Degrees of Separation: The Cast of THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL

Today BMFI welcomes The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, the new comedy from Shakespeare in Love director John Madden about a group of British retirees in India. Keep reading to learn more about the impressive cast--including Dame Judi Dench, Dame Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Celia Imrie, and Dev Patel--and their past cinematic collaborations.

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Degrees of Separation: The Cast of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
By Nina Zipkin, BMFI Intern

In The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, the new film from Fox Searchlight (the studio behind Little Miss Sunshine and The Descendants), a group of British retirees leave England behind and decamp for Jaipur, India, after seeing advertisements for the titular hotel.

When the newly minted expats arrive, they find that the lap of luxury they were expecting was oversold in the brochure, due to the young, upstart manager's (Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire) excellent Photoshop skills.

The duped pensioners are played by some of the United Kingdom’s most talented thespians. These acting luminaries have had long and storied careers, and many have worked together in the past. In anticipation of the film’s release, here are some the works that have boasted several Marigold Hotel stars on their cast lists.

Tom Wilkinson and Judi Dench
In the 1998 Academy Award Best Picture winner Shakespeare in Love (also helmed by Best Exotic director John Madden), Tom Wilkinson played Hugh Fennyman, Will Shakespeare’s financial backer when he mounts a production of “Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter.” Dame Judi Dench won her first Oscar for her definitive, yet brief (less than ten minutes!) performance as Elizabeth I.

Wilkinson and Dench shared the screen again a few years later in The Importance of Being Earnest, when they played Dr. Chasuble and Lady Bracknell.

Tom Wilkinson and Maggie Smith
Wilkinson was also the narrator of the 1999 adaptation of David Copperfield that starred a young Daniel Radcliffe as David and Dame Maggie Smith--who also stars in Best Exotic--as Betsy Trotwood.

Wilkinson as the good Reverend with Anna Massey (Miss Prism) in The Importance of Being Earnest

Bill Nighy and Judi Dench
In Notes on a Scandal, Bill Nighy played the husband of London art teacher Cate Blanchett, who was the object of her co-worker’s obsession. Judi Dench’s role as the quietly unhinged spinster history teacher garnered her a Best Actress Oscar nomination.

Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson
Nighy and Wilkinson played generals both named Friedrich (Olbricht and Fromm, respectively) in Valkyrie, the Tom Cruise action vehicle about the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

Bill Nighy with Terrence Stamp in Valkyrie. The film also co-starred Tom Wilkinson.

Bill Nighy and Maggie Smith
Nighy also put in an appearance as Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, in which Maggie Smith, of course, played Professor McGonagall.

Maggie Smith and Penelope Wilton
On the BBC's worldwide phenomenon Downton Abbey, Penelope Wilton plays Isobel Crawley, a former doctor’s wife whose life changes when her son becomes the Earl of Grantham’s heir. Maggie Smith plays Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, Queen of the One-Liner. Smith and Wilton’s particular brand of early 20th century genteel-yet-withering snark (they agree on very little) is a sight to see.

Penelope Wilton
Wilton was Mrs. Gardiner and Dench was Lady Catherine de Bourgh in the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Incidentally, that script was written by Deborah Moggach, who wrote These Foolish Things, the novel on which Marigold Hotel is based.

Wilton and Nighy played the mother and stepfather of Simon Pegg’s Shaun in the zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead. They again reteam as husband and wife in Best Exotic.

Celia Imrie
Celia Imrie, who plays a retiree looking for love in Best Exotic, starred in Calendar Girls with Wilton. She also played Lady Glenmire on an episode of Cranford, a miniseries about a small town in the 1840s facing the changes brought about by the industrial revoltion that starred Dench as Ms. Matty Jenkyns.

Kate Ashfield, Simon Pegg, Penelope Wilton and Nick Frost in Shaun of the Dead.

Judi Dench and Maggie Smith
In 1999 Dames Judi and Maggie starred together in Tea with Mussolini, a film about a group of formidable female expatriots in in 1930s Italy called the Scorpioni. Smith played an aristocrat and Dench an aspiring artist.

