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Merchant Ivory Productions (1961- ) is a film company founded by director
Film director

A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a film. A film director visualizes the Screenplay, controlling a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of his or her vision....
 James Ivory
James Ivory (director)

James Francis Ivory is an award-winning United States film director, best known for the results of his long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, which included both India Film producer Ismail Merchant and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala....
 and producer
Film producer

A film producer is someone who creates the conditions for making film. The producer initiates, co-ordinates, supervises and controls matters such as fund-raising, hiring key personnel and arranging for distributors....
 Ismail Merchant
Ismail Merchant

Ismail Merchant was an Indian-born film producer, best known for the results of his famously long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions which included film director James Ivory and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala....
. Their films were for the most part directed by the former, produced by the latter and scripted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Order of the British Empire is a Booker Prize novelist, short story writer, and two-time Academy Awards screenwriter. She is perhaps best known for her long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, made up of film director James Ivory and the late producer Ismail Merchant....
 (a noted exception of a few films). The films were often based upon novels or short stories, particularly the work of Henry James
Henry James

Henry James, Order of Merit , son of theologian Henry James Sr., brother of the philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James, was an United States author....
, E. M. Forster
E. M. Forster

Edward Morgan Forster Order of Merit , Order of the Companions of Honour , was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist, and librettist....
, and two novels by Jhabvala herself.

The initial goal of the company was "to make English-language films in India aimed at the international market," but the company ended up making many films set in England and America.

Some Hollywood actors and producers associated with the tightly-knitted Merchant Ivory film family include Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman

Uma Karuna Thurman Hawke , better known as Uma Thurman, is an American actress. She performs predominantly in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedy film and dramas to science fiction film and Action movie Thriller s....
, Madhur Jaffrey
Madhur Jaffrey

Madhur Jaffrey is an Indian actress, who has also found fame as a food writer, introducing the Western world to the many Indian cuisine....
, Aparna Sen
Aparna Sen

Aparna Sen is a critically acclaimed Indian filmmaker, script writer, and actress. She is the winner of three National Film Awards and eight international film festival awards....
, Shashi Kapoor
Shashi Kapoor

Shashi Kapoor , born Balbir Raj Kapoor on March 18, 1938 in Calcutta, is a legendary Indian film actor and producer and a member of the famous Kapoor family, an influential film dynasty in India's Bollywood cinema....
, Jennifer Kendal
Jennifer Kendal

Jennifer Kapoor - born Jennifer Kendal - was a United Kingdom actor who married into the Kapoor Family ....
, Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant

Hugh John Mungo Grant is a British people actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary C?sar. His movies have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide....
, James Wilby
James Wilby

James Jonathon Wilby is an English people actor for film, TV and stage ....
, Rupert Graves
Rupert Graves

Rupert Graves is an England actor....
, Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins

Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, Order of the British Empire is a Welsh People film, theater and television actor. Considered by many to be one of film's greatest living actors, he is best known for his portrayal of cannibalism serial killer Hannibal Lecter in the 1991 in film blockbuster The Silence of the Lambs , its sequel, Hannibal ,...
, Glenn Close
Glenn Close

Glenn Close is an United States actress and singer of theatre and film, perhaps best known for her role as deranged stalker Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction ....
, Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson

Emma Thompson is a two-time Academy Award-, Emmy Award-, BAFTA Award- and Golden Globe-winning English actress, comedian, and screenwriter. She is also a patron of the Refugee Council....
, Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave

Vanessa Redgrave Order of the British Empire is an Academy Award, Golden Globe, Emmy and Tony Award winning England actor. She is the most famous member of the Redgrave family, the world renowned theatrical dynasty....
 and Helena Bonham Carter
Helena Bonham Carter

Helena Bonham Carter is an Academy Award-nominated England actor. Bonham Carter made her screen debut in the K. M. Peyton film, A Pattern of Roses, before appearing in her first leading role in Lady Jane ....
.

Of this collaboration, Merchant once commented: "It is a strange marriage we have at Merchant Ivory...






