DORIAN GRAY

SynopsisWhen a strikingly beautiful but naïve young Dorian Gray (Ben Barnes)

arrives in Victorian London he is swept into a social whirlwind by the charismatic Henry Wotton (Colin Firth), who introduces Dorian to the hedonistic pleasures of the city. Henry’s friend, society artist Basil Hallward (Ben Chaplin) paints a portrait of Dorian to capture the full power of his youthful beauty and when it’s unveiled Dorian makes a flippant pledge: he would give anything to stay as he is in the picture - even his soul.

Spurred on by Henry, Dorian’s wild adventures continue; but while he appears as innocent and beautiful as ever, his picture, now locked in the attic, grows uglier and more horrific with every evil deed he commits. It seems he can now indulge every forbidden desire with no consequence to himself; but when Basil insists on seeing the picture, Dorian is forced to murder him and flee the country.

Twenty-five years later, he returns and to the shock of his old friends, he doesn’t look a single day older. He is, though, a man in torment, whose life is bereft of love or meaning. He is haunted by his past and taunted by the monstrosity in the attic. And then he meets Emily (Rebecca Hall) - smart, striking and fascinated by him. She is, however, Henry’s daughter, and he will do anything to keep them apart. As London whispers of a pact with the Devil, Henry resolves to expose his daughter’s unnatural lover. Will Dorian get one last chance for love and redemption and more importantly, will he escape with his life?

An Introduction to DORIAN GRAYPrincipal photography commenced on DORIAN GRAY during the summer

of 2008 over a nine week shooting schedule on locations across London and at Ealing Studios. Based on Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, OLIVER PARKER directs and BARNABY THOMPSON produces from a screen adaptation by rising talent TOBY FINLAY who provides a modern edge to Wilde’s great classic.

Fresh from his success in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian British actor BEN BARNES takes the lead as Dorian Gray and is joined by COLIN FIRTH (Mamma Mia, St Trinian’s, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Love Actually) as the charismatic Henry Wotton. The actors are reunited in DORIAN GRAY after working together in 2008 on Stephan Elliott’s Easy Virtue for Ealing Studios.

Joining them in the cast line-up are BEN CHAPLIN (Me & Orson Welles, The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, The New World, The Thin Red Line), REBECCA HALL (Frost/Nixon, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, The Prestige), RACHEL HURD-WOOD (Peter Pan, Perfume), FIONA SHAW (Tree of Life, Harry Potter, The Black Dahlia), EMILIA FOX (Flashbacks of a Fool, The Virgin Queen), MARYAM D’ABO (The Living Daylights, Helen of Troy), PIP TORRENS (Easy Virtue,Valiant), DOUGLAS HENSHALL (The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Primeval), CAROLINE GOODALL (CSI, Schindler’s List), as well as exciting new acting talents JOHNNY HARRIS (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Atonement, London to Brighton) and MAX IRONS (Being Julia).

Long-time collaborators OLIVER PARKER and BARNABY THOMPSON reunite for DORIAN GRAY after their previous successful Oscar Wilde screen adaptations The Importance of Being Earnest and An Ideal Husband (nominated for two Golden Globes and three BAFTA awards). More recently, Parker and Thompson co-directed and co-produced St Trinian’s which has become the fourth highest grossing independent UK film of all time. They are currently making St Trinian’s II: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold which commenced principal photography in Summer 2009.

The line-up of top filmmaking talent on DORIAN GRAY includes Academy Award and BAFTA-nominated cinematographer ROGER PRATT BSC (Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets, Batman, The End of the Affair, Brazil), celebrated production designer JOHN BEARD (Easy Virtue, The History Boys, Wings of the Dove, Brazil) and Academy Award and BAFTA-nominated costume designer RUTH MYERS (The Golden Compass, LA Confidential, Emma, The Addams Family). CGI effects are provided by MPC (Sweeney Todd, Harry Potter, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Casino Royale).

Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray was first published in 1890 and it is considered one of the great works of classic gothic horror.

DORIAN GRAY is produced by Barnaby Thompson, directed by Oliver Parker, from a screenplay by Toby Finlay and is executive produced by James Spring Paul Brett, Charles Miller Smith, Tim Smith, Simon Fawcett, James Hollond and Xavier Marchand. DORIAN GRAY is an Ealing Studios, Alliance Films and The UK Film Council presentation of a Fragile Film in association with Aramid Entertainment and Prescience.

The UK’s Momentum Pictures will release DORIAN GRAY in September 2009. Alliance Films has also acquired the film for Canada (Alliance Films) and Spain (Aurum) and for its partners Eagle in Italy and Scanbox (Scandinavia). Concorde hold distribution rights to all German-speaking territories, Village Roadshow will release in Australia and New Zealand, Odeon in Greece, Best Film in Poland, Pro Rom in Romania, Prime Pictures in the Middle East and Shinabro in South Korea.

The History Behind the Project“I didn’t really want to corner myself having done two Wilde adaptations

already, but I loved the book “The Picture of Dorian Gray”“ explains director, Oliver Parker, “so Barnaby (Thompson) got the idea rolling and originally my role was as co-producer. It took time to get the script really coming off the page, I’ve had a chance in the intervening years to do a few more movies, cleanse the palate. By which point I was ready to have another shot at Wilde and of course I didn’t want some other bastard doing it!”

Parker and producer Barnaby Thompson have as Thompson puts it, “Known each other forever”. The team’s filmmaking collaboration has also been a long one, “Making films is very hard; making films with people you know very well makes it much easier because there’s a freedom and a sense of relaxation in the way that you deal with each other” comments Thompson. “Also Olly’s strength comes from drama and because he was an actor he’s very good at handling actors. I tend to be broader in terms of comic approach and more concerned with how you present a movie as an event to an audience. I think we have a nice friction in the way we look at things; we have two very clear points of view”.

