ChristopherHampton Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Multiple Oscar nominee Stephen Frears is a tough nut to crack. Amiable but terse, his excellent multilayered films do the talking for him, from his first collaboration with Christopher Hampton and Michelle Pfeiffer on 1998's Dangerous Liaisons to 2007's The Queen. In his latest film, Cheri (read Cinematical's review here), Frears turns his lens onto the cloistered and often duplicitous world of wealthy courtesans. Frears' films often focus on subversive outsiders who must make their own "family," as it were, such as Dirty Pretty Things, The Grifters, and My Beautiful Laundrette. But Cheri's delicious spin on sex, love, and aging is typical of its source material from author Colette, whose books Cheri and The Last of Cheri present a world of upside-down relationships and self-sufficient, frankly sexual women.

Michelle Pfeiffer leads the cast as the stunning Lea de Lonval, a famous courtesan whose friend Madame Peloux, played with busty abandon by Kathy Bates, encourages Lea to have an affair with Peloux's louche son Cheri, the pale and effeminate Rupert Friend. Neglected as a child while his mother was dealing with her affairs, Cheri is hardly likeable or loveable, but somehow their affair becomes less about sex and more about the love both he and Lea have lacked in their lives. Peloux throws a wrench into the whole thing when she plans a wedding for Cheri to another courtesan's child, Edmee, played by newcomer Felicity Jones. What happens after that surprises them all.

Cheri opens June 26th in limited cities. Visit the official website for more information.

Cinematical: What's the difference between releasing a movie like Cheri during Oscar season as opposed to the summer blockbuster season? Is it more or less stressful?

Stephen Frears: The problem with competing for the Oscars is it's very tough, so in a way it's quite a relief being [released] at another time of the year. You're all right if you've got the one that gets everybody's attention, but fighting for attention is quite difficult. I've released films in that season that have been just overlooked.

Looks like it's time for me to brush up on my French. The first trailer for the Coco Chanel biopic, Coco, Avant Chanel (or Coco, Before Chanel) has just hit the web, but the bad news is: the trailer is in French. But even if you don't speak French, you aren't missing too much; between my high school French and the helpful folks at Popwatch, I can tell you that there is talk of destiny, love, and a little pouting, but, c'mon, this is a movie about Chanel; isn't it all about the clothes anyway?

Audrey Tautou stars as the fashion icon (and say what you want, the lady certainly has that Coco 'ennui' down pat in the poster), and the film was loosely based on Edmonde Charles-Roux's book, L'Irrégulière: Ou, Mon Itinéraire Chanel. The book was adapted for the screen by Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons) and Anne Fontaine (who also directs). Joining in on all that fabulousness are Alessandro Nivola as Arthur "Boy" Capel and Benoît Poelvoorde as one of Chanel's lovers, Balsan. Nivola is an American born actor who had to learn French to play the dashing polo player who was said to have inspired Chanel's 'menswear look'.

Watch the trailer after the jump...

In the midst of battling Coco Chanel biopics, the first image of Audrey Tautou (Amelie) as the legendary fashion figure has just emerged over at Vanity Fair. I'll admit that after getting my first look at Tautou in that famous 'Coco recline', it is starting to make perfect sense that an entire biopic was shaped around the French actress. If nothing else, you have to admit the the lady is a dead ringer for the style icon.

Coco Avant Chanel was partly based on Edmonde Charles-Roux's book, L'Irrégulière: Ou, Mon Itinéraire Chanel, and was adapted for the screen by Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons) and Anne Fontaine, who is also directing. The film will not attempt to tell the entire life story of Chanel, probably because it would be impossible to contain that much fabulousness in one film. Instead, Fontaine will be focusing on some of the highlights of Chanel's youth, and what would any biopic be without a little dirt? Some of the juicier bits in the story will include Chanel's time as a cabaret singer, and her love affairs with the influential and powerful men that helped her break into the fashion world.

After a long delay, the project finally kicked into high gear last summer, and shooting began back in September. Now that Tautou is officially the first Chanel we have seen, you can't help but wonder if the rest are going to suffer by comparison -- I mean, I still haven't gotten my head around the casting of Demi Moore. So much like the label that shares the lady's name, it looks like Fontaine and company are also going to have to put up with their fair share of 'knock-offs'.

Coco Avant Chanel should arrive in theaters later this year.

There was just something about James Dean. As a young girl, well before I was able to get my hands on tapes of Giant, East of Eden, and Rebel Without a Cause, I became enamored with him -- not so much in a crushing way, but an intensely curious one. There was just something about him. Obviously, I'm not the only one who thought so -- he's one of Hollywood's biggest icons, even if he did only make three films.

