Immortal Beloved (1994)
Trivia
Gary Oldman actually played all of the Beethoven pieces he performed in the film. A different musician performed in the official soundtrack. When Oldman learned he would be playing the lead role, he spent six weeks practicing on a Steinway piano for six hours a day in his hotel, and completely immersed himself in the music as his research for the character. In an interview with the South Bank show in 1997, Oldman quoted an article that said "he mimes very well" in the film. He then laughed and said "I'm playing it! I can play that!"
In real life, Schindler was not a friend of Beethoven, though he was Beethoven's secretary for a while. It has been claimed that Schindler destroyed 260 of Beethoven's approximately 400 conversation notebooks, and forged entries into the surviving ones.
Bernard Rose removed the music from the Columbia and Focus opening segments. He thought they sounded "cheesy" compared to Beethoven.
Gary Oldman also starred in Léon: The Professional (1994), playing a character obsessed with Beethoven.
Beethoven wrote a love letter to his "Immortal Beloved" in the summer of 1812, at the spa in Teplitz. Her identity has long been a subject of debate. Possible candidates include: Julie Guicciardi, Therese Malfatti, Josephine Brunsvik, and Antonie Brentano.
Beethoven's remarks to Schindler during their first meeting, at a rehearsal of the Kreutzer sonata, is taken from Tolstoy's short story "The Kreutzer Sonata".
In real life, Beethoven had very few intimate relationships with women, and has been described as something of a misogynist.
Anthony Hopkins was the original choice to play Beethoven.
Jeroen Krabbé was going to play Beethoven.
Gary Oldman doesn't say anything for the first 20 minutes of the film.
Stephen Rea turned down the role of Beethoven.