With Dorian Gray, Parker decided he didn’t want to do the adaptation himself; “If you’re writing and directing you often feel you have a responsibility to the words especially if it’s a classic, but if you have a relationship with the writer, there’s the chance for some valuable dialogue”. So, two years ago rising young screenwriter Toby Finlay became involved. “Toby made a great impression on this piece” explains Parker, “he brought a very strong identity”. Finlay was introduced to the project by Sophie Meyer, head of development at Ealing Studios who’d read some of his work and thought he was worth a shot. “I think it was a great hunch - he’s certainly attacked it with a lot of vigour and has a visceral quality to his writing” notes Parker. “With Toby, the script would breathe and expand and he was absolutely relentless in going back and reworking it and continually refining it”.

“One of the things that made this project more interesting to me was it wasn’t quite so hidebound by the structure of a play. This particular story has enormous potential for expansion and investigation which is very liberating” concludes Parker.

“The book still resonates today because of the fundamental theme of ‘what if you were allowed to do anything?’” explains producer Barnaby Thompson. “I think that’s a notion we can all grab onto because we’ve been taught there’s right and wrong and if you do things wrong you pay for it.”

“In modern terms, the first person I thought of with this piece was Mick Jagger” continues Thompson “he was a young man who became a rock ‘n’roll star and was able to do whatever he wanted and in some ways was above the

law. We live in an age of celebrity, we live in an age where good looks and pop culture have become more and more powerful elements in our life and the idea of the power of beauty and what that gives you is as relevant now as it ever was”.

“You could analyse for hours why myths endure but I think we’re all fascinated by the physical appearance of things, certainly of each other and our own physical appearance and Oscar Wilde seemed to make a religion out of beauty” observes actor Colin Firth who play Henry Wotton. “It was almost as though aesthetic beauty was more important than morality, so he was writing about something he cared about. The germ of the idea must have come from Oscar Wilde thinking ‘would I sell my soul?’ Everybody who has ever thought about appearance has grown up with all the clichés about beauty being skin deep and how its beauty from within that counts. There’s nothing extraordinary being dealt with here it just happens to be a myth that the story deals with in such a dramatic, concise and rather chilling way” concludes Firth.

“Today’s culture is very obsessed with cheating clocks and trying to stay young” notes actress Rebecca Hall who plays Emily Wotton, “I think human beings have always been obsessed with that. The fact that Oscar Wilde was writing about it then just goes to show. In any era there are different ideas of what is beautiful and what still looks young. - today it’s Botox and maybe yesterday it was dressing a certain way. It’s always going to be relevant and there are always going to be ways to try and stop it”.

“The theme of eternal youth is always fascinating” says Ben Chaplin (Basil Hallward). Dorian Gray is Faustian for a start and for some reason that fascinates people. Do we have to be responsible for our actions? Do we have to just live for pleasure and not pay the consequences physically and spiritually?”

For Parker, who started his film career in the horror genre with the legendary maestro Clive Barker, this adaptation of Dorian Gray posed an opportunity to dip his toe back into that water “It’s great fun to be touching on something that has an element of horror. This isn’t an out and out horror movie but it certainly takes me back to my early years in the business, which is a surprise to a lot of people. Having worked with Clive Barker as a young man this is really interesting for me and I’ve been able to join some of the dots in my career”.

“It’s great that Olly’s been given a chance to revisit his horror roots” comments producer Barnaby Thompson. “He set up a theatre company with Clive Barker and they did all sorts of horror shows and I remember going to see them when we were just out of school. You’d never guess it from anything else he’s ever done but he’s a big blood and gore man; his first film appearance as an actor was in Clive’s film Hellraiser”.

“With this film we have a great gothic horror legend and the fact that it comes from Oscar Wilde gives it another twist” says Barnaby Thompson. “We hope you’ll get the excitement and shock of a horror movie with the quality of dialogue and depth of emotions you’d hope to get from a writer such as Oscar

Wilde”.

About the CastingOscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is a literary classic and anyone

who has read the novel, has an image in their mind’s eye on what Dorian looks like, “Everybody has their own idea of perfection” notes director Oliver Parker.

This could have posed an almost impossible task in the casting process but Parker took the view that times change and that “If one was to choose the most glamorous man of the age today, he would be very different from when the book was written”.

Enter British actor Ben Barnes. Producer Barnaby Thompson had previously cast Barnes in Ealing Studio’s Easy Virtue and it was on the set of that film that he looked at the young actor as a possible Dorian, having arrived at the location straight from a script meeting on Dorian Gray. “I became aware of Ben’s interesting dark eyes and there was a moment when he turned to camera slightly and I found myself thinking ‘Oh my God he’s Dorian’. As a result, Thompson introduced Barnes to Oliver Parker and the two spent a couple of days working together. “I gave him a fairly rigorous audition, which he passed with flying colours. I became very excited about what he could bring to Dorian”.

“I think Ben’s done a great job; he has matinee idol looks, he’s utterly charming, but he can go from sweet charm to steel in just a flick of the head. This role is a real challenge: he starts as gawky naïve, he becomes rock ‘n’ roll superstar and then has to play himself looking exactly the same 25 years later and he’s done all those three things with aplomb” praises Thompson.

Parker and British actor Colin Firth are no strangers to collaboration, having worked together three times previously. “I think he’s becoming more and more exciting as an actor” notes Parker. “He keeps moving forward in an almost relentless way, looking for new ways to challenge himself. Henry Wotton is a fabulous role for him and not necessarily an obvious one considering the way people perceive Colin. But I actually know he’s a dark bastard at heart with evil thoughts so it was an easy choice in the end!”

Producer Barnaby Thomson’s thoughts echo those of Parker, “Colin saw an opportunity to play a character he rarely gets to play. In a curious way if there’s a similar role he’s played it would be Valmont, where he had this real sparkle and sense of the Machiavellian and he gets to be the bad guy. Very often Colin is cast as Mr Reliable and anyone who knows him knows he is anything but!”

