The Dead (1987 film)
Encyclopedia
The Dead is a 1987 film directed by John Huston
, starring his daughter Anjelica Huston
. The Dead was the last film that Huston directed, and it was released posthumously.
According to Pauline Kael
, "Huston directed the movie, at eighty, from a wheelchair, jumping up to look through the camera, with oxygen tubes trailing from his nose to a portable generator; most of the time, he had to watch the actors on a video monitor outside the set and use a microphone to speak to the crew. Yet he went into dramatic areas that he'd never gone into before - funny, warm family scenes that might be thought completely out of his range. Huston never before blended his actors so intuitively, so musically."
It was adapted from the short story "The Dead
" by James Joyce
(from his short works collection Dubliners
), and nominated for an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Costume Design
.
The film takes place in Dublin in 1904 at an Epiphany
party held by two elderly sisters. The story focuses attention on the academic Gabriel Conroy (Donal McCann
) and his discovery of his wife Gretta's (Anjelica Huston
) memory of a deceased lover.
The most significant change to the story was scriptwriter Tony Huston's inclusion of a new character, a Mr Grace, who recites an eighth-century Middle Irish poem, "Donal Óg". The effect of this is to act as catalyst for the "Distant Music" that provokes the memories Gretta and Gabriel discuss at the end of the film.
Nominated
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
, starring his daughter Anjelica Huston
Anjelica Huston
Anjelica Huston is an American actress. Huston became the third generation of her family to win an Academy Award, for her performance in 1985's Prizzi's Honor, joining her father, director John Huston, and grandfather, actor Walter Huston. She later was nominated in 1989 and 1990 for her acting in...
. The Dead was the last film that Huston directed, and it was released posthumously.
According to Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
, "Huston directed the movie, at eighty, from a wheelchair, jumping up to look through the camera, with oxygen tubes trailing from his nose to a portable generator; most of the time, he had to watch the actors on a video monitor outside the set and use a microphone to speak to the crew. Yet he went into dramatic areas that he'd never gone into before - funny, warm family scenes that might be thought completely out of his range. Huston never before blended his actors so intuitively, so musically."
It was adapted from the short story "The Dead
The Dead (short story)
"The Dead" is the final short story in the 1914 collection Dubliners by James Joyce. It is the longest story in the collection and is often considered the best of Joyce's shorter works. At 15,672 words it has also been considered a novella....
" by James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
(from his short works collection Dubliners
Dubliners
Dubliners is a collection of 15 short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. They were meant to be a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century....
), and nominated for an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Costume Design
Academy Award for Costume Design
The Academy Award for Best Costume Design is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for achievement in film costume design....
.
The film takes place in Dublin in 1904 at an Epiphany
Epiphany (Christian)
Epiphany, or Theophany, meaning "vision of God",...
party held by two elderly sisters. The story focuses attention on the academic Gabriel Conroy (Donal McCann
Donal McCann
Donal McCann was an Irish stage, film, and television actor best known for his roles in the works of Brian Friel and for his lead role in John Huston's last film, The Dead.-Early life:...
) and his discovery of his wife Gretta's (Anjelica Huston
Anjelica Huston
Anjelica Huston is an American actress. Huston became the third generation of her family to win an Academy Award, for her performance in 1985's Prizzi's Honor, joining her father, director John Huston, and grandfather, actor Walter Huston. She later was nominated in 1989 and 1990 for her acting in...
) memory of a deceased lover.
Film adaptation
The film adaptation is largely faithful to Joyce's short story, with some alterations made to the dialogue to aid the narrative for cinema audiences.The most significant change to the story was scriptwriter Tony Huston's inclusion of a new character, a Mr Grace, who recites an eighth-century Middle Irish poem, "Donal Óg". The effect of this is to act as catalyst for the "Distant Music" that provokes the memories Gretta and Gabriel discuss at the end of the film.
Cast
- Gretta Conroy - Anjelica HustonAnjelica HustonAnjelica Huston is an American actress. Huston became the third generation of her family to win an Academy Award, for her performance in 1985's Prizzi's Honor, joining her father, director John Huston, and grandfather, actor Walter Huston. She later was nominated in 1989 and 1990 for her acting in...
- Gabriel Conroy - Donal McCannDonal McCannDonal McCann was an Irish stage, film, and television actor best known for his roles in the works of Brian Friel and for his lead role in John Huston's last film, The Dead.-Early life:...
- Aunt Julia Morkan - Cathleen Delany
- Aunt Kate Morkan - Helena CarrollHelena CarrollHelena Carroll is a Scottish film, television and stage actress. She was born and raised in Edinburgh, where she attended Notre Dame High School...
