‘The Libertine’ is a 2004 feature film directed by Laurence Dunmore. It was adapted by Stephen Jeffreys from his play of the same name, starring Johnny Depp, John Malkovich, Samantha Morton, and Rosamund Pike.
Depp stars as John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, a notorious rake and libertine poet in the court of King Charles II of England. Samantha Morton plays Elizabeth Barry, an actress whose budding talent blossoms and makes her much in demand under Rochester’s tutelage. Wilmot and Barry become lovers. John Malkovich plays King Charles II, who is torn between his affection for Wilmot and the danger posed by his displays of contempt for his sovereign. Themes explored in the film include the corruption of a people by their self-indulgent monarch and the pursuit of hedonism.
We started prep for this just before Christmas 2003 with a day of camera tests at Petworth House – the director wanted to shoot the entire film by candlelight so needed to convince the producers this would work… Full prep started early in 2004 and was going well until several things happened. Jonny Depp and our production designer Ben van Os were both nominated for Oscars so the shoot was pushed back a week. Instead of starting at Stanway House in Gloucester, the schedule was turned around and we kicked off at Montacute House in Somerset.
With these changes affecting prep and shoot, the news that the government were withdrawing the tax incentives for film making came as a hammer blow. Suddenly our budget was reduced by a third! Fortunately, John Malkovich was filming another project on the Isle of Man and (in his role as producer) persuaded their film council to provide the funding so we could continue with production on ‘The Libertine’. What that did mean was the theatre set currently under construction at Bray Studios had to be dismantled and transported to the studio at Ramsey, IoM.
The construction team were so stretched by the revised schedule that we had to bring in a second construction manager and crew to run the IoM build. It was definitely hectic but when the main unit arrived six weeks later, the set looked stunning…. a fitting climax to a rich contribution from the art department!
You can take a look at some of the visuals I produced for the film plus some of the final sets below. For more pics of the whole shoot, click here.
