title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: Bregman and Lumet's creative differences saw Lumet drop out of the project. Lumet had wanted to make a more political story that focused on blaming the current Presidential administration for the influx of cocaine into the United States, yet Bregman disagreed. Bregman replaced him with Brian De Palma, and hired writer Oliver Stone; Stone had seen the original 1932 "Scarface" and had not enjoyed it, so he initially rejected the offer. Only after he talked to Lumet was he convinced to accept the offer since they agreed on transforming the film from a period piece to a contemporary film, saying, "Sidney had a great idea to take the 1930s American prohibition gangster movie and make it into a modern immigrant gangster movie dealing with the same problems that we had then, that we're prohibiting drugs instead of alcohol. There's a prohibition against drugs that's created the same criminal class as (prohibition of alcohol) created the Mafia". In the book "The Oliver Stone Experience", Stone wrote: "I didn't want to do an Italian Mafia movie ... We'd had dozens of these things. But then Bregman came back to me and said, Sidney has a great idea — he wants to do it as a Marielito picture in Miami. I said, That's interesting! Sidney's idea was a good one".


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: Stone researched the script while battling his own cocaine addiction. He and Bregman performed their own research, traveling to Miami, Florida, where they were given access to records from the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Organized Crime Bureau. Stone moved to Paris to write the script, believing he could not break his addiction while in the United States, stating in a 2003 interview that he was completely off drugs at the time "because I don't think cocaine helps writing. It's very destructive to the brain cells".


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: Pacino insisted on taking the lead role as Tony Montana, although Robert De Niro had been offered it and had turned it down. Pacino worked with experts in knife combat, trainers, and boxer Roberto Durán to attain the body type that he wanted for the role. Durán also helped inspire the character, who had "a certain lion in him", according to Pacino. Meryl Streep's immigrant character in "Sophie's Choice" (1982) also influenced Pacino's portrayal of Tony Montana. Bauer and a dialect coach helped him learn aspects of the Cuban Spanish language and pronunciation.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: Pfeiffer was an unknown actress at the time, known primarily for her role in "Grease 2"; both Pacino and De Palma had argued against her casting, but Bregman fought for her inclusion. Glenn Close was the original choice for the role, while others were also considered, including Geena Davis, Carrie Fisher, Kelly McGillis, Rosanna Arquette, Melanie Griffith, Kim Basinger, Sharon Stone, and Sigourney Weaver.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: Bauer got his role without even auditioning. During the audition process, casting director Alixe Gordin saw Bauer and instantly noted that he was right for the role of Manny, a judgment with which both De Palma and Bregman agreed. He was the only actual Cuban in the principal cast. John Travolta was considered for the role.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: Despite the film being set in Miami, much of the film was shot in Los Angeles due to the Miami Tourist Board declining requests to film there as it feared the film would deter tourism to the city with its themes of drugs and gangsters. Tony's opulent mansion was El Fureidis, a Roman-styled mansion near Santa Barbara, California. The picture was shot over 24 weeks from November 22, 1982 to May 6, 1983. In April 1983, however, a scene was shot at Miami's Fontainebleau Miami Beach. The special effects were performed by Ken Pepiot and Stan Parks.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: The production was halted twice for severe weather events in California. During production in March, Pacino burned his left hand on the muzzle of the gun that had just been fired when he tripped during a fight scene. Production was shut down for more than a week while Pacino recovered. A premature bomb explosion also injured two stuntmen during a scene shot in his absence. The gunfight scene at the end of the film also includes a single camera shot directed by Steven Spielberg, who was visiting the set at the time. Powdered baby laxative was used as the fake substance for cocaine in the film; Pacino's nasal passage was minorly damaged due to snorting large quantities over the course of filming.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: Less than two months before the film's release, on October 28, 1983, "Scarface" was given an X rating by the MPAA for "excessive and cumulative violence and for language". De Palma had already re-cut the film three times by that point; De Palma stated: "I said I've had it with these people, I'm not taking any more out". Bregman told "The New York Times" that "we have been designated as a pornographic film ... We'll accept the X rating and appeal". Universal would not release the film with an X rating due to the porn perception and the reduction of ticket sales being from ticket buyers, most newspapers, TV, and radio stations, who would not run ads for an X-rated film. On November 8, an appeal board composed of 20 theater owners, studio executives and independent distributors overturned the decision 17 to 3 in favor of an R rating—more than the two-thirds required. De Palma believed that the changes were minor enough to be unnoticeable and requested to release the original cut of the film with the rating. When the MPAA refused, De Palma released the film uncut anyway, only admitting to it months after the film's release.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: Instead of using popular music from the period in which the film is set, the music in "Scarface" was produced by Academy Award-winning Italian record producer Giorgio Moroder. Reflecting Moroder's style, the soundtrack consists mostly of synthesized new wave and electronic music. De Palma said that he repeatedly denied Universal's requests to release the film with a "pop" score because he felt Moroder's score was adequate. In June 2022, the complete score and soundtrack was released by La-La Land Records.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: "Scarface" premiered on December 1, 1983, in New York City, where it was initially greeted with mixed reaction. The film's two stars, Al Pacino and Steven Bauer, were joined in attendance by Burt and Diane Lane, Melanie Griffith, Raquel Welch, Joan Collins, her boyfriend Peter Holm, and Eddie Murphy, among others. It was then given a wide release on December 9.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: "Scarface" was initially released by MCA Home Video on VHS, CED Videodisc, Laserdisc, and Beta in the summer of 1984 – a two-tape set in 1.33:1 pan and scan ratio – and quickly became a bestseller, becoming the first to sell 100,000 copies at a retail price of $79.95. A 2.39:1 Widescreen VHS followed years later in 1998 to coincide with the special edition DVD release. The last VHS release was in 2003 to counterpart the 20th anniversary edition DVD. The 2003 DVD was remastered and re-released through Universal Records.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: The television version of "Scarface" premiered on ABC on January 7, 1989. 32 minutes of violence, profanity and sex were edited out, and much of the dialogue, including the constant use of the word "fuck", which was muted after the beginning of "f-" or replaced with less offensive alternatives.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: The film received a North American DVD release on the film's fifteenth anniversary in 1998, featuring a non-anamorphic widescreen transfer, a "Making of" documentary, outtakes, production notes, and cast and crew biographies. This release was not successful, and many fans and reviewers complained about its unwatchable video transfer and muddled sound, describing it as "one of the worst big studio releases out there". The 20th Anniversary edition was released on DVD and VHS in 2003, with the DVD selling more than units in its first week and becoming the best-selling R-rated DVD title.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: In 2003, "Music Inspired by Scarface", a Def Jam Recordings compilation album, featured songs by various hip-hop artists which either draw direct inspiration from the film, or contain subject matter that can relate to the film.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: "Scarface" was released on Blu-ray on September 6, 2011, in a two-disc, limited edition, steelbox package: the set was criticized for its poor picture quality due to usage of an old master created from the DVD release. Disc two is a DVD of the 1932 "Scarface", featuring a TMC-produced introduction by Robert Osborne and an alternate ending. Bonus features include "The Making of Scarface" documentary, and a new retrospective documentary: "The Scarface Phenomenon".


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: A special gift set, limited to 1,000 copies, features the Blu-ray set housed in a cigar humidor, designed by humidor craftsman Daniel Marshall. The humidor box set retailed at $999.99.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: A standard 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and limited edition set were released on October 15, 2019. The limited edition set contains a specially made statue, a newly remastered transfer and, for the first time on Blu-ray, the 1932 original. There is also a standard set which contains the same 4K transfer and a remastered 1080p disk but does not include the 1932 version. A month later on November 19, the 1932 original was given its own individual release. The 4K release ports over all of the old special features and adds one new one, which is a reunion special in tribute to the 35th anniversary of the movie's release.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: In the United States, the film sold DVD units for in 2003, and 285,916 Blu-ray units for $6,103,545 , totaling DVD and Blu-ray units sold for .


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: "Scarface" was released theatrically in North America on December 9, 1983. The film earned $4.5 million from 996 theaters during its opening weekend, an average of $4,616 per theater, and ranking as the second-highest-grossing film of the weekend behind "Sudden Impact" ($9.6 million), which debuted the same weekend. It went on to earn $44.6 million in North America and $20.4 million from other markets, for a total of $65.1 million. This figure made "Scarface" the 16th highest-grossing film of 1983, and seventh highest grossing R-rated film in North America for 1983. It has since been given three re-releases in 2003, which featured a remastered film for the film's 20th anniversary, 2012, and 2014, bringing the total earned to $45.4 million domestically, for a total of $66 million worldwide.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: In terms of box office admissions, the film sold 14,197,700 tickets in the United States and Spain, 1,067,544 tickets in France and Italy, 250,746 tickets in South Korea, and 195,872 tickets in Germany, for a total of tickets sold in these territories.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: The original release of "Scarface" was met with a negative critical response and was criticized for its violence and profanity language. "The New York Magazine" defined it as an empty, bullying, and overblown B movie. Writers Kurt Vonnegut and John Irving were among those who walked out in disgust after the notorious chainsaw scene.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: At the middle of the film, Scorsese turned to Bauer and told him: "You guys are great – but be prepared, because they're going to hate it in Hollywood ... because it's about them".


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: Roger Ebert rated it four stars out of four in his 1983 review, and he later added it to his "Great Movies" list. Ebert wrote, "DePalma and his writer, Oliver Stone, have created a gallery of specific individuals, and one of the fascinations of the movie is that we aren't watching crime-movie clichés, we're watching people who are criminals". Vincent Canby praised the film in "The New York Times": "The dominant mood of the film is... bleak and futile: what goes up must always come down. When it comes down in "Scarface", the crash is as terrifying as it is vivid and arresting".


