William Nicholson Movies
A writer of distinctively British sensibilities who possesses the keen ability to portray sympathetic and eccentric characters in extraordinary situations, screenwriter/director William Nicholson directed numerous documentaries for the BBC before moving into feature film work. It was likely during this time that Nicholson developed and refined his noted humanistic approach and his affection towards stories dealing with humans' constant search for meaning in life and nature.Finding success early on with Shadowlands (1985), the true-life tale of the moving relationship between English author C.S. Lewis and American poet Joy Gresham, Nicholson later brought the story to stage before reworking the film for director Richard Attenborough in 1993 (this time garnering an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay). Nicholson continued writing dramatic biographical screenplays, with subjects ranging from the consequences of abortion A Private Matter (1992) to the exploration of the quest for cultural identity Grey Owl (1999), while also exploring similarly themed issues in fictional form with his screenplays for Sweet As You Are (1987) and Nell (1994).
In 1997, Williamson stepped into the director's chair with the romantic period drama Firelight. A return to the relationship-themed territory of Shadowlands, Firelight was a melodramatic meditation on the themes of love and motherhood that involved the director more intimately with the characters he usually only wrote about. After Grey Owl, Nicholson once again exercised his pen, this time on a grand scale, with Ridley Scott's sword-and-sandal epic Gladiator. Though he had explored similar themes in his screenplay for First Night (1995), it was Gladiator that earned the writer his second Oscar nomination (along with screenplay collaborators John Logan and David Franzoni).
~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 2013
Nelson Mandela's life story is told with this Justin Chadwick-directed adaptation of the once-imprisoned South African leader's autobiography. William Nicholson provides the script, with Idris Alba and Naomie Harris heading up the cast. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi
Academy-award winning director Tom Hooper's adaptation of the beloved musical Les Miserables makes no major changes to the original's plot. The story follows former prisoner Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), who, after being released from the watchful eye of police officer Javert (Russell Crowe), is unable to find work because of his status as an ex-convict. He eventually steals from a local church, but when apprehended, the priest claims that Valjean was given the valuables. This triggers a change in Valjean, and he constructs a new identity for himself as a pillar of society and a local businessman. Years later, he adopts a young girl named Cosette, whose mother Fantine (Anne Hathaway), a former employee of his, became a prostitute and died a horrible death in the gutters after being fired. As the years progress and the French Revolution begins to foment, a grown Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) falls for a passionate revolutionary named Marius (Eddie Redmayne), while Javert begins to close in again on Valjean's secret past. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, (more)
Actress Cate Blanchett returns to her Oscar-nominated role and director Shekhar Kapur steps back into the director's chair for this belated sequel to the critically acclaimed 1998 biopic Elizabeth that explores the 16th century romance between the "Virgin Queen" and noted adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen). Michael Hirst teams with William Nicholson to pen the screenplay, and actor Geoffrey Rush returns to the role of Sir Francis Walsingham. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, (more)
A man robbed of his name and his dignity strives to win them back, and gain the freedom of his people, in this epic historical drama from director Ridley Scott. In the year 180, the death of emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) throws the Roman Empire into chaos. Maximus (Russell Crowe) is one of the Roman army's most capable and trusted generals and a key advisor to the emperor. As Marcus' devious son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) ascends to the throne, Maximus is set to be executed. He escapes, but is captured by slave traders. Renamed Spaniard and forced to become a gladiator, Maximus must battle to the death with other men for the amusement of paying audiences. His battle skills serve him well, and he becomes one of the most famous and admired men to fight in the Colosseum. Determined to avenge himself against the man who took away his freedom and laid waste to his family, Maximus believes that he can use his fame and skill in the ring to avenge the loss of his family and former glory. As the gladiator begins to challenge his rule, Commodus decides to put his own fighting mettle to the test by squaring off with Maximus in a battle to the death. Gladiator also features Derek Jacobi, Connie Nielsen, Djimon Hounsou, and Oliver Reed, who died of a heart attack midway through production. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, (more)
