Film News

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Miller’s work has been turned into film in a variety of languages and versions, click here for a list taken from the imdb.com website that lists Miller related items produced since 1948.

Just the 21st century developments:

  • Shira Piven’s feature film, The Performance, based on Miller’s short story of the same title, adapted by Shira Piven and Josh Salzberg, premieres at the 2023 Rome Film Festival (runs 18-29 Oct.) on the 28 Oct. on two screens. Features Jeremy Piven, Robert Carlyle, Maime McCoy, Adam Garcia, Lara Wolf, Jared Grimes, Yaniv Biton, and Isaac Gryn. It is 1937. Harold May is an American Jew and a highly talented tap dancer, looking for his big break. During a tour in Europe with his company and his old girlfriend Carol, he is scouted by a German, Damian Fugler who, unaware that Harold is Jewish, offers him a large sum of money to put on a show in Berlin: but when he gets to Germany, Harold discovers that the show will be an exclusive performance for Adolf Hitler!
  • The theater platform Teatrix created by Argentine entrepreneur Mirta Romay offerd some of its theater performances for free from 20—23 Jan. 2023 to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Alejandro Romay, who was the producer of the works. One of these is The Price that Romay produced in Buenos Aires for the first time in 1968, just six months after its world premiere in New York. There is also another version on Teatrix, produced in 2009 in Argentina directed by Helena Tritek with Arturo Puig, Selva Alemán, Pepe Soriano and Antonio Grimau. Check them out here: https://www.teatrix.com/teatro-online.
  • The Crucible in the Olivier Theatre at the National Theatre, South Bank, London SE1, UK. Directed by Lyndsey Turner, with Brendan Cowell, Erin Doherty, Eileen Walsh, Nick Fletcher, Rachelle Diedericks, Fisayo Akinade, Karl Johnson, Matthew Marsh, and Gracie McGonigal. Set design by Es Devlin, will be filmed for National Theatre Live, and will be available from 26 Jan. 2023 in UK/Ireland, and from 2 March 2023 internationally.
  • A kind of Trailer for The Misfits; has some original footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okYdnldx3rc&t=5s
  • Daniel Finkelman of Sparks Next has produced a film of Performance, based on Miller’s short story of the same name, written and directed by Shira Piven. Shot in Slovakia and currently in post-production in London, the film will be playing in Cannes, 2022. Starring Jeremy Piven and Robert Carlyle. It tells the story of a second-generation Jewish American dancer whose troupe is on tour in Europe and is scouted for a special performance for Adolf Hitler.

    Performance
  • Amanda Wrigley has worked on documenting many of Miller’s British TV productions and here are links to the five articles she has made available through Screenplay, the first being on television productions of Death of a Salesman. The link is to a 2013 article on the 1957 (Granada/ITV), 1966 (Play of the Month production for BBC1 and five-part production in the English File series for BBC Schools in 1996 of Death of a Salesman. The next is a 2013 article on a variety of 1950s television versions of All My Sons (1958), A Memory of Two Mondays (1959) and The Crucible (just the 1959 one for Granada). Though numbered four, this was the third article written (the one numbered three came two years later), so here is a link to a 2013 article on the 1966 (ITV) and 1986 (BBC) British TV productions of A View from the Bridge. Next came this 2013 article on the 1997 Broken Glass television production in the UK. Finally there was this 2015 article on the 1959 (Granada), 1968 (Rediffusion) and 1981 (BBC) British TV productions of The Crucible. As far as I can tell, the 1968 Rediffusion production was done jointly with CBS and actually aired in the States the year before—and it’s the one with George C. Scott, Colleen Dewhurst, Tuesday Weld, Melvyn Douglas, Fritz Weaver and Will Geer (Wrigley’s article pretty much skips over this production with very little comment—though she does refer to it as a “modern” take?).

