The Dead (1987 film)
| The Dead | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | John Huston |
| Produced by |
Chris Sievernich Wieland Schulz-Keil |
| Written by | Tony Huston |
| Based on | "The Dead" by James Joyce |
| Starring |
|
| Music by | Alex North |
| Cinematography | Fred Murphy |
| Edited by | Roberto Silvi |
| Distributed by | Vestron Pictures |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
83 min |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3.5 million |
| Box office | $4,370,078 |
The Dead is a 1987 feature film directed by John Huston, starring his daughter Anjelica Huston. The Dead was the last film that Huston directed, and it was released posthumously. It was adapted from the short story "The Dead" by James Joyce, which was included in his short works collection Dubliners
The film takes place in Dublin in 1904 at an Epiphany party held by three sisters. The story focuses attention on the academic Gabriel Conroy (Donal McCann) and his discovery of his wife Gretta's (Anjelica Huston) memory of a deceased lover.
The Dead was nominated for two Academy Awards—for Best Adapted Screenplay and for Costume Design.
This film adaptation by John Huston's son Tony Huston can be considered a close adaptation of Joyce's short story, with some alterations made to the dialogue to aid the narrative for cinema audiences.
The most significant change to the story was the inclusion of a new character, a Mr Grace, who recites an eighth-century Middle Irish poem, "Donal Óg". The effect of this is to act as catalyst for the "Distant Music" that provokes the memories Gretta and Gabriel discuss at the end of the film.
Chris Sievernich and Weiland Schulz-Keil had raised money for Under the Volcano and would do likewise for The Dead. Screen rights to the story were purchased from the Joyce estate for $60,000. Shooting began 19 January 1987.
According to Pauline Kael, "Huston directed the movie, at eighty, from a wheelchair, jumping up to look through the camera, with oxygen tubes trailing from his nose to a portable generator; most of the time, he had to watch the actors on a video monitor outside the set and use a microphone to speak to the crew. Yet he went into dramatic areas that he'd never gone into before - funny, warm family scenes that might be thought completely out of his range. Huston never before blended his actors so intuitively, so musically."
...
Wikipedia