The Libertine

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! There May Be SPOILERS in the movie reviews !

Johnny Depp plays the poet John Wilmot, the 17th Earl of Rochester. What have you made of his interpretation of your character?
He’s just brilliant. I think it’s a very serious Oscar contender. He himself thinks it’s his best performance, which is really quite something. Working with him, he’s so quick. You give him an idea and he just devours it and does something new with it. He even went to the British Museum and asked to see the manuscripts and being Johnny Depp, they let him touch them!

Johnny Depp adds another notch to his memorable gallery of film roles with his portrait of John Wilmot, the debauched Second Earl of Rochester who went head to head with King Charles II in the late 1600s. Opening with the Earl telling the audience that they won't like him by the time his story has been told, "The Libertine" quickly throws one into the filth and grime of 17th-century England. It's a brutally realistic evocation of the time -- perhaps the most authentic ever consigned to film -- and one that makes a mockery of prettified and overly art-directed movies like "Barry Lyndon." The rapier wit dialogue of playwright Stephen Jeffreys, adapting his own play to the screen, sings, too; these are words that stick with the viewer. Buoyed by Michael Nyman's insistent but haunting score and the effectively underplayed, candlelit cinematography by Alexander Melman, "The Libertine" adeptly sets a mood that is highly seductive. (It's also sexually forthright in a manner rarely seen onscreen but highly true to its time and place.)

It all soon runs out of steam as its story sputters to a halt, becoming sidetracked by the less interesting dalliance of the Earl and Elizabeth Barry (an underused Samantha Morton), an actress whom he rescues from career oblivion. That part of the film -- and a pulling back from Depp's more negative persona, such as in his mistreatment of his wife -- is too conventional, even hackneyed. It's a shame because so much of "The Libertine" -- including John Malkovich's chilling portrayal of the King -- really stands out. A fine feature debut for director Laurence Dunmore, "The Libertine" is more of a calling card for his future work than a fully rounded triumph in its own right. -Shlomo Schwartzberg

It looks like Miramax Films still needs Harvey Weinstein.  The Walt Disney Co.-owned Miramax, which will ever its relationship with co-founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein on Sept. 30, will have released about 21 pictures this year by that separation date.  But two potentially high-profile movies that were destined to wind up in the current fire sale of releases have been given a new lease on life.

“Proof” and “The Libertine,” two films appealing to adults, had been scheduled to open opposite each other Sept. 16.  But the movies have won a reprieve because they boast major stars who used their muscle to pull together deals between the divorcing parties, Disney and the Weinstein brothers, who are launching their new Weinstein Co.  Neither “Proof’s” Gwyneth Paltrow nor “The Libertine’s” Johnny Depp was willing to go forward into the crowded fall season without help from Harvey Weinstein.  They demanded and got him.

Weinstein has deep relationships with both actors.  Paltrow won kudos for her performance in Miramax’s “Emma” in 1996 and a best actress Oscar for her cross-dressing role in the company’s “Shakespeare in Love.”  Depp starred for Miramax in Lasse Hallstrom’s “Chocolat,” “Once Upon a Time in Mexico,” and landed a best actor nomination for last year’s “Finding Neverland.”

Ironically, it was “Neverland” that pushed John Madden’s adaptation of the hit play “Proof” out of its planned fall berth last year.  Weinstein asked the “Proof” filmmakers to postpone their release a year so that he could take proper care of “Neverland” and “The Aviator.”  Both movies landed multiple nominations, and then “The Aviator” won five Oscars to “Neverland’s” one.

As for “The Libertine,” according to the Mudd Co. partner Russ Smith, the filmmakers behind that project were not going to allow their hard-won indie movie to be thrown out with the Miramax bath water.  “The moment that the decision came down that the movie was going out in this period of time with so many films and one-ninth of the staff, our imperative was to get this movie released as it should be,” Smith says.

Miramax picked up the film in September, after a work-in-progress, buyers-only screening at the Toronto International Film Festival.  The final cut of the movie, trimmed by 30 minutes, played well to buyers in Cannes in May.  Depp called Harvey to beg him to take on “The Libertine,” in which Depp stars as the infamous sexual predator the Earl of Rochester.  The movie is so sexy that the MPAA’s rating board has slapped it with an NC-17; the decision on whether to appeal the rating or make cuts has not been made.  “It’s a special movie that deserves all the attention it can get in December,” says Depp’s agent, UTA’s Tracey Jacobs.  “It needs to be handled with intelligent marketing.”

