Patrick O'Brian Film

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CineMedia Promotions

17 November 2003

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MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE, MASTER AND COMMANDER
Featuring Original Music By The Australian Trio Of Iva Davies, Christopher Gordon & Richard Tognetti

Also Featuring Acclaimed Cellist Yo-Yo Ma

Released On November 11, 2003  From Decca/UMG Soundtracks

(NY, NY - November 10, 2003) Oscar Winner Russell Crowe (Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind) continues his string of unforgettable character transformations as Captain Lucky Jack Aubry in the highly anticipated Master And Commander- The Far Side of the World.  Three-time Academy Award-nominee director Peter Weir (Witness, The Truman Show) joins Crowe and Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind) in the epic based on the tenth book in Patrick O'Brian's legendary series of novels about the British navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The soundtrack will be in-stores on November 11th on Decca/UMG Soundtracks.

Patrick O'Brian's novel Master & Commander was declared by The New York Times to be "the best historical novels ever written." In the film, Aubrey's ship, the Surprise, is attacked by enemy forces. Aubry- the Navy's greatest
fighting captain- takes his ship and crew on the chase of a lifetime to the far edges of the world to strike and capture their foe.  Torn between returning an injured crew to safety and completing his patriotic duty, the
stakes are high in a mission that will decide the fate of a nation.

Just as the film's visual enormity takes the viewer on a journey to the swashbuckling days of war on the high seas, so does Iva Davies, Christopher Gordon and Richard Tognetti's score seamlessly ride the waves of the Surprise's race to the edge of the world.  The soundtrack interweaves "Old World" and "New World" music combining a heavy percussive undertone, traditional orchestral arrangements and modern electric hues through the use of synthesizers. Comments composer Iva Davies; "Drums signal the forward movement of the ship.that it's on a mission..we wanted the score to be not what everyone expected. Peter (Weir) wanted some scenes to have what I call a kind of 'futuristic' sense - conveying the idea that these 19th century sailors were cutting-edge explorers."

Furthering Davies, Gordon and Tongnetti's musical tie-ins with Weir's narrative is the inclusion of Crowe and Bettany's characters playing the violin and cello (respectively) in key scenes.  Composer Richard Tognetti
prepared Crowe for his role by giving him violin lessons.  Says Daily Variety: "The Aubrey-Maturin bond also provides the cue to the film's singular musical approach.the two play violin-cello duets of Mozart and
Bach.  There the score inventively incorporates the work of more recent composers with the modern Australian composer team.which introduces significant percussive and synthesizer effects.  This combination of diverse elements coalesces and bridges the gap between authentic period sounds and contemporary excitement."  In addition to original tracks, the soundtrack rounds out with historical source music including J.S. Bach's Prelude From the Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major performed by Yo-Yo Ma, among others.

14 November 2003

29 March 2003

February 2003

Apple.com

27 December 2002

USA Today

1 December 2002

The Gunroom

15 November 2002

• Russell Crowe: Jack Aubrey
• Paul Bettany: Stephen Maturin
• Lee Ingleby: Mr Hollom
• David Threlfall: Killick
• John de Santis: Padeen
• James D'Arcy: Tom Pullings
• Edward Woodall: Mowett
• Ian Mercer: Mr Hollar
• Robert Pugh: Mr Allen
• Billy Boyd: Bonden
• Richard McCabe: Higgins
• Mark Lewis: Jones Hogg
• Chris Larkin: Captain Howard
• Bryan Dick: Joe Nagle
• William Mannering: Faster Doudle
• Patrick Gallagher: Awkward Davies
• George Innes :Joe Plaice
• Tony Dolan: Mr Lamb
• Joseph Morgan: Warley
• Alex Palmer: Nehemiah Slade
• Jack Randall: Mr Boyle
• Richard Pates: Mr Williamson
• Max Pirkis: Lord Blakeney
• Max Benitz: Peter Calamy

New York Times

13 October 2002

Russell Crowe interview by Rick Lyman on the set in Baja (registration required).