The LocationsThe locations selected for filming on Dorian Gray very much reflect the

evolution of Dorian, from his arrival in the big city as a naïve young man (Smithfields in the City of London was turned into London’s King’s Cross Station); to the carefree innocence of Dorian as he’s introduced into society by Henry Wotton, attending sophisticated parties in opulent London residences (the sprawling Witanhurst on Highgate Hill in London and Basildon Park in Berkshire); through his descent into debauchery as he frequents the dens of iniquity in the East End (the Café de Paris near Leicester Square became the Casino de Venise for the shoot and Crocker’s Folly in St John’s Wood became a gin palace and an opium den).

Location manager Pat Karam and his team were responsible for finding over fifteen locations in and around London and the south east. The first weeks of the schedule were spent at Witanhurst in leafy Highgate, north London. Witanhurst is a listed mansion built in the Queen Anne style and is London’s second largest private residence after Buckingham Palace. With its 25 bedrooms, 70 ft grand ballroom, eight bathrooms and eight reception rooms, it was recently snapped up by the richest woman in Russia for £50million.

Major London landmarks used include the Old Royal Naval College at Greenwich, Wilton’s Music Hall in the East End, Bell Yard near the Royal Courts of Justice, Carlton Terrace and the British Academy, Highgate Cemetery, the Royal Exhange Building in the City and Chiswick Town Hall.

The all-important “attic” scenes, where the monstrous painting is kept, were filmed on sets built at Ealing Studios and a section of London underground tunnel and platform were constructed on Ealing’s Stage Two.

The Costumes“I thought it was a fabulous script and a very fresh look at Dorian Gray so I

wanted to take the Edwardian clothes and try to produce them in such a way that you’d see them through modern eyes” explains Oscar-nominated costume designer Ruth Myers.

Myers was adamant that she wanted to steer away from the look of a typical period film, “There was a glamour group during the era the film’s set in and I wanted to capture that. I thought of Dorian as a sort of Mick Jagger or Rudolph Nuryev. I wanted the look and the costumes to bring that 1960s or 1970s idea of glamour”.

“I did a lot of drawings to prepare because I didn’t want to slavishly reproduce what had been seen before. Luckily working with Olly (Parker) and Barnaby (Thompson) was a joy because they are a costume-friendly director and producer, which makes a huge difference to the way you can design a film”.

Lead actor Ben Barnes who plays Dorian collaborated closely with Myers throughout the entire process, “Ben came to many fittings and worked very hard with me. It’s a wonderful thing when you get an actor who can see his character

through his costumes. Ben and I sourced a lot of modern clothes which we looked at converting, we looked at a lot of vintage and also made a lot of stuff from scratch. Ben was very brave with his costumes and he learnt to wear them well. We were also able to give him costumes that he felt completely at home in, which isn’t always the case with period pieces”.

One of the most interesting looks that Myers was required to create was for actress Rebecca Hall who plays Emily Wotton who is very much a modern young woman of the Edwardian era. “Rebecca so beautiful, she has such a wonderful face and almost looks like a 60s star like a Jane Birkin or Jeanne Moreau. She also has this amazingly expressive face so I really wanted to make her costumes simple so that you’re eyes are pushed up to her beautiful face. Also because of the nature of her character: the modern woman in Edwardian times, I wanted to give her a very modern look. Apart from the gorgeous red dress we made for her, which I’m very proud of, mostly she’s in blouses and long skirts which is exactly what the Suffragettes of that time would have worn. We gave her a very beautiful glamorized version of a Suffragette’s costume”.

The majority of the costumes were made but even those that were bought in were altered, “Everything was pretty much created for the film” explains Myers. “The biggest challenge was that we had to turn things around very quickly and to make it look lavish and as though money was no object. It was a joy to do and hopefully that’s exactly how it will look. It was a joy to bring in this fresh light to a period film and I got enormous support from the actors, Olly and Barnaby”.

The Cast on Their Characters

Ben Barnes on playing Dorian Gray“I read the book in my teens and I think for a lot of people it’s one of the

first novels they read on their own. A lot of people read it because teachers think it’s forward thinking, exciting and shocking. Principally for me it’s always going to be the character in the context of the story. Getting this role was one of those massive challenges and it wasn’t going to get any greater than this”.

“I’ve loved playing the darker moments and I’ve really enjoyed playing the 46 year old Dorian. Obviously he looks the same so it’s been an interesting challenge to make him seem older and show the way experiences have affected him. It’s also very interesting to see how the other characters have responded to me on those days because they’ve often been aged in make-up - especially Colin Firth. On the days when I’ve been young and vulnerable he’s been bullying me on set; on the days when he’s made up to look 70 the tables are entirely turned and he feels a little bit vulnerable because he’s balding, so the joke is flipped! It’s very interesting to see people genuinely respond when you’re made up to look very different. Yesterday we filmed the very end and my portrait make-up and I morph into this disgusting, syphilitic, sinful mess of a man. I had three hours plus

of prosthetics - even the producer couldn’t recognise me and the ADs couldn’t look me in the eye. It was very interesting to feel like a mutant and how powerful that was. It wasn’t so much the hideousness it was more the lack of responsiveness, the fact that they could only see my eyes, they couldn’t tell if I was smiling!”

“Working with Colin Firth so closely has been great. We filmed Easy Virtue together in 2008 and our characters didn’t really interact that much and it was a relatively unexplored relationship in the context of the story but in this we are the two protagonists. It’s just been a joy from start to finish, he’s just a great, great man, and very funny and very bright and worldly and I can’t praise him highly enough”.

“Olly Parker has half directed and half baby-sat me through this film. I felt a little bit sick at the beginning of every morning and I’d been looking at the script the night before and I’d be thinking ‘I don’t know how to make this believable or real’. But, I’d come in the next day and say to Olly ‘I’ve got a few ideas but basically I don’t know how to make this work, what do I do?’ Because Olly has been an actor it’s been really interesting watching him almost play it through. Sometimes in the middle of a scene, he’ll come over and give me a note and as he walks off you can see him playing with it... kind of doing it himself, and that’s almost more useful for me. Even when you’re doing something and you’re very passionate about how it feels, that might not be coming through on screen. You have to take the word of the people who are watching the monitor. You’re probably not always the best judge of your own work”.