The ladies again teamed up for the drama Ladies in Lavender, in which they played two sisters who find affection for a young, mysterious foreigner.

Maggie Smith and Judi Dench in Ladies in Lavender

They also worked together in the 1985 Merchant Ivory adaptation of E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View. Smith was Helena Bonham-Carter's very proper chaperone and Dench was Eleanor Lavish, a freewheeling novelist.

Dev Patel
Although Dev Patel, of Slumdog Millionaire fame, hasn't worked alongside any of these actors before, Simon Beaufoy, who wrote the Slumdog script, penned The Full Monty, which also starred Mr. Wilkinson.

The chemistry that these actors share together on screen is more than battle-tested. And if you enjoyed any of the films listed above, any one of them could be used to handily win you a round of six degrees of separation.

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Nina Zipkin is recent BMFI intern and Bryn Mawr College graduate. You can read her thoughts on pop culture and more on her blog at http://ninazipkin.wordpress.com/.

A Sense of Place: Deron Albright’s DESTINY OF LESSER ANIMALS

By Nina Zipkin, BMFI Intern

Deron Albright’s thrilling feature directorial debut The Destiny of Lesser Animals tells the story of Boniface Koomsin, a Ghanaian National Police Inspector who was deported from the United States a decade ago. He longs to return, but a stolen passport, a dangerous trip to the capital, and an unsolved murder stand in the way of his dream. The film was shot on location in Ghana and was written by and stars Deron's frequent collaborator, Yao B. Nunoo.

Following BMFI's screening on Tuesday, March 27 at 7:30pm, the local director will join us for an audience Q&A. In anticipation of the event, Deron took the time to answer some questions via email about teaching, collaborating, and making a home in Ghana. 

Why did you want to tell this particular story? What is it about Ghana that you find fascinating?

The idea of "place" is a common thread throughout my work. I am really intrigued by the Situationist idea of "psychogeography" and how the physical spaces and social and economic conditions in which one lives impacts the sense of self, the choices one makes, and the life one lives.

When I first traveled to West Africa (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso), to show "The Legend of Black Tom" at FESPACO 2007, I was overwhelmed with the sense of place and began to wonder what it might mean to set a classical genre story in a radically different milieu. Working with Yao Nunoo, Ghana became the obvious choice to pursue.

Filmmaker Deron Albright (center) with cinematographer Aaron T. Bowen
and actor/screenwriter Yao B. Nunoo on set

Once that decision was made, I poured myself into becoming as much a part of the place as I could. By the time shooting began, I had been there nearly seven months living in an apartment at the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI) student hostel, had traveled around the country quite a bit, kept very in touch with the social and political happenings (including the razor-thin margin election of 2008 and government transition), and was moving daily throughout the city on a motorcycle. In short, I felt like I had a sense of place that would become very important in making the film.

It was another major collaborator on the project--producer and post-production supervisor Dede Maitre--who really helped push the edit of the film to express the sense of place for audiences who might never have been to Ghana or anyplace like it.

What were some of your favorite parts of being a Fulbright scholar in Ghana and what were some of the challenges?

There's nothing like immersing yourself completely in a place and culture so different from one's own, for better or worse! One of the surprising things to me, though, was how different my family lived relative to other foreigners. We were not "behind the walls" as most, but rather trying our best to make Ghana our home, if only for a year. This created some acute difficulties, but it is something of which I'm really proud. Living in the NAFTI Hostel Apartment left us in far less control of our domestic situation than we might have been otherwise. But, on balance, the trade-off was a good one, and when Lori and I returned a year later (for second unit and sound work) we were welcomed back by many as genuine friends. For all its differences, Ghana became as familiar a home as any other place I've lived.

Sandy Arkhurst (The Old Fisherman) with Nunoo

How did your creative relationship with Yao B. Nunoo begin? How do you collaborate?