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: Leonard Maltin was among those critics who held a negative opinion of "Scarface". He gave the film 1½ stars out of four, stating that "Scarface" "wallows in excess and unpleasantness for nearly "three hours", and offers no new insights except that crime doesn't pay. At least the 1932 movie "moved"". Maltin included an addendum to his review in later editions of his annual movie guide, stating his surprise with the film's newfound popularity as a cult-classic.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: In his review for "Newsweek", David Ansen wrote: "If "Scarface" makes you shudder, it's from what you "think" you see and from the accumulated tension of this feral landscape. It's a grand, shallow, decadent entertainment, which like all good Hollywood gangster movies delivers the punch and counterpunch of glamour and disgust". Jay Scott wrote in his review for "The Globe and Mail": "For a while, Al Pacino is hypnotic as Montana. But the effort expended on the flawless Cuban accent and the attempts to flesh out a character cut from inch-thick cardboard are hopeless". In his review for "The Washington Post", Gary Arnold wrote: "A movie that appeared intent on revealing an alarmingly contemporary criminal subculture gradually reverts to underworld cliche, covering its derivative tracks with outrageous decor and an apocalyptic, production number finale, ingeniously choreographed to leave the antihero floating face down in a literal bloodbath".


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an 81% approval rating based on 69 reviews, with an average rating of 7.50/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Director Brian De Palma and star Al Pacino take it to the limit in this stylized, ultra-violent and eminently quotable gangster epic that walks a thin white line between moral drama and celebratory excess". Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 65 out of 100 based on reviews from 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: During filming, some Cubans objected to the film's Cuban characters being portrayed as criminals by mostly non-Cuban actors. The film featured a disclaimer following its credits stating in red, all-cap lettering ""Scarface" is a fictional account of the activities of a small group of ruthless criminals. The characters do not represent the Cuban/American community and it would be erroneous and unfair to suggest that they do. The vast majority of Cuban/Americans have demonstrated a dedication, vitality and enterprise that has enriched the American scene".


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: In 2008, Damarys Ocaña of "The Guardian" wrote that the film reinforces stereotypes of Marielito Cubans, as it exaggerated the number of criminals in the Mariel boatlift. She also called Pacino's portrayal of a Cuban-American as having a "ridiculous accent and overacting". However, of the approximate 125,000 refugees that entered the United States on the boatlift, around 16,000 to 20,000 were estimated to be criminals or "undesirables" according to a 1985 "Sun Sentinel" magazine article. In a 1985 report around 350 to 400 Mariel Cubans were reported to inhabit Dade County jails on a typical day.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: Demetrio Perez, the city commissioner of Miami, led the charge against the film. Estimates assert that the Cuban refugees only included some 2,700 hardened criminals. In "The Oliver Stone Experience", Stone commented: "Well, Tony Montana was a gangster ... His mother and his sister represent the clean-cut Cuban community. His mother scolds him: "You're a scumbag, get out of my house! You're ruining your sister!" So there is a strong morality in the movie. I knew about the criticisms even in advance, that Cubans were not like that. But I'm sorry: A lot of Cubans "did" become Marielitos. If I'd done it about Colombians, they would've said the same thing: 'You're anti-Colombian'".


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: Notably, "Scarface" is the only remake to appear in the same AFI 10 Top 10 list as the original film. It is No. 10 while the 1932 original is No. 6.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: Pacino was already an established successful actor, but "Scarface" helped launch Pfeiffer's and Mastrantonio's careers, both of whom were relatively unknown beforehand and went on to individual successes. "Entertainment Weekly" ranked the film #8 on their list of "The Top 50 Cult Films", and Empire Magazine placed it among the top 500 films of all time, at #284. In 2009, "Total Film" listed it at number 9 on their list of the 30 Greatest Gangster movies. "Scarface" was among the earliest films in which the expletive "fuck" is used persistently, 226 times in total. The company set up by former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to launder money was named Montana Management after Tony Montana's money laundering operation in the film.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: The release of "Scarface" coincided with the rise of hip hop, and the film has had a lasting influence on hip hop music artists. American rapper Nas compared himself to Tony Montana and compared rapper Jay-Z to Manolo, both characters from "Scarface", on Nas's track "Last Real Nigga Alive" from his album "God's Son", during the time of the high-profile feud between the two. Rapper AZ, Nas's close associate has referred himself as SOSA over the years. Rapper Chief Keef uses the nickname “Sosa” after Alejandro Sosa. South-Korean rapper and member of group BTS, Agust D also compared himself to Tony Montana and made multiple references to the movie in his track "Tony Montana" from his debut album, "Agust D". In The Lonely Island parody hip hop 2011 song "Jack Sparrow", a rap song intended to be about clubbing is ruined by Michael Bolton singing about various films, including "Scarface".


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: In 2010, artist James Georgopoulos included the screen-used guns from Scarface in his popular "Guns of Cinema" series. Dark Horse Comics' imprint DH Press released a novel called "Scarface: The Beginning" by L. A. Banks. IDW publishing released a limited series called "Scarface: Scarred For Life". It starts with corrupt police officers finding that Tony has survived the final mansion showdown. Tony works at rebuilding his criminal empire, similar to the game "The World Is Yours".


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: "Scarface" is among the films that served as inspiration for the 2002 video game "", which took place in a representation of 1980s' Miami and featured a recreation of Montana's mansion.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: The quote "Say hello to my little friend!" from the film's climactic scene has become a pop culture staple, and ranked 61 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes list. It was also mixed into Lil Mabu's 2022 song "No Snitching"


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: In 1992, professional wrestler Scott Hall joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) as Razor Ramon, a shady and stylish Cuban American bully from Miami. The character was modeled after the characters Tony Montana and Manny Ribera from "Scarface". Ramon's nickname (The Bad Guy) and catchphrase ("Say hello to The Bad Guy") derive from Montana's quotes: "Say hello to my little friend" and "Say goodnight to the bad guy". Later in his career, Hall claimed he pitched the idea of a "Scarface"-like character during a meeting with Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson, as a joke.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: Bob Dylan's 2020 song "My Own Version of You" references it with the line, "I'll take the Scarface Pacino and the Godfather Brando / Mix 'em up in a tank and get a robot commando".


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: The song "Push it to the Limit" from "Scarface" was used for a couch gag from an episode from Season 27 of "The Simpsons" with Steve Cutts as the guest animator that pays homage to 1980s action films and TV shows.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: In 2001, plans were made for hip hop artist Cuban Link to write and star in a sequel to "Scarface" titled "Son of Tony". The plans drew both praise and criticism and, after several years, Cuban Link indicated that he may no longer be involved with the project as the result of film rights issues and creative control.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: In 2011, Universal began developing a new version of "Scarface". The studio stated that the new film is neither a sequel nor a remake, but will take elements from both this version and its 1932 predecessor, including the basic premise: a man who becomes a kingpin in his quest for the American Dream. Martin Bregman, who produced the 1983 remake produced this version also, with a screenplay by David Ayer, and David Yates in talks to direct the film.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: In March 2014, "TheWrap" reported that Pablo Larraín was in negotiations to direct the film, along with Paul Attanasio to write the script. The film's update will be an original story set in modern-day Los Angeles that follows a Mexican immigrant's rise in the criminal underworld as he strives for the American Dream. Jonathan Herman was set in March 2015 to rewrite both drafts of the script.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: Antoine Fuqua was hired to direct the film in August 2016, with Terence Winter to penn the script for the film. In January 2017, Fuqua left the project and Diego Luna was cast in the lead role.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: The film was initially scheduled to be released in theaters on August 10, 2018, with the film's script being written by the Coen brothers. Fuqua was brought back to direct the new film, with Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer writing the screenplay. However, the film had not been released in theaters as originally planned and filming had been announced to start in October.


title: Scarface (1983 film)

text: Fuqua left again directing in May 2020. Instead, Luca Guadagnino has signed on to direct the film, with the script still being written by the Coen brothers as previously confirmed.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by British ships of the Royal Navy in Outer Baltimore Harbor in the Patapsco River during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. Key was inspired by the large U.S. flag, with 15 stars and 15 stripes, known as the Star-Spangled Banner, flying triumphantly above the fort during the U.S. victory.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: The poem was set to the tune of a popular British song written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a men's social club in London. "To Anacreon in Heaven" (or "The Anacreontic Song"), with various lyrics, was already popular in the United States. This setting, renamed "The Star-Spangled Banner", soon became a well-known U.S. patriotic song. With a range of 19 semitones, it is known for being very difficult to sing. Although the poem has four stanzas, only the first is commonly sung today.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: "The Star-Spangled Banner" was first recognized for official use by the U.S. Navy in 1889. In 1931, the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution () making the song the official national anthem of the United States, which President Herbert Hoover signed into law. The resolution is now codified at .


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: Following the Burning of Washington and the Raid on Alexandria, Dr William Beanes, the elderly and popular town physician of Upper Marlboro and a friend of Key had been captured in his home on August 28, 1814. Beanes was accused of aiding the arrest of some British soldiers (stragglers withdrawing after the Washington campaign) who were pillaging homes.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: On September 2, 1814, from his home in Georgetown, F.S. Key wrote to his parents. The letter to his mother ended with:


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: I am going in the morning to Balt[imore] to proceed in a flag-vessel to Genl Ross. Old Dr Beanes of Marlbro' is taken prisoner by the Enemy, who threaten to carry him off – Some of his friends have urged me to apply for a flag & go & try to procure his release. I hope to return in about 8 or 10 days, though [it] is uncertain, as I do not know where to find the fleet. – As soon as I get back I hope I shall be able to set out for Fred[ericksburg] – ...