Jake Bloom, Depp’s attorney, took on the task of convincing Disney chairman Dick Cook and Weinstein that it was in their mutual interest for Miramax to give the Weinstein Co. a distribution fee and a print and advertising commitment to distribute “The Libertine” in December for awards consideration.  Needless to say, Depp’s role in Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise was a prime motivator for Cook to make his star happy.  After nailing down the deal last week, Smith confirms, the release print of “The Libertine” has a “Weinstein Co. presentation” credit.  “’The Libertine’ is being distributed by the Weinstein Co.,” Miramax spokeswoman Sarah Levinson confirms.  (One added advantage of Disney allowing Weinstein Co. to handle the film is that unlike Disney, Weinstein Co. is not an MPAA signatory and thus is not obligated to release the film with an MPAA rating.)

Of course, the companies will work together on such co-financing partnerships.  But what Harvey Weinstein boasts in spades, and the new Miramax still lacks, is that special Oscar mojo.  During this transition period, Disney had no choice but to turn to Harvey for help with “Proof” and “The Libertine.”  It’s been a “pleasure” working with the Disney team during this time, Harvey Weinstein says.

And there is this from Judith
Total Film September 2005
Down And Out
Johnny Depp films don't get shelved too often. Rough Cut goes in search of the missing period romp The Libertine.

It's  a debouched, gory, comic period film boasting knockout turns from Johnny Depp, John Malkovich and Samantha Morton. But you haven't seen The Libertine. In fact, you probably haven't even heard of it.
But why? After all, it has Depp dazzling as 17th-century hellraiser poet john Wilmot, the Earl of Rochester, a man who famously drank and whored his way to an early grave."Wilmot was one of the original self destructive libertines," buzzed Depp as the film began shooting in England in 2004."He was an amazing poet and maybe the first punk rocker."

However things went wrong. The Libertine was financed under the Uk Government film tax break scheme, designed to attract multiple producers to finance homegrown films, but Gordon Brown's clampdown on the scheme disembowlled The Libertine's budget. Unlike some Brit films, the movie survivied - just. But months later, with threee new production companies on board, The Libertine limped to completion only to gather dust while distributers Miramax raged internally.

But here comes the good news. Ahead of their departure, Bob Weinstein and harvey Weinstein have cleared the shelves, meaning The Libertine is finally pegged for a limited release in the US next month. Sadly, Uk distributors Entertainment still have it filed under, "No set release date."
So as a taster for what might have been, we'll leave you with a defiantly fruity line from Depp's Rochester:"You've cut me down, I must confess; but in your mouth my balls must rest..."

However, Coming Soon is now showing the release date for Libertine as December 2005 for the USA.  Miramax has had the official site down for "maintenance" for all of Miramax, not just this film, all day.  Harvey Weinstein has to have this movie released by a certain date or he will lose his rights/profits, due to his split with Disney, so this is all very murky at the moment.

And from Mrs. Sands: From the L.A. Times:

Both sides called the unusual move to hurry the films into theaters a joint decision. The Weinsteins were particularly insistent on making sure that they could handle the marketing and release of the movies for their filmmakers before they leave Disney. ("The Libertine" period piece starring Johnny Depp was the exception, recently moved from September to December to increase Depp's Oscar chances.)

(not cover)
This is an excellent biography of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, the character Johnny plays in "The Libertine."  I've read several books about Wilmot in the past two years, and I have enjoyed this more, gotten more out of it, and feel I have finally gotten a handle on the man who was so brilliant and so tragic.

The author, Jeremy Lamb, didn't just sit in some ivory tower, he traveled to where the Earl lived, worked and died. He has quotes from his contemporaries, his letters, his poetry and prose.  And this is all very cleverly woven into a fascinating and gripping story of the Earl's life.  Unlike the other rather scholarly works I've read, this one gets right into the personality of Wilmot, dissecting it, but not in a dry removed manner, rather it's as if you have an insight into the intriguing and paradoxical Earl.  I suggest you get this book if you want to have a more intimate glimpse into not only the life of John Wilmot, but his period in history and the fascinating people he lived with, loved, and even hated.
Kazren

The pursuit of 'Libertine'
It took 10 years, a host of financiers and several dedicated producers to bring the story of the 17th century's greatest cad to the screen.
 

By Stephen Galloway
He was one of the more curious and eccentric characters in a country replete with them. A sybarite whose lavish lifestyle left him dead from syphilis in 1680 at age 33, a profligate whose excesses would draw the wrath of no less a moralist than Samuel Johnson a century later. He was John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester, and his ability to offend has continued unabated for four centuries -- so much so that when a London dentist stumbled across his play, "Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery," on his teenage daughter's bookshelf, he was determined to get rid of it.

