As Im sure many of you have figured out by now, I am a research nut. Whenever I find myself interested in a subject, I will do tons of research to learn more about the creator behind the work. In the days before the internet got so popular I used to spend hours at the library looking up information on my favorite subjects. One creator that I never knew much about was Beatrix Potter creator of Peter Rabbit. It was probably because by the time I began researching, I had already long stopped reading her work. Thats why Chris Noonans new biopic of Beatrix Potter, Miss Potter, is such a wonderful surprise. Rene Zellweger plays Potter with such vivacity and aplomb which makes her as fascinating a character as any of the anthropomorphic animals she wrote about. Potter didnt just sit down and paint and write these stories. She actually had conversations with her characters, wondrously represented in the film by 2D animation. I got a chance to talk with Chris Noonan, who has more in common with Beatrix Potter than anyone knows.
Check out the official site for Miss Potter
Daniel Robert Epstein: As I was watching your movie, I realized I forgot how much I loved Beatrix Potters work. Did you feel like it was the same way for you?
Chris Noonan: Not really because I never read Peter Rabbit. I never read any of her books when I was a child. I was very aware of her because people around me had her books but I was never exposed to them directly. As I grew up there were a lot of people around me reading them and I always dismissed them as too sweet or too cute. It was only when I was researching this film did I reread them and realize that theyre actually very sophisticated. She had a very sophisticated take on the world and a very sophisticated sense of humor. So now I find them very interesting.
DRE: I read that your father encouraged you to go into film.
CN: Yes he did.
DRE: Did you have a naysayer like Beatrixs mother?
CN: No, I had no naysayers. It was probably one of my advantages. Maybe that meant I didnt have to have as strong of a will as Beatrix had. One of the things about her character is that she was very strongly willed and a very determined woman. I found it extraordinary that she overcame the opposition from so many quarters.
DRE: It was also was interesting that her animals talked to her and you, of course, famously made animals talk to everybody with Babe. Did you relate to her on the level of really growing to understand these animal characters?
CN: The reason that the animal characters talked to her was two-fold. First of all, shes an artist and I felt that she would express her psyche through her art. She would express her inner state and what was going on for her inside emotionally through her art and these animals are her art. So when they speak to her they are revealing to us whats going on in her mind and her art.
DRE: I thought the animation was wonderful but this movie could have very easily not had the animation, was that in the screenplay?
CN: Yes it was originally in the screenplay and in a much larger form than what ended up in the film. The original screenplay had the animals coming to life as three-dimensional characters, almost like Roger Rabbit. When Rene became involved, she and I both had doubts about that because we felt that it would become a gimmick that would overshadow the human story. So we found an extraordinary animator in London named Alyson Hamilton who had grown up in the Lake District and even had worked on [Who Framed] Roger Rabbit. Alyson was a devotee of Beatrix Potters work and she had been trained in formal cel animation. She didnt work on computers like almost all contemporary animators do because she loved Beatrixs work so she became the custodian of Beatrixs purity if you like.
DRE: So it was 2D. It wasnt CGI.
CN: Thats correct.
DRE: Its been almost ten years since you did Babe. Im sure the reason was because you were offered a lot of movies similar to Babe.
CN: Thats true, not just similar to Babe but also lots of movies that were combinations of themes that have recently been successful with some very derivative ideas. Almost everything that gets past the filters of Hollywood has to prove itself to be somehow derived from things that have already been successful. I was much more interested in doing something original so I waited. I did develop a couple of things but it took a long time to find something that immediately moved me like the script for this film.
DRE: Ten years is just such a long time especially when you had such great success.
CN: Yes but the other thing was that when youre looking to follow a big success theres a lot of pressure on you and I was burdened by that pressure. Nothing seemed good enough to follow something as unique and successful as Babe. I was just looking for something that would take me out of the loop of Hollywood remakes and that sort of thing. There were a couple of things that came along that were promising, I thought I recognized something in the story that I could do something with. But when I put that to the producers involved in those productions, they said, Oh thats not the direction we wanted to take this thing in. So nothing came of it.
DRE: No one offered you Harry Potter?
CN: No, no one offered me Harry Potter.
DRE: It seems like an obvious choice.
CN: I went after Harry Potter and failed to get it.
DRE: Is it a hurdle to make the audience sympathize with a wealthy woman that becomes wealthier?
CN: Well, [laughs] I dont see her as a wealthy woman who gets wealthier. She is someone who the world will not allow to be what she wants to be. At the turn of the century a woman like Beatrix who wanted to have a career of her own and wanted to do the things she wanted to do, found herself up against a brick wall of a world which had very specific expectations of what a woman in her position should do. That is to marry a nominated suitor, to marry someone who was suitable to the parent and perhaps to have hobbies but not to have a career. She had other ideas for herself and she was a very determined woman and just proceeded to push for what she believed she should be doing. To the point where her mother despaired of her but it did take a great deal of determination on her part to do what she did.
DRE: I read that you worked with Beatrix Potters estate, what materials did they give you that helped you out?
