Shadowlands - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Shadowlands or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Shadowlands

[harry]

After Joy's death, C.S. Lewis kept notes on his grief, which he published as "A Grief Observed" under a pseudonym.

[steve]

In the stage play, Lewis was played by Nigel Hawthorne, who previously worked with Attenborough on Gandhi. They have also both played Santa Claus.

[janice]

The role of C.S. Lewis was first played on television by Joss Ackland, who also appeared in The Hunt for Red October with Sam Neill. This was the first of Neill's "Montana trilogy," in which his characters either live there or wish to. The second such film was Jurassic Park, which featured Joseph Mazzello and director Richard Attenborough.

[maureen]

In real life, Joy had two sons: Douglas Gresham (who was depicted in this movie) and David Gresham (who was not). David was born in 1944, and Douglas in 1945. After their mother's death, David and Douglas continued to live with their stepfather, C. S. Lewis. In contrast to his mother, stepfather, and younger brother, David was less interested in converting to Christianity, and while still a child living with Lewis, he started to return to Judaism. According to Edwin Brown's book "In Pursuit of C. S. Lewis", Lewis was very supportive of David's interest in Judaism, including finding a kosher butcher to supply his meat.

[jamie]

After Gandhi won Best Picture and Best Director, beating out E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Steven Spielberg began using the cast of Ganfhi in his own films, ultimately working with Amrish Puri, Roshan Seth, Nigel Hawthorne, Martin Sheen, and Daniel Day-Lewis. This year, Attenborough and Spielberg were both borrowing each other's cast members: Ben Kingsley appeared in Schindler's List, and Attenborough himself appeared in Jurassic Park. This films features Jurassic Park cast member Joseph Mazzello, and Debra Winger, who contributed to E.T.'s voice, and appeared in the film's Halloween sequence.

[aaron]

Sir Nigel Hawthorne, who played the role on stage, was replaced in this movie version by Sir Anthony Hopkins, because Hawthorne was still almost unknown internationally.

[veronica]

The title is from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle, by C. S. Lewis, from the chapter "Farewell to Shadowlands".

[dustin]

Despite his great popularity in British movies during the decade after World War II, this was Michael Denison's only work for the cinema after 1960, and it proved to be his last movie.

[elmer]

Sir Richard Attenborough replaced Sydney Pollack as director. When he came on board, he had Sir Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger in mind to play the lead roles.

[steve]

The scenes of the traditional Mayday celebrations in Oxford, were filmed on the actual night and morning of April 30 to May 1, 1993. On Magdalen Tower were the actual choristers of the college chapel, but with restricted space, due to the minimal crew and camera. Medium shots had been taken of extras in boats on the river, and the intention had been to take long shots of the real-life crowd below. However, an unusual thick low mist made much footage unusable, so the extras were recalled a week later, with others to cover Magdalen Bridge.

[chad]

Gerald Sim (Superintendent Registrar) was the brother-in-law of the director Sir Richard Attenborough. After Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), Young Winston (1972), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Gandhi (1982), Cry Freedom (1987), and Chaplin (1992), this was his seventh and final appearance in one of Attenborough's films.

[tom]

The original Broadway production of "Shadowlands" by William Nicholson opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theater on November 11, 1990, ran for one hundred sixty-nine performances, closed on April 7, 1991 and was nominated for the 1991 Tony Award for Best Play.

[melinda]

Joy Gresham's husband was William Lindsay Gresham, an author whose best known work was made into a movie with Tyrone Power, Nightmare Alley (1947).

[lena]

Douglas Gresham (along with his brother, David) became the heir to C.S. Lewis' literary estates, and is one of the producers of The Chronicles of Narnia film franchise.

[gabriel]

Michael Denison (Harry Harrington) had been at Magdalen College during C.S. Lewis' time. He had met him, but had never been taught by him, and had graduated by the time of the events in the story.

[nicholas]

Theatrical movie debut of James Frain (Peter Whistler).

[amber]

C.S. Lewis was the inspiration for the character of Treebeard in The Lord of the Rings. Many of Richard Attenborough's films as a director have featured actors from adaptations of Tolkien's work. Oh! What a Lovely War featured both Norman Bird and Ian Holm, who have both played Bilbo Baggins. A Bridge Too Far and Cry Freedom both featured Michael Graham Cox, who has voiced Boromir. Gandhi featured Dominic Guard; who voiced Pippin in Ralph Bakshi's film; Michael Hordern, who voiced Gandalf for the BBC Radio drama; and Bernard Hill, who played Theoden in Peter Jackson's films. Chaplin featured Robert Stephens, who voiced Aragorn in the BBC Radio drama. This film features both Andrew Seear and Peter Howell, who voiced Faramir and Saruman in the BBC Radio drama. In addition, Attenborough appeared in Elizabeth with Cate Blanchett.

[kenzi]

Barbra Streisand was asked to direct and star, but declined so she could pursue The Normal Heart (which she never made).

[carl]

Joseph Mazzello played the director Richard Attenborough's grandson in Jurassic Park (1993) and The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997).