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feature in focus
CLIMB
EVERY MOUNTAIN
From the Celtic fringe to the Julian Alps,
W hat’s the connection between Kranjska
Gora, a popular Slovenian ski resort, and Llanelli’s Stradey Castle in South-West Wales?
Through the miracle of modern film- making – or perhaps more accurately, the vagaries of motion picture financ- ing and production logistics – they are the principal locations for a new all-star British version of Heidi, Johanna Spyri’s 19th Century childhood classic.
The heart-warming tale of the little orphaned Swiss miss is, of course, hardly a stranger to screens big and small with more than 20 versions down the years, starting out even before talkies arrived.
Shirley Temple played her adorably in 1937, and who could
forget a lederhosen-clad Charlie Sheen as Peter the Goatboy in an otherwise forgettable 1990 effort wisely re-titled Courage Mountain.
For the new millennium’s second foray into Heidiland (although you can hardly count the first, in 2001, with its bizarre updating to include email and cyber cafés), a truly international cast has been assembled. It includes Max von Sydow, Dame Diana Rigg, Geraldine Chaplin, Robert Bathurst, Pauline McLynn and nine-year-old Dubliner Emma (In America) Bolger
in the title role.
According to the subject’s latest director Paul Marcus, his script (by Brian Finch) is “an immensely distinguished and beautiful piece of adaptation. We were at pains to try and create a world that was real rather than a sort of terrible kitsch representation of Alpine life.
“What makes the story so moving and enduring is the life that the little girl goes to and comes from. There are elements of genuine physical hardship as she’s exposed to all the elements.
It also represents a triumph over all kinds of obstacles rather just a choco- late box Alpine landscape that has no edge to it.”
This is Marcus’ first theatrical feature after a career, which began in theatre directing. It then progressed with a series of BAFTA and Emmy award-winning TV films as producer (Prime Suspect 2 & 3, Hancock) before Marcus switched 10 years ago to directing top-rated dramas and episodic television such as Prime Suspect 4, Murder Rooms, Dalziel & Pascoe and In Deep.
Said Marcus: “Even when, to my great good fortune, I fell into a period with a rich vein of producing work,
continued over
how Heidi overcame major obstacles to reach the big screen
Photo main: Emma Bolger as Heidi; above l-r: DP Peter Sinclair, director Paul Marcus and star Max von Sydow; scenes from Heidi Fujifilm Motion Picture • The Magazine • Exposure • 25