CN: The publishers are still the same as the ones that she appointed. The companys been taken over by Penguin now but her work is handled and run by a group of five women who are totally protective of the spirit of her work and are very reluctant to have anything dealing with Beatrix that isnt true to her life and true to her work. Initially I thought that might be a horrible restriction but they were very open to the ideas that I put forward for the film and helped in every way possible. It was actually a great collaboration.
They have an archive in a vault in London, which has an extraordinary collection of Beatrixs original work including all the books as she submitted them to the publishers.
DRE: Do you have children?
CN: No I dont.
DRE: Is that a choice?
CN: No, its not a choice. It was forced on my wife and I by medical circumstance. Its a curse but its also a blessing. I have nieces and nephews and I get some enjoyment out of them so I really love children.
DRE: Do you think you understand why Beatrix made the choice not to have children?
CN: I dont think it was a choice. Had her relationship with her publisher Norman Warne not ended in tragedy then I feel sure that they would have married and would have gone on to have children. As it was she was faced with a tragedy in her life, which really affected her and it was eight to ten years before she found someone else that she thought that a marriage was possible with and I think by that time it was probably too late for her to have children.
DRE: 47 was the age when she got married again.
CN: Right, way past the due date of women in that time.
DRE: Was it Renes idea to cast Ewan McGregor because they had such wonderful chemistry in Down with Love?
CN: It was Renes and my idea simultaneously. I went to Rene with the idea that we cast Ewan as Norman and she said That was my idea. So we pursued him. They just have a chemistry onscreen which is just extraordinary and you get so much more than the sum of the parts in that relationship.
DRE: Is it just a coincidence that you and George Miller both have films out at the same time?
CN: Thats entirely a coincidence unless George has set up a competition.
DRE: Theres been a backlash from the conservative side with Happy Feet over putting environmental concerns in his movie. What do you think of putting such a big issue into a childrens film?
CN: I think its fine. I really believe that everyone talks down to kids and doesnt allow them to deal with issues that are very complex. The core of Babe was a character dealing with the knowledge of his own mortality. You couldnt have a bigger issue than that. Its Babe overcoming his fear of death and I think kids understand those big issues so I think anybody who keeps away from big issues is just crazy.
DRE: I read that your next film might be The Third Witch.
CN: Thats one of two possibilities Im working on. The Third Witch is a story about the third witch in Macbeth, whos the youngest of the three double, double, toil and trouble witches. Theres another project that Im working on as well thats set in South Africa.
DRE: What that about?
CN: The South African film is tentatively titled Zebras and its a true story that happened in 1973 in South Africa where an under 14 soccer team of black kids, decides to become multi-racial. Its about the struggle against the authorities to make that a possibility and then it follows the progress through the competition. Its also a very funny, interesting and deeply moving story.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Check out the official site for Miss Potter
Daniel Robert Epstein: As I was watching your movie, I realized I forgot how much I loved Beatrix Potters work. Did you feel like it was the same way for you?
Chris Noonan: Not really because I never read Peter Rabbit. I never read any of her books when I was a child. I was very aware of her because people around me had her books but I was never exposed to them directly. As I grew up there were a lot of people around me reading them and I always dismissed them as too sweet or too cute. It was only when I was researching this film did I reread them and realize that theyre actually very sophisticated. She had a very sophisticated take on the world and a very sophisticated sense of humor. So now I find them very interesting.
DRE: I read that your father encouraged you to go into film.
CN: Yes he did.
DRE: Did you have a naysayer like Beatrixs mother?
CN: No, I had no naysayers. It was probably one of my advantages. Maybe that meant I didnt have to have as strong of a will as Beatrix had. One of the things about her character is that she was very strongly willed and a very determined woman. I found it extraordinary that she overcame the opposition from so many quarters.
DRE: It was also was interesting that her animals talked to her and you, of course, famously made animals talk to everybody with Babe. Did you relate to her on the level of really growing to understand these animal characters?
CN: The reason that the animal characters talked to her was two-fold. First of all, shes an artist and I felt that she would express her psyche through her art. She would express her inner state and what was going on for her inside emotionally through her art and these animals are her art. So when they speak to her they are revealing to us whats going on in her mind and her art.
DRE: I thought the animation was wonderful but this movie could have very easily not had the animation, was that in the screenplay?
CN: Yes it was originally in the screenplay and in a much larger form than what ended up in the film. The original screenplay had the animals coming to life as three-dimensional characters, almost like Roger Rabbit. When Rene became involved, she and I both had doubts about that because we felt that it would become a gimmick that would overshadow the human story. So we found an extraordinary animator in London named Alyson Hamilton who had grown up in the Lake District and even had worked on [Who Framed] Roger Rabbit. Alyson was a devotee of Beatrix Potters work and she had been trained in formal cel animation. She didnt work on computers like almost all contemporary animators do because she loved Beatrixs work so she became the custodian of Beatrixs purity if you like.
DRE: So it was 2D. It wasnt CGI.
CN: Thats correct.
DRE: Its been almost ten years since you did Babe. Im sure the reason was because you were offered a lot of movies similar to Babe.
