Possession

Possession Information

Possession is a 2002 American/British romantic/mystery drama film written and directed by Neil LaBute, based on the novel of the same name by A. S. Byatt.

Synopsis

Two literary scholars, Roland Mitchell (Aaron Eckhart) and Maud Bailey (Gwyneth Paltrow), search for the lost correspondence of Victorian era poets Randolph Henry Ash (Jeremy Northam) and Christabel LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle). Academics have long believed that the traditional and conservative Ash and the freethinking lesbian LaMotte were social enemies, but Mitchell and Bailey have independently discovered evidence that they were secretly lovers. When rival scholars become aware of their efforts, a race is on to unearth and publish the truth.

Cast

Aaron Eckhart as Roland Michell
Gwyneth Paltrow as Maud Bailey
Jeremy Northam as Randolph Henry Ash
Jennifer Ehle as Christabel LaMotte
Lena Headey as Blanche Glover
Holly Aird as Ellen Ash
Toby Stephens as Fergus Wolfe
Tom Hollander as Euan

Development

Early drafts of the film's screenplay were written by playwright David Henry Hwang in the nineties, but the project languished in pre-production for years (with directors like Sydney Pollack and Gillian Armstrong working on the film and eventually giving up) before LaBute came aboard. LaBute made drastic changes to the story, partially based on notes that Byatt had made on earlier drafts of the screenplay.

LaBute recalled, "What she basically said was, 'This is Roland on the page; you must make him different in a film!' She got that Roland needed more drive. Just seeing those notes kind of gave me the keys to the kingdom. And so in the film, Roland keeps making these wild, imaginative leaps about the poets' lives, and Maud's both charmed and appalled." LaBute changed Roland's nationality from British to American, in what he denied was "shameless pandering to the audience....in part, it was [just] more comfortable for me to write Roland that way."

Casting

Ralph Fiennes was approached for the role that eventually went to Jeremy Northam.

Releases

The film has been released on DVD with subtitles and captions.

This webpage uses material from the Wikipedia article "Possession_%282002_film%29" and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. Reality TV World is not responsible for any errors or omissions the Wikipedia article may contain.

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