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: Under sanction from President Madison, on September 3, Key traveled 40 miles by land from Washington to Baltimore, arriving there on the morning of September 4. He located Col. John Stuart Skinner (American agent for prisoners of war) who leased a 60 foot sloop-rigged packet ship belonging to John and Benjamin Ferguson, brothers who owned a cargo and passenger service between Baltimore and Norfolk. The ship had a nine man crew and was captained by John Ferguson (co-owner of the ship). They sailed from Baltimore the next day (September 5) out through the Patapsco River and then south, down the Chesapeake Bay. As recorded in the British ships' logs, on September 6, they had rendezvoused with HMS "Royal Oak" and the British troopships, near the mouth of the Patuxant. There they learned Dr. Beanes was aboard HMS "Tonnant" further down in the Bay. Rear Admiral Pulteney Malcolm assigned the frigate "Hebrus" to escort the American sloop to Tangier Island, where he thought "Tonnant" was. On September 7, around noon, they spotted "Tonnant" near the mouth of the Potomac. The flagship then anchored and brought Key and Skinner aboard.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: It was aboard HMS "Tonnant", after dinner, that Skinner and Key successfully secured the release of Dr Beanes from Major General Robert Ross and Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane. At first, Ross refused to release Beanes but relented after reading letters, brought by Key, written by wounded British prisoners praising the American doctors for their kind treatment. Because Key and Skinner had overheard details of the plans for the attack on Baltimore, they were held captive until after the battle, several days later.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: From "Tonnant", Key, Skinner and Dr Beanes were transferred to the frigate HMS "Surprise" the morning of September 8. The fleet then slowly moved up the Chesapeake toward Baltimore. The truce vessel was in tow with "Surprise". On September 11, off the North Point peninsula, Col. Skinner insisted that they be transferred back to their own truce vessel, which they were allowed to do, under guard. It was still tethered to "Surprise". Admiral Cochrane then transferred his flag to the shallow draft "Surprise" so he could move in with the bombardment squadron. Having advanced into the Patapsco River with a 16 ship attack force toward Fort McHenry, the 25 hour bombardment commenced at sunrise on September 13 and lasted through the early morning of September 14.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: During the rainy day and through the night, Key had witnessed the bombardment and observed that the fort's smaller "storm flag" (17 by 25 feet) continued to fly, but once the bomb and Congreve rocket barrage had stopped, he would not know how the battle had turned out until dawn. On the morning of September 14, the storm flag had been lowered and the large garrison flag (30 by 42 feet) had been raised.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: During the bombardment, HMS "Erebus" provided the "rockets' red glare", while the heavy-mortar bomb ships HMS "Terror", "Volcano", "Devastation", "Meteor" and "Aetna" provided the "bombs bursting in air". Around 1,500 to 1,800 bomb shells and over 700 rockets were fired at the fort but with minimal casualties and damage being done. Only four men died and 24 were wounded in the fort. The ships were forced to fire from their maximum range (with minimal accuracy) to stay out of range of the fort's formidable cannon fire.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: Key was inspired by the U.S. victory and the sight of the large U.S. flag flying triumphantly above the fort. This flag (as well as the storm flag), with fifteen stars and fifteen stripes, had been made by Mary Young Pickersgill together with other workers in her home on Baltimore's Pratt Street. The flag later came to be known as the Star-Spangled Banner, and is today on display in the National Museum of American History, a treasure of the Smithsonian Institution. It was restored in 1914 by Amelia Fowler, and again in 1998 as part of an ongoing conservation program.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: Aboard the ship that morning, Key began writing his lyrics on the back of a letter he had kept in his pocket. Late afternoon on September 16, Key, Skinner and Beanes were released from the fleet and they arrived in Baltimore that evening. He completed the poem at the Indian Queen Hotel, where he was staying, His finished manuscript was untitled and unsigned. When printed as a broadside, the next day, it was given the title " of Fort M'Henry". It was first published nationally in "The Analectic Magazine".


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: Much of the idea of the poem, including the flag imagery and some of the wording, is derived from an earlier song by Key, also set to the tune of "The Anacreontic Song". The song, known as "When the Warrior Returns", was written in honor of Stephen Decatur and Charles Stewart on their return from the First Barbary War.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: Absent elaboration by Francis Scott Key prior to his death in 1843, some have speculated more recently about the meaning of phrases or verses, particularly the phrase "the hireling and slave" from the third stanza. According to British historian Robin Blackburn, the phrase allude to the thousands of ex-slaves in the British ranks organized as the Corps of Colonial Marines, who had been liberated by the British and demanded to be placed in the battle line "where they might expect to meet their former masters." Mark Clague, a professor of musicology at the University of Michigan, argues that the "middle two verses of Key's lyric vilify the British enemy in the War of 1812" and "in no way glorifies or celebrates slavery." Clague writes that "For Key ... the British mercenaries were scoundrels and the Colonial Marines were traitors who threatened to spark a national insurrection." This harshly anti-British nature of Verse 3 led to its omission in sheet music in World War I, when the British and the U.S. were allies. Responding to the assertion of writer Jon Schwarz of "The Intercept" that the song is a "celebration of slavery", Clague argues that the American forces at the battle consisted of a mixed group of White Americans and African Americans, and that "the term 'freemen', whose heroism is celebrated in the fourth stanza, would have encompassed both."


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: Others suggest that "Key may have intended the phrase as a reference to the Royal Navy's practice of impressment which had been a major factor in the outbreak of the war, or as a semi-metaphorical slap at the British invading force as a whole (which included a large number of mercenaries)."


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: Key gave the poem to his brother-in-law Joseph H. Nicholson who saw that the words fit the popular melody "The Anacreontic Song", by English composer John Stafford Smith. This was the official song of the Anacreontic Society, an 18th-century gentlemen's club of amateur musicians in London. Nicholson took the poem to a printer in Baltimore, who anonymously made the first known broadside printing on September 17; of these, two known copies survive.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: On September 20, both the "Baltimore Patriot" and "The American" printed the song, with the note "Tune: Anacreon in Heaven". The song quickly became popular, with seventeen newspapers from Georgia to New Hampshire printing it. Soon after, Thomas Carr of the Carr Music Store in Baltimore published the words and music together under the title "The Star Spangled Banner", although it was originally called "Defence of Fort M'Henry". Thomas Carr's arrangement introduced the raised fourth which became the standard deviation from "The Anacreontic Song". The song's popularity increased and its first public performance took place in October when Baltimore actor Ferdinand Durang sang it at Captain McCauley's tavern. Washington Irving, then editor of the "Analectic Magazine" in Philadelphia, reprinted the song in November 1814.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: By the early 20th century, there were various versions of the song in popular use. Seeking a singular, standard version, President Woodrow Wilson tasked the U.S. Bureau of Education with providing that official version. In response, the Bureau enlisted the help of five musicians to agree upon an arrangement. Those musicians were Walter Damrosch, Will Earhart, Arnold J. Gantvoort, Oscar Sonneck and John Philip Sousa. The standardized version that was voted upon by these five musicians premiered at Carnegie Hall on December 5, 1917, in a program that included Edward Elgar's "Carillon" and Gabriel Pierné's "The Children's Crusade". The concert was put on by the Oratorio Society of New York and conducted by Walter Damrosch. An official handwritten version of the final votes of these five men has been found and shows all five men's votes tallied, measure by measure.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: The song gained popularity throughout the 19th century and bands played it during public events, such as Independence Day celebrations.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: A plaque displayed at Fort Meade, South Dakota, claims that the idea of making "The Star Spangled Banner" the national anthem began on their parade ground in 1892. Colonel Caleb Carlton, post commander, established the tradition that the song be played "at retreat and at the close of parades and concerts." Carlton explained the custom to Governor Sheldon of South Dakota who "promised me that he would try to have the custom established among the state militia." Carlton wrote that after a similar discussion, Secretary of War Daniel S. Lamont issued an order that it "be played at every Army post every evening at retreat."


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: In 1899, the U.S. Navy officially adopted "The Star-Spangled Banner". In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson ordered that "The Star-Spangled Banner" be played at military and other appropriate occasions. The playing of the song two years later during the seventh-inning stretch of Game One of the 1918 World Series, and thereafter during each game of the series is often cited as the first instance that the anthem was played at a baseball game, though evidence shows that the "Star-Spangled Banner" was performed as early as 1897 at opening day ceremonies in Philadelphia and then more regularly at the Polo Grounds in New York City beginning in 1898. In any case, the tradition of performing the national anthem before "every" baseball game began in World War II.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: On April 10, 1918, John Charles Linthicum, U.S. congressman from Maryland, introduced a bill to officially recognize "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the national anthem. The bill did not pass. On April 15, 1929, Linthicum introduced the bill again, his sixth time doing so. On November 3, 1929, Robert Ripley drew a panel in his syndicated cartoon, "Ripley's Believe it or Not!", saying "Believe It or Not, America has no national anthem".