- Lily - Rachael Dowling
- Mary Jane - Ingrid Craigie
- Mrs. Malins - Marie KeanMarie KeanMarie Kean was an Irish actress of stage and screen whose career spanned over 40 years.Kean grew up in the village of Rush, County Dublin and was educated at Loreto College, North Great George's Street, Dublin...
- Theodore Alfred “Freddy” Malins - Donal DonnellyDonal DonnellyDonal Donnelly was an English-born Irish theatre and film actor. He was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, but raised in Dublin, Ireland....
- Bartell D'Arcy - Frank PattersonFrank PattersonFrank Patterson was an internationally renowned Irish tenor following in the tradition of singers such as Count John McCormack and Josef Locke. He was known as "Ireland's Golden Tenor".- Early life :...
- Miss Daly - Lyda Anderson
- Miss Furlong - Kate O'TooleKate O'Toole (actress)Kate E. O'Toole is an Irish actress. She is the daughter of actors Peter O'Toole and Siân Phillips and was named after Katharine Hepburn....
- Miss Higgins - Bairbre DowlingBairbre DowlingBairbre Dowling is an Irish actress.Born in Dublin as Barbara Patricia Dowling, she was formerly married to Irish actor Colm Meaney, and is the daughter of Irish-American actor Vincent Dowling, and the late Irish actress, Brenda Doyle She has appeared in relatively few TV shows and movies, the...
- Molly Ivors - Maria McDermottroe
- Mr. Bergin - Colm MeaneyColm MeaneyColm J. Meaney is an Irish actor widely known for playing Miles O'Brien in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He is second only to Michael Dorn in most appearances in Star Trek episodes. He has guest-starred on many TV shows from Law & Order to The Simpsons...
- Mr. Browne - Dan O'HerlihyDan O'HerlihyDaniel O'Herlihy was an Oscar nominated Irish film actor.-Early life:O'Herlihy was born in Wexford, Ireland in 1919. His family moved to Dublin at a young age...
- Mr. Grace - Sean McClorySean McClorySean McClory was an Irish actor whose career spanned six decades and included well over 100 films and television series.-Early years:...
- Mr. Kerrigan - Cormac O’Herlihy
- Mrs. O’Callaghan - Maria Hayden
- Young Lady - Dara Clarke
- 1st Young Gentleman - Paul GrantPaul GrantPaul Grant was a British bodybuilder. He was born as a twin in Wales in 1943. He left school at 16 and began working with his own bread delivery business whilst training with weights to increase his muscle mass....
- 2nd Young Gentleman - Paul CarrollPaul CarrollPaul Carroll was an American poet and the founder of the Poetry Center of Chicago. A professor for many years at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Professor Emeritus, his books include Poem in Its Skin and Odes. While a student, he was an editor of Chicago Review...
- 3rd Young Gentleman - Patrick GallagherPatrick Gallagher (actor)-Career:Gallagher is best known for his television roles as Det. Joe Finn in Da Vinci's Inquest, the alcohol salesman in Entourage, Leon in The Line, Farhod the Fierce in Pair of Kings, and Ken Tanaka in Glee, and his film roles as Awkward Davies in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World...
- Carman - Brendan Dillon
- Nightporter - Redmond M. Gleeson
Release
The Dead was initially released on DVD by Lionsgate on November 3, 2009. However, the DVD had nearly ten minutes of the film missing. When word of this was posted on various websites, Lionsgate eventually released a complete version.Academy Awards - 1988
Nominations:- Best Costume DesignAcademy Award for Costume DesignThe Academy Award for Best Costume Design is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for achievement in film costume design....
- Rachael Dowling and Dorothy Jeakins - Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another MediumAcademy Award for Writing Adapted ScreenplayThe Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
- Tony Huston
Other awards
Winner- 1987 Tokyo International Film Festival - Special Achievement Award, John Huston
- 1988 National Society of Film Critics Awards (USA) - Best Film
- 1988 Independent Spirit Awards (US Independent Film Awards) - Best Director, John Huston
- 1988 Independent Spirit Awards (US Independent Film Awards) - Best Supporting Female, Anjelica Huston
- 1989 Bodil Awards, (Danish Film Critics) - Best Non-European Film
- 1989 Fotogramas de Plata (Spain) - Best Foreign Film
- 1989 London Critics Circle Film Awards - Director of the Year, John Huston
Nominated
- 1988 Independent Spirit Awards (US Independent Film Awards) - Best Cinematography, Fred Murphy
- 1988 Independent Spirit Awards (US Independent Film Awards) - Best Screenplay, Tony Huston