The Painted Veil (2006 film) director John Curran
The Painted Veil is a 2006 American drama film directed by John Curran. The screenplay by Ron Nyswaner is based on the 1925 novel of the same title by W. Somerset Maugham. Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Toby Jones, Anthony Wong Chau Sang and Liev Schreiber appear in the leading roles.
This is the third film adaptation of the Maugham book, following a 1934 film starring Greta Garbo and Herbert Marshall and a 1957 version called The Seventh Sin with Bill Travers and Eleanor Parker."It's very much a story about people getting beyond the worst in themselves and figuring out how to look at each other honestly, forgive each other for their failings and get to a better place... When I read it, I was very affected by it because in it I saw my own failings."
He suggested casting Naomi Watts for the role of Kitty, but this decision did not take place until after she proved herself a bankable star with her performances in Mulholland Drive (2001) and 21 Grams (2003). When Watts joined the project, she recommended director John Curran, with whom she had collaborated on the 2004 film We Don't Live Here Anymore. The director's expertise with that work convinced Watts and Norton that he would be capable of depicting the dysfunctional relationship in The Painted Veil.The project began development at producers Bob Yari and Mark Gordon's Stratus Film Company, but when Stratus executive Mark Gill left to start Warner Independent Pictures, he took the project with him. Gill began production of the film in partnership with Yari. Gill was later fired before the film's completion by Warner Bros. production president Jeff Robinov. This was said to contribute to the film's marketing difficulties.Yari and Warner Independent Pictures collaborated with a Chinese partner who was granted approval over the script and the finished film. The partnership permitted a budget of $19 million for The Painted Veil. When the Chinese production company reviewed the film, its representatives were unhappy with the depiction of the Chinese uprising and the cholera victims, requesting that the scenes be revised. Norton and Curran expressed concerns that their studio accepted the censorship too quickly, with the director threatening to remove his name from the film. Their pressure resulted in limiting cuts from the film to 38 seconds.Filming
Filming took place on location in Shanghai, China]and in a southern Chinese rural village. The director did not want to build a set for the village beset by cholera, and instead sought a rural area in China. He came across the old quarter of Huangyao (黄姚古镇, huángyáo gǔzhèn) in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which then served as the location for the village scenes. The director described the location: "Even the Chinese crew members were amazed at the place we found...It was like going back in time." According to Nyswaner, a large amount of time of the film production was spent negotiating with the Chinese government for the completion of the film, as there were disagreements over issues in the script.Most of the film was shot in Guangxi. Director John Curran said "We wanted this movie to be distinctly Chinese. We didn’t want it to look like a film that you could shoot in Canada or Mexico or Italy." Line producer Antonia Barnard states that initially the film, like the novel, was to be set in Hong Kong; however, the crew realized Hong Kong of the time period would be difficult to replicate. They altered the story to set the plot in Shanghai; the crew shot "Shanghai for Shanghai in the period, and shot London scenes in Shanghai as well."
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