Colin Firth on playing Henry Wotton“As I see it, there are three primary characters in the story: Basil, Dorian

and Henry and there’s a relationship triangle between the three. Both Henry and Basil are infatuated with Dorian in their own way. I suppose the painting is also a character in some way and this is the side of Dorian that’s kept from the world while Dorian becomes more fascinating to the world, either because he repulses people or because he attracts them. Henry wants to mess with Dorian’s beauty, to disrupt it. In my mind he does it initially to tease Basil, to provoke him, but as time goes on, for all sorts of tangled motives, he wants to break it down, he wants to see this phenomenon of beauty tarnished in some way”.

“Henry Wotton is a voyeur, he’s not prepared to get his own hands dirty. He doesn’t want to lose his family, he doesn’t want to pay the price himself and so Dorian is a kind of proxy for all. Either Henry doesn’t have the courage or he’s just not dark enough. I think it’s all just a game for Henry. In the book Henry doesn’t really change - he’s the only character who doesn’t go on one of these journeys of discovery, what we like to call the arc. I think we’ve altered that a little in this story by giving him a daughter - the stakes change and because of this, his character has to change. The fact that he has a daughter makes him vulnerable, he can no longer be flippant because something suddenly matters terribly; it gives Dorian a different kind if power and it gives Henry a different kind

of urgency, he’s no longer a voyeur because he’s involved”.

“I’m drawn to characters that are hard to pin down. I’ve played plenty of characters you can pin down according to their ‘Englishness’, but I’m talking about what actually motivates this man (Henry) is very, very hard to put your finger on. There’s a big mystery to him. One could continue to ask the question about why he behaves the way he does, about his continuing fascination with Dorian which provides an opportunity for a cruel game; is there some kind of paternal love there? Some kind of sexual love there? I actually think all of those elements are there. He destroys Dorian completely - it’s Henry who initiates the process of Dorian’s self-destruction by proxy. I think there’s a kind of self-loathing that he projects”.

“In this film I obviously have to play Henry as an older man. One uses one’s imagination when you’re playing older. I’ve had to play an age other than my own in the past. I think it’s how you view the world. If it’s a well-written script and the things that are happening around you are all in place then I think it happens naturally. The minute I’m made up to look a certain way it has a bearing on how I hold myself. As soon as Ben Barnes sees me with a bald wig he wants to help me to my chair and give me some medication and help me change my colostomy bag! He can’t help patronising me when I’m old!”

“When you’re playing older it’s to do with how your eyes see the world, it’s not to do with how many wrinkles you have. There’s no alertness, no sense of being introduced to every new sight. I think Ben is also at some level following that rule. Young Dorian is someone who’s always a bit surprised, a bit awkward and you feel like the world is always ambushing him; old Dorian is very hard to have an effect on. Olly (Parker) was always saying wisely that Henry holds himself in a certain way that says ‘I’m not old’, but there’s a huge power shift when Dorian comes back from his travels”.

“The older I get, the less I’m inclined I am to do something that I don’t enjoy, it’s as simple as that. I don’t care what masterpiece comes out of it, if I’m not enjoying it it’s not worth it, but Ben Barnes and I had a lot of fun on set. One of the great draws for me was that Ben was doing this. It helps us, and it helps the work. There’s a playfulness between Dorian and Henry and a bit of our own relationship spilled over into that”.

“Olly Parker has proved, like a lot of the best filmmakers that getting some kind of ‘film family’ together is beneficial: your trusted DoP, the team of actors you know - not just because it’s a comfort zone, but also it means you have a shorthand that you’ve developed. There’s an awful lot of territory you have to cover very quickly when you work together in order to find all the intimacy and trust and security that you need. I think being directed by an actor, as Olly is, helps a lot for all the obvious reasons. There’s an understanding. Olly was a good actor and he knows the tricks that actors pull; he knows how you like to hide - he’s got the language for that”.

Ben Chaplin on playing Basil Hallward“Basil’s obsessed with Dorian and the painting. It’s a sort of love affair...

certainly from Basil’s perspective. I feel that Basil hadn’t done anything truly creative until he’d painted Dorian; he’s as obsessed with that as he is with Dorian himself”.

“That’s something I recognise in myself. When you’re feeling most creative, you feel the most alive. I’m never happier than when I’m at what I feel is my most creative”.

“When I took the role, I wanted to make sure Basil was more than just a plot device. I didn’t want him to be just a cliché, some sort of moral police. He’s an artist and in some ways he’s really culpable for what happens to Dorian and I wanted that to be the case. I didn’t want him looking down on Henry or Dorian from a moral high point. It’s not about changing the script it’s more to do with how you play it. That was something I discussed with Olly before we started shooting”.

Rebecca Hall on playing Emily Wotton“Emily appears later in the film, just as the suffragette movement is

gathering pace and she’s very much of that era”.

“I read the book and saw the black and white film when I was a young girl. I think I was far too little as it made quite a lasting impression on me! I remember it as being quite scary. “.

“It was really interesting reading the script because Toby Finlay has definitely made a version of it that is different yet still holds the central concerns. If you take a novel and turn it into a film it’s never going to be the same - naturally you’re doing an adaptation anyway - they are such radically different forms. You have to adapt to the medium you’re telling the story in and I think he’s done that really successfully”.

The Cast

Ben Barnes (Dorian Gray)British actor Ben Barnes was trained at The National Youth Music Theatre

and Kingston University.

Barnes’ film credits include Easy Virtue for Ealing Studio, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian for Disney, Bigga than Ben, and Stardust for Paramount. He is currently shooting The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

He starred in the TV series Split Decisions for Paramount and his theatre credits include The History Boys tour and West End run, Sex, Chips and Rock ‘n’

Roll’ at the Manchester Royal Exchange, Blag, Loving Ophelia, The Ballad Of Saloman Pavey, The Ragged Child, Bugsy Malone and The Dreaming. Radio work includes David Copperfield for BBC Radio 4.

