Fun Film Trivia from Jane Campion's Bright Star
Behind the Scenes on the Romantic Drama Starring Abbie Cornish
Sep 24, 2009
The romantic period drama, Bright Star, stars Abbie Cornish, Ben Whishaw, Paul Schneider, and Kerry Fox. Written and directed by Jane Campion. Produced by Jan Chapman and Caroline Hewitt.
Story Background of Bright Star
Bright Star writer and director Jane Campion’s film The Piano won three Oscars, including one for Best Original Screenplay in 1993. Bright Star is Campion’s first feature film in six years, since her 2003 contemporary crime thriller In The Cut. Campion was inspired to write her script about the real-life Romeo and Juliet-style lovers after reading Andrew Motion’s biography of Keats. The plot was influenced by a variety of sources including Keats’ letters and poems as well as Motion’s book, Keats: A Biography.
The film's title, Bright Star, comes from a love poem for 18 year-old Brawne, which the 23 year-old English poet Keats wrote in the flyleaf of his copy of the works of Shakespeare. Campion modeled the passionate and witty character of Fanny on her 13 year-old daughter, Alice.
Main Characters of Bright Star
- Frances “Fanny” Brawne, a fashion-forward young woman, who designed and sewed her own clothing, is played by Abbie Cornish ((Stop-Loss, Elizabeth: The Golden Age).
- John Keats, a young English poet of Romanticism, who lived next to the Brawne family with his friend, Charles, to be near his hospitalized younger brother, is played by Ben Whishaw (I’m Not There, Brideshead Revisited).
- Charles Armitage Brown, friend and host to Keats, who did not approve of Keats' emotional entanglement with Fanny, is played by Paul Schneider (NBC’s Parks & Recreation, Lars and the Real Girl).
- Mrs. Brawne, Fanny’s protective mother, who wouldn’t allow her daughter’s engagement until Keats could demonstrate his ability to financially support her from the profits of his published works, is played by Kerry Fox (Intimacy).
On Location with Bright Star
Filming took place during the Spring of 2008 entirely on location in Bedfordshire, England; with the exception of one day's shooting in Rome.
The Hyde House estate near Luton was used as the main location. Its natural gardens were used to simulate the heaths of Hampstead. The two houses on the property were stand-ins for the house Brown shared with the Brawnes, and the cottage, where the Brawnes originally lived.
Hyde House was the first location that was scouted for the film’s setting. Upstairs in the main house, the crew found an old photograph of a family walking out of the local pub, called Bright Star.
Behind the Poetry of Bright Star
In 1816, Keats became a licensed medical surgeon, but he never practiced his profession, devoting himself his life instead to write poetry. While he attended to his dying brother Tom, Keats stayed with his friend Charles Armitage Brown. Brown’s house was near Hampstead Heath, and next door to Mrs. Brawne’s home, that housed her children, including the eldest, Fanny Brawne.
In 1819, the 23 year old English Romantic poet John Keats wrote the love poem Bright Star for his 18 year-old next door neighbor Fanny Brawne.
Among the members of artistic movement of the late 1700's Romanticism period’s English literary circle were Lord Byron, William Blake, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and William Wordsworth. The romantic bards encouraged individualism, idealism, passion, and a curiosity for the supernatural.
Keats and Fanny were privately engaged in October 1819, but never married. Soon after their engagement, Keats was stricken with tuberculosis. Following his doctor’s orders to recuperate in a warmer climate, Keats left for Italy with his friend, the painter Joseph Severn, in 1820.
At the age of 25, Keats died, and was buried in Rome in February 1821. He never saw Fanny again. Keats final poem was titled To Fanny.
[Source Material Courtesy of Apparition]
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