Mrs. Davis

Author(s): Stefano
Location: Italy

"Mrs. Davis”

Directed by Milos Forman
Written by Dan Futterman and Peter Morgan
Original music by Rachel Portman
Cinematography by Dante Spinotti
Art direction by Luciana Arrighi
Costumes by Jenny Beavan

Principal Cast:

Annette Bening – Bette Davis
George Clooney – Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Clive Owen – Gary Merrill
Jeremy Irons – George Sanders
Claire Danes – Anne Baxter
Mary Steenburgen – Celeste Holm
Holly Hunter – Claudette Colbert
Sydney Pollack – Darryl F. Zanuck
Ben Kingsley – Jack Warner

And also starring in cameo-roles:

Geena Davis – Katharine Hepburn
Judy Davis – Joan Crawford
Diane Lane – Barbara Stanwyck
Jeremy Northam – Cary Grant
Kristin Scott Thomas – Marlene Dietrich
Kevin Spacey – Humphrey Bogart
Charlize Theron – Lauren Bacall

Tagline: "The woman… The star… The legend…The true story of the greatest actress of all time. Fasten your seatbelts: it’s going to be a bumpy night"

Synopsis: In 1949, Bette Davis (Annette Bening) is a well-known star all over the world, an immensely-famous actress and a two-times Academy Award winner. But after 20 years on the scene, her life has suddenly come to an important crossroad, on-stage and off: Davis’ last pictures, “Winter meeting”, “June bride” and “Beyond the forest”, have been three box-office failures, she had just turned 40, and her popularity with audiences is steadily declining. The reviews about her performances are terrible, and every critic is saying that Davis’ career is at the end. Due to the deterioration of the relationship with her third husband and to her growing frustration, Bette Davis asks producer Jack Warner (Ben Kingsley) to be released from her contract, and decides to leave Hollywood for the rest of her life. At the same time, director Joseph L. Mankiewicz (George Clooney) is planning his next film, a comedy-drama about the world of theatre; unfortunately, his main actress Claudette Colbert (Holly Hunter) severely injures her back and is forced to withdraw shortly before filming begins. Now Mr. Mankiewicz needs immediately to find a new actress for Margo Channing’s character; so the film’s producer, Darryl F. Zanuck (Sydney Pollack), asks Mrs. Davis to play the role, but at first she refuses the offer, hurt by the fact she had been chosen as a sobstitute for another actress. It’s Mankiewicz himself who will talk to the extremely proud and obstinate Mrs. Davis and who’ll finally persuade her. Bette Davis reads the script and, after realizing it is “the best script I’ve ever read”, she takes on the part of the glamorous and aging actress in Mankiewicz’ film. During production, she finds one of her best friends in her co-star Anne Baxter (Claire Danes) and falls madly in love with actor Gary Merrill (Clive Owen), her younger leading-man and future husband. And the film will result in Mrs. Davis’ most famous role and in one of the greatest pictures of all time: “All about Eve”.

What the press would say:

Academy Award winner Milos Forman, after many other acclaimed biographical portraits in films such as “Amadeus”, “The people vs Larry Flint”, “Man on the moon” and “Goya’s ghosts”, is the director of “Mrs. Davis”, a brilliant and riveting biopicture about one period in the life of legendary Hollywood actress Bette Davis, with Annette Bening starring in the title-role.

The screenplay, written by Dan Futterman (“Capote”) and Peter Morgan (“The Queen”), is a fictional fact-inspired account of the public and private events in Bette Davis life and the making of the celebrated classic “All about Eve”. Academy Award nominee Annette Bening gives her very best performance so far in this witty and cheerful serio-comedy: she brings to the lead-role of the flamboyant, perfectionist and highly combative Bette Davis a great relish, strength and abandonment, in what is surely one of the best female roles we’ve seen in years on the big screen. The supporting cast is also really terrific, with a persuasive George Clooney as director Joseph L. Mankiewicz and people of the calibre of Jeremy Irons, Clive Owen, Mary Steenburgen, Holly Hunter, Ben Kingsley, Claire Danes, and director Sydney Pollack as Darryl F. Zanuck. The cast also features a number of brief cameo-appearences of nowadays actors playing the roles of yesterdays stars.

In conclusion, “Mrs. Davis” is definitely one of the most gripping and entertaining movies about Hollywood and its golden years, and one of the most award-baity film of the next season.

For your consideration:

Best Picture
Best Director – Milos Forman
Best Actress – Annette Bening
Best Supporting Actor – George Clooney
Best Original Screenplay
Best Art Direction
Best Costume Design