In fall 2004, Yao answered a casting call for "The Legend of Black Tom." He was the first actor to respond, and really the only one I needed to meet! We both found ourselves very comfortable with each other on that film (which had a very successful festival run in 2006), and explicitly kept open the possibility of future projects. I think the best aspect of our relationship is the freedom we both feel to offer suggestions to the other at any step in the process, as well as the trust we have in the other's ability. Be it at the level of script or production or edit, we are willing to listen to each other and respect what the other has to say. That's not to say there aren't differences or disagreement along the way, but that's where the trust comes in. I think it really shows on the screen. On Destiny, the project from beginning to end, was so in flux, that without the belief in each other, we never would have made it.

In addition to being a filmmaker, you teach at St. Joseph’s University. What do you hope your students take away from your classes?

First and foremost, whether it is either film criticism or film making, I hope to engender a lasting appreciation for the medium. From an audience perspective, cinema's combination of storytelling and artistry (i.e., of content and form) requiring a complicated technical apparatus, all set within a specific cultural context, makes for an extraordinarily rich array of inquiry. From a filmmaking point of view, I hope that students begin to appreciate the power of the tools at their disposal, and can begin to explore how those tools can make original and meaningful work. And underlying both is the authenticity of emotion that allows filmmaker and audience the ability to connect in an important way for both.

Thanks for sharing such great insights into the film, Deron!

Do you have questions you want to ask Deron yourself? Come to the Q&A after BMFI's screening on Tuesday, March 27.

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Nina Zipkin is a senior at Bryn Mawr College currently interning at BMFI.

Spring Programming Highlights

By Nina Zipkin, BMFI Intern

Spring is upon us and gorgeous weather isn’t the only thing that Bryn Mawr Film Institute patrons can look forward to this season. The new issue of our programming guide Projections arrived yesterday at BMFI! Here’s a look at some exciting upcoming events.

Come join us for some classic cult favorites at The Late Show, our ongoing film series devoted to showcasing underseen and unusual cinema. Kiss Me Deadly (1955), a definitive Cold War-era noir thriller, will be screened on 35 mm on Friday, May 25 and don't miss Maggie Gyllenhaal’s indelible performance as Lee, an executive assistant who embarks on a not-so-conventional relationship with her boss (James Spader) in Secretary (2002) on Friday, April 27.

And speaking of office assistance, in honor of Administrative Professionals Day on Wednesday, April 25, there will be a One Night Only showing of Nine to Five, the gleeful workplace revenge comedy starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton. Join us for free coffee and a karaoke sing-along of the snappy theme song.

 Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin, Dabney Coleman and Jane Fonda

Another series to look out for is Author! Author!, where writers give us their insight into classic films. Ben Taylor, the author of Apocalypse on Set: Nine Disastrous Film Productions, will discuss Werner Herzog’s infamous Fitzcarraldo (1982) at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, April 3 before the film's 8:30 pm screening. Then on Tuesday, April 10, a filmed discussion featuring author Susan Orlean (who was portrayed by Meryl Streep in 2002’s Adaptation), author of Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, will be broadcast in HD before our 8:30 pm screening of The Return of Rin Tin Tin (1947).

We know that you care about the stars on screen, but what about the stars in the sky? Director Ian Cheney's new documentary about light pollution and its effect on our night sky, The City Dark, will be shown on Monday, April 23 at 7:30 pm as part of the Green on Screen series... just in time for Earth Day. Haverford senior Maya Barlev, the student coordinator for the public observing program at Strawbridge Observatory, will introduce the documentary.

Zorro (Douglas Fairbanks) faces off against his nemesis in The Mark of Zorro, showing on May 22 with a live original score!

On Tuesday, May 22, fans of silent movies are in for a treat. Douglas Fairbanks (ever the epitome of derring-do) stars as the titular hero in The Mark of Zorro (1920) and Philadelphia’s musical quintet Not-So-Silent Cinema will perform their original flamenco-based live score. Ole!