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Merchant Ivory Productions (1961- ) is a film company founded by director
Film director

A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a film. A film director visualizes the Screenplay, controlling a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of his or her vision....
 James Ivory
James Ivory (director)

James Francis Ivory is an award-winning United States film director, best known for the results of his long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, which included both India Film producer Ismail Merchant and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala....
 and producer
Film producer

A film producer is someone who creates the conditions for making film. The producer initiates, co-ordinates, supervises and controls matters such as fund-raising, hiring key personnel and arranging for distributors....
 Ismail Merchant
Ismail Merchant

Ismail Merchant was an Indian-born film producer, best known for the results of his famously long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions which included film director James Ivory and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala....
. Their films were for the most part directed by the former, produced by the latter and scripted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Order of the British Empire is a Booker Prize novelist, short story writer, and two-time Academy Awards screenwriter. She is perhaps best known for her long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, made up of film director James Ivory and the late producer Ismail Merchant....
 (a noted exception of a few films). The films were often based upon novels or short stories, particularly the work of Henry James
Henry James

Henry James, Order of Merit , son of theologian Henry James Sr., brother of the philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James, was an United States author....
, E. M. Forster
E. M. Forster

Edward Morgan Forster Order of Merit , Order of the Companions of Honour , was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist, and librettist....
, and two novels by Jhabvala herself.

The initial goal of the company was "to make English-language films in India aimed at the international market," but the company ended up making many films set in England and America.

Some Hollywood actors and producers associated with the tightly-knitted Merchant Ivory film family include Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman

Uma Karuna Thurman Hawke , better known as Uma Thurman, is an American actress. She performs predominantly in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedy film and dramas to science fiction film and Action movie Thriller s....
, Madhur Jaffrey
Madhur Jaffrey

Madhur Jaffrey is an Indian actress, who has also found fame as a food writer, introducing the Western world to the many Indian cuisine....
, Aparna Sen
Aparna Sen

Aparna Sen is a critically acclaimed Indian filmmaker, script writer, and actress. She is the winner of three National Film Awards and eight international film festival awards....
, Shashi Kapoor
Shashi Kapoor

Shashi Kapoor , born Balbir Raj Kapoor on March 18, 1938 in Calcutta, is a legendary Indian film actor and producer and a member of the famous Kapoor family, an influential film dynasty in India's Bollywood cinema....
, Jennifer Kendal
Jennifer Kendal

Jennifer Kapoor - born Jennifer Kendal - was a United Kingdom actor who married into the Kapoor Family ....
, Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant

Hugh John Mungo Grant is a British people actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary C?sar. His movies have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide....
, James Wilby
James Wilby

James Jonathon Wilby is an English people actor for film, TV and stage ....
, Rupert Graves
Rupert Graves

Rupert Graves is an England actor....
, Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins

Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, Order of the British Empire is a Welsh People film, theater and television actor. Considered by many to be one of film's greatest living actors, he is best known for his portrayal of cannibalism serial killer Hannibal Lecter in the 1991 in film blockbuster The Silence of the Lambs , its sequel, Hannibal ,...
, Glenn Close
Glenn Close

Glenn Close is an United States actress and singer of theatre and film, perhaps best known for her role as deranged stalker Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction ....
, Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson

Emma Thompson is a two-time Academy Award-, Emmy Award-, BAFTA Award- and Golden Globe-winning English actress, comedian, and screenwriter. She is also a patron of the Refugee Council....
, Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave

Vanessa Redgrave Order of the British Empire is an Academy Award, Golden Globe, Emmy and Tony Award winning England actor. She is the most famous member of the Redgrave family, the world renowned theatrical dynasty....
 and Helena Bonham Carter
Helena Bonham Carter

Helena Bonham Carter is an Academy Award-nominated England actor. Bonham Carter made her screen debut in the K. M. Peyton film, A Pattern of Roses, before appearing in her first leading role in Lady Jane ....
.

Of this collaboration, Merchant once commented: "It is a strange marriage we have at Merchant Ivory... I am an Indian Muslim, Ruth is a German Jew, and Jim is a Protestant American. Someone once described us as a three-headed god. Maybe they should have called us a three-headed monster!" .

The expression "Merchant-Ivory film" has made its way into common parlance, to denote a particular genre of film rather than the actual production company. The heyday of this genre was the 1980s and 1990s. A typical "Merchant-Ivory film" would be a period piece
Period piece

"Period piece" is phrase that is used to describe creative works....
 set in the early 20th century, usually in Edwardian England, featuring lavish sets and top British actors portraying genteel characters who suffer from disillusion and tragic entanglements.

Selected filmography


External links