The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
| The Life and Death of Peter Sellers | |
|---|---|
Film poster
|
|
| Directed by | Stephen Hopkins |
| Produced by | Simon Bosanquet |
| Screenplay by | Christopher Markus Stephen McFeely |
| Based on |
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers by Roger Lewis |
| Starring |
Geoffrey Rush Charlize Theron Emily Watson John Lithgow Miriam Margolyes Peter Vaughan Sonia Aquino Stanley Tucci Stephen Fry |
| Music by | Richard Hartley |
| Cinematography | Peter Levy |
| Edited by | John Smith |
|
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by | HBO |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
121 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom United States |
| Language | English |
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers is a 2004 British-American television film about the life of English comedian Peter Sellers, based on Roger Lewis's book of the same name. It was directed by Stephen Hopkins and stars Geoffrey Rush as Sellers, Miriam Margolyes as his mother Peg Sellers, Emily Watson as his first wife Anne Howe, Charlize Theron as his second wife Britt Ekland, John Lithgow as Blake Edwards, Stephen Fry as Maurice Woodruff and Stanley Tucci as Stanley Kubrick.
The film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film and Rush won Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film. It also won nine Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for Rush.
The film shows Peter Sellers as a complex and tormented genius, whose success as a film star concealed his difficult and relatively unhappy private life. This "troubled life" is the primary focus of this biopic, which personalizes "one of the greatest comic actors in the history of the British cinema," and shows the many masks he wore and characters he played as an actor.
The film makes clear that much of his success and identity were dependent initially on his domineering and doting mother. Eventually this success, first in radio and eventually in film, led to his succumbing to destructive mood swings and insecurity, and contributed to the deterioration of his marriages. Discovering his gift for comedy, his ego began to undermine his personal relationships with friends and co-workers. His personality became more turbulent. His own personality often merged with that of his film characters, and his self-learned skill as a method actor was used to mask his real self.
...
Wikipedia