Fall Films Will Send Viewers to Bygone Eras

The Record - Hackensack, NJ

Jun 23, 2008

For those ready to move past the endless stream of dark dramas from fall 2007, get ready for a new barrage from the 1960s, the 1940s and the 1780s.

Studios are preparing to unleash a hailstorm of period movies in broad terms, films set in an era other than the current in the fall, at times turning the multiplex circa 2008 into a veritable cinematic museum.

The films range from large studio productions (Universal/Clint Eastwood's 1920s missing-child drama "Changeling" and Fox/Baz Luhrmann's World War II epic "Australia") to specialty releases (Searchlight's midcentury Southern tale "The Secret Life of Bees" and Miramax's 1960s Catholic-school drama "Doubt").

They veer from costume dramas (the 18th-century Keira Knightley quill-and-wig extravaganza "The Duchess") to political sagas (Ron Howard's "Frost/Nixon") to 1950s family dramas (the Sam Mendes- Leonardo DiCaprio collaboration "Revolutionary Road") to biopics (Gus Van Sant's "Milk") to yet more WWII throwbacks (Ed Zwick's "Defiance," Mikael Hafstrom's "Shanghai" and Spike Lee's "Miracle at St. Anna").

"It seems like Hollywood is merging with the History Channel," media critic Robert Thompson noted wryly.

The latest wave of period movies is notable for several reasons. These movies are coming all at once scores of pictures crammed into a period of just 10 or 12 weeks.

Last year, such movies as "Michael Clayton," "Rendition" and "In the Valley of Elah" took on current issues through a contemporary lens. This crop looks at equally large themes the corruption of power ("Changeling"), the innocent victims of war ("Australia," "St. Anna," "Defiance") and the question of truth ("Doubt," "Frost/ Nixon") but uses the distancing mechanism of period.

But for all the advantages, will consumers bite on stories that often take place before many of them were born? Executives acknowledge the challenges.

"The situations won't be as relatable, so you need to find something relatable that transcends the era," said Fox co-president of theatrical marketing Pam Levine, whose company will try to turn "Australia" into a wide play.

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