And now one of them is making its way to the screen once again. Variety reports that Universal Pictures has whipped up a crew for a new telling of John Steinbeck's East of Eden. Now, to be fair, this is not a remake of the film, but another adaptation of the novel. However, it's still the same source material, and I find it interesting that Variety doesn't even note the adaptation that came to us at the hands of Elia Kazan.

But onto the particulars: John Adams helmer Tom Hooper will direct the feature, filling the space left by a recently departed Ron Howard, and Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons, Atonement) is penning the adaptation. Hooper says: "There is an opportunity to show the sex, violence, and darkness of Steinbeck's work, along with the optimism and celebration of love." With these guys, it has a good chance of being food, but I'd say that Hampton better do a heck of a job adapting it in a way that it doesn't remind the audience of the James Dean version.

Can you imagine going East of Eden without James Dean?

While I've been itching for Uma Thurman to do more period work, there's another famous tow-headed actress hopping in a time machine. Variety reports that Miramax and Pathe are about to close a deal on a big-screen adaptation of Colette's Chéri, for Michelle Pfeiffer to headline. What makes this project even better -- it'll be a Dangerous Liasons reunion. Aside from its star and sexy material, Christopher Hampton penned the script and Stephen Frears will direct it.

Set in 1920s Paris, Chéri focuses on the affair between an older, retired courtesan and a young man some 25 years younger than her, one who is the son of a fellow courtesan. For 6 years they are together until they must part for Chéri to make good on an arranged marriage. However, he doesn't get over his older lover, and as Variety describes it, he "retreats into a fantasy world." Madame de Tourvel has come a long way!

There have been some bumps in the road, but as things stand now -- the deal will give Miramax North American control, and Pathe will get the overseas territories -- much like the deal made for Frears' last film, The Queen. Should everything move along from here, production will start this April in France. Now we just need a young man itching for Pfeiff. Any ideas?

Best Screenplay

Nominees:

Diablo Cody -- Juno

Joel & Ethan Coen -- No Country for Old Men

Christopher Hampton -- Atonement

Ronald Harwood -- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Aaron Sorkin -- Charlie Wilson's War

Predicted Winner: Diablo Cody -- Juno

Often, it's not the finest writing that wins the screenplay award, it's the flashiest. Cinematical doesn't think Globe voters will be able to pass up Diablo Cody's hyper-verbose, show-offy script, chock full of memorable one-liners and quotable dialogue. Plus, Hollywood just can't get enough of her stripper-turned-screenwriter tale. Juno what I'm saying?

Now it's your turn to vote ...

Screenwriter Christopher Hampton (Atonement, Dangerous Liaisons) recently spoke to Collider about his upcoming projects, including the Iva Toguri biopic that he's writing for Frank Darabont to direct. Toguri, a Japanese-American who was in Japan during WWII, was one of only a handful of people in U.S. history to actually be tried and convicted for treason, for her participation in Japanese propaganda radio broadcasts aimed at U.S. servicemen. (You may remember a scene in Clint Eastwood's Flags of our Fathers in which the soldiers listen to the creepy broadcast of Orphan Ann -- Toguri's radio moniker -- in which they're told about fictional U.S. war defeats and also told that their sweethearts back home are cheating on them.) Toguri would also sign off her broadcasts to the troops as "your number one enemy," although she later claimed this to be tongue-in-cheek.

In fact, the case against her was notoriously flimsy -- seven out of eight treason charges were dropped, and although she was convicted and imprisoned, she was later pardoned by Gerald Ford. The one charge that prosecutors snagged her on was related to a broadcast she made in October, 1944, in which she can be heard saying "Orphans of the Pacific, you really are orphans now. How will you get home now that all your ships are lost?" Hampton's screenplay will portray her trial as "a witch hunt. She was absolutely innocent," he says. "Her trial happened to be the longest and most expensive in American legal history at the time -- in the late 40s ... the contours of the story are beginning to emerge and I'm starting to know what I have to keep and what I don't need."

I was a little hard on the International Press Academy last year, but they made some ridiculous decisions when handing out their Satellite Awards. Still, at least they came off as being different than every other year-end awards giver by picking winners like Joseph Cross and X-Men: The Last Stand (best comedic actor and best editing, respectively). Those are at least some interesting, unpredictable picks, right? This year, I feel the need to be harder on the organization, because it's gone totally predictable in honoring No Country for Old Men, Juno, Sicko, American Gangster, Ratatouille, Diablo Cody and Christopher Hampton, among others. The actors they honored -- Marion Cotillard, Viggo Mortensen, Ellen Page, Ryan Gosling, Tom Wilkinson/Casey Affleck (tied) and Amy Ryan -- aren't all the most obvious choices, but they aren't shocking, either. Couldn't they have at least gone with nominee Clive Owen or his nominated "comedy or musical" Shoot 'Em Up (!?!?!?), or something?