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: In 1930, Veterans of Foreign Wars started a petition for the United States to officially recognize "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the national anthem. Five million people signed the petition. The petition was presented to the United States House Committee on the Judiciary on January 31, 1930. On the same day, Elsie Jorss-Reilley and Grace Evelyn Boudlin sang the song to the committee to refute the perception that it was too high pitched for a typical person to sing. The committee voted in favor of sending the bill to the House floor for a vote. The House of Representatives passed the bill later that year. The Senate passed the bill on March 3, 1931. President Herbert Hoover signed the bill on March 4, 1931, officially adopting "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the national anthem of the United States of America. As currently codified, the United States Code states that "[t]he composition consisting of the words and music known as the Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem." Although all four stanzas of the poem officially compose the National Anthem, only the first stanza is generally sung, the other three being much lesser known.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: Before 1931, other songs served as the hymns of U.S. officialdom. "Hail, Columbia" served this purpose at official functions for most of the 19th century. "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", whose melody is identical to "God Save the King", the United Kingdom's national anthem, also served as a "de facto" national anthem. Following the War of 1812 and subsequent U.S. wars, other songs emerged to compete for popularity at public events, among them "America the Beautiful", which itself was being considered before 1931 as a candidate to become the national anthem of the United States.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: In the fourth verse, Key's 1814 published version of the poem is written as, "And this be our motto-"In God is our trust!"" In 1956 when 'In God We Trust' was under consideration to be adopted as the national motto of the United States by the US Congress, the words of the fourth verse of "The Star Spangled Banner" were brought up in arguments supporting adoption of the motto.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: The song is notoriously difficult for nonprofessionals to sing because of its wide rangea twelfth. Humorist Richard Armour referred to the song's difficulty in his book "It All Started With Columbus":


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: Professional and amateur singers have been known to forget the words, which is one reason the song is sometimes pre-recorded and lip-synced. Pop singer Christina Aguilera performed wrong lyrics to the song prior to Super Bowl XLV, replacing the song's fourth line, "o'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming", with an alteration of the second line, "what so proudly we watched at the twilight's last gleaming". Other times the issue is avoided by having the performer(s) play the anthem instrumentally instead of singing it. The pre-recording of the anthem has become standard practice at some ballparks, such as Boston's Fenway Park, according to the SABR publication "The Fenway Project".


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: "The Star-Spangled Banner" has been performed regularly at the beginning of NFL games since the end of WWII by order of NFL commissioner Elmer Layden. The song has also been intermittently performed at baseball games since after WWI. The National Hockey League and Major League Soccer both require venues in both the U.S. and Canada to perform both the Canadian and U.S. national anthems at games that involve teams from both countries (with the "away" anthem being performed first). It is also usual for both U.S. and Canadian anthems (done in the same way as the NHL and MLS) to be played at Major League Baseball and National Basketball Association games involving the Toronto Blue Jays and the Toronto Raptors (respectively), the only Canadian teams in those two major U.S. sports leagues, and in All Star Games on the MLB, NBA, and NHL. The Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League, which play in a city on the Canada–US border and have a substantial Canadian fan base, play both anthems before all home games regardless of where the visiting team is based.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: Two especially unusual performances of the song took place in the immediate aftermath of the United States September 11 attacks. On September 12, 2001, Elizabeth II, the Queen of the United Kingdom, broke with tradition and allowed the Band of the Coldstream Guards to perform the anthem at Buckingham Palace, London, at the ceremonial Changing of the Guard, as a gesture of support for Britain's ally. The following day at a St. Paul's Cathedral memorial service, the Queen joined in the singing of the anthem, an unprecedented occurrence.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: During the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, the anthem was sung by protesters demonstrating outside the U.S. consulate-general in an appeal to the U.S. government to help them with their cause.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: The 200th anniversary of the "Star-Spangled Banner" occurred in 2014 with various special events occurring throughout the United States. A particularly significant celebration occurred during the week of September 10–16 in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Highlights included playing of a new arrangement of the anthem arranged by John Williams and participation of President Barack Obama on Defenders Day, September 12, 2014, at Fort McHenry. In addition, the anthem bicentennial included a youth music celebration including the presentation of the National Anthem Bicentennial Youth Challenge winning composition written by Noah Altshuler.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: The first popular music performance of the anthem heard by the mainstream U.S. was by Puerto Rican singer and guitarist José Feliciano. He created a nationwide uproar when he strummed a slow, blues-style rendition of the song at Tiger Stadium in Detroit before game five of the 1968 World Series, between Detroit and St. Louis. This rendition started contemporary "Star-Spangled Banner" controversies. The response from many in the Vietnam War-era U.S. was generally negative. Despite the controversy, Feliciano's performance opened the door for the countless interpretations of the "Star-Spangled Banner" heard in the years since. One week after Feliciano's performance, the anthem was in the news again when U.S. athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos lifted controversial raised fists at the 1968 Olympics while the "Star-Spangled Banner" played at a medal ceremony. Rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix often included a solo instrumental performance at concerts from 1968 to his death in 1970. Using high gain and distortion amplification effects and the vibrato arm on his guitar, Hendrix was able to simulate the sounds of rockets and bombs at the points when the lyrics are normally heard. One such performance at the Woodstock music festival in 1969 was a highlight of event's 1970 documentary film, becoming "part of the sixties Zeitgeist". When asked about negative reactions to his "unorthodox" treatment of the anthem, Hendrix, who served briefly in the U.S. Army, responded "I'm American so I played it... Unorthodox? I thought it was beautiful, but there you go."


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: Marvin Gaye gave a soul-influenced performance at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game and Whitney Houston gave a soulful rendition before Super Bowl XXV in 1991, which was released as a single that charted at number 20 in 1991 and number 6 in 2001 (along with José Feliciano, the only times the national anthem has been on the "Billboard" Hot 100). Roseanne Barr gave a controversial performance of the anthem at a San Diego Padres baseball game at Jack Murphy Stadium on July 25, 1990. The comedian belted out a screechy rendition of the song, and afterward, she mocked ballplayers by spitting and grabbing her crotch as if adjusting a protective cup. The performance offended some, including the sitting U.S. president, George H. W. Bush. Steven Tyler also caused some controversy in 2001 (at the Indianapolis 500, to which he later issued a public apology) and again in 2012 (at the AFC Championship Game) with a cappella renditions of the song with changed lyrics. In 2016, Aretha Franklin performed a rendition before the nationally-televised Minnesota Vikings-Detroit Lions Thanksgiving Day game lasting more than four minutes and featuring a host of improvisations. It was one of Franklin's last public appearances before her 2018 death. Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie gave a controversial performance of the anthem in 2018. Critics likened her rendition to a jazzy "sexed-up" version of the anthem, which was considered highly inappropriate, with her performance compared to that of Marilyn Monroe's performance of Happy Birthday, Mr. President. Fergie later apologized for her performance of the song, stating that <nowiki>"I'm a risk taker artistically, but clearly this rendition didn'</nowiki>t strike the intended tone".


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: In March 2005, a government-sponsored program, the National Anthem Project, was launched after a Harris Interactive poll showed many adults knew neither the lyrics nor the history of the anthem.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: "The Star-Spangled Banner" has four verses, although the second, third, and fourth verses are not commonly performed.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: Eighteen years after Key's death, and in indignation over the start of the American Civil War, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. added a fifth stanza to the song in 1861, which appeared in songbooks of the era. This version appeared in some newspapers, such as an issue of the "Seattle Republican" which was published in 1912.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: In a version hand-written by Francis Scott Key in 1840, the third line reads: "Whose bright stars and broad stripes, through the clouds of the fight". In honor of the 1986 rededication of the Statue of Liberty, Sandi Patty wrote her version of an additional verse to the anthem.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: Several films have their titles taken from the song's lyrics. These include two films titled "Dawn's Early Light" (2000 and 2005); two made-for-TV features titled "By Dawn's Early Light" (1990 and 2000); two films titled "So Proudly We Hail" (1943 and 1990); a feature film (1977) and a short (2005) titled "Twilight's Last Gleaming"; and four films titled "Home of the Brave"


