Chaplin
Short description
Chaplin is a biographical drama about the life of Charles Spencer Chaplin, tracing his path from a poor childhood in London through his beginnings in English music halls and his rise in Hollywood as an actor and filmmaker. Framed around the elderly Chaplin recounting his story to the editor of his autobiography, the film moves between his professional triumphs and his troubled personal life, including his relationships and the political suspicions that shadowed his later years. Robert Downey Jr. plays Chaplin, with Geraldine Chaplin as his mother Hannah, Paul Rhys as his brother Sydney, John Thaw as Fred Karno, Moira Kelly in a dual role as Hetty Kelly and Oona O'Neill, and Anthony Hopkins as George Hayden.
Richard Attenborough directed, working from a screenplay by William Goldman, Bryan Forbes and William Boyd. The film sits eighth in the sequence of twelve features he directed, arriving between Cry Freedom and Shadowlands. It was a large international production, made for about 31 million dollars by TriStar Pictures, Carolco Pictures, RCS Video and Japan Satellite Broadcasting, and released in December 1992.
Its worldwide box office came to roughly 9 million dollars, far below its budget, so the film did not recover its cost in cinemas. Audience response has been warmer than that result suggests: on IMDb it holds 7.5 out of 10 from around 65,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.4 out of 10 from about 1,250 votes. The critics' rating stands lower, at 6.3 out of 10 from 53 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- Geraldine Chaplin, who played Charlie Chaplin's mother in the film, is actually his daughter from his marriage to Oona Chaplin.
- Robert Downey Jr. said that while preparing for filming, he rewatched all of Charlie Chaplin’s films (1889-1977). According to the actor, they 'scared' him.
- While preparing for filming, Robert Downey Jr. visited the Museum of the Moving Image in London, where he persuaded the staff to let him try on Chaplin’s costume and shoes. It turned out that the costume fit him perfectly, and he even found a cigar butt in the pocket.
- Geraldine Chaplin later recounted that when she first saw Robert Downey Jr. in her father’s costume, he looked so much like her father that she was speechless for a while.
- The original version of the film was almost 4 hours long. Over 200 hours of footage were shot.
- When Chaplin was filming "Shoulder Arms" (1918), he asked cinematographer Roland Totheroh (1890-1967) how the lighting was. Totheroh replied: “It’s better at Barney’s.” This phrase was a signal to end the shooting day, and “lighting” referred to the light beer at Barney Oldfield’s bar, where the actors and crew regularly hung out after filming.
- Charles Chaplin and Mildred Harris (1901-1944) had a child – Norman Spencer Harris, who died three days after birth.
- Sir Richard Attenborough’s (1923-2014) director’s cut lasted 2 hours and 27 minutes, 12 minutes longer than the version shown in theaters.
- The film was originally titled "Charlie," as Chaplin was known to family, friends, and fans. This could have caused confusion, given the existence of a film of the same name (1968) by Ralph Nelson (1916-1987) starring Cliff Robertson (1923-2011), and the film was decided to be renamed.
- Producer and director Sir Richard Attenborough often declined to act himself because he was busy with the films he was directing. Similarly, he almost turned down the role of John Hammond in Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park" (1993), but Spielberg rescheduled filming so that Attenborough could play the part.
- Preparing for the role, Robert Downey Jr. learned to play the violin and tennis – left-handed. In addition, he hired an instructor to help him better portray Chaplin's gestures.
- Universal Pictures was supposed to distribute the film, but they dreamed of seeing a more famous and popular actor in the lead role, preferably Dustin Hoffman or Billy Crystal. Attenborough refused, and the studio began searching for a new producer. Mario Kassar agreed, but on the condition that footage from the last years of Chaplin's life in Switzerland would be included in the film. These scenes were written by screenwriter William Goldman.
- The film is based on Charlie Chaplin’s memoirs, “My Autobiography” (1964), and David Robinson’s book “Chaplin: His Life and Art” (1985).
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