The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
Short description
The film follows the turbulent life of British actor Peter Sellers, tracing his rise from a comic performer on BBC radio to international fame as one of cinema's most celebrated comedians. It examines the gap between his gift for transformation on screen and the difficulties of his private life, including the strain his obsessive commitment to work placed on those close to him and the cost of disappearing into his characters. The story draws on real events from his career and personal relationships.
Stephen Hopkins directed the film, which sits between Under Suspicion and The Reaping in his filmography. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely wrote the screenplay, and Simon Bosanquet produced. Geoffrey Rush plays Sellers, with Charlize Theron as Britt Ekland, John Lithgow as Blake Edwards, Miriam Margolyes as Peg Sellers, Stephen Fry as Maurice Woodruff and Stanley Tucci as Stanley Kubrick among a credited cast of 54. The production was a British and American co-production from Company Pictures and DeMann Entertainment Company, running 122 minutes across comedy, drama and romance.
Released in 2004, the film holds a 6.9 rating on IMDb from around 16,000 votes, a 6.6 on TMDB from roughly 200 votes, and a critics' score of 6.5 from 26 reviews, indicating moderate approval across critics and audiences alike.
What's left behind the scenes
- Miriam Margolyes, who played Peter Sellers' mother, is only 10 years older than Geoffrey Rush.
- Over forty different cartoon depictions of Peter Sellers were tried for the opening credits sequence of the film before the filmmakers settled on one image. It was based on actor Geoffrey Rush's portrayal of Sellers, and the image was conceived by Paul Donnellon.
- The film is based on the novel of the same name by Roger Lewis.
- Peter Sellers (1925-1980) did not give a pony to his son Michael, as shown in the film. He gave a pony to his younger daughter Britt Ekland. A couple of weeks later, the pony disappeared, and when Ekland asked where the animal had gone, Sellers had to lie and say he had given it to Princess Margaret (1930-2002).
- All scenes with the protagonist's fourth wife, Lynn Frederick (1954-1994), were cut from the film during editing. Sellers' third wife or his brief engagement to Liza Minnelli, which he broke off when she jokingly pulled off his wig, are not directly mentioned in the film.
- Rob Brydon played Dustin Hoffman in a scene that was cut during editing, which showed the 1980 Academy Awards ceremony where the Best Actor statuette was presented not to Sellers, but to Hoffman.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