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: (1949, 1986, 2004, and 2006). A 1936 short titled "The Song of a Nation" from Warner Bros. Pictures shows a version of the origin of the song. The title of Isaac Asimov's short story "No Refuge Could Save" is a reference to the song's third verse, and the obscurity of this verse is a major plot point.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: When the U.S. national anthem was first recognized by law in 1931, there was no prescription as to behavior during its playing. On June 22, 1942, the law was revised indicating that those in uniform should salute during its playing, while others should simply stand at attention, men removing their hats. The same code also required that women should place their hands over their hearts when the flag is displayed during the playing of the national anthem, but not if the flag was not present. On December 23, 1942, the law was again revised instructing men and women to stand at attention and face in the direction of the music when it was played. That revision also directed men and women to place their hands over their hearts only if the flag was displayed. Those in uniform were required to salute. On July 7, 1976, the law was simplified. Men and women were instructed to stand with their hands over their hearts, men removing their hats, irrespective of whether or not the flag was displayed and those in uniform saluting. On August 12, 1998, the law was rewritten keeping the same instructions, but differentiating between "those in uniform" and "members of the Armed Forces and veterans" who were both instructed to salute during the playing whether or not the flag was displayed. Because of the changes in law over the years and confusion between instructions for the Pledge of Allegiance versus the National Anthem, throughout most of the 20th century many people simply stood at attention or with their hands folded in front of them during the playing of the Anthem, and when reciting the Pledge they would hold their hand (or hat) over their heart. After 9/11, the custom of placing the hand over the heart during the playing of the national anthem became nearly universal.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: Since 1998, federal law (viz., the United States Code ) states that during a rendition of the national anthem, when the flag is displayed, all present including those in uniform should stand at attention; non-military service individuals should face the flag with the right hand over the heart; members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are present and not in uniform may render the military salute; military service persons not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold the headdress at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart; and members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are in uniform should give the military salute at the first note of the anthem and maintain that position until the last note. The law further provides that when the flag is not displayed, all present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed. Military law requires all vehicles on the installation to stop when the song is played and all individuals outside to stand at attention and face the direction of the music and either salute, in uniform, or place the right hand over the heart, if out of uniform. The law was amended in 2008, and since allows military veterans to salute out of uniform, as well.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: The text of is suggestive and not regulatory in nature. Failure to follow the suggestions is not a violation of the law. This behavioral requirement for the national anthem is subject to the same First Amendment controversies that surround the Pledge of Allegiance. For example, Jehovah's Witnesses do not sing the national anthem, though they are taught that standing is an "ethical decision" that individual believers must make based on their conscience.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: As a result of immigration to the United States and the incorporation of non-English-speaking people into the country, the lyrics of the song have been translated into other languages. In 1861, it was translated into German. The Library of Congress also has record of a Spanish-language version from 1919. It has since been translated into Hebrew and Yiddish by Jewish immigrants, Latin American Spanish (with one version popularized during immigration reform protests in 2006), French by Acadians of Louisiana, Samoan, and Irish. The third verse of the anthem has also been translated into Latin.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: The 1968 Olympics Black Power salute was a political demonstration conducted by African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos during their medal ceremony at the 1968 Summer Olympics in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City. After having won gold and bronze medals respectively in the 200-meter running event, they turned on the podium to face their flags, and to hear the American national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner". Each athlete raised a black-gloved fist, and kept them raised until the anthem had finished. In addition, Smith, Carlos, and Australian silver medalist Peter Norman all wore human rights badges on their jackets. In his autobiography, "Silent Gesture", Smith stated that the gesture was not a "Black Power" salute, but a "human rights salute". The event is regarded as one of the most overtly political statements in the history of the modern Olympic Games.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: Protests against police brutality and racism by kneeling on one knee during the national anthem began in the National Football League after San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt during the anthem, as opposed to the tradition of standing, in response to police brutality in the United States, before his team's third preseason game of 2016. Kaepernick sat during the first two preseason games, but he went unnoticed. In particular, protests focus on the discussion of slavery (and mercenaries) in the third verse of the anthem, in which some have interpreted the lyrics as condemning slaves that had joined the British in an effort to earn their freedom. Since Kaepernick's protest, other athletes have joined in the protests. In the 2017 season, after President Donald Trump's condemnation of the kneeling, which included calling for players (whom he reportedly also referred to by various profanities) to be fired, many NFL players responded by protesting during the national anthem that week.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: After the police-involved killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, when the 2020–21 NBA season resumed play in July 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of players and coaches kneeled during the national anthem through the end of the season. In San Francisco, the statue of Francis Scott Key—the nation's first memorial to the anthem's lyricist Key, a slaveowner—was toppled by protestors on June 19, 2020 and in June 2021 was replaced by 350 black steel sculptures that honor the first 350 Africans kidnapped and forced onto a slave ship headed across the Atlantic from Angola in 1619.


title: The Star-Spangled Banner

text: In November 2017, the California Chapter of the NAACP called on Congress to remove "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the national anthem. Alice Huffman, California NAACP president, said: "It's racist; it doesn't represent our community, it's anti-black." The rarely-sung third stanza of the anthem contains the words "No refuge could save the hireling and slave, from the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave", which some interpret as racist. The organization was still seeking a representative to sponsor the legislation in Congress at the time of its announcement.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: Nymphomaniac (stylised as NYMPH()MANIAC onscreen and in advertising) is a 2013 European two-part erotic art film written and directed by Lars von Trier. The film stars Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård, Stacy Martin, Shia LaBeouf, Christian Slater, Jamie Bell, Uma Thurman, Jean-Marc Barr, Willem Dafoe and Connie Nielsen. The plot follows Joe (played by Gainsbourg and Martin), a self-diagnosed "nymphomaniac," who recounts her erotic experiences to a bachelor who helps her recover from an assault. The narrative chronicles Joe's promiscuous life from adolescence to adulthood and is split into eight chapters told across two volumes. The film was originally supposed to be only one complete entry, but, because of its length, von Trier made the decision to split the project into two separate films. "Nymphomaniac" was an international co-production of Denmark, Belgium, France, and Germany.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: The world premiere of the uncut "Volume I" occurred on 16 February 2014 at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival, while the uncut "Volume II" premiered at the 71st Venice International Film Festival. The world premiere of the Director's Cut took place in Copenhagen on 10 September 2014. It was nominated for the 2014 Nordic Council Film Prize.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: "Nymphomaniac" is the third and final installment in von Trier's unofficially titled "Depression Trilogy", following "Antichrist" and "Melancholia".


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: On a snowy evening, middle-aged bachelor Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård) finds self-diagnosed nymphomaniac Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) beaten up and lying in the alleyway behind his apartment. He takes her back to his home and, over tea, listens intently as Joe recounts the story of her libidinous life. Seligman, a highly educated but cloistered man, connects and analyses Joe's stories with what he has read about. Seligman's favourite hobby to read about is fly fishing, which is why he has a fly fishing lure on his wall and this is how their conversation begins. Throughout the story he parallels much of what she has experienced with various methods of the sport.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: Inspired by a fly fishing lure on the wall behind her and Seligman's love of Izaak Walton's book "The Compleat Angler", Joe opens her story by talking about her precocious sexual fascination during her early childhood. Her father (Christian Slater) is a tree-loving doctor whom she adores while her mother (Connie Nielsen) is, as Joe describes her, a "cold bitch". In adolescence, Joe (Stacy Martin) loses her virginity to an arbitrary young man named Jerôme (Shia LaBeouf). This first encounter, which ends with Jerôme casually leaving her to fix his moped, leaves her disappointed, while Seligman observes that the combination of the number of times Jerôme penetrated her, three times vaginally and five times anally, resembles the Fibonacci sequence.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: Several years later, Joe engages in a contest with her friend B (Sophie Kennedy Clark) during a train journey; whichever of the two women has sex with the most passengers by the train's arrival at the station wins a bag of chocolate sweets. After having sex in the toilet with several of the men she comes across, Joe wins by performing a blowjob on a passenger in a first-class car, S (Jens Albinus). S is a married man who resists both her and B's advances, but ultimately Joe forces herself on him. Joe tells Seligman her encounter with S is the first of many terrible things she has done, but he waves off her accusation.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: Over rugelach and a discussion over the lack of masculinity in men using cake forks to eat pastry, Joe talks about her first experiences with actual love, something she dismisses as "lust with jealousy added". Joe takes on more lovers as she, B, and several friends create a club, "The Little Flock", dedicated to liberating themselves from society's fixation on love. Joe eventually leaves after all the other members end up developing serious attachments to their conquests. As a young adult, Joe drops out of medical school and finds work as a secretary at a printing company. Her first employer is none other than Jerôme. While sexual intentions are clearly on his mind, she finds herself avoiding his advances and sleeping with other co-workers, frustrating him. When Joe finally realises she has developed feelings for Jerôme, she writes him a letter. However, she is too late as he has left with his uncle's jealous secretary Liz (Felicity Gilbert), who was fully aware of Joe's feelings. She is immediately fired by his uncle (Jesper Christensen), the actual owner of the company, for her lack of experience and goes back to indulging her nymphomania, despite a yearning for Jerôme.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: On one occasion with one of her lovers, H (Hugo Speer), Joe inadvertently causes conflict that makes him leave his wife for her. The distressed Mrs. H (Uma Thurman) arrives and demonises both of them in front of her children, though Joe states in the present that this barely affected her. The situation then becomes more awkward as Joe's next lover, A (Cyron Melville), arrives at the house and finds himself in the middle of Mrs. H's mental breakdown. The family finally leaves, but not before Mrs. H verbally lacerates Joe, slaps her now ex-husband and leaves the apartment wailing.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: A conversation about Edgar Allan Poe and his death from delirium tremens reminds Joe of the last time she saw her father. She is the only one to visit him in the hospital as he dies of cancer. Joe's father asks her not to slander her mother, who is afraid of hospitals, for not being by his side, explaining they said their goodbyes. Joe is a firsthand witness as her father deteriorates from a unnamed illness, into fits of violent spasms, paranoid delusions and screams for his wife. To take her mind off her father's suffering, the cause of which she remains naive to, Joe has sexual intercourse with several people at the hospital. When he finally dies, Joe becomes sexually aroused, with a drop of vaginal fluid running down her thigh as she stands in front of the body, and becomes numb with depression.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: After Seligman explains how he feels Bach perfected polyphony, Joe uses his example to talk about three lovers leading up to her "cantus firmus". The "bass voice", F (Nicolas Bro) is a tender but predictable man who puts her sexual needs above his own. The "second voice", G (Christian Gade Bjerrum), thrills Joe because of his animalistic control of her in bed. During one of Joe's regular walks in the local park, Jerôme finds her after separating from Liz, a coincidence Seligman finds preposterous, and they embrace. As the two engage in authentically passionate sex – set alongside Joe's experiences with F and G – Joe becomes emotionally distraught when discovering she can no longer "feel anything".


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: Joe becomes annoyed with Seligman, accusing him of overlooking the severity of her lost sexuality to focus on the allegorical before realising he cannot relate to her stories. He goes on to confirm his asexuality and virginity, but assures her his "innocence" and lack of bias makes him the best man to listen to her story. She becomes inspired to tell him another portion of her life after noticing a Rublev-styled icon of the Virgin Mary and a discussion about the differences between the Eastern Church ("the church of happiness") and the Western Church ("the church of suffering").


