WAMG Talks To WOMAN IN GOLD Director Simon Curtis

After having robust box office numbers this past weekend and being praised by both audiences and critics, WOMAN IN GOLD opens in wide release this Friday, April 10. In his review, Jim Batts says, “WOMAN IN GOLD concerns a celebrated work of art, but it’s also about two inspiring lives also worthy of celebration.” Read his review here.

WOMAN IN GOLD is the remarkable true story of one woman’s journey to reclaim her heritage and seek justice for what happened to her family. Sixty years after she fled Vienna during World War II, an elderly Jewish woman, Maria Altmann (Mirren), starts her journey to retrieve family possessions seized by the Nazis, among them Klimt’s famous painting ‘Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I’. Together with her inexperienced but plucky young lawyer Randy Schoenberg (Reynolds), she embarks upon a major battle which takes them all the way to the heart of the Austrian establishment and the U.S. Supreme Court, and forces her to confront difficult truths about the past along the way.

The movie stars Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Daniel Brühl, Katie Holmes, Tatiana Maslany, Max Irons, Charles Dance, Antje Traue, Elizabeth McGovern, Jonathan Pryce, Frances Fisher, Moritz Bleibtreu and is directed by Simon Curtis.

Simon Curtis began as a theatre director and directed extensively at the Royal Court Theatre London as well as the National Theatre, Donmar Warehouse and Lincoln Centre, New York. He directed ROAD at La Mama and LITTLE VOICE at Steppenwolf Theater Chicago and on Broadway.

For the BBC he directed Maggie Smith, Ian McKellen and Daniel Radcliffe in DAVID COPPERFIELD, Sally Hawkins in TWENTY THOUSAND STREETS UNDER THE SKY, David Oyelowo in FIVE DAYS (HBO), Julie Walters in A SHORT STAY IN SWITZERLAND (International Emmy Best Actress) and Judi Dench, Michael Gambon, Imelda Staunton. Eileen Atkins and Tom Hiddlestone in the multi Emmy and Bafta winning CRANFORD. He is the Executive Producer of the forthcoming INDIAN SUMMERS on Channel 4 and PBS.

His debut film MY WEEK WITH MARILYN (TWC AND BBC) with Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne, Kenneth Branagh, Emma Watson and Judi Dench received two Academy Award Nominations and was nominated for three Golden Globes and six Baftas.

I spoke with Curtis about his latest film the day after the New York City premiere.

WAMG: How was the premiere for the film?

Simon Curtis: It was fantastic and we had members of the Schoenberg and the Altmann Families there. We had the party at the Neue Galerie in front of the painting so it was very meaningful actually.

WAMG: Helen Mirren looked fabulous.

SC: She looked stunning, she really did!

WAMG: WOMAN IN GOLD was inspired by the documentary “STEALING KLIMT”. What was it about Altmann’s story that personally struck you?

SC: I loved that it was a great story from the 20^th century taking us from Vienna at the beginning of the century to California at the end of the century, making us all think of our past. It’s a film about memory in many ways. My last film is called MY WEEK WITH MARILYN, this one is “My Week with Maria.” It’s a huge scope of a story.

WAMG: I thought it was very effective to have the German characters speaking with English subtitles.

SC: That was part of the changing of her identity. Maria grew up in Vienna speaking German and moved to America speaking English.

There’s a scene toward the end where Maria’s father, in his heart wrenching final farewell to his daughter, says, ‘And now I speak in English, the language of your future’, which for me is a critical moment in the film. So I was lucky that everyone supported me in that.

There were a lot of nationalities who immigrated, leaving everything behind. There’s a price to be paid for that.

WAMG: Maria married aspiring opera singer Fritz Altmann. After reaching the United States, Maria and Fritz settled in California and raised four children. Why not include their four children in the movie?

SC: We had to leave out a lot of things. We could have done more on Klimt and Adele and do all kinds of things, but we thought our story was more about this odd couple. We thought had Randy and sons bumped into each other in the story, it would complicate things. And really, we wanted to get them to Vienna as soon as possible.

WAMG: Maria’s escape from Vienna could be a film all by itself.

SC: Yeah, it could be.

WAMG: Cinematographer Ross Emery’s images were striking – showing the past in sepia tones was an effective and subtle nuance.

SC: He’s a great cameraman. We opted to use de-saturated visuals for the historical past, while the contemporary scenes are shot with the vivid vibrancy of modern American cinema.

WAMG: The turning point in the movie comes when Ryan Reynolds stops at the Holocaust memorial. It’s an emotional moment that really grabs you.

SC: That’s based on a real event that Randy Schoenberg told our writer, Alexi Kaye Campbell. Randy said he was overcome with emotion at that point. That was the impetus of the film and a truth that was put in.

Ryan Reynolds played it with intelligence and when his character is moved by events, it’s all the more moving for the audience.

Ryan is a wonderful actor and I was very pleased to make the film with him.

WAMG: After watching the “STEALING KLIMT” documentary, I noticed Reynolds and Mirren were very much like their real life counterparts. Were they your first choices?

SC: Helen was my first and only choice. Although I knew Helen, I’d never directed her, so it was a thrill when she shared my enthusiasm for the script.

I was happy to have them both in the film and was thrilled with their chemistry.

WAMG: The interaction between the two was great.

SC:  Their chemistry really drove the film. It also added a lot of humor to the film.

WAMG: WOMAN IN GOLD’s score was collaborated on by Martin Phipps and Hans Zimmer. It’s such a terrific soundtrack.

SC: I thought so too. Hans Zimmer is no slouch, is he?

WAMG: How was the film received at its World Premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on February 9th?

SC: It was quite daunting and an honor to play the film to 2,000 people in the heart of Berlin for obvious reasons, but it played really well! We were very excited.

Some of our best reviews were the Austrian and German ones, interestingly enough.

WAMG: With the troubles going on in the world, why is this a good time for this film to be released?

SC: That answers itself in a way. I think with all the troubles going on, it’s landed at a very timely moment – unfortunately you could say.

After the ruling in Austria, Altmann and her family subsequently sold the five Klimt paintings, with cosmetics magnate Ronald Lauder purchasing the portrait of Adele for a then-record sum of $135M. Maria’s proviso was that it should always be on public display and it hangs today in Lauder’s Neue Galerie in New York City.

On April 2, 2015, Neue Galerie New York opened “Gustav Klimt and Adele Bloch-Bauer: The Woman in Gold,” an intimate exhibition devoted to the close relationship that existed between the artist and one of his key subjects and patrons. The show will be on view through September 7, 2015.

Maria Altmann passed away in 2011, at the age of 94. Since winning the case, Schoenberg has become an enthusiastic advocate for art restitution and set up a company dedicated to the fulfillment of those goals. He also used part of his own proceeds from the sale of Klimt’s painting to help fund a new wing for the Holocaust Museum in Los Angeles, striving to keep essential memories alive for future generations.

From The Weinstein Company, WOMAN IN GOLD is in theaters now.

Visit the film’s official site: womaningoldmovie.com