Colin Firth (Henry Wotton)Colin Firth is a veteran of film, television and theatre, with an impressive

body of work spanning over three decades. Firth’s versatility has been recognized in both dramas and comedies, garnering critical acclaim and awards including nominations from the Screen Actors Guild, an Emmy nomination, and multiple BAFTA nominations.

Most recent projects for Firth include A Single Man, based on the acclaimed Christopher Isherwood novel. Tom Ford makes his directorial debut with the film which stars Firth as a man facing his last day on earth. The cast includes Julianne Moore, Ginnifer Goodwin and Matthew Goode; and Genova, directed by Michael Winterbottom, with Firth starring opposite Catherine Keener. The film screened at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, the London Film Festival and the San Sebastian Film Festival, where Michael Winterbottom was awarded Best Director.

Other recent projects include Ealing Studios’ Easy Virtue, directed by Stephan Elliott, with Firth starring opposite Jessica Biel and Kristen Scott Thomas; and Robert Zemeckis’ A Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey and Gary Oldman.

Firth recently appeared in the smash hit ABBA musical Mamma Mia! The cast included Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Stellan Skarsgard and Amanda Seyfriend. “Mamma Mia!” has grossed over half a billion dollars around the world and is the highest grossing film of all time in the UK.

2008 saw Firth in Then She Found Me, written and directed by Helen Hunt and And When Did You Last See Your Father Firth opposite Jim Broadbent and based on the best selling memoir by Blake Morrison.

In 2004, Firth starred in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, where he reprised his role as ‘Mark Darcy’ opposite Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant. The same year he appeared in the Oscar-nominated Girl With A Pearl Earring opposite Scarlett Johanssen. Firth was nominated for a European Film Award for his performance in the film.

In 2003 came Love Actually, written and directed by Richard Curtis, Firth appeared in the film with an outstanding ensemble cast including Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Laura Linney and Keira Knightly.

Prior to this, Firth was seen opposite Rupert Everett, Reese Witherspoon and Judi Dench in the Ealing Studios adaptation of The Importance of Being Earnest also directed by Oliver Parker; and the Academy Award nominated Shakespeare In Love directed by John Madden.

In 1996, Firth appeared in the multi-Oscar-nominated The English Patient opposite Kristen Scott Thomas and Ralph Fiennes. Other notable film credits include Atom Egoyan’s Where the Truth Lies, Marc Evans’ thriller Trauma, Nanny Mc Phee, What a Girl Wants, Hope Springs, directed by Mark Herman, A Thousand Acres, with Michelle Pfeiffer and Jessica Lange, Apartment Zero, My Life So Far, Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch, Circle of Friends, Playmaker, and the title role in Milos Forman’s Valmont.

On the small screen, Firth is infamous for his breakout role in 1995, when he played “Mr Darcy” in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor and was honored with the National Television Award for “Most Popular Actor.” Firth’s latest television appearance was in 2006 in the critically-acclaimed BBC television movie Born Equal directed by Dominic Savage. In March 2004, Firth hosted NBC’s legendary series Saturday Night Live. He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2001 for Outstanding Supporting Actor in the critically acclaimed HBO film Conspiracy and has also received the Royal Television Society Best Actor Award and a BAFTA nomination for his performance in Tumbledown. His other television credits include Windmills on the Clyde: Making Donovan Quick, Donovan Quick, The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd, Deep Blue Sea, Hostages, and the mini-series Nostromo. His London stage debut was in the West End production of Another Country , he was then chosen to appear in the 1984 film adaptation opposite Rupert Everett.

Firth is an active supporter of Oxfam International and is a co-director of Oxfam’s Café Progreso, a chain of coffee bars founded with the intention of creating fair trade opportunities for coffee cooperatives in Ethiopia, Honduras and Indonesia. In 2006, Firth was voted “European Campaigner of the Year” by the EU.

Ben Chaplin (Basil Hallward)Ben Chaplin is an accomplished film, theatre and TV actor who was Tony

Award-nominated in the Best Actor category for his performance on Broadway in Retreat From Moscow and was Olivier Award-nominated for Sam Mendes’ production of The Glass Menagerie in the Best Supporting Actor category.

Major film credits include Tree of Life, The New World and The Thin Red Line for director Terrence Malick, Richard Linklater’s Me & Orson Welles, The Waterhorse, Chromophobia, Stage Beauty for Richard Eyre, Barbet Schroeder’s Murder By Numbers, Birthday Girl for Jez Butterworth, The Truth About Cats and Dogs, Washington Square, Two Weeks, The Feast of July, James Ivory’s Remains of the Day and Bye, Bye Baby. He will soon be seen in London Boulevard with Ray Winstone, Kiera Knightly, David Thewlis and Anna Friel.

Other notable stage work has included Richard Eyre’s National Theatre production of The Reporter, This is How it Goes at the Donmar Warehouse, Le Grand Meulnes, The Neighbour at The National Theatre and Peaches at the

Royal Court Theatre.

Chaplin became a popular face on British television in the comedy drama Game On! and early in his career appeared in Soldier Soldier, A Fatal Inversion, After the Dance, Between The Lines, Minder, Tuesday, The Borrowers, A Class Act and Resort to Murder.

Rebecca Hall (Emily Wotton)Having worked with many of the film industry's most honoured talents and

treading the boards in the world's most respected theatres, Rebecca Hall has emerged as a leading talent, challenging herself with each new role.

Hall can currently be seen on stage in the inaugural season of The Bridge Project, a transatlantic company of actors performing double-billings of classic works in repertory on tour to seven cities around the world, including New York and London. Co-starring opposite Simon Russell Beale, Sinead Cusack, Richard Easton, Josh Hamilton and Ethan Hawke, Hall has garnered critical commendation for her performances as Varya in The Cherry Orchard and Hermione in A Winter's Tale.

She will next be seen in Nicole Holofcener's dramatic comedy Please Give opposite Oliver Platt, Catherine Keener and Amanda Peet.

