Movies - Mary Shelley : Focus on a great biopic

Par Mulder, 22 avril 2018

MARY SHELLEY was filmed over six weeks in Ireland and Luxembourg during February and March 2016. The film, produced by Amy Baer of Gidden Media (LAST VEGAS) and Ruth Coady and Alan Moloney of Parallel Films (THE SIEGE OF JADOTVILLE, BROOKLYN), was directed by Haifaa Al Mansour, who also did additional writing on the screenplay written by Emma Jensen. The screenplay for MARY SHELLEY was written by Emma Jensen, with additional writing by director Haifaa Al Mansour. Haifaa credits finding a kindred spirit in MARY SHELLEY for her taking on the project, saying “I come from Saudi Arabia and although it’s an English period film about the story of a young girl growing up who is trying to find her voice, surrounded by superstition that she wants to break free of, I really identified with the main character.” Producer Amy Baer said of the spec screenplay that was sent to her “I was astounded that Mary was only 18 when she created and wrote Frankenstein and I felt that this was a story that had to be told.” Fellow producer Alan Moloney added that the story “essentially subverts everything that we think we know about the early 1800’s in England, and I liked that!”. Producer Ruth Coady said she was “blown away by the strength and fight that this extremely young woman found within her,” and that the life of Mary Shelley is “a powerful story that feels very relevant right now.”

For leading actress Elle Fanning, who plays Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, her closeness in age to the character at the time of her writing Frankenstein, and her progressive outlook, made the author an ideal role - commenting that “to be able to play a woman that was so ahead of her time in so many ways was really what attracted me to the script. I was very nervous and scared because no one has ever told HER tale before, and because it’s such a special one that I think needs to be heard. Although set in the 1800’s, I think her journey is so modern and relevant to today’s world.”

Amy Baer said of specifically choosing a female director for MARY SHELLEY, “I have never in my career read a piece of material and said ‘I want a woman to direct this,’ but I have to say this was the first one because I felt that the theme of the story and about what Mary went through are so specific to what a woman experiences.” Her fellow producer Alan Moloney added that what really resonated about Haifaa’s background “is the fact that she is a woman who has grown up in Saudi Arabia in an environment and a landscape where women don’t have the same rights as they do in Western culture, and she has had to as an artist, fight and struggle to have her own voice heard in much the same way as Mary Shelley did. There are very clear parallels between her life experience and the experience of Mary Shelley 200 years ago so that brings a real contemporary resonance to the piece.”

Commenting on the strong team of creative women behind the scenes on MARY SHELLEY, Haifaa said “I feel I honestly connect with female protagonists and have been very excited about working on this particular project - with two female producers, a female editor and a female composer.” Elle Fanning, who plays Mary Shelley, said of having Haifaa as a director that “in a way she just knows what it feels like to be a young girl, to grow up and go through the hardships that women have. A lot of strong women have lived with this script, it’s very powerful and you can feel that on set which I think is crucial and important in telling Mary’s story.” Douglas Booth, acting opposite Elle as her partner Percy Shelley concurs, “I think be-cause Haifaa has had to fight for every single thing that she has ever achieved, she has a very real understanding of a woman that has a story to tell but society is not letting her tell it. She understands Mary’s journey. She has a great understanding of humanity, the core of people and I think this really shines through in this film.”

Ben Hardy who plays Mr. Polidori says “It’s definitely the right decision to have a female director for this film because Mary is the center of the piece and she is such a strong feminine force within a community heavily dominated by men, and I think her previous film (WADJDA) has similar themes”.

The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2017. It is scheduled to be released in the United States on May 25, 2018, by IFC Films (New York and Los Angeles) and On-Demand starting Friday, June 1, 2018, before being released in the United Kingdom on July 6, 2018, by Curzon Artificial Eye.

Synopsis:
MARY SHELLEY tells the story of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (Elle Fanning) - author of one of the world’s most famous Gothic novels ‘Frankenstein’ - and her fiery, tempestuous relationship with renowned romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (Douglas Booth.) The pair are two outsiders constrained by polite society but bound together by a natural chemistry and progressive ideas that are beyond the boundaries of their age and time. Mary and Percy declare their love for each other and much to her family's horror they run away together, joined by Mary's half-sister Claire (Bel Powley.) In the midst of growing tension within their relationship during their stay at Lord Byron's (Tom Sturridge) house at Lake Geneva, the idea of Frankenstein is conceived when a challenge is put to all houseguests to write a ghost story. An incredible character is created, which will loom large in popular culture for centuries to come, but society at the time puts little value in female authors. At the tender age of 18, Mary is forced to challenge these preconceptions, to protect her work and to forge her own identity.

Mary Shelley
Directed by Haifaa al-Mansour
Produced by Amy Baer, Ruth Coady, David Grumbach Alan Moloney
Written by Emma Jensen
Starring Elle Fanning, Douglas Booth, Bel Powley, Ben Hardy, Tom Sturridge, Maisie Williams, Stephen Dillane, Joanne Froggatt
Music by Amelia Warner
Cinematography : David Ungaro
Edited by : Alex Mackie
Production company : Gidden Media, HanWay Films, Parallel Films
Distributed by IFC Films, Curzon Artificial Eye
Release date : September 9, 2017 (TIFF), May 25, 2018 (United States), On-Demand starting Friday, June 1, 2018, July 6, 2018 (United Kingdom)
Running time : 121 minutes

Photos: Copyright IFC Films