The Sea Gull cast
in front of the dacha
built especially for the production
From the presskit:
Togetherness marks
A cast that harmoniously rehearses together plays well together.
That, it sems, is a cardinal precept of modern film-making. It was certainly true in the case of filming Anton Chekhov’s classic drama of seething relationships, The Sea Gull.
Sidney Lumet, who produced and directed the Technicolor film for Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, kept his cast —headed by James Mason, Vanessa Redgrave, Simone Signoret and David Warner— immersed in matters Chekhovian on location outside of Stockholm, Sweden.
To the estimable Miss Signoret, who is skilled at investing the frankly sensual with dramatic nuances, the filming of the drama was marked by
an extraordinary relationship between the actors. Certainly, it was due to Chekhov —and also to Sidney Lumet, because he made us relate to ourselves and to the play, Miss Signoret defines.The Sea Gull, which was filmed in 27 days, following 10 days of rehearsals, germinated as a movie project three years ago, when Miss Signoret, Mason and Warner filmed Lumet’s The Deadly Affair.
The Sea Gull was filmed directly from a new translation by Baroness Moura Budberg. Gerry Fisher was cinematographer. Tony Walton did the production design and the costumes.
Sea Gull
cast gets crash Chekhov’s courseChekhovian drama recently permeated lovely Kerso Gard, 25 miles outside Stockholm, ruffling the surrounding lake and lea with the mystical emotions of the Russian playwright’s acclaimed play, The Sea Gull, in a vibrant translation to film.
There, producer-director Sidney Lumet conducted, as he describes it,
a crash course in Chekhov for his cast, in filming The Sea Gull for Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. James Mason, Vanessa Redgrave, Simone Signoret and David Warner star in the Technicolor drama, which was filmed directly from a new translation by Baroness Moura Budberg.Throughout production, Lumet kept his performers immersed in matters Chekhovian, tightly tuned to both the playwright’s intents and the roiling emotions of his characters.
Although Lumet termed his technique a
survival course for the actors, everyone came through with flying colors, including Harry Andrews, Denholm Elliot, Eileen Herlie, Alfred Lynch, Ronald Radden and Kathleen Widdoes, who also star.The Sea Gull was filmed in 27 days, following 10 days of rehearsals, on location at Kerso Gard, where a sprawling house, typical of a late-19th century Russian estate, was constructed. Tony Walton did the production design and costumes. Set dressing was by Rune Hjelm and Rolf Larsson. Eric Bjork was scenic artist.
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MORE PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE MOVIE
This page is dedicated to my friend MJ OWENS
MJ, this page would not exist without you
and the website would not be as good…
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