Most recently Hall was seen in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona alongside Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and Javier Bardem, for which she received Golden Globe, BAFTA Orange Rising Star, London Critics Circle and Gotham Award performance and breakthrough nominations. Additional film credits include Julian Jarrold's Red Riding: 1974, Ron Howard's Frost/Nixon, Christopher Nolan's The Prestige, for which she received the UK Empire Award and London Critic's Circle best newcomer nominations; as well as Philip Martin's Einstein and Eddington and Tom Vaughan's Starter for Ten.

On stage, Hall made her West End debut as Vivie in Mrs Warren's Profession, Hall and received the Ian Charleson Award for her performance. She received wide acclaim and an Ian Charleson Award nomination as Rosalind in Sir Peter Hall's international production of As You Like It; and went on to play the title role in Timberlake Wertenbaker's Gallileo's Daughter, Ann Whitfield in George Bernard Shaw's epic Man and Superman, both directed by Sir Peter Hall and played Elvira in Don Juan, directed by Thea Sharrock.

Television credits include Stephen Poliakoff's Joe's Palace; Brendan Maher's Wide Sargasso Sea; Stuart Orme's Don't Leave Me This Way and Peter Hall's The Camomile Lawn.

Fiona Shaw (Agatha)Multi award-winning actress Fiona Shaw was born in County Cork, Ireland

and is a graduate of University College Cork and RADA. Her long and esteemed career has spanned international film, theatre and award-winning television

drama. In 2001 she received the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for services to drama.

As a film actress her list of distinguished credits includes the role of Aunt Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter franchise, Brian De Palma’s The Black Dahlia, Neil Jordan’s The Butcher Boy, The Avengers, The Last September, Anna Karenina, The Wasteland, Jane Eyre for Franco Zeffirelli, Super Mario Bros, London Kills Me, Three Men and a Little Lady, Mountains of the Moon, Jim Sheridans’ My Left Foot, Sacred Hearts and most recently Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life.

For her theatre work, Shaw was awarded Best Actress in 2001 at the Evening Standard Awards for Medea and received a Tony Award-nomination for the same role in Deborah Warner’s acclaimed production. Other accolades include four Olivier Awards in the Best Actress category for Deborah Warner’s productions of As You Like It, Electra, The Good Person of Sichuan and Stephen Daldry’s Machinal; as well as London Critics Awards for Hedda Gabler, The Good Person of Sichuan and Electra.

Other stage highlights include Deborah Warner’s Happy Days at the National Theatre, Woman and Scarecrow at the Royal Court, Julius Caesar at the Barbican, The Powerbook, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Wasteland, The Way of the World, Richard II, Footfalls and Shakespeare: As He Liked It. Her extensive work for the Royal Shakespeare Company has included The Taming of the Shrew, Hyde Park, The New Inn, Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant of Venice, Mephisto, Philistines, Les Liaison Dangereuses and As You Like It.

As a theatre director, Shaw’s credits include Riders to the Sea for the ENO, Widowers Houses at the National Theatre and Hamlet at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.

Major television drama credits include Gormenghast, Empire, RKO 281, Richard II, Persuasion, Trial & Retribution, Mind Games, The Seventh Stream, Seascape, Hedda Gabler, For the Greater Good and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Emilia Fox (Lady Victoria Wotton)British actress Emilia Fox is a familiar face of film, television and theatre.

Film roles have included Roman Polanski’s The Pianist, Flashbacks of a Fool, Born Equal, Cashback, Keeping Mum, The Tiger & The Snow for Roberto Bernigni, Things To Do Before You’re 30, Deepa Mehta’s The Republic of Love, Hideous Man directed by John Malkovich, The Soul Keeper, Three Blind Mice and Blink.

Major television drama credits include her regular role as Nikki in BBC’s Silent Witness, Consuming Passion, Ballet Shoes, Miss Marple, The Virgin Queen, Gunpowder, Treason and Plot, Henry VIII, Helen of Troy, Randall & Hopkirk Deceased, Other People’s Children, David Copperfield, Bad Blood,

Shooting the Past, The Verdict, The Scarlett Pimpernel, The Temptation of Schubert, The Round Tower, Bright Hair, Rebecca, Pride & Prejudice and Treasure Houses.

Stage roles have included Corolanius and Richard II at the Almeida Theatre, Good at the Donmar Warehouse, Katherine Howard at The Chichester Festival and The Cherry Orchard for the RSC and The Albery.

Rachel Hurd-Wood (Sybil Vane)A rising young talent, British-born Rachel Hurd-Wood’s feature film credits

include Tom Tykwer’s Perfume, Solomon Kane, PJ Hogan’s Peter Pan and An American Haunting. Television drama credits include Simon Cellan Jones’ The Return of Sherlock Holmes.

The Filmmakers

Oliver Parker (Director)Prior to becoming a film director and screenwriter, Oliver Parker worked

extensively as an actor and theatre director and was a founder of The Dog Company with legendary horror maestro Clive Barker.

Parker’s first feature came in 1995 with Othello starring Laurence Fishburne and Kenneth Branagh, which he both adapted and directed for Castle Rock Entertainment. This was followed by his own adaptations of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, starring Cate Blanchett, Julianne Moore, Rupert Everett and Minnie Driver (which was nominated for two Golden Globes, and three BAFTAs) and The Importance of Being Earnest starring Reese Witherspoon, Judi Dench, Rupert Everett and Colin Firth. Both were produced by Barnaby Thompson.

His television work also includes The Private Life of Samuel Pepys, starring Steve Coogan.

In 2006 he directed I Really Hate My Job a comedy with Neve Campbell and Shirley Henderson about five fiery women working through a steamy night in a rat-infested Soho restaurant.

2007 saw Parker co-directing and co-producing St Trinian’s (with Barnaby Thompson), starring Rupert Everett, Colin Firth and Lena Headey. St Trinian’s went on to be a massive box office success, grossing $25 million since its release in December 2007 throughout the UK. St Trinian’s is now the fourth highest grossing British independent film of all time.