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: Joe reminisces about a field trip as a young girl that suggests she had a vision of Valeria Messalina and the Whore of Babylon looking over her as she levitates and spontaneously has her first orgasm, which shocks Seligman as he explains her orgasm is a mockery of the Transfiguration of Jesus on the Mount. Returning to where she left off in her story, Joe falls into a crisis upon losing her ability to achieve sexual pleasure, though she does find a different sort of pleasure in her time with Jerôme. When the two conceive a baby together, Marcel, Jerôme struggles to keep up with her sexual needs and allows her to see other men. This is shown to be detrimental later, as he becomes jealous of her endeavors.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: Several years later to no success, Joe's sexual endeavors become increasingly adventurous by engaging in a tryst with a pair of African brothers that turns into a botched threesome; the frustration to reclaim her orgasm culminates in visits to K (Jamie Bell), a sadist who violently assaults women seeking his company. The more she visits him, the more neglectful she becomes in her domestic duties. At Christmas, after stopping an unattended Marcel who has wandered out an opened door onto a snowy balcony from coming into any harm, Jerôme forces her to choose between the family and K. She picks the latter and, after receiving an especially brutal beating from K with a cat o' nine tails that allows her to climax again, takes a path of loneliness away from her one and only possibility of a normal life. Marcel is sent to live in a foster home because Jerôme has no room in his life for him.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: To keep the story from ending on an unhappy note, Joe concludes it with the first time K introduced her to "the Silent Duck", which leaves Seligman surprised and impressed at K's talents.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: Looking at the mirror facing Seligman's bed, Joe jumps ahead in time. Several years later, Joe has regained pleasure, but her genitalia are left with some irreversible damage due to a lifetime of sexual activity mixed with K's brutality. Her habits are known around her new office, prompting the boss to demand she attend sex addiction therapy under the threat of losing her job and any future job she takes.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: When asked why she refused to attend therapy, Joe talks about becoming pregnant after leaving Jerôme and Marcel and demanding her doctor abort the 11-week pregnancy, but he insists she speak to a counselor first. The visit to the psychologist (Caroline Goodall) ends disastrously due to Joe's attitude towards the situation. She decides to take matters into her own hands and perform the abortion herself. Using the knowledge she had retained from medical school, Joe aborts the fetus with the use of several household implements and a wire hanger. Back in the present, Joe and Seligman get into a very heated argument regarding Joe's actions, abortion rights in general and Seligman's potential hypocrisy in supporting them while wanting to know nothing about how the actual procedure is performed.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: Joe reluctantly attends the meetings and, after ridding her apartment of almost everything in it, attempts sobriety. During one meeting three weeks later, she sees a reflection of her younger self in the mirror, harshly insults every member of the group, including the therapist, and proclaims pride in her nymphomania before walking out.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: Joe tells Seligman she is not sure where to conclude her story as she has used every item from around his room to help inspire each "chapter". After a suggestion from him, she notices how the stain from a cup of tea she had earlier thrown in anger looks like a Walther PPK, the same kind of gun her favourite literary character James Bond uses, and knows exactly how and where to end things.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: Realising she has no place in "normal" society, Joe turns to organised crime and becomes a debt collector, utilising her extensive knowledge of men, sex, and sadomasochism. She reminisces about a memorable housecall to a man (Jean-Marc Barr) who she initially finds sexually unreadable. She ties him to a chair, strips him and attempts to provoke him with every sexual scenario she can think of. Upon further interrogation, Joe gleans that he is a repressed pedophile. She takes pity on him and fellates him. Joe explains to Seligman how she feels deep compassion for people born with a forbidden sexuality. She strongly identifies with the man's loneliness and status as a sexual outcast, and laud him for going through life without acting on his aberrant desires.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: Joe's superior, L (Willem Dafoe), recommends that she groom an apprentice and suggests P (Mia Goth), the 15-year-old daughter of criminals. Joe is initially repulsed by the idea, but ends up sympathising with the girl in question. P is a vulnerable, lonely, emotionally damaged young girl who quickly latches herself onto Joe. The two of them click and form a special connection. Joe opens her heart to P and eventually invites her to move into her home. Over time, Joe and P's relationship develops a sexual dimension, leading to romance. As P seems to mature, Joe hesitantly decides to teach her young female lover the ropes of her trade.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: During one round of debt collection, Joe notices that they are at a house belonging to Jerôme (now played by Michaël Pas) and, to make sure she is not seen, tells P to perform her first solo job. This proves to be a mistake as Joe eventually discovers P is having an affair with Jerôme. After finding her "soul tree" in a failed attempt to leave town, Joe waits for Jerôme and P in the alley between his home and her apartment and pulls a gun she confiscated from P earlier on him. When she pulls the trigger, she forgets to rack the pistol. Jerôme viciously beats Joe and then has sex with P right in front of her, thrusting into P in exactly the same way he once took her virginity. P urinates on her before leaving her as she was at the beginning of the film.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: In the present, Seligman suggests how the circumstances of Joe's life might have been due to differences in gender representation; all of the stigma, guilt and shame she felt for her actions made her fight back aggressively "like a man", ultimately "forgetting" to rack the gun because her human worth would not allow her to kill someone, even Jerôme. Joe, who has until this moment been playing devil's advocate to Seligman's assumptions, finally feels at peace, having unburdened her story to someone with she truly considers a friend. She says she is too tired to go on and asks to go to sleep.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: As Joe begins to drift off, Seligman silently returns with his pants off and attempts to rape her. Joe wakes up and, realising what Seligman is doing, reaches for and racks the gun. Seligman protests and attempts to justify his behaviour, but Joe shoots him, grabs her things, and flees the apartment.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: Executive producer and Zentropa co-founder Peter Aalbæk Jensen revealed that the film is to be two parts. "We are making two films. It is a big operation. I personally hope that we should be ready for Cannes next year. We will shoot both and edit both – and we want to finish both at the same time." He explained there will be two versions of each film: an explicit cut and a softer cut.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: LaBeouf got his role in "Nymphomaniac" by sending a tape of himself having intercourse with his girlfriend Karolyn Pho to von Trier. Slater got connected to von Trier via his agent being in Denmark and used makeup under his eyes to make himself look old enough to be Joe's father.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: LaBeouf said in August 2012, "The movie is what you think it is. It is Lars von Trier, making a movie about what he's making. For instance, there's a disclaimer at the top of the script that basically says we're doing it for real. Everything that is illegal, we'll shoot in blurred images. Other than that, everything is happening. ... [V]on Trier's dangerous. He scares me. And I'm only going to work now when I'm terrified."


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: Principal photography occurred between 28 August–9 November 2012 in Cologne and Hilden, Germany, and in Ghent, Belgium.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: To produce scenes of simulated sex, von Trier used digital compositing to superimpose the genitals of pornographic film actors onto the bodies of the film's actors. Producer Louise Vesth explained during the Cannes Film Festival:


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: We shot the actors pretending to have sex and then had the body doubles, who really did have sex, and in post we will digital impose the two. So above the waist it will be the star and the below the waist it will be the doubles.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: Gainsbourg and Martin further revealed that prosthetic vaginas and closed sets were used during filming. Martin stated that her acting experience for the film was enjoyable and, after explaining that the film's characters are a reflection of the director himself, referred to the process as an "honour." Martin also stated that shooting the sex scenes was a bit boring due to their technical nature.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: The film makes several references to the other films in the trilogy. For example, the scene showing Marcel approaching an open upper floor window references the similar sequence during the beginning of "Antichrist" and even uses the same background music from that aforementioned scene. Furthermore, Joe's monologue about loneliness is edited to shots of the universe from "Melancholia". As a reference to von Trier's comments at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, during a scene available in the director's cut only, "Joe says she could understand dictators such as Hitler. Seligman shakes his head in disbelief. After she showed sympathy for racists and pedophiles, it is quite obvious that she also has to sympathize with the biggest mass murderer in history." Joe has been referred to as a "proto-fascist heroine".


