December 12th: OUT OF AFRICA (Sydney Pollack, 1985)
NOTE: This film will be projected in the high-definition Blu-ray format.
In the early 1910s, a baroness moves from Denmark to colonial Kenya to start a farm with her new husband, but winds up overseeing it alone and forging stronger bonds with the members of local tribes and a big-game hunter.
Karen Blixen, best known by her pen name Isak Dinesen, lived in Kenya for 18 years before beginning her writing career, finding quick success in America and Europe with her short story collection Seven Gothic Tales. She followed it with a memoir about her colonial life, Out of Africa, a vivid depiction not only of her experiences, but of the geography of the country and customs of its people. She was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize for Literature on multiple occasions, and counted Ernest Hemingway, Margaret Atwood, and Arthur Miller among her admirers, as well as director Orson Welles, who had planned various film and television adaptations of her works over the years, only one of which was eventually filmed (The Immortal Story).
Both Welles and fellow directors Nicholas Roeg and David Lean wrestled with adapting Out of Africa for the screen, but it wasn't until the 1980s that Sydney Pollack (The Way We Were, Tootsie) was able to realize the project after a string of successes. He worked with former journalist and newspaper editor Kurt Luedtke on the screenplay, using material not only from the eponymous book, but from Blixen's later follow-up Shadows on the Grass, a biography of Blixen by Judith Thurman, and biography of Blixen's lover Denys Finch Hatton.
For the role of Blixen, Pollack considered various actresses, but was won over by an enthusiastic and determined Meryl Streep. Not a stranger to foreign accents after her Oscar-winning role in Sophie's Choice a few years earlier, Streep also had the benefit of listening to recordings of Blixen reading her own English-language material. Cast opposite Streep was Pollack's longtime collaborator Robert Redford, who initially attempted an appropriate British accent but was told by the director to use his normal voice. The other major roles went to African-American stage actor Malick Bowens and Austrian actor Klaus Maria Brandauer.
The film was shot primarily on location in Kenya, with some interiors at Shepperton Studios in England as well as Norfolk, England subbing for Denmark. Exterior sets for period Nairobi were constructed near their original location, and some of Blixen's actual surviving furniture was used for scenes in her farmhouse. Shooting also took place in the Shaba National Game Reserve, with trained and untrained animals. Descendents of the actual Kikuyu tribe who made up most of Blixen's farming staff appear in the film. Behind the camera was cinematographer David Watkin (Ken Russell's The Devils and The Boy Friend).
While some source classical music and local traditional music was used in the film, the sweeping score was composed by veteran John Barry (Dances With Wolves, the James Bond films), highlighting the romantic subplot that becomes a major focus of the film, despite not being overly prominent in Blixen's writing. However, ample time is spent on Blixen's life on the farm, interactions with Africans, as well as conflicts with her decadent fellow colonials, known as the "Happy Valley set".
Released in December of 1985, Out of Africa was a box office success, finishing in the Top 5 of the year. It received 11 Academy Award nominations including Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor, and won Oscars for Best Picture, Pollack's direction, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Score, Sound, and Art Direction.
Running time is approx. 2 hrs, 30 min.
Both Welles and fellow directors Nicholas Roeg and David Lean wrestled with adapting Out of Africa for the screen, but it wasn't until the 1980s that Sydney Pollack (The Way We Were, Tootsie) was able to realize the project after a string of successes. He worked with former journalist and newspaper editor Kurt Luedtke on the screenplay, using material not only from the eponymous book, but from Blixen's later follow-up Shadows on the Grass, a biography of Blixen by Judith Thurman, and biography of Blixen's lover Denys Finch Hatton.
For the role of Blixen, Pollack considered various actresses, but was won over by an enthusiastic and determined Meryl Streep. Not a stranger to foreign accents after her Oscar-winning role in Sophie's Choice a few years earlier, Streep also had the benefit of listening to recordings of Blixen reading her own English-language material. Cast opposite Streep was Pollack's longtime collaborator Robert Redford, who initially attempted an appropriate British accent but was told by the director to use his normal voice. The other major roles went to African-American stage actor Malick Bowens and Austrian actor Klaus Maria Brandauer.
The film was shot primarily on location in Kenya, with some interiors at Shepperton Studios in England as well as Norfolk, England subbing for Denmark. Exterior sets for period Nairobi were constructed near their original location, and some of Blixen's actual surviving furniture was used for scenes in her farmhouse. Shooting also took place in the Shaba National Game Reserve, with trained and untrained animals. Descendents of the actual Kikuyu tribe who made up most of Blixen's farming staff appear in the film. Behind the camera was cinematographer David Watkin (Ken Russell's The Devils and The Boy Friend).
While some source classical music and local traditional music was used in the film, the sweeping score was composed by veteran John Barry (Dances With Wolves, the James Bond films), highlighting the romantic subplot that becomes a major focus of the film, despite not being overly prominent in Blixen's writing. However, ample time is spent on Blixen's life on the farm, interactions with Africans, as well as conflicts with her decadent fellow colonials, known as the "Happy Valley set".
Released in December of 1985, Out of Africa was a box office success, finishing in the Top 5 of the year. It received 11 Academy Award nominations including Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor, and won Oscars for Best Picture, Pollack's direction, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Score, Sound, and Art Direction.
Running time is approx. 2 hrs, 30 min.
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