Beloved (film)
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| Beloved | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Jonathan Demme |
| Produced by | Oprah Winfrey Jonathan Demme |
| Written by | Toni Morrison (novel) Akosua Busia and Richard LaGravenese and Adam Brooks (screenplay) |
| Starring | Oprah Winfrey Danny Glover |
| Music by | Rachel Portman |
| Editing by | Carol Littleton |
| Distributed by | Touchstone Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 1998 |
| Running time | 172 minutes |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Beloved, originally Toni Morrison's Pulitzer-Prize-winning 1987 novel, was released as a Hollywood film in 1998. It was directed by Jonathan Demme, and was produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions.
Contents |
[edit] Cast and crew
- Oprah Winfrey - Sethe
- Danny Glover - Paul D.
- Thandie Newton - Beloved
- Kimberly Elise - Denver
- Beah Richards - Baby Suggs
- Lisa Gay Hamilton - Younger Sethe
[edit] Trivia
- Thandie Newton's first name is actually Thandiwe, which means, interestingly enough, "beloved".
- Oprah Winfrey met with several directors for this project including Peter Weir.
- Danny Glover and Oprah Winfrey also co-starred in The Color Purple.
[edit] Quotes
- Paul D: Good God, girl. What kind of evil you got in there?
Sethe: It ain't evil. Just sad.
- Sethe: Love is or it isn't Paul D. Thin love ain't no love at all.
- Denver: We got ghosts in here you know.
- Beloved: In the dark, my name Beloved.
- Sethe: It was...28 days of freedom. On the 29th day, it was over.
- Beloved: Where you been all them years since Sweet Home, Mista Paul? Ain't ya got no people?
- Sethe: I've got a tree on my back and a haint in my house, and nothing in between but the daughter in my arms.
[edit] Critical Reception and Box Office Performance
The critical reception for the movie ran from extremely positive to negative.
Positive reviews tended to mention the acting (People, Rolling Stone) and the visuals of the movie.
The negative focused on the length, the performance of Thandie Newton was a turnoff for many critics.
The box office performance was expected to be good but it turned out to be disappointing. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone blamed overhyping of the movie. Others blamed the subject matter as being too dark for mass appeal and others blamed the release date and release strategy.
Beloved made $8,000,000 plus its first weekend but plummeted the next weekend and made its way to a total of $28,000,000 plus.
Oprah Winfrey was "stunned" at the movie's failure. She had devoted two shows to the movie and said it was like giving birth.
Gayle King said on an A&E bio of Oprah Winfrey that people were saying "We don't want to see your baby. Your baby's ugly"
[edit] Award Nominations
- Academy Awards
- Best Costume Design: Colleen Atwood (Nominated)
- Chicago Film Critics
- Most Promising Newcomer: Kimberly Elise (Winner)
- Best Supporting Actress: Kimberly Elise (Nominated)
- Best Cinematography: Tak Fujimoto (Nominated)
- Image Awards
- Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture: Danny Glover (Winner)
- Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture: Oprah Winfrey (Nominated)
- Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: Beah Richards (Nominated)
- Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: Kimberly Elise (Nominated)
- Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: Thandie Newton (Nominated)
- Outstanding Motion Picture: (Nominated)
[edit] External links
Caged Heat • Crazy Mama • Fighting Mad • Handle with Care • Last Embrace • Melvin and Howard • Who Am I This Time? • Swing Shift • Stop Making Sense • Something Wild • Swimming to Cambodia • Haiti: Dreams of Democracy • Married to the Mob • The Silence of the Lambs • Cousin Bobby • Philadelphia • Beloved • Storefront Hitchcock • The Truth About Charlie • The Agronomist • The Manchurian Candidate • Neil Young: Heart of Gold