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: A seven-track soundtrack was released digitally by Zentropa on 27 June 2014, containing a mix of classical and modern rock music, along with two sound clips from the prologue of the film.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: In early 2013, the first teaser poster was released from the film's official website. Shortly thereafter, Zentropa released a promotional photo shoot featuring the film's main characters posing in suggestive positions and a list of the film's chapters. This was followed by the release of a picture of Trier himself with duct tape covering his mouth, accompanied by a press release explaining the official launch of the film's campaign.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: An incremental marketing campaign was used to promote the film, as brief video segments, each described as an "appetizer" by the film's production company, were released online leading up to the film's release date. Each appetizer represented each of the eight chapters of "Nymphomaniac" and the first one, entitled "The Compleat Angler", appeared on 28 June 2013, the last Friday of the month—this pattern would be followed for the monthly release of the subsequent clips. Following "The Compleat Angler", "Jerôme" featuring Martin and LaBeouf, was released in August; "Mrs. H" in September; the predominantly black-and-white "Delirium" (containing a voice-over by Skarsgård) was released in October; in November, the appetizer for "The Little Organ School" was uploaded to YouTube, but was quickly removed due to its explicit content; "The Eastern and the Western Church" was released exclusively for Vimeo on 29 November; in December, the appetizer for "The Mirror" was released, again on Vimeo; and on 25 December, leading into the European release of the film, "The Gun" was released on the film's official website.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: In October 2013, a series of posters were released, each depicting the film's characters during the moment of orgasm. Along with the appetizers and the character posters, five theatrical posters (three for the complete feature and one for each volume) and an international trailer featuring some of the explicit sexual scenes, were released.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: In July 2014, Zentropa revealed the poster for the Director's Cut when announcing its premiere at the Venice Film Festival. The poster combined the original teaser with Lars von Trier standing in between the two parentheses.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: "Nymphomaniac" initially received an NC-17 from the Motion Picture Association of America in early 2014. The film, however, surrendered the rating and was released without any MPAA rating.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: Von Trier's complete five-and-a-half-hour version was released in few territories and only long after the original premiere. Instead, a four-hour version was edited without the director's involvement and has been used for the film's international release, divided into two volumes – "Volume I" and "Volume II" – with ninety minutes removed.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: A "secret" advance screening of "Volume I" occurred at the Sundance Film Festival on 21 January 2014, at the Egyptian Theater with tickets distributed bearing the film title "Film X" amidst rumors the film could either be von Trier's film, or Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel". The film's UK premiere took place on 22 February 2014. In the United States, the film was also released in two parts, billed as "Nymphomaniac: Volume I" and "Nymphomaniac: Volume II", but on separate dates: 21 March 2014 and 4 April 2014.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: In Australia and New Zealand, the four-hour version of the film was distributed by the Transmission Films company. Released on 20 March 2014, the two volumes were shown back-to-back with an interval.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: In February 2014, the uncut "Volume I" was screened at the Berlin Film Festival. In September 2014, the uncut version of "Volume I" and "Volume II" was screened at the Venice Film Festival. The complete Director's Cut, including both volumes, was finally released to a general audience in Copenhagen, Denmark, premiering on 10 September 2014, where it was shown with a half-hour intermission at a red carpet gala screening with von Trier present in the audience; at this premiere, during the film's restored abortion sequence, where Joe performs an abortion on herself, three male audience members fainted and had to be carried out of the cinema.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, "Volume I" achieved a 76% approval rating and an average rating of 6.9/10, based on 202 reviews; the website's critical consensus states: "Darkly funny, fearlessly bold, and thoroughly indulgent, "Nymphomaniac" finds Lars von Trier provoking viewers with customary abandon." "Volume II" received a 60% rating with an average of 6.4/10, based on 126 reviews; the consensus states: "It doesn't quite live up to the promise of the first installment, but "Nymphomaniac: Volume II" still benefits from Lars von Trier's singular craft and vision, as well as a bravura performance from Charlotte Gainsbourg." On Metacritic, the first volume holds a 64/100 rating based on 41 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The second volume gained a 60/100 rating based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: In the UK, Martin Solibakke of "Mancunion" praised Stacy Martin's performance, saying he had "never felt so sure about an actress's future success since I saw Jennifer Lawrence in "Winter's Bone" four years ago". He ended his review with hailing the film, saying "Lars von Trier ends up hitting the G-spot of avant-garde filmmaking with a movie only he could ever make, and gives the open-minded members of the audience one of the most powerful and sensational experiences ever seen in arts."


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: Michelle Orange of "The Village Voice" called it a "jigsaw opus, an extended and generally exquisitely crafted riff." In "The Australian", David Stratton said that he "detested" some of Trier's films, and states that "Nymphomaniac" "seems designed to be his magnum opus, the film in which he gets to rail against everything he loathes about contemporary life and contemporary cinema." The modified version is screening in Australia, officially referred to as the "international" version. Stratton further stated on the television review program "At the Movies" that he found the four-hour runtime of the film to be "daunting", but praised some of the performances, particularly those of Stacy Martin and Jamie Bell. Stratton's co-host Margaret Pomeranz meanwhile, while also praising the boldness of the performances, felt the film's unsimulated depictions of sex didn't add to the narrative and as such had, "such an undercurrent of sadism that I was, not repelled, but distanced". "Thought Catalog" remarked on how the plot failed to be consistent or plausible.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: On the Melbourne community radio station, 3RRR, film criticism program "Plato's Cave" praised von Trier's work on "Nymphomaniac" and presenters, Thomas Caldwell and Josh Nelson, defended the director against accusations of misogyny. Both presenters agreed that actresses who von Trier has worked with, such as Nicole Kidman and Björk, have delivered excellent performances in his films, while Nelson referred to "Antichrist" and "Melancholia", the first two installments of the "Depression Trilogy", as "masterpieces". Caldwell concludes the review by stating, "... if you're coming new to him [Von Trier], I think this is a real crash course in all his preoccupations."


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: When the complete Director's Cut had its general release world premiere in Copenhagen on 10 September 2014, major Danish critics gave it high ratings. In spite of this, the Director's Cut sold only 3,494 tickets in Danish cinemas.


title: Nymphomaniac (film)

text: "Nymphomaniac" was released both together (in a two-disc set) and separately via DVD and Blu-ray in the United States on 8 July 2014. Director's Cut was made available in the US on both home media formats on 25 November 2014. In December 2014, the Director's Cut was released on Netflix, where the theatrical versions were already streaming.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and activist. Throughout her career spanning over seven decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Television Award, two Golden Globe Awards, two Cannes Film Festival Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Volpi Cup and a Tony Award, making her one of the few performers to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting. She has also received various honorary awards, including the BAFTA Fellowship Award, the Golden Lion Honorary Award, and an induction into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: Redgrave made her acting debut on stage with the production of "" in 1958. She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in the Shakespearean comedy "As You Like It" with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since starred in more than 35 productions in London's West End and on Broadway, winning the 1984 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Revival for "The Aspern Papers", and the 2003 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the revival of "Long Day's Journey into Night". She also received Tony nominations for "The Year of Magical Thinking" and "Driving Miss Daisy".


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: Redgrave made her film debut starring opposite her father in the medical drama "Behind the Mask" (1958), and rose to prominence with the satire "" (1966), which garnered her first of her six Academy Award nominations, winning Best Supporting Actress for "Julia" (1977). Her other nominations were for "Isadora" (1968), "Mary, Queen of Scots" (1971), "The Bostonians" (1984), and "Howards End" (1992). Among her other films are "A Man for All Seasons" (1966), "Blowup" (1966), "Camelot" (1967), "The Devils" (1971), "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974), "Prick Up Your Ears" (1987), "" (1996), "Atonement" (2007), "Letters to Juliet" (2010), "Coriolanus" (2011), and "The Butler" (2013).


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: A member of the Redgrave family of actors, she is the daughter of Sir Michael Redgrave and Lady Redgrave (Rachel Kempson), the sister of Lynn Redgrave and Corin Redgrave, the wife of Italian actor Franco Nero, the mother of actresses Joely Richardson and Natasha Richardson and of screenwriter and director Carlo Gabriel Nero, the aunt of British actress Jemma Redgrave, the mother-in-law of actor Liam Neeson and film producer Tim Bevan, and the grandmother of Daisy Bevan and Micheál and Daniel Neeson.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: Redgrave was born on 30 January 1937 in Blackheath, London, the daughter of actors Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson. Laurence Olivier announced her birth to the audience at a performance of "Hamlet" at the Old Vic, when he said that Laertes (played by Sir Michael) had a daughter. Accounts say Olivier announced, "A great actress has been born this night."


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: In her autobiography, Redgrave recalls the East End and Coventry Blitzes among her earliest memories. Following the East End Blitz, Redgrave relocated with her family to Herefordshire before returning to London in 1943. She was educated at two independent schools for girls: the Alice Ottley School in Worcester, and Queen's Gate School in London, before "coming out" as a debutante. Her siblings Lynn Redgrave and Corin Redgrave were also actors.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: Vanessa Redgrave entered the Central School of Speech and Drama in 1954. She first appeared in the West End, playing opposite her brother, in 1958.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: In 1959, she appeared at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre under the direction of Peter Hall as Helena in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" opposite Charles Laughton as Bottom and "Coriolanus" opposite Laurence Olivier (in the title role), Albert Finney and Edith Evans.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: In 1960, Redgrave had her first starring role in Robert Bolt's "The Tiger and the Horse", in which she co-starred with her father. In 1961, she played Rosalind in "As You Like It" for the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1962, she played Imogen in William Gaskill's production of "Cymbeline" for the RSC. In 1966, Redgrave created the role of Jean Brodie in the Donald Albery production of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie", adapted for the stage by Jay Presson Allen from the novel by Muriel Spark.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: Redgrave had her first credited film role, in which she co-starred with her father, in Brian Desmond Hurst's "Behind the Mask" (1958). Redgrave's first starring film role was in "Morgan – A Suitable Case for Treatment" (1966), co-starring David Warner and directed by Karel Reisz, for which she received an Oscar nomination, a Cannes award, a Golden Globe nomination and a BAFTA Film Award nomination. Following this, she portrayed a mysterious woman in "Blowup" (1966). Co-starring David Hemmings, it was the first English-language film of the Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni. Reunited with Karel Reisz for the biographical film of dancer Isadora Duncan in "Isadora" (1968), her portrayal of Duncan led her gaining a National Society of Film Critics' Award for Best Actress, a second Prize for the Best Female Performance at the Cannes Film Festival, along with a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. In 1970 and 1971, Vanessa was directed by Italian filmmaker Tinto Brass in two films: "Dropout" and "La vacanza".


