The Seagull | |
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Directed by | Michael Mayer |
Screenplay by | Stephen Karam |
Based on | The Seagull by Anton Chekhov |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Matthew J. Lloyd |
Edited by | Annette Davey |
Music by | Nico Muhly Anton Sanko |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Sony Pictures Classics |
Release dates |
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Running time | 98 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $1.5 million [2] |
The Seagull is a 2018 American historical drama film directed by Michael Mayer with a screenplay by Stephen Karam, based on the 1896 play of the same name by Anton Chekhov. The film stars Annette Bening, Saoirse Ronan, Corey Stoll, Elisabeth Moss, Mare Winningham, Jon Tenney, Glenn Fleshler, Michael Zegen, Billy Howle and Brian Dennehy. Filming began in June 2015 in New York City, much of it shot in Monroe, New York, 50 miles north of New York City, and the world premiere took place at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 21, 2018, prior to general release on May 11, 2018, through Sony Pictures Classics.
Set in Russia in the early 1900s, an aging actress named Irina Arkadina pays summer visits to her brother Pjotr Nikolayevich Sorin and her son Konstantin at a country estate. On one occasion, she brings her lover Boris Trigorin, a successful novelist. Nina, a free and innocent girl on a neighboring estate, who is in a relationship with Konstantin, falls in love with Boris.
On May 13, 2015, it was announced that Michael Mayer would direct the adaptation of Anton Chekhov's play The Seagull , scripted by Stephen Karam. [3] Saoirse Ronan and Annette Bening would star along with Corey Stoll and Billy Howle. [3] Producers are Leslie Urdang, Tom Hulce and Robert Salerno. [3]
Filming began on June 29, 2015, in New York City, [4] with much of the film shot on location at Arrow Park in Monroe, NY. [5]
In October 2017, Sony Pictures Classics acquired distribution rights to the film in North and Latin America, Germany, Scandinavia, Greece, Eastern Europe and Asia excluding China, Korea and Japan. [6] The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 21, 2018. It was released on May 11, 2018. [7]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 67%, based on 126 reviews, with an average of 6.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The latest iteration of The Seagull does little to distinguish itself from other Chekhov adaptations but provides a pleasing showcase for its sterling cast." [8] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [9]
A.O. Scott reviewing the film for The New York Times found the cast for the film to be very well selected for their roles but the film as a whole to be disappointing stating: "Ms. Bening, Ms. Moss and Ms. Ronan in particular are superb, as you also probably didn’t need me to tell you. Each one finds the individuality that Chekhov, with uncanny sympathy and sly gallantry, imparted to his female characters. The cast is great. The play is great. But this is still a bad movie, because it has no clear or coherent idea of how to be one". [10]
Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
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Sant Jordi Awards | April 30, 2019 | Best Actress in a Foreign Film | Annette Bening (also for Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool ) | Nominated | [11] |
Women's Image Network Awards | February 22, 2019 | Outstanding Film Produced by a Woman | Leslie Urdang | Won | [12] |
Chlotrudis Awards | March 19, 2019 | Best Production Design | Jane Musky | Nominated | [13] |
CineLibri International Book and Movie Festival | October 24, 2018 | Grand Prize for the Best Literary Adaptation | The Seagull | Nominated | [14] |
The Seagull is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. The Seagull is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramatizes the romantic and artistic conflicts between four characters: the famous middlebrow story writer Boris Trigorin, the ingenue Nina, the fading actress Irina Arkadina, and her son the symbolist playwright Konstantin Treplev.
Three Sisters is a play by the Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov. It was written in 1900 and first performed in 1901 at the Moscow Art Theatre. The play is often included on the shortlist of Chekhov's outstanding plays, along with The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull and Uncle Vanya.