Archibald Belaney was a British man who grew up fascinated with Native American culture -- so much so that in the early 1900s he left the United Kingdom for Canada, where he reinvented himself as Archie Grey Owl and lived in the wild as a North American Indian trapper. He eventually became an environmental activist after renouncing trapping and hunting. Grey Owl is based on Belaney's true story, starring Pierce Brosnan in the title role. In 1934, Archie was living a largely solitary life when he met a young woman named Anahareo (Annie Galipeau), an Ojibway Indian nicknamed Pony. Pony is fascinated by Archie, largely because she wants to know about her people's heritage. Her father, Jim (Graham Greene), is a businessman who wears a suit to work and has little concern for his history; in Archie, Pony sees a link to her past that she can't find in her family. Archie has little use for Pony at first, but in time the two begin to bond, and it's Pony who convinces Archie to give up trapping and work to protect animals. She also encourages Archie to write a book about wilderness life in Canada. The book becomes a huge success and makes Archie something of a celebrity, but with recognition come nagging questions about Archie's true heritage. (In reality, Archie Grey Owl's true idenity did not become public knowledge until after his death.) ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pierce Brosnan, Annie Galipeau, (more)
- 1997
- R
A woman is torn by both romantic and maternal love in this period romantic drama set in the 1830s. Elisabeth (Sophie Marceau), a Swiss governess, is the beautiful daughter of a once-prosperous landowner who has fallen deeply into debt. Charles Godwin (Stephen Dillane) is a prominent British aristocrat whose wife has suffered a crippling accident; doomed to spend the rest of her life in a semi-comatose state, she cannot bear Charles the child he so desperately needs. So Charles strikes an agreement with Elisabeth; she will conceive a child with him and hand it over after it is born in exchange for him paying off her father's debts. Elisabeth and Charles set aside three nights to make a baby, and while the matter is supposed to be purely functional and not romantic, Elisabeth finds it difficult to feel that way at the end of the third evening. She is heartbroken when she has to give up the child, and her obsession with the daughter she gave away is reflected in her journals and sketchbooks. Seven years later, Elisabeth discovers the whereabouts of Charles and their daughter, Louisa (Dominique Belcourt); when she learns they need a governess, she is hired for the position by Charles's sister-in-law Constance (Lia Williams), who is unaware that Elisabeth is Louisa's birth mother. When Charles discovers that Elisabeth is the new governess, he is furious, but he eventually takes pity on her and allows her to stay with the child for one month. However, before long, Elisabeth's attraction to Charles resurfaces, and their clandestine romance forces a number difficult questions. Firelight marked the directorial debut of noted screenwriter William Nicholson. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sophie Marceau, Stephen Dillane, (more)
The tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is always ripe for retelling. In this rendition, the sexy Richard Gere is Sir Lancelot, threatening to supersede the aging King Arthur (Sean Connery) by winning the love of his young wife Guinivere (Julia Ormond). This update of the age-old legend succeeds on the strength of Gere's happy-go-lucky sex appeal, Ormond's gorgeous period costuming, and Connery's unbeatable wry nobility. The script focuses on the triangle of the three principals: the older man's reluctance to relinquish his love and power to the younger man destined to supplant him; the young woman torn between her loyalty to her aged husband and her love for his rival; the young man balancing the demands of loyalty to his sovereign with the rewards of true love. This beautiful production forgoes the legend's usual elements of magic and fantasy, leaving Merlin the Magician completely out of the picture. ~ Laura Abraham, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Richard Gere, (more)
- 1994
- PG13
- Add Nell to Queue Add Nell to top of Queue
A woman is brought to civilization after spending her life in the wilds in this drama. Dr. Jerome Lovell (Liam Neeson) happens upon a shack deep in the woods, where he discovers a strange woman who appears to be about 30, speaking an incomprehensible language. The woman, named Nell (Jodie Foster), was raised in the cabin by her late mother, who was incapacitated by strokes (Nell speaks English, but distorted -- as it was by her mother's infirmities); with the exception of her twin sister, who died as a child, Nell has had contact with no other human being. Lovell brings in a psychiatrist, Dr. Paula Olsen (Natasha Richardson) to help determine what, if anything, should be done for Nell; Olsen thinks that Nell should be committed to an institution, but Lovell demands a period of unobtrusive observation instead. When it becomes obvious that the courts will demand that Nell be hospitalized for psychiatric observation, Lovell and Olsen take it upon themselves to gently introduce Nell to the outside world. Jodie Foster's performance in Nell earned her an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress, and she won the Screen Actor's Guild award in that category. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jodie Foster, Liam Neeson, (more)
- 1993
- PG
- Add Shadowlands to Queue