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: In the same period came other portrayals of historical (or semi-mythical) figures – ranging from Andromache in "The Trojan Women" (1971) to the lead in "Mary, Queen of Scots" (1971), the latter earning her a third Oscar nomination. She also played the role of Guinevere in the film "Camelot" (1967) with Richard Harris and Franco Nero, and briefly as Sylvia Pankhurst in "Oh! What a Lovely War" (1969). She portrayed the character of Mother Superior Jeanne des Anges (Joan of the Angels) in "The Devils" (1971), the once controversial film directed by Ken Russell.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: In the film "Julia" (1977), she starred in the title role as a woman murdered by the Nazi German regime in the years prior to World War II for her anti-Fascist activism. Her co-star in the film was Jane Fonda (playing writer Lillian Hellman). In her 2005 autobiography, Fonda wrote that:


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: When Redgrave was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1977 for her role in "Julia", members of the Jewish Defense League (JDL), led by Rabbi Meir Kahane, burned effigies of Redgrave and picketed the Academy Awards ceremony to protest against what they saw as her support for the Palestine Liberation Organization.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: This film opened in 1977, the same year she produced and appeared in the film "The Palestinian", which followed the activities of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Lebanon. The film was criticized by many Jewish groups for its perceived anti-Israel slant, and members of the Jewish Defense League (JDL) picketed Redgrave's nomination outside the Academy Awards ceremony while counter-protestors waved PLO flags. Redgrave won the Oscar and in her acceptance speech, she thanked Hollywood for having "refused to be intimidated by the threats of a small bunch of Zionist hoodlums – whose behavior is an insult to the stature of Jews all over the world and to their great and heroic record of struggle against fascism and oppression". Her remarks brought an on-stage response later in the ceremony from Academy Award winning screenwriter and award presenter at that year's ceremony Paddy Chayefsky and sparked controversy. In his biography of Redgrave, Dan Callahan wrote, "The scandal of her awards speech and the negative press it occasioned had a destructive effect on her acting opportunities that would last for years to come".


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: Later film roles include those of Agatha Christie in "Agatha" (1979), Helen in "Yanks" (1979), a Holocaust survivor in "Playing for Time" (1980), Leenie Cabrezi in "My Body, My Child" (1982), The Queen in "Sing, Sing" (1983), suffragist Olive Chancellor in "The Bostonians" (1984, a fourth Best Actress Academy Award nomination), transsexual tennis player Renée Richards in "Second Serve" (1986), Blanche Hudson in the television remake of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane" (1991), Mrs. Wilcox in "Howards End" (1992, her sixth Academy Award nomination, this time in a supporting role); crime boss Max in "" (1996, when discussing the role of Max, Brian DePalma and Tom Cruise thought it would be fun to cast an actor like Redgrave; they then decided to go with the real thing); Oscar Wilde's mother in "Wilde" (1997); Clarissa Dalloway in "Mrs. Dalloway" (1997); and Dr. Sonia Wick in "Girl, Interrupted" (1999). Many of these roles and others garnered her widespread accolades.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: Her performance as a lesbian mourning the loss of her longtime partner in the HBO series "If These Walls Could Talk 2" (2000) earned her a Golden Globe for Best TV Series Supporting Actress, as well as earning an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a TV Film or Miniseries. This same performance also led to an Excellence in Media Award from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). In 2004, Redgrave joined the second-season cast of the FX series "Nip/Tuck", portraying Dr. Erica Noughton, the mother of Julia McNamara, who was played by her real-life daughter Joely Richardson. She also made appearances in the third and sixth seasons. In 2006, Redgrave starred opposite Peter O'Toole in the film "Venus". A year later, Redgrave starred in "Evening" and "Atonement", in which she received a Broadcast Film Critics Association award nomination for a performance that took up only seven minutes of screen time.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: In 2008, Redgrave appeared as a narrator in an Arts Alliance production, id – Identity of the Soul. In 2009, Redgrave starred in the BBC remake of "The Day of the Triffids", with her daughter Joely. In the midst of losing her daughter, Natasha Richardson, Redgrave signed on to play Eleanor of Aquitaine in Ridley Scott's version of "Robin Hood" (2010), which began filming shortly after Natasha's death. Redgrave later withdrew from the film for personal reasons. The part was given to her "Evening" co-star Eileen Atkins. She was next seen in "Letters to Juliet" opposite her husband Franco Nero.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: She had small roles in "Eva" (2009), a Romanian drama film that premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, as well as in Julian Schnabel's Palestinian drama "Miral" (2010), which was screened at the 67th Venice International Film Festival. She voiced the character of Winnie the Giant Tortoise in the environmental animated film "Animals United" (also 2010), and played a supporting role in the Bosnia-set political drama, "The Whistleblower" (2010), which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Redgrave also narrated Patrick Keiller's semi-fictional documentary, "Robinson in Ruins" (2010). Since 2012, Redgrave has narrated the BBC series "Call The Midwife".


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: She also played leading roles in two historical films: Shakespeare's "Coriolanus" (which marked actor Ralph Fiennes' directorial debut), in which she plays Volumnia; and Roland Emmerich's "Anonymous" (both 2011), as .


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: Subsequently, she starred with Terence Stamp and Gemma Arterton in the British comedy-drama "Song for Marion" (US: "Unfinished Song", 2012) and with Forest Whitaker in "The Butler" (2013), directed by Lee Daniels. She also appeared with Steve Carell and Channing Tatum in the drama "Foxcatcher" (2014).


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: In 2017, at the age of 80, Redgrave made her directorial debut with the feature documentary "Sea Sorrow", which covers the plight of child migrants in the Calais refugee camps and the broader European migrant crisis. It premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. Critics praised the documentary's message but criticised the structure for a "scattershot lack of focus" and the "ungainliness of its production values."


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: Redgrave won four Evening Standard Awards for Best Actress in four decades. She was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for Actress of the Year in a Revival in 1984 for "The Aspern Papers".


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: In 2000, her theatre work included Prospero in "The Tempest" at Shakespeare's Globe in London. In 2003, she won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in the Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night". In January 2006, Redgrave was presented the Ibsen Centennial Award for her "outstanding work in interpreting many of Henrik Ibsen's works over the last decades". Previous recipients of the award include Liv Ullmann, Glenda Jackson and Claire Bloom.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: In 2007, Redgrave played Joan Didion in her Broadway stage adaptation of her 2005 book, "The Year of Magical Thinking", which played 144 regular performances in a 24-week limited engagement at the Booth Theatre. For this, she won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play. She reprised the role at the Lyttelton Theatre at the Royal National Theatre in London to mixed reviews. She also spent a week performing the work at the Theatre Royal in Bath in September 2008. She once again performed the role of Joan Didion for a special benefit at Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York on 26 October 2009. The performance was originally slated to debut on 27 April, but was pushed due to the death of Redgrave's daughter Natasha. The proceeds for the benefit were donated to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Both charities work to provide help for the children of Gaza.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: In October 2010, she starred in the Broadway premiere of "Driving Miss Daisy" starring in the title role opposite James Earl Jones. The show premiered on 25 October 2010 at the John Golden Theatre in New York City to rave reviews. The production was originally scheduled to run to 29 January 2011 but due to a successful response and high box office sales, was extended to 9 April 2011. In May 2011, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for the role of Daisy in "Driving Miss Daisy". The play transferred to the Wyndham's Theatre in London from 26 September to 17 December 2011.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: In 2013, Redgrave starred alongside Jesse Eisenberg in Eisenberg's "The Revisionist". The New York production ran from 15 February to 27 April. Redgrave played a Polish holocaust survivor in the play. In September 2013, Redgrave once again starred opposite James Earl Jones in a production of "Much Ado About Nothing" at The Old Vic, London, directed by Mark Rylance.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: In 2016, Redgrave played Queen Margaret in "Richard III" with Ralph Fiennes in the title role, at the Almeida Theatre, London.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: In February 2022, it was confirmed that she will be playing Mrs Higgins in "My Fair Lady" at the London Coliseum from May to August 2022.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: In a poll of "industry experts" and readers conducted by "The Stage" in 2010, Redgrave was ranked as the ninth greatest stage actor/actress of all time.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: Redgrave was married to film and theatre director Tony Richardson from 1962 to 1967; the couple had two daughters: actresses Natasha Richardson (1963–2009), and Joely Richardson (b. 1965). In 1967, the year Redgrave divorced Richardson, who left her for the French actress Jeanne Moreau, she became romantically involved with Italian actor Franco Nero when they met on the set of "Camelot". In 1969, they had a son, Carlo Gabriel Redgrave Sparanero (known professionally as Carlo Gabriel Nero), a screenwriter and director. From 1971 to 1986, she had a long-term relationship with actor Timothy Dalton, with whom she had appeared in the film "Mary, Queen of Scots" (1971). Redgrave later reunited with Franco Nero, and they married on 31 December 2006. Carlo Nero directed Redgrave in "The Fever" (2004), a film adaptation of the Wallace Shawn play. Redgrave has six grandchildren.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: Within 14 months in 2009 and 2010, Redgrave lost both a daughter and her two younger siblings. Her daughter Natasha Richardson died on 18 March 2009 from a traumatic brain injury caused by a skiing accident. On 6 April 2010, her brother, Corin Redgrave, died, and on 2 May 2010, her sister, Lynn Redgrave, died.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: Redgrave had a near-fatal heart attack in April 2015. In September 2015, she revealed that her lungs are only working at 30 per cent capacity due to emphysema caused by years of smoking.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: Redgrave has described herself as a person of faith and said that she "sometimes" attends a Catholic church.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: Redgrave and her brother Corin joined the Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP) in the 1970s. She ran for parliament several times as a party member but never received more than a few hundred votes. The party disbanded in 1985 amid allegations that chairman Gerry Healy was implicated in sexual abuse of female supporters.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: On 17 March 1968, Redgrave participated in the anti-Vietnam War protest outside United States Embassy in Grosvenor Square. She was allowed to enter the embassy to deliver a protest.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: Redgrave used her wage from "Mary, Queen of Scots" to build a nursery school, near her home in west London. She donated the school to the state.


title: Vanessa Redgrave

text: After the 1973 Old Bailey bombing, Redgrave volunteered to post bond for the defendants and offered up her own house in West Hampstead, should any of them need a place to stay. None of the defendants were released from custody to take her up on her offer.