March 2008 then saw the Lionsgate release of Parker’s Fade To Black, a noir thriller starring Danny Huston as Orson Welles with Diego Luna, Paz Vega and Christopher Walken.

Barnaby Thompson (Producer)Barnaby is Head of Studio at Ealing Studios and oversees all areas of the

Studios' activities; focusing primarily on the creative aspects of the group as well as actively producing a number of films each year. He has extensive experience in both television and film in the UK and in America, his films have grossed over $500 million in worldwide box office and he has made 4 of the top 12 British Independent movies, of all time

His production credits include:

From Time to Time (2009), written and directed by Julian Fellowes (Oscar winning screenwriter of Gosford Park), starring Maggie Smith, Tim Spall, Carice van Houten, Hugh Bonneville and Pauline Collins.

Easy Virtue (2008), an adaptation of the classic Noel Coward play. Directed by Stephan Elliott (PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT), starring Jessica Biel, Colin Firth, Kristin Scott Thomas and Ben Barnes. Released by Pathé in the UK and Sony Pictures Classics in the US.

Fade to Black (2008), a thriller set in 1940s Italy, directed by Oliver Parker and starring Danny Huston as Orson Welles, Paz Vega, Diego Luna and Christopher Walken. Released by Lionsgate March 2008.

St Trinian’s (2007), a contemporary reworking of the classic 50s and 60s movies about the eponymous school for young ladies. Co-directed by Barnaby and Oliver Parker, it stars Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Lena Headey, Caterina Murino, Toby Jones, Celia Imrie, Jodie Whittaker, Gemma Arterton, Russell Brand & Mischa Barton. Released by Entertainment Film Distributors Christmas 2007, it took $25m at the box office in the UK which made it the fourth highest grossing British independent movie of all time.

I Want Candy (2007), a broad comedy about realising your dreams in unexpected ways. Starring Carmen Electra, Tom Riley, Tom Burke, McKenzie Crook and Jimmy Carr. Directed by Steve Surjik (Wayne’s World 2). Released by BVI in the UK and by Magnolia in North America.

Alien Autopsy (2006), a British comedy starring television stars Ant and Dec, directed by Jonny Campbell and written by Will Davies (Jonny English, Twins), was released in the UK by Warner Bros.

Imagine Me and You (2005) was released in the US on February 10th 2006 by Fox Searchlight and in the UK in June 2006 by Universal. A romantic comedy with a twist, it stars Piper Perabo, Lena Headey, Matthew Goode and Celia Imrie.

Valiant (2005), which Barnaby executive produced with John Williams (Shrek), was a $40 million CGI Animation and the first of its kind made in the UK. It features the voices of Ewan McGregor, Ricky Gervais, Tim Curry, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Laurie, John Cleese, John Hurt and Olivia Williams. Released

by Entertainment Film Distributors in the UK, Valiant went on to gross over US $16m making it the highest grossing non-studio picture of the year. The film was released in North America by Disney where it grossed $20m.

Hope Springs, a romantic comedy directed by Mark Herman (Little Voice, Brassed Off), starring Colin Firth, Heather Graham and Minnie Driver was released by Disney in May 2003.

The Importance of Being Earnest (2002), based on the play by Oscar Wilde. Directed by Oliver Parker, it stars Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Frances O’Connor, Reese Witherspoon and Judi Dench and was released in the US by Miramax.

High Heels and Low Lifes (2001), produced for Disney, directed by Mel Smith and starring Minnie Driver, Mary McCormack and Michael Gambon.

Lucky Break (2001), directed by Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty), starring James Nesbitt, Olivia Williams, Christopher Plummer, Timothy Spall, Bill Nighy and Lennie James. Distributed here by Film Four, it was released in North America by Paramount and Miramax in 2001.

An Ideal Husband (1999), Golden Globe and BAFTA nominated, directed by Oliver Parker, starring Cate Blanchett, Minnie Driver, Rupert Everett, Julianne Moore and Jeremy Northam. Released by Pathé in the UK and Miramax in North America.

Kevin and Perry Go Large (2000), UK hit comedy starring Harry Enfield and Kathy Burke. The film grossed $17million in the UK.

Spiceworld (1997), was Fragile’s first film and an international box office hit starring the Spice Girls, Richard E Grant, Alan Cummings and featuring cameos from Roger Moore and George Wendt. It grossed $90 million worldwide.

Barnaby spent six years working with Lorne Michaels at Broadway Pictures in New York and Los Angeles, during which time he co-produced Wayne’s World 1 and 2 with Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, Coneheads starring Dan Ackroyd and Jane Curtin and Lassie, directed by Dan Petrie, Tommy Boy, starring Chris Farley and David Spade, and Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy, which was nominated for four Canadian Genies.

In 1990 Barnaby was nominated for an Oscar for the short film Dear Rosie, directed by Peter Cattaneo and written by Peter Morgan.

Barnaby is part of a consortium which bought Ealing Studios in 2000. The famous studio is undergoing redevelopment and acquired Fragile Films, the successful production company Barnaby set up in 1996 with Uri Fruchtmann.

Toby Finlay (Screenwriter)Toby Finlay gained a First in English at New College, Oxford then taught

for some time in Paris. When he returned to London he worked as a freelance script consultant and editor for a number of the UK’s top film companies. Dorian

Gray is his first produced screenplay.

John Beard (Production Designer)John Beard’s lengthy film career can be traced back to his role as art

director on such iconic cinema as Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, Nic Roeg’s Eureka and Bad Timing and Life of Brian.

As a production designer, highlights have included Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, Map of the Human Heart, The Browning Version, Hackers, Wings of the Dove, The Lost Son, Enigma and K-Pax as well as Thunderbirds, Erik the Viking, Skeleton Key, Stoned, The History Boys, Inkheart, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People and Easy Virtue.