20th Century Fox

11 October 2002

There will be an article running on October 13 in the New York Times Sunday Arts & Leisure section on our upcoming film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. It's a great article, but there are two things that we would like to clarify to the fans of Patrick O'Brian's books. When Crowe is explaining how he and the director chose his speaking voice for the movie, it should have said that the choice was made because Aubrey was the son of an Army officer, not a Navy officer as stated in the article. There is also a quote in the article that ran incomplete. The entire quote from Crowe was: 'The way I figure it, Patrick O'Brian is dead, and although the books will still be here, there won't be any new ones; but O'Brian's world and the characters he created can live on in films. However, why should a filmmaker shoot the exact same stories you can get in the books, these are fictional characters, and after all, we are making a movie.'

15 September 2002

• Geoff Hunt, the acclaimed marine artist who has painted the beautiful covers to the books, has spoken with Peter Weir on a couple of ocassions.
• The studio has hired a voice coatch from Devon, England to help with the accents of the actors.
• Peter Weir and people from the production crew have visited the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich to examine period items, including costumes.
• Stephen Maturin's role as an intelligence agent will not feature in the film.
• There are 2 historical advisers on set at all times to ensure authenticity.

From a Patrick O'Brian fan

29 August 2002

The Scotsman

27 August 2002

NB Please see the health warning at the top of the page.

Washington Post

23 August 2002

"...For O'Brian's millions of passionate worldwide fans, who for decades have debated both the wisdom and the possibility of transforming his work to film, what's happening here is a constant subject both of hope and of horror. The fear has been that no film project could ever do justice to O'Brian's novels, whose mischievous erudition resembles an improbable blend of Jane Austen, C.S. Forester, Charles Dickens and Marcel Proust.

The books carry Aubrey and Maturin on a series of global adventures afloat and ashore during a somewhat elastic 15-year period when the Royal Navy is contending with Napoleon's ambitions in Europe and, for a while, with the fledgling U.S. Navy as well. But layered beneath the episodic plot lines charting Aubrey's erratic climb through the naval ranks are profound explorations of life and the human heart. Richard Snow, editor of American Heritage Magazine, writing in the New York Times, described the series on which the film is based as "the greatest historical novels ever written...."

Chicago Tribune

21 July 2002

From a Patrick O'Brian fan

3 July 2002

Endeavour crew member

5 June 2002

Canada.com

30 April 2002

The casting director for Far Side of the World wanted to check out the men of Vancouver. She ended up with quite a selection.

On Monday, men started lining up at the Century Plaza Hotel at 8 a.m. for a 4 p.m. casting call. There were so many that organizers moved the time up two hours to process them. By 4:40 p.m., they had looked at 800 men, and the line kept forming outside the room. By day's end, more than 2,000 Vancouver men had answered the call, trying to be discovered for 10 roles, five of them major ones.

Ananova

16 April 2002

Keira Knightley is being tipped to join Russell Crowe in his new film Master And Commander.

The 18-year-old has become hot property in Hollywood after her roles in The Hole and Bend It Like Beckham. She will also soon be seen playing Lara in the ITV re-make of Boris Pasternak's Dr Zhivago. Australian director Peter Weir reportedly wants her to team up with Crowe in Master And Commander later this year. The story follows the fortunes of a British naval captain trying to overcome his fear of the sea at the turn of the 19th century. A senior insider told Ananova: "Peter is terribly impressed by Keira. He says he hasn't seen a better teenage actress for a long, long time."

Star Tribune

7 April 2002

When you really love an author -- love them so much you buy the hardcovers -- then you know the fear inspired by these words: There's going to be a movie.

Once again, the philistines in Hollywood are hijacking a perfectly satisfying piece of literature, operating under the bland conviction that it would be better with pictures. See Rhett. See Rhett run. The heist in this case concerns Patrick O'Brian's series of seafaring novels about Capt. Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin. Fox Studios begins filming in June, with Russell Crowe as Aubrey and Paul Bettany as Maturin......

Billy Boyd

26 March 2002

Hollywood Reporter

18 March 2002

The project reteams Bettany with his "A Beautiful Mind" co-star Russell Crowe, who is toplining the $120 million-budgeted project based on Patrick O'Brian's series of action-adventure novels set at sea.