Luckily, the man he passed it on to, British playwright Stephen Jeffreys, found himself as drawn to Rochester as the dentist was repelled. When Jeffreys looked into Rochester's life -- read about his poetry, his shuffling between the court of King Charles II and the theater and his love affair with the greatest actress of his day -- he became haunted by the fellow, just as other writers from Graham Greene to Germaine Greer had been before him.

"It seemed such an extraordinary life, so full of incident," Jeffreys says. "(Rochester) refused to be a yes man. He refused to obey any of the dictates of the age. He just went his own way, and I found that fascinating. I also found his self-destructiveness intriguing. People build up lives very carefully, and often with equal care, they destroy them. With Rochester, that is what was really interesting -- the darker side of human nature, the anti-Enlightenment."

In 1992, Jeffreys began to turn Rochester's life into "The Libertine," a play that would make its debut at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre two years later. Another two years would follow before the work was optioned by Mr. Mudd, the production company set up by actor John Malkovich and his business partners, Russell Smith and Lianne Halfon (named after Malkovich's driver on 1984's "The Killing Fields").

In all, it has taken a decade for Malkovich, Smith and Halfon to bring "Libertine" to the screen, with the film set for a September release through Miramax. The project's rocky ride to existence might prove cautionary for anyone hazarding the turbulent waters of indie film.

During the 10 years since Malkovich and Smith first became involved (Malkovich played Rochester onstage in Chicago), the project found financing and lost it, landed Johnny Depp and Nicole Kidman, only to lose them, landed Depp again and drew within weeks of principal photography, only to have the U.K. unexpectedly change its tax laws, essentially obliterating a large portion of the movie's financing.

"I wouldn't say one becomes blase," Malkovich says, "but one becomes used to most news being bad news. That is what producing independent films is -- it's always a problem."

Malkovich and Smith first thought of turning Jeffreys' play into a film sometime between optioning the material and staging it at the Steppenwolf. "(Rochester) was one of the original bad boys, and that makes for great drama," Smith says. "But we always knew (the film) was a tough sell."

When Mr. Mudd began to develop the material, Malkovich decided against playing Rochester, but he did want to direct. A deal was brokered between Jeffreys and Mr. Mudd, with initial development funds coming from
London-based sales entity J&M Entertainment.

Jeffreys began work on the script, and Malkovich invited Depp to see the play to gauge his interest in playing Rochester in the film.

"I was much too old to do the part I did onstage," Malkovich says. "Rochester died when he was 33, and I was already 42 or 44 when I did it (onstage). So, I wrangled Johnny Depp to come and see it, and he really liked it and said he wanted to do it."

Indeed, "Libertine" had the kind of early luck that producers dream about. More funding fell into place, coming largely from the U.K.'s Granada Films. The project was officially unveiled at the 1998 Festival de Cannes, with a start date planned for the fall.

Which is precisely when things began to go wrong. First, Depp announced that he was dropping out for personal reasons. "Johnny was about to become a father," Jeffreys says. "He wanted to be around when the child was born. Once you lose that window for doing the movie, you go right back to the start."

As the producers were about to embark on a search for a new star, Granada exited the project after a disastrous meeting between Malkovich and one of the company's top executives. Looking back, Smith laughs at how badly it went; Malkovich is more sober. "One is patronized all the time, and that doesn't get to me very much," he says. "But, as patronizing meetings go, it was a fairly memorable one."

Without Depp, raising the money was nearly impossible. Kidman, who had been interested in playing Rochester's protegee, actress Elizabeth Barry, drifted away, as did J&M, which later went out of business.

Other investors followed, with Franchise Pictures' Elie Samaha expressing interest, but nothing firm ever materialized. Malkovich burned out and segued to another directing vehicle, 2002's

"The Dancer Upstairs." "I got sick of trying to put it together," he says. "I felt like the time for me doing it had passed."

But somewhere in his heart of hearts, Malkovich was still intrigued by the project. When he went to London in 2001 to work on a commercial for Eurostar, he brought it up with British graphic designer-turned-director Laurence Dunmore, promising to send the script to the young helmer known for his poetic visuals. "I was ever so grateful and never expected to hear from him again," says Dunmore, who had previously shot commercials for AT&T and BMW and is repped for commercials work by Ridley Scott Associates.