    1959 Memory for ITV

    1986 View for BBC 2

    1998 Crucible for BBC

    1957 Salesman for ITV

    1996 Salesman for BBC Schools

    1997 Broken Glass 
     

    1966 View for ITV

    1997 Broken Glass 
  • Links to an interesting Alt Film Guide to “Miller at the Movies” by Andre Soares—that covers: All My Sons (1948 version with Robinson and Lancaster), Death of a Salesman (1951 version with March), The Crucible (twice—Sartre and Hytner versions), A View from the Bridge (Lumet version), and The Misfits. This three-part article is apparently a revised, expanded version of a brief obit published at the time of Miller’s death in February 2005.
  • Aside from Ivo Van Hove’s Young Vic production of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge, cinema audiences now also have the chance to watch Sally Field and Bill Pullman lead the cast in the Old Vic production of All My Sons through National Theatre Live. Details of screenings can be found on the NT Live website.

    NT Live All My Sons

    NT Live A View from the Bridge
  • Arthur Miller: Writer (2017) a documentary received a two-night screening as part of the New York Film Festival.  on October 9 at 6:30pm, October 10 at 8:30pm, and on October 14 at the Film Society at Lincoln Center. Created by Miller’s daughter, Rebecca Miller, for 98 minutes the documentary follows the playwright’s successes and failures, dipping into his inspirations and the ways his work has helped shape greater American culture. It is built around a series of interviews that were filmed over many years in the Miller home, and is described as a “close consideration of a singular life shadowed by the tragedies of the Red Scare and the death of Marilyn Monroe; a bracing look at success and failure in the public eye; an honest accounting of human frailty; a tribute to one artist by another.” Arthur Miller: Writer opened theatrically in New York and LA on December 8, 2017 in a qualifying run for Oscar consideration. Debuted on HBO on March 19th, 2018. The film explores how as a social commentator Miller formed his ideologies, how his life reflected his work, and, even “shaped the culture of our country in the twentieth century.” Played also at 55th New York Film Festival; Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, 1-4 Sept.; 18th annual Woodstock Film Festival on 15 Oct. at the Woodstock Playhouse, as the festival’s closing night film and Rebecca Miller participated in a question-and-answer session following the screening. She also participated in a discussion, earlier on Oct. 15, at the Kleinert James Center for the Arts in Woodstock. Click here to read an interview from Deadline with Rebecca Miller on the film’s creation. The documentary got a lot of press coverage in response to it becoming available on HBO, but the platform decided to drop the movie on 13 March 2023. See NPR, Village Voice, and Broadway World for a roundup of commentaries. Watch a trailer here: https://serieshd.watch/watch-movie/watch-arthur-miller-writer-hd-59401.5420836
  • The Nicholas Hytner-directed version of The Crucible was released on Blu-ray 11 April 2017. Also contains: Audio Commentary with Nicholas Hytner and Arthur Miller, Conversation with Arthur Miller and Daniel Day Lewis (5 mins), Making of The Crucible (7 mins), and the Theatrical Trailer (1 min).
  • Blame, a new film by writer-director-producer-editor-star Quinn Shephard showing at the Tribeca Film Festival 2017, is a poignant and incisive examination of modern American adolescence, as filtered through the lens of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and the Salem witch trials of 1692, which form the inspiration for this modern-day narrative. The film delves deepest into high school mean-girl culture, but also looks at mental illness, parenting, abuse, and both teen and adult sexuality. Quinn plays Abigail, an ostracized girl with a history of mental illness (the film’s equivalent to witchcraft) and a preternatural ability to act, causing her to get cast by a substitute drama teacher in a class production of Miller’s play. The two initiate a terse and tentative romance, with the threat of disaster looming at every moment, but it is Abigail’s relationship with her peers that remains most important to the story Quinn wants to draw out of her source material.
  • The 1948 film version of All My Sons with Edward G. Robinson and Burt Lancaster now on BluRay. Directed by Irving Reis recently released by Kino Classics, with optional English (SDH) subtitles, also has film Historian Kat Ellinger and Author/Film Historian Lee Gambin deliver an incredible commentary track in which they discuss Miller’s source material and how it translates to the screen, the film’s score, how this story reflects the culture of the time, the horror motifs, the film’s reputation and much more that makes for a great listen.
