| The Life and Death of Peter Sellers | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Stephen Hopkins |
| Produced by | Simon Bosanquet |
| Screenplay by | Christopher Markus Stephen McFeely |
| Based on | The Life and Death of Peter Sellers by Roger Lewis |
| Starring | Geoffrey Rush Charlize Theron Emily Watson John Lithgow Miriam Margolyes Peter Vaughan Sonia Aquino Stanley Tucci Stephen Fry |
| Music by | Richard Hartley |
| Cinematography | Peter Levy |
| Editing by | John Smith |
| Studio | HBO Films BBC Films Company Pictures |
| Distributed by | HBO (US Television) |
| Release date(s) | May 21, 2004 (Cannes) October 1, 2004 (United Kingdom) |
| Running time | 122 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom United States |
| Language | English |
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers is a 2004 film about the life of English comic actor Peter Sellers, based on Roger Lewis' book of the same name.[1] It was directed by Stephen Hopkins and starred Geoffrey Rush as Sellers, Miriam Margolyes as his mother Peg Sellers, Emily Watson as his first wife Anne Howe, Charlize Theron as his second wife Britt Ekland, John Lithgow as Blake Edwards, Stephen Fry as Maurice Woodruff and Stanley Tucci as Stanley Kubrick.
Contents |
The film shows Peter Sellers as a complex and tormented genius,[2] whose success as a film star concealed his difficult and relatively unhappy private life. This "troubled life" is the primary focus of this biopic, which personalizes "one of the greatest comic actors in the history of the British cinema,"[3] and shows the many masks he wore and characters he played as an actor.[4]
The film makes clear that much of his success and identity were dependent initially on his domineering and doting mother. But eventually this success, first in radio and eventually in film, led to his succumbing to destructive mood swings and insecurity, and contributed to the deterioration of his marriages. Discovering his gift for comedy, his ego began to undermine his personal relationships with friends and co-workers. His personality became more turbulent. His own personality often merged with that of his film characters, and his self-learned skill as a "method actor" was used to mask his real self.[5]
The role of Sellers was acted by Geoffrey Rush, "who approached the role with the enthusiasm of a hungry child in a candy store," notes a reviewer.[5] Rush impersonates most of the important characters that Sellers played in his film career. Director Blake Edwards is played by John Lithgow, and the film exposes some of the behind-the-scenes personality conflicts between Sellers and Edwards, which contributed to their unhappy and tumultuous working relationship, despite the success of their films. In the interview for the film, included on the DVD, Edwards credited Rush with portraying Sellers' characters with uncanny similarity to the real Peter Sellers, and claimed, in 2004, that it was the best acting he'd ever seen Rush perform.
Some reviewers have stressed that in order to appreciate and understand much of the Sellers story and his iconic status, they should have seen some of his leading works, including his Pink Panther roles directed by Blake Edwards, and his roles in both Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove and Hal Ashby's Being There. The latter film is considered by critics to be the "crowning triumph of Peter Sellers's remarkable career,"[6], and in a BBC interview in 1971, Sellers himself said that more than anything else, he wanted to play the role of Chance.[6] Being There (which earned him an Oscar nomination) is shown to be the one film about which Sellers was truly passionate since it gave him an opportunity to display his skills as an actor, not just as a comedian (it is also suggested that he identified strongly with the main character).
The Pink Panther films are only a small part of this docudramedy, however, as it spans Sellers' career from The Goon Show through Being There. Sellers is also shown aspiring to be a leading man in the James Bond satire Casino Royale which prompts ridicule from the film's crew.
Actor Geoffrey Rush stated in interviews that the film was itself structured to be reminiscent of a Peter Sellers film. However, it was darker than Sellers' actual films since it depicted Sellers' troubled experiences in his life (including his tantrums and mental instability). This included at various times Rush (as Sellers) dressing up to play other characters in his life (several were ultimately edited out, but are included within the special features on the DVD).[7] In these instances he broke the fourth wall to give a monologue to the audience.
Roger Lewis: "It was the melancholia of Sellers I was drawn to; all those shuffling little ghostly figures he used to play in Boulting brothers films, or Clouseau, with those soulful, mournful brown eyes. For all the success and the women, he is rather a lonely and melancholic figure. And that is what redeems him." Hollywood was immediately interested in adapting Lewis's biography - in the mid 1990s Madonna's company Maverick bought the rights, but the Sellers project did not get off the ground. Many different writers worked on the screenplay, among them Lee Hall; eventually the writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely came up with a script to tell the story. Director Stephen Hopkins ultimately distanced himself from Lewis's book, and said he was inspired by Sellers's 16mm home movies, which were featured in a 2002 BBC Arena documentary.[8]
Many familiar faces have small roles in the film; Edward Tudor-Pole (former Tenpole Tudor lead singer) plays Spike Milligan and The League of Gentlemen's Steve Pemberton plays Harry Secombe. Mackenzie Crook of The Office also has a small role as a luxury automobile salesman and Richard Ayoade from The IT Crowd in a bit-part as a photographer. In The Trip, actor and comedian Rob Brydon plays a fictionalized version of himself and claims that he had a bit part in the film where he impersonated Dustin Hoffman giving his acceptance speech but was subsequently cut out.
The film won the 2005 Golden Globe award for Best Miniseries or Television Film and Rush was awarded the Globe's Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film. It was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.[9]
|
|||||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||