The Childhood of a Leader (film)

The Childhood of a Leader
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Brady Corbet
Produced by	Brady Corbet Antoine de Clermont-Tonnerre Chris Coen Helena Danielsson István Major
Screenplay by	Brady Corbet Mona Fastvold
Based on	The Childhood of a Leader by Jean-Paul Sartre
Starring	Bérénice Bejo Liam Cunningham Stacy Martin Robert Pattinson Tom Sweet
Music by	Scott Walker
Cinematography	Lol Crawley
Edited by	Dávid Jancsó
Production company	Bow and Arrow Entertainment FilmTeam Hepp Film Media Capital MACT Productions Unanimous Entertainment
Distributed by	IFC Films
Release date	September 5, 2015 (2015-09-05) (Venice) July 22, 2016 (2016-07-22) (USA)
Running time	113 minutes
Country	United Kingdom France
Language	English French
Budget	$5 million

The Childhood of a Leader is a 2015 historical mystery drama film, written, produced and directed by Brady Corbet, and is Corbet's feature film directorial debut. It is loosely based on Jean-Paul Sartre's short story The Childhood of a Leader, published in 1939 in a collection entitled The Wall, and John Fowles's 1965 novel The Magus. Corbet co-wrote the screenplay with his wife Mona Fastvold, and filmed both an English and a French language version.

The film chronicles the childhood of a fascist leader in the period immediately following World War I. Production began in early 2015, in Budapest, Hungary. The film had its world premiere in-competition (Horizon section) at 72nd Venice International Film Festival on 5 September 2015 and won two awards at the festival, Best Debut film and Best Director.

In 1919, an American boy living in France with his authoritarian parents witnesses the creation of the Treaty of Versailles, which shapes his beliefs and causes him to develop a terrifying ego.

"The film takes place in 1919, it stars a child, it's in French and English. Luckily it's not going to be four-and-a-half hours long and it's not going to be black-and-white. But that's it. It's not a very easy pitch. It's sort of about the birth of a megalomaniac and with a maniacal sort of ego at the turn of the century. It's about the birth of fascism that occurred during the signing of the Treaty of Versailles."

Brady Corbet began writing the script of the film ten years ago on his own but later put it down as he considered it "too big" for a debut film. He later pick it up again after support from his partner Mona Fastvold. On 1 April 2013, it was announced that Corbet was set to make his feature film directorial debut with a France-set World War I film, based on the script he co-wrote with Mona Fastvold. Corbet would produce along with French producers Antoine de Clermont-Tonnerre and Chris Coen, as well as Istvan Major. Film Producer Helena Danielsson of Hepp Film also came on board to get the film additional financing.