Speaking of music, "iconic" is the best way to describe the musical score from 1981’s Chariots of Fire. The inspiring film about two rival track stars at the 1924 Olympics can be seen on the big screen on Wednesday, May 23, introduced by Dr. Robert Good, Bryn Mawr Hospital’s Chief of Orthopedic Surgery for the “What’s Up, Doc?” series.

On Wednesday, May 30, the 1953 classic From Here to Eternity will be shown in conjunction with a one-night Cinema Classics Seminar, taught by BMFI’s Director of Education, Andrew J. Douglas, Ph.D. The eight-time Oscar winning classic, which takes place in Hawaii before the attack on Pearl Harbor, boasts an all-star cast of Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, and Frank Sinatra. The stand-alone Cinema Classics Seminar is one of many fantastic film courses being offered this spring and summer on such diverse topics as early Walt Disney, the films of Vincente Minnelli, screenwriting, and action films.

Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr in "From Here to Eternity", showing May 30.

And you could very well be watching the work of the next Scorsese or Hazanavicius if you attend the Tri-Co Film Festival on Wednesday, May 2 at 7:00 pm, where young filmmakers from Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Swarthmore Colleges will be screening their work.

High school students with cinematic ambitions can spend their summer vacation at BMFI’s Summer Filmmaking Workshop, now in its fourth year. From June 25-August 2, 12 students will produce, write, direct and edit a film that will be shown on the big screen at the end of the program. Early applications are due Friday, March 30 and the final application deadline is Monday, April 30.

These are only a fraction of the programs and events that BMFI's offering this season. We hope that you'll check out a copy of Projections or visit our website for more information about our upcoming programs. We hope that you check out all of our events online at BrynMawrFilm.org. See you at the movies! BMFI members will receive Projections in their mailboxes this week, but anyone can pick up a copy at the theater.

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Nina Zipkin is a senior at Bryn Mawr College currently interning at BMFI.

Hank Mandel's FIVE FRIENDS

By Nina Zipkin, BMFI Intern

Bromances may be a hit in Hollywood, but what role do meaningful male friendships play in a man's life, and how can they be cultivated?

Hank Mandel, the 65-year-old subject of the new documentary Five Friends, will share his insights as part of a panel discussion about male friendships following the screening of the movie at BMFI on Wednesday, March 14 at 7:30 pm. Based on Elbert Hubbard's saying, "My father always used to say that when you die, if you've got five real friends, you've had a great life," director Erik Santiago’s poignant film focuses on Hank's relationships with his five closest friends.

In anticipation of the event at BMFI, Hank took the time to answer some questions about his experience working on the film:

How did you decide to share the story of your friendships?

It was a very personal process. As I looked back on my life, I was very blessed to have five amazing friends in my life dating back from 40 to 10 years--all of these men supporting and growing with me through life. I wanted my two daughters to know these friends better and understand the importance of men having intimate, healthy, and strong male relationships. I thought making a film about these friendships would be a great gift for them to have. I thought the guys might like it as well. I discussed it with my wife and together we decided it would be a good thing to do for me and the kids.

Hank Mandel and his friend Scott in the new documentary, Five Friends

 

What was it like being followed around by the cameras?

This was easy, they were quite invisible. Erik Santiago, the director of the film, our cinematographer Sean Conaty, and their fantastic crew were masterful over the weeks and months of shooting. We shot about 50 hours of film for what turned out to be a 67-minute documentary. The crew was young, professional, and really enjoyed the topic. It was an all-male crew, except for the second camera woman, who really found the experience exciting and interesting. She enjoyed seeing the dynamics of men in very personal relationships. It made everyone on the crew think of their own relationships with men. We had excellent and diverse places to shoot on the two coasts, which I believe made the film more interesting.

Hank Mandel (right) with his friend Charlie

How did you collaborate with director Erik Santiago to create the film?

