strikes up a correspondence with Lewis, who over time finds himself falling in love with the writer. Gresham moves to England with her two boys, Douglas and David (Rupert Baderman, Rhys Hopkins), and marries Lewis; who becomes their stepfather. All seems to be a perfect life and marriage for the happy family until Joy is suddenly struck down by cancer and dies. Devastated by this loss, Lewis struggles with his Christian beliefs and begins to challenge his own faith and relationship with God.
Shadowlands began life as a script entitled I Call it Joy written for Thames Television by Brian Sibley and Norman Stone. Sibley was credited on the BBC film as "consultant" and went on to write the book C.S. Lewis Through the Shadowlands: The Story of His Life with Joy Davidman (1994). The made-for-television film won BAFTA Awards in 1986 for Best Play and Best Actress (Bloom). [1] Following their roles in Shadowlands, Ackland and Bloom went on to star opposite each other in several other films: Queenie (1987), Mad Dogs and Englishmen (1995) and Tales from the Madhouse (2000).
The original 1985 film ran for ninety-two minutes. An alternate version, C.S. Lewis: Shadowlands, was produced in 1994 for home video; it ran for seventy-three minutes, cutting several scenes and including on-screen titles. A DVD version released in 2013, C.S. Lewis Through the Shadowlands, restored the original ninety-minute runtime.
Screenwriter William Nicholson adapted a stage version of the 1985 television movie, which premiered at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth on October 5, 1989. [2] The production later went on to the Queen's Theatre in London [3] [4] before transferring to Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on November 11, 1990 where it received a Tony Award at the 45th Tony Awards on June 2, 1991 for Best Actor (Nigel Hawthorne as Lewis).
The success of the stage play lead Nicholson to adapt it once again as a feature film starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger; it was released in 1993.
Clive Staples Lewis was a British writer, literary scholar, and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalene College, Cambridge (1954–1963). He is best known as the author of The Chronicles of Narnia, but he is also noted for his other works of fiction, such as The Screwtape Letters and The Space Trilogy, and for his non-fiction Christian apologetics, including Mere Christianity, Miracles, and The Problem of Pain.
Dame Dorothy Tutin, was an English actress of stage, film and television. For her work in the theatre, she won two Olivier Awards and two Evening Standard Awards for Best Actress. She was made a CBE in 1967 and a Dame (DBE) in 2000.
Shadowlands is a play by William Nicholson adapted from his 1985 television film of the same name, directed by Norman Stone and produced by David M. Thompson for BBC Wales. It debuted at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth on 5 October 1989 before premiering at the Queen's Theatre in London on 23 October 1989. The play is about the relationship between Oxford don and author C. S. Lewis and the American writer Joy Gresham.
Brian David Sibley is an English writer. He is author of over 100 hours of radio drama and has written and presented hundreds of radio documentaries, features and weekly programmes. He is widely known as the author of many film "making of" books, including those for the Harry Potter series and The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies.
Helen Joy Davidman was an American poet and writer. Often referred to as a child prodigy, she earned a master's degree from Columbia University in English literature at age twenty in 1935. For her book of poems, Letter to a Comrade, she won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition in 1938 and the Russell Loines Award for Poetry in 1939. She was the author of several books, including two novels.
Douglas Howard Gresham is an American British stage and voice-over actor, biographer, film producer, and executive record producer. He is one of the two stepsons of C. S. Lewis.
A Grief Observed is a collection of C. S. Lewis's reflections on his experience of bereavement following the death of his wife, Joy Davidman, in 1960. The book was published in 1961 under the pseudonym N.W. Clerk because Lewis wished to avoid the connection. Though republished in 1963 under his own name after his death, the text still refers to his wife as “H”.
Patricia Claire Bloom is an English actress. She is known for leading roles on stage and screen and has received two BAFTA Awards and a Drama Desk Award as well as nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award, a Grammy Award and a Tony Award. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to drama.
Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland was an English actor who appeared in more than 130 film, radio and television roles. He was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for portraying Jock Delves Broughton in White Mischief (1987).
Shadowlands is a 1993 British biographical drama film about the relationship between academic C. S. Lewis and Jewish American poet Joy Davidman, her death from cancer, and how this challenged his Christianity. It was directed by Richard Attenborough with a screenplay by William Nicholson based on his 1985 television film and 1989 stage play of the same name. The 1985 script began life as I Call It Joy written for Thames Television by Brian Sibley and Norman Stone. Sibley later wrote the book, Shadowlands: The True Story of C. S. Lewis and Joy Davidman. The film won the 1993 BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film. The film marked the last film appearance of English actor Michael Denison.
William Benedict Nicholson, OBE, FRSL is a British screenwriter, playwright, and novelist who has been nominated twice for an Oscar.
William Lindsay Gresham was an American novelist and non-fiction author particularly well-regarded among readers of noir. His best-known work is Nightmare Alley (1946), which was adapted to film in 1947 and 2021.
Walter Charles Dance is an English actor. He is known for playing strict, authoritarian characters and villains. Dance started his career on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) before appearing in film and television. For his services to drama he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2006.
Ray McAnally was an Irish actor. He was the recipient of three BAFTA Awards in the late 1980s: two BAFTA Film Awards for Best Supporting Actor, and a BAFTA Television Award for Best Actor for A Very British Coup in 1989. In 2020, he was ranked at number 34 on The Irish Times's list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
Kenneth Charles Howard is an English songwriter, lyricist, author and television director.
Lisa Eichhorn is an American actress, writer and producer. She made her film debut in 1979 in the John Schlesinger film Yanks, for which she received two Golden Globe nominations. Her international career has included film, theatre and television.
Brian Robert Eastman is a producer of feature films, television drama, and stage productions. He has received two BAFTA awards and two international Emmy awards and his productions have received many other awards and nominations. He is a Fellow of the Royal Television Society. He divides his time between the UK and US.
Gateway Films/Vision Video is a Christian film company located in Worcester, Pennsylvania, notable for producing The Cross and the Switchblade and other award-winning films, docu-dramas and documentaries of interest to Christian audiences.
Shadowlands may refer to:
The Most Reluctant Convert: The Untold Story of C.S. Lewis is a 2021 British biographical drama film written and directed by Norman Stone, based on the 2016 stage play, C.S. Lewis on Stage: The Most Reluctant Convert, by Max McLean. It is about the life and conversion of British writer, lay theologian, and Christian apologist C. S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia series. The film stars McLean, Nicholas Ralph, Eddie Ray Martin, Richard Harrington, Amy Alexander, and Tom Glenister.