Miss Potter (2006)

The story of Beatrix Potter, the author of the beloved and best-selling children's book, "The Tale of Peter Rabbit", and her struggle for love, happiness and success.

Director:

Chris Noonan

Writer:

Richard Maltby Jr.

Stars:

Renée Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, Emily Watson

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 5 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Renée Zellweger	...	Beatrix Potter
Ewan McGregor	...	Norman Warne
Emily Watson	...	Millie Warne
Barbara Flynn	...	Helen Potter
Bill Paterson	...	Rupert Potter
Matyelok Gibbs	...	Miss Wiggin
Lloyd Owen	...	William Heelis
Anton Lesser	...	Harold Warne
David Bamber	...	Fruing Warne
Phyllida Law	...	Mrs. Warne
Patricia Kerrigan	...	Fiona
Lucy Boynton	...	Young Beatrix
Oliver Jenkins	...	Young Bertram
Justin McDonald	...	Young Heelis
Judith Barker	...	Hilda

Storyline

In 1902, in London, the spinster Beatrix Potter lives with her bourgeois parents. Her snobbish mother, Helen Potter, had introduced several bachelors to Beatrix until she was twenty years old, but she had turned them all down. Beatrix Potter has been drawing animals and making up stories about them since she was a child, but her parents have never recognized her as an artist. One day, Miss Potter offers her stories to a print house, and a rookie publisher, Norman Warne, who is delighted with her tales, publishes her first children's book. This success leads Norman to publish two other books, and Miss Potter meanwhile becomes the best friend of his single sister Millie Warne. Soon Beatrix and Norman fall in love with each other, but Helen does not accept that her daughter would marry a "trader". However, Beatrix's father Rupert Potter proposes that his daughter spend the summer with his wife and him in their country house in Lake District, and if she is still interested in Norman after...

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Plot Keywords:

illustrator | book | letter | children | friend | 

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Taglines:

The life of Beatrix Potter is the most enchanting tale of all.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for brief mild language

Details

Country:

UK USA Isle Of Man

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 March 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Beatrix Potter - taiteilijaelämää

Filming Locations:

Bluebell Railway, East Sussex, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$13,205, 31 December 2006, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$2,975,649, 24 June 2007

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$35,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Phoenix Pictures,UK Film Council,Grosvenor Park Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

For the scene when Miss Potter and Norman Warne say goodbye at the train station, the script says "exterior rain". Though Ewan McGregor suggested covering the clothes in glycerin to simulate the soaking wet look and to avoid having to actually be drenched, costume designer Anthony Powell insisted the actors be heavily sprayed down for the scene to look authentic. Ewan McGregor was made a very thin wet suit to wear under his costume so he could stay warm.

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Goofs

Norman actually proposed to Beatrix in a letter, and her parents never softened their opposition to the match.

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Quotes

Helen Potter: I wish you wouldn't bring tradespeople into the house. They carry dust.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: The Painted Veil/Miss Potter/Perfume: The Story of a Murderer/Notes on a Scandal/The Curse of the Golden Flower/Pan's Labyrinth (2007)

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Soundtracks

Let Me Teach You How to Dance
Music by Nigel Westlake
Lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr.
Performed by Ewan McGregor
Another Name Music (ASCAP)

User Reviews

A Perfect film for the Oldest of Curmudgeon's

If like me you are an old curmudgeon, who often makes Scrooge seem like Mother Theresa, then I strongly suggest you go watch this beautiful enchanting film on the life of Beatrix Potter.

It is extremely rare in these days of overblown special effects and "Written by Number Scripts" to come across a film that has intelligence, innocence, excellent acting, and beautiful music and cinematography.

I have seen other reviews that said Renee Zellwegger was wrong for the role of Potter, but I felt she had clearly understood the nature of the world in which Potter lived and the inner nature of a woman who had enormous talent, yet was determined to fight against the confinement's and mores of Victorian Society. There really was not one performance by any of the actors in the film that was out of place.

In these days when we educate our children with cynical reality shows, in which instant and short lived fame is more important that working hard to achieve your dreams, "Miss Potter" took me back to my childhood of innocence and imagination where simple but beautiful stories created so much warmth and good feeling.

This is a film for all age's, and all people. Absolutely beautiful from start to finish