In "Commander," Bettany will star as the ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin, a close friend of Navy Capt. Jack Aubrey (Crowe). Maturin, also an intelligence agent, is the first naturalist, a la Charles Darwin, to see the richness and strangeness of life on the far side of the world, as the two sail the high seas against the backdrop of the Napoleonic wars.

Variety

15 March 2002

The union, newly committed to hard-line enforcement of its rules, has specifically told its members to refuse to sign non-union contracts for Russell Crowe's mega-budget "Master and Commander." The seafaring drama, a Peter Weir adaptation of the Patrick O'Brian book series, is set to begin filming in the Mexican state this summer. SAG has insisted it won't budge from its May 1 deadline for "Global Rule One," a groundbreaking change in its enforcement of work rules to include disciplining members who work non-union outside the Untied States.

SAG spokeswoman Ilyanne Kichaven said the Guild recently became aware that casting directors on the film were seeking below-the-line actors to sign non-union contracts for the film. The union reacted by officially advising members of its San Diego branch that they should not sign such contracts.

"Master and Commander" is a tentpole project that has been developed by Fox with Universal/Miramax investing. Kichaven said SAG has contacted Fox and Miramax to explain its position on the contracts and plans to contact Crowe after the Academy Awards (news - web sites) ceremonies. In response, Fox said the studio has no plans to ask SAG members to violate Rule One. "It is our intent that members of SAG will be employed under SAG contracts," a spokeswoman said. Kichaven said "Master and Commander" is not the only project on which SAG is taking such steps but noted that the picture's prominence made it imperative that the guild begin efforts to inform members about the non-union deals. Much of the $135 million project will be filmed at Fox Studios Baja, the Mexico studio with the gigantic water tank built to house James Cameron's "Titanic."

The Age

6 March 2002

The film will begin its shoot in Mexico in June. At the heart of the high-seas action adventure is the strange relationship between Jack Aubrey (Crowe's character) and a doctor who joins his crew.

"These are two guys who have completely different perspectives of the world, but who require each other and connect with each other through their love of music. It's in these moments that they retire to their cabin where the doctor plays the cello and the captain plays the violin."

In preparation for the role, Crowe is taking lessons from Australian Chamber Orchestra director and lead violinist Richard Tognetti, whom he describes as the most magnificent violinist Australia has produced. Crowe admits he's not going to make it into Tognetti's league as a musician but he wants to give a persuasive performance.

According to Tognetti, his new pupil has a formidable power of concentration and within a short space of time has been able to incorporate the violin into his physical being. But Crowe says that the process of adding another string to his bow is not as simple as you might think. "I'm still battling with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

Teletext

25 February 2002

British actor Paul Bettany will join his A Beautiful Mind co-star Russell Crowe in Peter Weir's Napoleonic War adventure The Far Side Of The World. Based on the 10th novel in Patrick O'Brian's Master And Commander series which focuses on the high sea adventures of Captain Jack Aubrey (Crowe), Bettany will play the ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin.

Crowe announced the casting at the Bafta Award ceremony.

San Diego Reader

10 February 2002

Judy Bouley, Casting Director, Commander Productions, Studios de la Playa, P.O. Box 437480, San Diego, CA 92143-7480.

Looking for "character" in the faces of 10-45 year old  boys and men. Extras wanted close to San Diego for filming at Rosarita beach. Download advert.

Gazeta Kultura (in Polish, translated by Pawel Golik)

5 February 2002

"Weir noticed the Slavic looks. He found tiredness in them. The director did a casting session in Los Angeles, but he didn't like the Hollywood look. They didn't match is vision of the tired faces of XIXth century men." - said the Australian director's Polish representative Mr. Janusz Hetman from the "Tumult" Foundation that organises the Camerimage Festival. According to Hetman, Weir's decision to look for extras in Poland is also a sort of a hommage to the organisers of the Camerimage Festival, where the Australian director won one of the prizes three years ago.