Erik and I had known each other for about 10 years. We worked together making training films at the bank where I worked. We knew how to work closely and collaboratively, but we never expected to do anything like this. We have very different talents and have found ways to collaborate and create an exciting and engaging film. We ended up with the same vision of the film. He did an amazing job editing the film with Kyle Gilbertson which made the story of the film quite impactful as it unfolds.

We were surprised how powerful the film was for men and women when we started holding focus groups with an uncut version of the final film. We wanted to see how men and women would react to the film. It was because of these focus groups that we began to understand that "Five Friends" was much more than a film for my daughters. It was a film that both men and women found as important, relevant and profound. Focus group audiences around the country encouraged us to see the film as an significant piece of work that needed to be shared broadly with both men and women.

You have had a wide-range of work experiences. What do you see as the connecting threads between the different stages of your career?

Great question. The clearest thread is ME! I am an eclectic individual with pieces of creativity and relationships throughout my life. Growing up in New York City, I loved theater and enjoyed being in and directing plays in school and camps. I went to Ithaca College as a Theater major and worked for five years producing and directing shows for the Country Music Association when I was in my late 40s. I have my graduate degree in Social Work which in many ways is a degree in understanding yourself and others in various relationships and situations. Both of my parents died when I was 30, so I think I found male friendships to be profound and important connections to fill my parental void. They were substitutes for family, since my brother and I lived far apart and had very different interests in life.

Hank with his friend Bob in Five Friends

Is there a lesson that you’d like to impart to your daughters from this experience of making the film?

I have tried to live a life of intimacy with my family and balance work with relationships at home. I hope I have done a decent job. Both my daughters love the movie. Years ago, my oldest daughter, Briana (30), had lunch one day with me and one of my friends, Barry. She was amazed by the quality of our conversation. It opened her eyes to the possibility of emotionally in-touch men. The movie was profound for her because: (a) she knew the friends and (b) she discovered things about me and my life she did not know. We hugged each other for a long time after her screening. It was wonderful, we are very close. Lauren, my youngest daughter (22), sat on my lap and cried after the movie ended. She said, "The best part of the movie is that she could share it with her children." (Whenever and if she has some.) It was very touching! She is very creative and loving! 

I think both of them see the quality of the collaborative experience with Erik and myself and how we work together and share life together. He is not one of the "Five Friends", but he and I have worked together in a way that makes us very special colleagues and "brothers". The lessons for my daughters are all about male relationships and for them to look for healthy, introspective, emotionally connected and smart men in their lives. I think they both do this now.

Is there a message or a lesson about male friendships that you hope people take away from the film? In your opinion and in your experience as a therapist, why is it a subject that’s so rarely addressed?

There are many lessons to be found in this documentary and it is wonderful that each person who sees the film finds lessons relevant to their lives. This is why the film has become so popular for men's groups, gender study programs at universities, therapy sessions, between friends, for both men and women at any age, and for the general public at movie venues. It is a story that has been needed in our society. Men are thirsty for male relationships, they just frequently do not know how to find them and nurture them. Our society often confuses male intimacy with male gay relationships. They are quite different, but have similar qualities of profound intimacy.

Hank hugs his friend Barry in a still from Five Friends

Men, in our society are often taught to be strong, hold their feeling inside and solve their own problems. Men are expected to achieve, but not expected to love other men unless it is "family love". Our society puts men in specific "strong behavior roles" that often do not meet their emotional needs and sense of isolation that men struggle with throughout their lives. Pop culture also puts men into stereotypes of being awkward, stupid, insensitive, funny and macho. This not real. It is a corner we are painted into while society provides women all the emotional opportunity and skills to be intimate with other women and men. The film Five Friends shows the audience that men are totally capable of as many complex and important emotions as women. This was a story ready and needing to be told.

Thanks for sharing such great insights into the film, Hank!

In addition to answering questions as part of the panel discussion after the film screening, Hank Mandel will also be a featured speaker at a workshop about male relationships at Widener University on Saturday, March 17.

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Nina Zipkin is a senior at Bryn Mawr College currently interning at BMFI.