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 Finding Neverland Production NotesUnlock Your Imagination.
Director Marc Forster's follow-up to "Monster's Ball" is "Finding Neverland," a tale of magic and fantasy inspired by the life of James Barrie, the real-life author of the children's classic Peter Pan.
Set in London in 1904, the film follows Barrie's creative journey to bring Peter Pan to life, from his first inspiration for the story up until the play's premiere at the Duke of York's Theatre - a night that will change not only Barrie's own life, but the lives of everyone close to him.
The boundless imagination of the man behind “Peter Pan” and the poignancy of his journey combine in this emotional tale inspired by events in the life of Scottish author James Mathew Barrie.
In Finding Neverland, director Marc Forster (“Monster’s Ball”) and an accomplished cast including Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Dustin Hoffman and Julie Christie take a fictional look at the creation of “Peter Pan,” the classic of children’s literature that speaks directly to the child in all of us.
Finding Neverland traverses both fantasy and everyday reality, melding the difficulties and heartbreak of adult life with the spellbinding allure and childlike innocence of the boy who never grows up.
It all begins as successful Scottish playwright J.M. Barrie (Johnny Depp) watches his latest play open to a ho-hum reaction among the polite society of Edwardian England.
A literary genius of his times but bored by the same old themes, Barrie is clearly in need of some serious inspiration. Unexpectedly, he finds it one day during his daily walk with his St. Bernard Porthos in London’s Kensington Gardens. There, Barrie encounters the Llewelyn Davies family: four fatherless boys and their beautiful, recently widowed mother (Kate Winslet).
Despite the disapproval of the boys’ steely grandmother Emma du Maurier (Julie Christie) and the resentment of his own wife (Radha Mitchell), Barrie befriends the family, engaging the boys in tricks, disguises, games and sheer mischief, creating play-worlds of castles and kings, cowboys and Indians, pirates and castaways. He transforms hillsides into galleon ships, sticks into mighty swords, kites into enchanted fairies and the Llewelyn Davies boys into “The Lost Boys of Neverland.”
From the sheer thrills and adventurousness of childhood will come Barrie’s most daring and renowned masterwork, “Peter Pan.” At first, his theatrical company is skeptical. While his loyal producer Charles Frohman (Dustin Hoffman) worries he’ll lose his shirt on this children’s fantasy, Barrie begins rehearsals only to shock his actors with such unprecedented requests as asking them to fly across the stage, talk to fairies made out of light and don dog and crocodile costumes.
Then, just as Barrie is ready to introduce the world to “Peter Pan,” a tragic twist of fate will make the writer and those he loves most understand just what it means to really believe.
About "Finding Neverland"
Director Marc Forster was looking for something magical when Academy Award nominated producer Richard Gladstein brought him David Magee’s screenplay for Finding Neverland. Forster was immediately drawn to the story, which imagined the circumstances and emotions behind the creation and evolution of “Peter Pan,” a tale that has touched millions all over the world.
Inspired by J.M. Barrie’s real-life friendship with the Llewelyn Davies family, Finding Neverland is infused with the same themes that make Barrie’s play of “Peter Pan” so resonant: the wonder of the imagination, the nostalgia for childhood innocence and the longing to believe in something more enchanted than everyday life.
“I saw the film as a story about the power of a man’s creativity to take people to another world, and about the deep human need for illusions, dreams and beliefs that inspire us even in the face of tragedy,” comments Forster. "For me, it is about the transformative power of imagination -- being able to transform yourself into something greater than you are, even if nobody believes in you."
For Richard Gladstein, Finding Neverland presented “a unique opportunity to create a film combining intimate personal and emotional drama with incredible bursts of imagination and invention.” He adds: “It’s a story for the child and adult in all of us.”
David Magee’s screenplay for Finding Neverland was adapted from award-winning playwright Allan Knee’s stage play “The Man Who Was Peter Pan,” an imaginary series of conversations between Barrie and the Llewelyn Davies boys. Producer Nellie Bellflower had seen the play at a local theater workshop and immediately optioned it, bringing it to Magee. Notes Bellflower, “Allan Knee’s play was an incredibly moving story of a man who becomes a father figure to these young boys and then guides them through terrible tragedy. I had always loved ‘Peter Pan’ and Allan’s play was a fantastic jumping-off point for exploring the creation of ‘Peter Pan’ and its universal themes.”
Notes Magee: “The screenplay I wrote is not a factual retelling of what happened to James Barrie when he wrote Peter Pan. I wanted to tell a story about what it means to grow up and become responsible for those around you. I hope people see the film as a respectful tribute to Barrie’s creative genius and come away with a feeling that as human beings, we can grow up without losing all aspects of childhood innocence and wonder.”
Magee also found that the story became ever more emotional and personal as he wrote. “My first child was about to be born when I started working on this material, and my father was coming to the end of his life after a long battle with cancer, so I was really thinking intensely about what it means to grow up and to become aware that time really is chasing after all of us,” he explains. “For me, this story is about a man who is starting to face these issues in his own life.”
Magee continues: “As a writer, I was also interested in exploring how one’s own life inspires art and how art in turn informs our lives. There is this notion that creative people hold onto their childhoods longer than the rest of us, but there are moments throughout our lives that weigh on us heavily that we need to explore through storytelling and art. Barrie’s brilliance in ‘Peter Pan’ is that he expressed both the joy in childhood and just how bittersweet it is when you have to leave it behind. He took this very real and universal experience and made it something magnificent and special.”
At the suggestion of then Miramax executive, Michelle Sy, Nellie Bellflower sent a draft of the screenplay to producer Richard Gladstein. At this point, Sy contacted Gladstein and the project was set up at Miramax. The screenplay was developed and the search for the right director began. The search took a fateful turn when Gladstein saw an early screening of Marc Forster’s award-winning “Monster’s Ball,” which told a harrowing love story between a prison guard and a criminal’s widow with tenderness and raw emotion. Says Gladstein, “The depth of character and subtlety in all the performances convinced me that Marc would bring something unique and special to the project.”
As they developed the screenplay and began to search for a cast, Gladstein notes that the filmmakers found inspiration in some of Barrie’s own words. “Barrie wrote an important bit of direction to his actors, saying ‘All characters, whether grown-ups or babes must wear a child’s outlook as their only important adornment.’ This principal guided us in the creation of the film,” says Gladstein, “and we even wrote it, as a sort of prologue, into several drafts of the screenplay so that all the actors and crew understood the intention.”
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Freddie Highmore, Joe Prospero, Johnny Depp, Nick Roud, Kate Winslet and Luke Spill in Finding Neverland.