- published: 11 Oct 2011
- views: 10088
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.
The film tells the story of two scholars, Roland Michell (played by Aaron Eckhart) and Maud Bailey (Gwyneth Paltrow), who investigate the affair of fictional Victorian era poet Randolph Henry Ash (Jeremy Northam), described in letters between him and another fictional poet, Christabel LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle).
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."
A group of mostly black infantrymen return from the Spanish-American War with a cache of gold. They travel to the West where their leader searches for the men who lynched his father.
Keywords: african-american, black-independent-film, black-romance, black-western, blaxploitation, bullet-time, comic-relief, cowboy, father-daughter-relationship, female-rear-nudity
Father Time: Mister... I don't know you. But when I get through with you, won't nobody know you.
Colonel Graham: Jesse, did you know that this man is the last surviving member of the Mo-Tee-Sah tribe? Yes! The Mo-Tee-Sah tribe. I'll show you. [picks up coffee cup]::Weezie: [picks up coffee pot] Mo' Tea, sah?::Colonel Graham: I'm sorry I didn't hear you.::Weezie: Mo' Tea, sah?::Colonel Graham: No, thank you.
Jimmy J. 'Little J' Teeters: Damn! Who turned out the lights? Just a little humor. Have to admit I'm funny, ain't I?
Father Time: The Red Man ain't got no problem with the Black Man. As for you, White Boy, that's a whole different story. I mean, first you enslave the Black Man, exploit the Yellow Man, and then you kill off the Red Man so you can snatch up his land for railroads. Can I get a witness?::Obobo: Amen!::Jimmy J. 'Little J' Teeters: Well if I may approach the bench your Honor, first, I ain't ever personally enslaved nobody so, Time, you can kiss my White ass. Second of all, if there was a train coming through right now, I'd be on it and you'd be on it,except the only difference would be, I'd be gambling on it and you'd be fetching my chips like a little houseboy becuase you can't even cheat right. Now, can I get a witness?::Obobo: Amen!