Not that the winners aren't deserving, but what good is yet another awards ceremony if it's not going to distinguish itself from the Golden Globes, which are the Satellite's unrecognized yet unmistakable "baby daddy". Yeah, the Hollywood Foreign Press will likely go with some other winners, but they won't seem that different. Again, I do salute the IPA for having a documentary category, though it wouldn't have hurt to give The King of Kong its one possible prestigious(?) award -- not that it was actually a better film than fellow nominee No End in Sight. Also, it's always enjoyable to see what the IPA picks for best DVDs (The Prestige for overall; Borat and Masters of Horror Season 1 (tied) for extras; Ratatouille for youth-oriented; Ken Burns' The War for documentary; The Graduate 40th Anniversary Edition for classic). For the rest of the nominees and winners, head over to Variety.

One of the best-received films at this year's TIFF, Atonement tells the story of a 13 year-old girl who, thinking she's doing something right, actually does something horribly wrong and starts a chain reaction of terrible events that will go on for several years. To say more than that seems unfair, since this is the kind of film that everyone should go into tabula rasa the first time, if at all possible. However, those who have read the highly-praised novel by Ian McEwan already know the ins and outs and can marvel at how delicately and faithfully McEwan's prose has been brought to vivid life on the screen. Christopher Hampton, the film's screenwriter who also penned Dangerous Liaisons, agreed to sit down with Cinematical at this year's festival and talk about the unique challenges of creating a film script that could capture everything great about McEwan's writing and working with Joe Wright, who is proving himself to be one of the most clever and talented filmmakers in the business today. Here's the interview.

Cinematical: Talk a little about the third part, the nursing section -- did you feel, as I did, that Briony paints herself a little too well in that part? When I doubleback after the ending, I look at that section suspiciously, like maybe she's taking liberties with the truth.

CH: The whole motivation of that nursing section -- which, by the way, I think is sort of the best written bit of the book, really exceptionally precise and well-pictured -- I think she throws herself into this job out of guilt. The book is about a life, her life, being ruined by the knowledge that she's ruined other people's lives. I see no reason to doubt her sincerity, although you're perfectly free to do so.

Cinematical: What were the major challenges of adapting the latter part of the book -- part three and the 1999 afterward?

CH: That was a particular problem that one had to find a solution, to find a way to crack it, and in fact what we wound up with was something that was the briefest of the many versions that we had done. You tend to elaborate, when you've got such a complicated thing to get over to an audience. Then we sort of thought, the shorter and more lucid and simpler we did it, the better it would work. But to answer your question about part three, in my original first draft, I had conflated the Dunkirk section and the hospital section. I had intercut, you know, gone back and forth between them. And at a certain point, I decided to go back to what the book does, which is keep them in sections. They are simultaneous in time, those two sections, so it was worth a try. But there's something about having the focus on each character, chapter by chapter, that works very well. Also, it works because Joe made the very smart decision ... there was a lot of talk about whether we could get one actress to do the child and the 18 year-old. You know, if we'd found someone, I could have upped the age to 15 or something, but of course it's not about a 15 year-old. So Joe was very clear about that, and that was a great help, that he said 'no, no, we're gonna have two different actresses.' So that also assisted the idea of focusing on one character at a time somehow.

Last month, while at Cannes, Venice Film Festival artistic director Marco Müller said this year's event will feature a lot of English-language films and a focus on up-and-coming filmmakers. Both statements fit with the announcement now that Atonement will be opening the festival, which kicks off August 29. The UK-produced pic is the sophomore effort of Joe Wright. It also marks the director's continued collaboration with Keira Knightley, who he directed to an Oscar nomination in his debut, Pride & Prejudice. Atonement is a war-time epic romance adapted from Ian McEwan's (Enduring Love) novel by Christopher Hampton (The Quiet American). Months after its premiere at Venice, it opens in the U.S. just in time for Academy notice on December 7.

A few months ago we shared the film's trailer, and just last week we got some photos, but neither is enough for us to tell if Knightley will deserve another nomination for her work with Wright. After recently watching the actress in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, I can't imagine her ever winning an Oscar, but perhaps Wright has some sort of magic touch with her. I will have to wait about five months to judge for myself, but Knightley's fans in the UK will be getting to see the performance about two weeks after it shows in Venice, on September 14. Then it rolls out to other parts of the world in the fall and winter.

So far Atonement seems to be the only film officially announced to screen at this year's Venice Film Festival, though last month Variety reported the fest will include a number of American films, likely including Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood, Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf, Todd Haynes' I'm Not There and Ang Lee's Lust, Caution. We'll know for sure on July 26. The only other things we know for sure about the fest are that Zhang Yimou is heading the jury, that Tim Burton is getting a career achievement award and that there will be a Spaghetti Western retrospective. If you love both Knightley and Sergio Leone, you may want to start making your reservations today.