Roger Pratt BSC (Cinematographer)Academy Award and BAFTA-nominee Roger Pratt is a highly revered

British cinematographer. A regular collaborator with director Terry Gilliam, his career started with such iconic films as Brazil, moving on to The Fisher King and 12 Monkeys.

Highlights in his long and distinguished film career have included Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets, Troy, Iris, Chocolat, 102 Dalmations, The End of the Affair, The Avengers, In Love and War, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Shadowlands, Batman, High Hopes and Mona Lisa.

Ruth Myers (Costume Designer)An Academy Award nominee for Emma and The Addams Family, costume

designer Ruth Myers has contributed her style to such diverse films as Beyond the Sea, Connie & Carla, LA. Confidential (for which she received a BAFTA nomination); The Cradle Will Rock, Center Stage, Proof of Life, Four Feathers, Iris, Nicholas Nickleby and Miramax’s fantasy fairy tale Ella Enchanted. Most recently, Myers designed the costumes for Infamous, The Painted Veil and The Golden Compass. She received an Emmy Award and the Costume Designers Guild Award for the HBO pilot Carnivale.

Born and raised in Manchester, England, Myers graduated from St Martin's College of Art in London before training under scholarship with the Royal Court Theatre. At the completion of her scholarship, she stayed with the company, first as an assistant then as a designer and she went on to design many plays in London.

Switching to the world of film with The Loves of Isadora, she went on to design the costumes for A Touch of Class, The Ruling Class, The Twelve Chairs and Smashing Time, before being persuaded by Gene Wilder move to the US and with him she collaborated on The World's Greatest Lover, The Woman in Red and Haunted Honeymoon.

Myers also designed the costumes for Sydney Pollack's The Firm, Fred Schepisi’s Plenty and The Russia House; Norman Jewison's And Justice For All, Ken Russell's Altered States; Jack Clayton's Something Wicked This Way Comes, Electric Dreams directed by Steve Barron and Arthur Hiller's Teachers. Other notable credits include One Thousand Acres, Bogus, How to Make An American Quilt, IQ., Mr Saturday Night, Marrying Man, The Accidental Tourist, Blaze, Cannery Row, The Competition and The Main Event.

Guy Bensley (Editor)Guy Bensley first collaborated with Dorian Gray producer Barnaby

Thompson on the Academy Award and BAFTA-nominated short film Dear Rosie which Thompson produced and Peter Cattaneo directed. Bensley also edited director Oliver Parker’s short film Unsigned and the team went on to join forces on An Ideal Husband, The Importance of Being Earnest and Fade To Black.

Other notable credits include the Academy Award-nominated short Brooms, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, The James Gang, Lorna Doone, To Kill a King and Butterfly on a Wheel for director Mike Barker; as well as Time For Blackadder for Paul Weiland, Murphy’s Law, The Dinner Party and Trial & Retribution.

Jeremy Woodhead (Make-up & Hair Designer)An accomplished and sought-after talent in the world of film make-up and

hair design, British-born Jeremy Woodhead’s long list of credits includes the current Sam Taylor Wood production Nowhere Boy, Andy and Larry Wachowski’s Ninja Assassin, Easy Virtue, Speed Racer, 20th Century Fox’s Babylon AD, Control for Anton Corbijn, Francis Ford Coppola’s Youth Without Youth, Steven Spielberg’s Munich, V For Vendetta, Where the Truth Lies, Nanny McPhee, Alexander, Thunderbirds, Pirates of the Caribbean, Cold Mountain, The Lord of the Rings, Highlander IV: Endgame, Quills, Alien Love Triangle, End of the Affair, Sunshine, The Avengers, In Love and War and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Major television drama credits include Hound of the Baskervilles, Shackleton, Longitude, Trial & Retribution, Tales From the Crypt and Bramwell 2.

Charlie Mole (Composer)Charlie Mole is a highly successful and versatile film and television

composer and songwriter. Signed to Warner Bros for 10 years enabled him to have a unique career combining songs and movie scores often providing the end title or main theme song in his films ranging from R&B/Pop to Jazz , Period drama, Comedy and Hollywood epic. 

His contrasting range of styles is exemplified by the hugely popular theme song to St Trinian's performed by Girls Aloud and the score to the recent BBC adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank. This combination of the old and new is

also evident in the upcoming Ealing studios adaptation of Dorian Gray (2009) where he has given the traditional period score a modern twist.

His film scores include Othello, An Ideal Husband, The Importance of Being Earnest, High Heels and Lowlives, Only Human, Goose on the Loose (2009), St Trinian’s, St Trinian’s II: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold and Dorian Gray.

He has worked with artists such as Lenny Kravitz, Chaka Khan, Kylie Minogue, Angie Stone, amongst others. His song "Never Miss the Water" performed by Chaka Khan was a number one US dance hit and featured in both Friends and The Sopranos.

Main CreditsEaling Studios, Alliance Films and the UK Film Council present

a Fragile Film

in association with Aramid Entertainment and Prescience

Dorian Gray: Ben Barnes

Henry Wotton: Colin Firth

DORIAN GRAY

Basil Hallward: Ben Chaplin

Emily Wotton: Rebecca Hall

Alan Campbell: Douglas Henshall

Sibyl Vane: Rachel Hurd-Wood

Gladys: Maryam D’Abo

Lord Radley: Michael Culkin

Lady Victoria Wotton: Emilia Fox

Lady Radley: Caroline Goodall

Jim Vane: Johnny Harris

Victor: Pip Torrens

Agatha: Fiona Shaw

Casting Director: Lucy Bevan

Hair and Make Up Designer: Jeremy Woodhead

Costume Designer: Ruth Myers

Music By: Charlie Mole

Editor: Guy Bensley

Production Designer: John Beard

Director of Photography: Roger Pratt BSC

Co-Producer: Alexandra Ferguson

Executive Producers: James Spring, Paul Brett, Charles Miller Smith

Tim Smith, Simon Fawcett , James Hollond, Xavier Marchand

Based on the Novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde

Written by: Toby Finlay

Produced by: Barnaby Thompson

Directed by: Oliver Parker