CN: Thats true, not just similar to Babe but also lots of movies that were combinations of themes that have recently been successful with some very derivative ideas. Almost everything that gets past the filters of Hollywood has to prove itself to be somehow derived from things that have already been successful. I was much more interested in doing something original so I waited. I did develop a couple of things but it took a long time to find something that immediately moved me like the script for this film.
DRE: Ten years is just such a long time especially when you had such great success.
CN: Yes but the other thing was that when youre looking to follow a big success theres a lot of pressure on you and I was burdened by that pressure. Nothing seemed good enough to follow something as unique and successful as Babe. I was just looking for something that would take me out of the loop of Hollywood remakes and that sort of thing. There were a couple of things that came along that were promising, I thought I recognized something in the story that I could do something with. But when I put that to the producers involved in those productions, they said, Oh thats not the direction we wanted to take this thing in. So nothing came of it.
DRE: No one offered you Harry Potter?
CN: No, no one offered me Harry Potter.
DRE: It seems like an obvious choice.
CN: I went after Harry Potter and failed to get it.
DRE: Is it a hurdle to make the audience sympathize with a wealthy woman that becomes wealthier?
CN: Well, [laughs] I dont see her as a wealthy woman who gets wealthier. She is someone who the world will not allow to be what she wants to be. At the turn of the century a woman like Beatrix who wanted to have a career of her own and wanted to do the things she wanted to do, found herself up against a brick wall of a world which had very specific expectations of what a woman in her position should do. That is to marry a nominated suitor, to marry someone who was suitable to the parent and perhaps to have hobbies but not to have a career. She had other ideas for herself and she was a very determined woman and just proceeded to push for what she believed she should be doing. To the point where her mother despaired of her but it did take a great deal of determination on her part to do what she did.
DRE: I read that you worked with Beatrix Potters estate, what materials did they give you that helped you out?
CN: The publishers are still the same as the ones that she appointed. The companys been taken over by Penguin now but her work is handled and run by a group of five women who are totally protective of the spirit of her work and are very reluctant to have anything dealing with Beatrix that isnt true to her life and true to her work. Initially I thought that might be a horrible restriction but they were very open to the ideas that I put forward for the film and helped in every way possible. It was actually a great collaboration.
They have an archive in a vault in London, which has an extraordinary collection of Beatrixs original work including all the books as she submitted them to the publishers.
DRE: Do you have children?
CN: No I dont.
DRE: Is that a choice?
CN: No, its not a choice. It was forced on my wife and I by medical circumstance. Its a curse but its also a blessing. I have nieces and nephews and I get some enjoyment out of them so I really love children.
DRE: Do you think you understand why Beatrix made the choice not to have children?
CN: I dont think it was a choice. Had her relationship with her publisher Norman Warne not ended in tragedy then I feel sure that they would have married and would have gone on to have children. As it was she was faced with a tragedy in her life, which really affected her and it was eight to ten years before she found someone else that she thought that a marriage was possible with and I think by that time it was probably too late for her to have children.
DRE: 47 was the age when she got married again.
CN: Right, way past the due date of women in that time.
DRE: Was it Renes idea to cast Ewan McGregor because they had such wonderful chemistry in Down with Love?
CN: It was Renes and my idea simultaneously. I went to Rene with the idea that we cast Ewan as Norman and she said That was my idea. So we pursued him. They just have a chemistry onscreen which is just extraordinary and you get so much more than the sum of the parts in that relationship.
DRE: Is it just a coincidence that you and George Miller both have films out at the same time?
CN: Thats entirely a coincidence unless George has set up a competition.
DRE: Theres been a backlash from the conservative side with Happy Feet over putting environmental concerns in his movie. What do you think of putting such a big issue into a childrens film?
CN: I think its fine. I really believe that everyone talks down to kids and doesnt allow them to deal with issues that are very complex. The core of Babe was a character dealing with the knowledge of his own mortality. You couldnt have a bigger issue than that. Its Babe overcoming his fear of death and I think kids understand those big issues so I think anybody who keeps away from big issues is just crazy.
DRE: I read that your next film might be The Third Witch.
CN: Thats one of two possibilities Im working on. The Third Witch is a story about the third witch in Macbeth, whos the youngest of the three double, double, toil and trouble witches. Theres another project that Im working on as well thats set in South Africa.
DRE: What that about?
CN: The South African film is tentatively titled Zebras and its a true story that happened in 1973 in South Africa where an under 14 soccer team of black kids, decides to become multi-racial. Its about the struggle against the authorities to make that a possibility and then it follows the progress through the competition. Its also a very funny, interesting and deeply moving story.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
courtneyriot:
As Im sure many of you have figured out by now, I am a research nut. Whenever I find myself interested in a subject, I will do tons of research to learn more about the creator behind the work. In the days before the internet got so popular I used to spend hours at the library looking up information...
nanci:
i love Beatrix Potter so much before i moved to the south of england i lived only a few miles from her home in the lake district. It is such a beautiful that in its self enchants you. Oh i wanna go home now 