This lavishly mounted adaptation of the play by William Nicholson tells the true story of the doomed love affair between novelist and noted Christian scholar C.S. Lewis and a Jewish-American poet. Anthony Hopkins stars as C.S. "Jack" Lewis, an Oxford professor and successful author of the Chronicles of Narnia series of children's fantasy novels. A confirmed bachelor, Jack's existence is an inward life of the mind. Somewhat detached from the world, his only social outlet is evenings out at a local pub discussing philosophy and religion with his fellow lecturers. Jack has been corresponding with a bluntly intelligent American woman, Joy Gresham (Debra Winger), who arrives to visit him, with her young son Douglas (Joseph Mazzello) in tow. She tells Jack that she has actually fled from an abusive marriage and plans to divorce, and Jack astonishes friends and family by agreeing to a platonic marriage with Joy so that she can obtain British citizenship. As their friendship deepens and Joy discovers that she has a terminal illness, the relationship between Joy and Jack becomes a genuine romance, and their marriage turns into a real commitment. Shadowlands (1993) had previously been filmed as a well-regarded British television movie in 1985 starring Joss Ackland as Lewis. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anthony Hopkins, Debra Winger, (more)
When Sherri Finkbine (Sissy Spacek), the host of the Sixties children's television program Romper Room, learns that her unborn child has been damaged by her use of the drug thalidomide, she and her husband decide to abort the fetus, setting in motion the media controversy that is the subject of Joan Micklin Silver's made-for-cable drama. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sissy Spacek, Aidan Quinn, (more)
Whoopi Goldberg stars in this musical take on the South African struggles against Apartheid in the mid-1970s, during the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela. An adaptation of Mbongeni Ngema's popular musical, which ran on Broadway from 1988 to 1989, Sarafina! recounts the political coming of age of the title character, a high school girl involved in the Soweto student protests of 1976. At first just a petulant bundle of energy, more interested in boys than civil rights, Sarafina (Leleti Khumalo) learns of the Afrikaaner oppression through the underground lectures of her teacher, Mary Masembuko (Goldberg). Sarafina's mother, who works as a servant in a white household and never sees her children, urges Sarafina to toe the line. But she can no longer turn a blind eye when the government imprisons her teacher and slaughters her would-be boyfriend during an arson protest. Incited to rebellion, the students kill a crooked black constable, leaving Sarafina to wrestle with their decision to use violence against the government's strictures. Ever tightening its grip, the ruling regime would kill 575 blacks over eight months in an attempt to quell the civil unrest. The sober subject matter is leavened by Ngema's jubilant songs and Michael Peters' electric choreography. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi
- Starring:
- Leleti Khumalo, Whoopi Goldberg, (more)
- 1987
Grace Gardner (Lee Remick) is a money-minded television manager who hires out-of-work air personality James Marriner (Dirk Bogarde) to broadcast a religious program. When the show is broadcast in England, the country feels the Armageddon paranoia that paralyzes the religious right and their conservative followers of fickle faith. James tries to distance himself from the show when the ultra-right wing theme becomes too much for his insensitive stomach to handle. The film touches upon British concerns that programs from the United States are undermining British television shows. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dirk Bogarde, Lee Remick, (more)
- 1987
In this drama, a husband strays with a drug-addict student and comes home HIV positive. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1986
This British made-for-television movie tells the story of the 1950s competition to unlock the mystery behind DNA, and the personal and political tribulations that accompanied the endeavor. Jeff Goldblum stars as American scientist Jim Watson, and Tim Pigott-Smith is Britain's Francis Crick. Together, the non-traditional scientists raced to find the structure of the DNA molecule before their contemporaries did the same. The film was based on the book of the same name by James Watson. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi
- 1985
A real-life incident involving two major literary figures was dramatized for British television in 1985 under the title Shadowlands. Joss Ackland stars as English author C.S. Lewis, who in 1950 begins a correspondence with American poet Joy Gresham, here played by Claire Bloom. Though Lewis is a confirmed bachelor and Gresham is a wife and mother, their long-distance friendship blossoms into something deeper. In 1952, Gresham, newly divorced, moves to England to be nearer Lewis, who has no inclination to marry. A spiritual crisis profoundly affects the relationship--and completely alters Lewis' outlook on life. Shadowlands premiered in America over PBS on October 29, 1986; screenwriter William Nicholson later adapted his script into a play, which was filmed by director Richard Attenborough in 1993, with Anthony Hopkins as Lewis and Debra Winger as Gresham. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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