Straight on Till Morning

By N.P. Thompson, GreenCine. Posted November 9, 2004.

Marc Forster's new film, "Finding Neverland," exquisitely fuses fantasy and reality in portraying how J.M. Barrie alit on the inspiration for "Peter Pan." At first glance, this sumptuous retooling of Edwardian London, circa 1904, with its lavish nights at the theater and bouts of fanciful child's play, seems an unusual choice to follow up "Monster's Ball." Yet with these two films, and with Forster's "Everything Put Together," a horror-comedy about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, certain common threads emerge: the issue of mortality, how each of us responds differently to grief, and in Forster's words, "the deep human need for illusions – even in the face of tragedy."

Johnny Depp stars as Barrie, whose most recent play, a stodgy, drawing-room comedy, fails miserably at the Duke of York's Theatre. On a stroll through Kensington Gardens the morning after, Barrie meets the four young Llewelyn-Davies brothers and their beautiful, recently widowed mother Sylvia, played by Kate Winslet, who here projects a peach cobbler radiant earthiness, equally robust and refined. In time, Barrie becomes a father figure to the boys, playing games of pirate ships and cowboys 'n' Indians, giving the lads the male chi they've been missing since their father's death.

Forster, working with David Magee's lovely, perceptive (if not always factual) screenplay, garners excellent performances from the entire cast. Depp masters the Scottish cadence without overdoing it; he shows great range here and does so unfussily. Young Freddie Highmore is outstanding as Peter, the brother who's initially unimpressed by Barrie, but with whom the playwright forges the deepest bond. As the American impresario Charles Frohman, the reluctant producer of Peter Pan on-stage, Dustin Hoffman has his first movie role in a theatrical setting since "Tootsie"; his astute line readings summon a bit of the sardonic mood from that film. And "Finding Neverland" offers a meaty role for the magnificent Julie Christie. She plays the imperious Emma DuMaurier, the boys' grandmother, who disapproves of Barrie's friendship with her kin. In one memorable image, Barrie views Mrs. DuMaurier as a prototype for Captain Hook. Wagging a coat hanger at the boys, she storms, "Tomorrow, we're going to have some discipline around here!"

What was it like to work with Julie Christie? I've had a crush on her since I was eleven. And it hasn't diminished over time. She's still beautiful even though she is ... matronly.

Funny you telling me you have a crush on Julie Christie. I love her. It was tremendous to work with her, and I had to pinch myself sometimes, working with both her and Dustin Hoffman – two icons together. There's a scene late in the film where Johnny Depp and Julie walk down these arches to discuss the future of the children, and she briefs him on how she sees it. As we're shooting this, Johnny comes to me and says, "Marc, I can't believe what I have to tell you. This woman is 60 years old, and I still feel like kissing her!" Julie's so beautiful and so warm and stunning, you still feel like, my god, she's gorgeous! You just want to hug her and take her in your arms because she still has that... [indescribable quality].

In the movie, she actually plays more of a cold character, very stern, but when you meet her in life, she's this warm, crazy, eccentric, loving person; you look in her eyes and you just see "Dr. Zhivago," you see all these great movies she did, like "Petulia," "Don't Look Now," "Far from the Madding Crowd." Whatever she made in that time frame, she's still resonant with.

"Petulia" holds up really well. I just saw that again a few months ago.

It's such a great movie. I love the look of it, and Julie and George C. Scott together.

The scenes between Julie and Johnny Depp in "Neverland" also have a nice friction of opposites. They're combative, albeit in a civilized way, and there's a kind of sexiness in that; I can see why he wants to kiss her. Even when Mrs. DuMaurier gradually changes her perception of J.M. Barrie, her character never goes completely soft. She never turns into an old sweetheart or anything like that.

The only time she softens up, and I love that moment, when the play is performed at their house, and Kelly MacDonald [as Peter Pan] asks, "Do you believe in fairies?" – and no one reacts; then Julie starts clapping. That wasn't a direction of mine. It just happened. It was the first take and she started clapping, and I said, "Julie fucking rocks! She's so brilliant!"

Usually on first takes, I do the blocking of the scene and then I want to see instinctually what the actors do, because you get always surprises. I said, "Let's just shoot this one and see what happens. Let's have Peter Pan performing off-camera and see how you guys react." And we shot it, and there was this tension, this moment, nobody did anything. The kids didn't know what to do, and suddenly, Julie starts clapping, and it came from within.

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Seattle-based critic N.P. Thompson writes for the alternative monthly Vigilance and frequently updates his own site, Movies into Film.