The main casting for the movie will be held in Ireland, Scotland and England. The choice of extras in Poland is supplementary. Last week a casting session for Weir's latest work was held in Torun. About 600 persons applied. The organisers of the Polish casting session will choose about 70-80 persons from among the volunteers. The final decision on who's going to appear in the movie will be made by the director on 19th of February in London. The movie is expected to include 25 Polish extras. The work on Weir's new production will begin in June this year on the coast of Mexico and will take about four months. 80 percent of the movie will be shot at sea.

New York Post

17 January 2002

Note by by LSE - O'Brian is spelt with an 'a' not an 'e', and wrote 20 novels in the Aubrey/Maturin series, not 19.

Sydney Morning Herald

14 November 2001

When 20th Century Fox suddenly gave the go-ahead for his next film, director Peter Weir had to head for London. He is preparing to make a film with the working title The Far Side of the World, an adaptation of the nautical novels of Patrick O'Brian, which centre on the exploits of the British navy during the Napoleonic wars.

The Far Side of the World, likely to be shot in Mexico, will be Weir's first film since the hugely successful The Truman Show.

Variety

19 April 2001

The Films of Peter Weir

16 April 2001

Although "Master and Commander" is the working title of the film, it appears that much of the story will be drawn from "The Far Side of the World", which is book #10 in the series. (Note: www.thefarsideoftheworld.com takes you to the Fox Movies web site. None of the other titles have been registered for domain names yet.) The official owner of the HMS Rose is now Seven Seas Ventures, Inc. of Providence, RI.

Newportthisweek

12 April 2001

Captain Richard Bailey confirmed the Rose will be based in Newport, and Tall Ships Newport has taken over the Rose’s sail training program previously based in Bridgeport. Seven Seas Corp., a corporation registered in the state of Rhode Island, officially bought the Rose on March 15. Bart Dunbar, president of Tall Ships Newport, said Tuesday that Tall Ships Newport hopes to acquire the Rose after 20th Century Fox has completed the movie. Dunbar is in the process of writing a letter of intent to the Hollywood studio. "We’re drafting a letter with 20th Century Fox, at the studio’s request, to show the intent of the two parties for the final disposition of the Rose," Dunbar said Tuesday.

Although the shooting won’t begin for at least another six months, Dunbar said Tall Ships Newport is involved now because the Rose will undergo major alterations for the movie, and Tall Ships wants to ensure the alterations won’t affect the Rose’s ability to be re-licensed as a sail training vessel. "It took Captain Bailey 10 years and over $100,000 to get her licensed the first time," he said.

Dunbar said he hopes 20th Century Fox will donate the Rose to Tall Ships and use some or all of her value as a tax deduction. "We hope to continue the sail training programs with Newport as her homeport," Dunbar said. "We would like to maintain her in such a condition that she could be used in future movie projects."

Travels with the Tall Ship Rose

9 April 2001

The Films of Peter Weir

27 March 2001

Connecticut Post

24 March 2001

Jan Williams, who runs the HMS Rose Foundation in Bridgeport, said Friday the group has accepted a $1.5 million offer from movie director Peter Weir of Australia, who plans to use the ship in a series of upcoming movies. .... The ship was acquired by the foundation in 1984 and rebuilt by 1987. But over the last two years or so, the ship spent no more than a couple of days in Bridgeport as the foundation kept it sailing around the world earning revenue.

Upcomingmovies.com

10 August 2000

Premise: At Port Mahon on the island of Minorca in 1800, young Captain Jack Aubrey meets an out-of-work surgeon, Stephen Maturin, who he enlists to join him, when he gets his first ship as Captain, the man-of-war sloop, Sophie. This is a story of beginnings, as the Sophie sails the Mediterranean, attacking French and Spanish cargo ships, climaxing with a battle against the massive 32-gun frigate, Cacafuego, sent by the Spanish to finish off the bothersome Sophie, and its young captain... (premise summary written by Greg Dean Schmitz, 8/10/00)

Filming: Production is tentatively scheduled to start in the fall of 2001.

Reuters entertainment news

10 August 2000

Variety

18 November 1998

Norton's Patrick O'Brian FAQ

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