The Miracle Worker
Short description
The Miracle Worker tells the story of Helen Keller, a seven-year-old girl in 1880s Alabama who has been blind and deaf since infancy and cannot communicate with the people around her. Frustrated and largely cut off from the world, she lives by touch and instinct, while her parents, unsure how to help, struggle to control her. They bring in Annie Sullivan, a young teacher from Boston who has recently regained her own sight after years of near-blindness. Annie sets out to reach Helen through touch, teaching her that objects and the words spelled into her hand are connected, a task made harder by her pupil's resistance and by the family's doubts about her methods.
The film was directed by Arthur Penn and written by William Gibson, based on his play about Keller and Sullivan. It was Penn's second feature, following The Left Handed Gun, and came before Mickey One, The Chase and Bonnie and Clyde. Anne Bancroft plays Annie Sullivan and Patty Duke plays Helen Keller, with Victor Jory, Inga Swenson, Andrew Prine and Kathleen Comegys as members of the Keller household. Produced by Fred Coe for Playfilm Productions, the film took about 3 million dollars worldwide.
On IMDb it holds a critics' rating of 7.9 from 26 reviews, matching the 7.9 out of 10 that users on TMDB have given it across 355 votes. The film runs 106 minutes.
What's left behind the scenes
- United Artists offered $2 million for the film's production, provided that screenwriter William Gibson (1914-2008) and director Arthur Penn (1922-2010) cast Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011) or Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) as Sullivan. The film's budget was cut by $1.5 million when Gibson and Penn chose Anne Bancroft for the role.
- Patty Duke (1946-2016) played Helen Adams Keller (1880-1968) on stage for over a year. The film role almost went to another actress. The studio believed she wouldn’t be able to convincingly portray a seven-year-old child at her teenage age. They decided to give her the role of Keller after agreeing to cast Anne Bancroft (1931-2005), who had performed with Duke on stage as Annie Sullivan.
- The film is based on the autobiography of Helen Keller, "The Story of My Life".
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