A few days later, the screenplay arrived in the mail, and Dunmore fell in love with the material. In the next few months, he helped breathe new life into the film, working closely with Jeffreys on a revised screenplay that removed some of its theatrical elements and fleshed out parts that were just suggested in the play -- sequences, for instance, in which Rochester addresses the House of Lords and one in which he masquerades as a quack named Dr. Bendo, a "physician" skilled in treating infertility.

Still, the project looked like a long shot at best, with an unknown director, no stars and a budget in the $16 million-$18 million range at a time when the dollar was plummeting against the British pound.

Then came one of those strokes of fortune that are the lifeblood of independent production. Smith ran into Depp at the Los Angeles premiere of 2001's "From Hell," and the actor told him he still thought about the film and even kept the script in his bathroom. Dunmore met with him, and Depp again committed to play Rochester. Shooting was set for the actor's first available window, February 2004.

Smith, Malkovich and Halfon began to assemble financing from a combination of presales orchestrated by Odyssey Entertainment, British sale-and-leaseback subsidies, equity from private investor Chase Bailey (a dot-com millionaire who put up the money for Depp's pay-or-play deal) and funding from U.K. equity fund Grosvenor Park.

"That was a British tax-equity fund," Smith says, "meaning that they were allowed to raise money under Section 48 (a tax provision allowing tax breaks for investment in British films)."

With the decline of the dollar, "Libertine's" budget rose to $22 million (presales were negotiated in dollars, rather than pounds, complicating the British shoot). Samantha Morton was contracted to play Barry, and Malkovich signed on as King Charles II. A 37-day shoot was scheduled to commence on Feb. 23, and rehearsals got underway at London's Ealing Studios.

Then, catastrophe struck. Four days into rehearsals, Smith received a phone call from an entertainment reporter, asking what he thought about the sudden announcement that the Inland Revenue (Britain's equivalent to the Internal Revenue Service) was rewriting its laws and that the subsidy schemes that had made "Libertine" possible were about to change overnight.

"The Chancellor (of the Exchequer, the U.K.'s chief finance minister, Gordon Brown) had decided that there were various companies involved in this business, and they did not like the investment schemes that they had put together and were going to put a stop to them," the producer says.

Shocked and unable to believe that the new rules could apply to films that were already underway, Smith and his colleagues mounted a barrage of calls to everyone they knew, from the U.K.'s culture minister down. Insiders assured them that movies in the works would be exempted, but they were wrong. After three days, Smith, Malkovich and Dunmore understood the full measure of the bad news: 30% of the budget for their picture was about to disappear, and there was no way to replace it.

In a frantic bid to keep the project afloat, Dunmore and the producers dug into their own pockets, using a combination of savings and credit cards to pay everyone while the film lurched forward from day to day. Then, a second stroke of fate intervened. Malkovich, who had been shooting "Colour Me Kubrick" on the Isle of Man -- the tiny territory off the coast of England that has become a cynosure for filmmakers since introducing tax breaks of its own -- mentioned the project to the Isle's point man, Steve Christian. Christian, in turn, wondered whether it would be possible for "Libertine" to shoot on the Isle.

Of course, the Isle had its own stringent regulations for filmmakers -- which included shooting 50% of the movie there -- and that would require the production to surrender all the locations that gave "Libertine" its particular charm. Malkovich and Christian debated the matter, and then Christian brokered a deal: As long as the production shot its interiors in Isle of Man studios -- bringing designers and a construction team aboard weeks in advance -- the Isle would grant Mr. Mudd the tax breaks.

After racing to extricate themselves from the pacts that were in place in London, Malkovich, Smith and company were ready to roll. On March 2, they went before the cameras, a mere week behind schedule. "The drama was over," Smith recalls. "Now, it was time to make the movie."

Fortunately for the filmmakers, the shoot was blessedly trouble-free, and Miramax acquired North American rights to "Libertine" after it was screened as a work-in-progress at 2004's Toronto International Film Festival. Judging from insiders' enthusiasm, Miramax is confident the picture will be a hit, despite some initial concern that the film's theatricality and that Rochester's immoral antics might alienate a certain segment of the audience. If the studio is right, "Libertine" could land Depp his third Oscar nomination in as many years.

"We felt when we first saw it that it had huge potential," Miramax executive vp Colin Vaines says. "Laurence created an incredible sense of atmosphere and place, and Johnny's performance was just extraordinary. What we saw was a mixture of a filmmaker's eye -- and, for a first-time filmmaker, a very impressive eye -- and great performances across the board. Everybody is thrilled with it."

Published Aug. 02, 2005

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