Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) - Production prevails in flawed Vermeer biopic

1/27/2021

Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) - Production prevails in flawed Vermeer biopic

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Sensual, carnal lust issues from this steamy poster for Peter Webber's Girl with a Pearl Earring

Johannes Vermeer is a prominent artist in the Netherlands in 1655, but he works too slowly, and now his new housemaid catches his wandering eye.

Girl with a Pearl Earring is written by Olivia Hetreed (Birds Like Us (2017)), adapting the same-titled 1999 novel by Tracy Chevalier (New Boy (2017)), and directed by Peter Webber (Emperor (2012)), whose theatrical debut it is.

It is a decently made but not very inspired nor deep period film. It is a painter biopic that lets one become fascinated with things such as how colors are created for the paint that goes into the paintings, but we don't get very near to the artist himself.

The many Brits in the cast are fundamentally unfit to capture the Dutch environment, it seems. The story doesn't swell up to greatness here, and Cillian Murphy (Anthropoid (2016)) is miscast: He and his romantic interest, the picturesque Scarlett Johansson (Lucy (2014)) regrettably do not suit each other.

Peter Webber: 2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Hannibal Rising (2007) - Harris returns famed cannibal in sub-par origins flick

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 10 mil. £, approximately 16.3 mil. $

Box office: 33 mil. $

= Flop (returned 2.02 times its cost)

[Girl with a Pearl Earring premiered 31 August (Telluride Film Festival, US) and runs 100 minutes. The rights were bought, before the novel was published in 1999. Production was set to start with Mike Newell directing and Kate Hudson and Ralph Fiennes starring in 2001, when Hudson withdrew. Shooting took place in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The film opened #32 to an 89k $ first weekend in 7 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #17 and in 402 theaters (different weeks), grossing 11.6 mil. $ (35.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 5.9 mil. $ (17.9 %) and Germany with 3.3 mil. $ (10 %). It was the 14th highest-grossing (part-) UK film in the UK of the year. It was nominated for 3 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Cinematography (Eduardo Serra) to Russell Boyd for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and Costume Design and Art/Set Decoration to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. It was also nominated for 2 Golden Globes, 10 BAFTAs, 3 British Independent Film awards, a David di Donatello award, won 1/3 European Film award nominations, was nominated for a Goya award, won a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. Webber returned with Six Feet Under (2004, TV-series)) and theatrically with Hannibal Rising (2007). Colin Firth (Fourplay (2001)) returned in Love Actually (2003); Johansson in The Perfect Score (2004); and Tom Wilkinson (Belle (2013)) in If Only (2004). Girl with a Pearl Earring is fresh at 72 % with a 6.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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1/27/2021

Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) - Production prevails in flawed Vermeer biopic

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