A debut film and a huge critical success
In 2021, the first film by the French writer and playwright Florian Zeller will be released in French cinemas. The fatheradapted from his play, The fathercreated in 2012, is acritically acclaimed. This drama, whose artistic quality even allows it to venture into the horror thriller genre, brings together an elite of actors, notably Anthony Hopkins in the title role and Olivia Colman in the role of his daughter.
His writing, storytelling and the performances of the cast are celebrated and The fatheramong other dozens of nominations and awards, achieved in April 2021 Oscar for best adapted screenplay AND Oscar for best actor for Anthony Hopkins. Out of a total of six nominations, including that of Oscar for best film. Same rewards for BAFTAs and, last but not leastgets in 2022 César for the best foreign filmthe film is a French-British co-production in English.
Of all the praise received by The fathermuch of it concerns the rousing performance of Anthony Hopkins, in his portrait of an elderly man with Alzheimer’s disease who falls into dementia. And if the life of film has been so beautiful for Florian Zeller and Anthony Hopkins, it is also because the latter’s presence in the casting was, for Florian Zeller, an absolute necessity for the project.
One actor in mind
As Florian Zeller mentions in an interview with Critical sense, never imagined that an actor other than Anthony Hopkins would embody his main character in his play adaptation. Lover of actors and actresses, he explains that he has already written The father thinking of the great stage actor Robert Hirsch. So this is who played André, the father in the comedy, from 2012 to 2015.
It forced itself on me. It’s a dream (the film adaptation, ed) raised with the face of Anthony Hopkins. He is an actor that I have always admired and that for me is the greatest living actor.
For The fatherFlorian Zeller therefore only has Anthony Hopkins in mind, perhaps also because Robert Hirsch died in November 2017. It would have been still alive that The father perhaps it would have been developed in French cinema. In any case, the plan to have Anthony Hopkins obviously directs Florian Zeller towards an English-language production, e will adapt his character to the actor.
Same name and date of birth
Florian Zeller made a successful bet that blurring the line between reality and fiction will serve the emotion of his film. So, for The fatherchange the name of the character in his play, Andrewto give him that of the actor: Anthony. While most of the characters maintain, from comedy to film, the same name. This is the case of Olivia Colman, whose name is Annalike the character of Isabelle Gélinas in The father. Same direct adaptation for the nurse character, named Laura in show and film.
To me, Anthony Hopkins is the man of extreme intelligence, control, language and situations. And to see this man, in fact, lose control, would be all the more disconcerting. (…) “The Father” is the story of a man who falls, and it seemed to me that the higher he starts from a certain altitude, at least in the collective imagination, the more overwhelming this fall would be.
Another perfect resemblance between Anthony Hopkins and his character: their date of birth. In fact, when inside The father Anthony is asked about his date of birth, replies “Friday 31st December 1937” which is fine the date of birth of the British actor.
A piece of music for Anthony Hopkins
Another peculiarity of The father originated by Anthony Hopkins, the use of an “aria” by Georges Bizet in his opera The Pearl Fishers. A piece adored by the actor, and that Florian Zeller therefore decided to include in the film. The director explained during a Q&A session at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020 :
Anthony loves music, and so do I. He once told me: “One of my favorite songs is this”. And he told me this story: when he was 30, he was doing a comedy in the UK. And one night he heard this song for the first time. He went back to the hotel, where there was a piano, and tried to find the tune. He freaked everyone out, because it took him three days to find her! He told me: “I’ve always dreamed of making a film with this piece”. So I tried to make his dream come true, just as he was making mine come true.
Source: Cine Serie
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