The Moscow Art Theatre (or MAT; Russian: Московский Художественный академический театр, Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr was a theatre company in Moscow. It was founded in 1898 by the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright and director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. It was conceived as a venue for naturalistic theatre, in contrast to the melodramas that were Russia's dominant form of theatre at the time. The theatre, the first to regularly put on shows implementing Stanislavski's system, proved hugely influential in the acting world and in the development of modern American theatre and drama.
Saoirse Una Ronan is an American-born Irish actress. Primarily known for her work in period dramas since adolescence, she has received various accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations for four Academy Awards and five British Academy Film Awards.
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The Moscow Art Theatre production of The Seagull in 1898, directed by Konstantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, was a crucial milestone for the fledgling theatre company that has been described as "one of the greatest events in the history of Russian theatre and one of the greatest new developments in the history of world drama." It was the first production in Moscow of Anton Chekhov's 1896 play The Seagull, though it had been performed with only moderate success in St. Petersburg two years earlier. Nemirovich, who was a friend of Chekhov's, overcame the writer's refusal to allow the play to appear in Moscow after its earlier lacklustre reception and convinced Stanislavski to direct the play for their innovative and newly founded Moscow Art Theatre (MAT). The production opened on 29 December [O.S. 17 December] 1898. The MAT's success was due to the fidelity of its delicate representation of everyday life, its intimate, ensemble playing, and the resonance of its mood of despondent uncertainty with the psychological disposition of the Russian intelligentsia of the time. To commemorate this historic production, which gave the MAT its sense of identity, the company to this day bears the seagull as its emblem.
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Anna Karenina is a 2012 historical romantic drama film directed by Joe Wright. Adapted by Tom Stoppard from Leo Tolstoy's 1878 novel, the film depicts the tragedy of Russian aristocrat and socialite Anna Karenina, wife of senior statesman Alexei Karenin, and her affair with the affluent cavalry officer Count Vronsky. Keira Knightley stars as the titular character; this is her third collaboration with director Joe Wright following Pride & Prejudice (2005) and Atonement (2007). Jude Law and Aaron Taylor-Johnson appear as Karenin and Vronsky, respectively. Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald, Domhnall Gleeson, and Alicia Vikander appear in key supporting roles.
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is a comedy play written by Christopher Durang. The story revolves around the relationships of three middle-aged single siblings, two of whom live together, and takes place during a visit by the third, Masha, who supports them. They discuss their lives and loves, argue, and Masha threatens to sell the house. Some of the show's elements were derived from works of Anton Chekhov, including several character names and sibling relationships, the play's setting in a country house with a vestigial cherry orchard, the performance of an "avant-garde" play by one of the main characters, and the themes of old vs. new generations, real vs. assumed identities, the challenges of a woman growing older after successes in a career that seems to be ending, the hope and carelessness of youth, intrafamilial rivalries, and the possible loss of an ancestral home.
How I Live Now is a 2013 romantic speculative drama film based on the 2004 novel of the same name by Meg Rosoff. It was directed by Kevin Macdonald, written by Tony Grisoni, Jeremy Brock and Penelope Skinner while starring Saoirse Ronan, George MacKay, Tom Holland, Harley Bird, Anna Chancellor and Corey Johnson. The film centres around American teenager, Daisy and her British cousins, Eddie (MacKay), Isaac (Holland), and Piper (Bird), as they try to reunite during an apocalyptic nuclear war.
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Winter Dreams is a one-act ballet choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan to piano pieces by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky selected and arranged by Philip Gammon and traditional Russian music selected and arranged for guitar and mandolin ensemble by Thomas Hartman. With scenery and costumes designed by Peer Farmer and lighting designed by Clive Thomas, it was first presented by The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, London, on 7 February 1991.
The Seagull is a 1972 Soviet film adaptation of the 1896 play of the same name by Anton Chekhov. It was directed by Yuli Karasikand its music was written by Alfred Schnittke.
The Seagull is a 1959 Australian television play based on the 1896 play by Anton Chekhov. Filmed in Sydney it stars Thelma Scott and was produced and adapted by Royston Morley.
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