  • Filmed in Tehran and directed by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, starring Shahab Hosseini, Taraneh Alidusti and Iraj Karimi, The Salesman is about an Iranian couple salesmaniranperforming Death of a Salesman. This adaptation of Salesman, written by Asghar Farhadi, was feted at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, where Farhadi won a prize for his screenplay, and it will be Iran’s next submission to the Oscars. It was nominated for a Golden Globe, but lost out to Elle. The film revolves around a teacher and his wife, who are attacked at their home in Tehran, and features a “play within a play,” as Death of a Salesman is being performed in a theatre, and its scenes parallel and augment the film’s narrative. Check out the US Trailer for the movie on YouTube. It is now available through Amazon. Check out this review.
  • The new film that Rebecca Miller has written and directed, Maggie’s Plan, is proving to be a big hit on the festival circuit. Starring Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke and Julianne Moore Release date: 20 May 2016.maggiesplan
  • Signature Theatre’s Off-Broadway revival of Incident at Vichy will be featured in the second season of Theater Close-Up on Thirteen (WNET New York) hosted by actress Blythe Danner. The production was filmed 16 Dec. 2015 and will be broadcast in spring 2016. It will be the fifth presentation of the second season, which launched back on 1 Oct. 2015. The broadcast will be made available online to the tri-state area for a limited period, check Thirteen’s website for scheduling details. Then it will be offered for download at $7.99 through the Broadway HD service.
  • Lifetime is producing a four-hour miniseries based on J. Randy Taraborrelli’s book, Marilyn Monroe: The Untold Story. Stephen Bogaert will play Miller (Jason Miller played him in the 1980s movie version).
    misfitsnew
  • The Misfits will be re-released in UK cinemas from Friday 12 June, 2015.
  • From Thursday 26th March 2015 at 7pm, cinema audiences will have the chance to watch Mark Strong lead the cast in Ivo Van Hove’s five-star Young Vic production of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge broadcast from the Wyndham’s Theatre in London’s West End as part of National Theatre Live. The National Theatre’s innovative project, NT Live, broadcasts some of the best of theatre live from the stage to cinemas across the UK and around the world. More than 1500 screenings are to take place in over 40 countries with additional encore screenings to be announced. Details of all screenings can be found at http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/crcuible2014
  • Captured live in High Definition by DigitalTheatre.com at The Old Vic, London during its 2014 season directed by Yael Farber, with Richard Armitage, The Crucible is to be screened in 350 cinemas in the U.K. and Ireland Dec. 4 and 7 only, with further worldwide screenings to follow. US venues seem to have fallen through, but keep checking at Cinemalive, and you can also order the production through DigitalTheatre.
  • Playing for Time is released now on Blu-ray; it includes a booklet included with a new essay from film scholar Teri Ginsberg. Check out this review.salesman1951
  • 23 Oct. 2013, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) will be screening the East Coast premier of Stanley Kramer’s newly restored 1951 film version of Death of a Salesman as part of To Save and Project: The 11th MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation at The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues), New York, NY. Call 212-708-9400 or check their website. The World Premiere screening of was presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive in the Billy Wilder Theater on August 9, 2013 as part of film series entitled, “Champion: The Stanley Kramer Centennial,” honoring the late legendary filmmaker.
  • MGM has released The Misfits in Blu-Ray–a rare occurence for a black and white movie, however, the disc sadly contains little additional material.
  • All My Sons with David Suchet and Zoe Wanamaker, is available from Digital Theatre as a downloadable production (or to stream) for £6.99 at their website. sonssuchetwanamaker
  • Playing for Time was finally released on DVD on 7th Sept. 2010. Check here for details.
  • An update on Anthony La Paglia’s A View From The Bridge. The option rights to this will soon be expiring and La Paglia seems ready to give up on his plans to film his performance as Eddie Carbone, although his production team have not completely given up hope that the rights may be extended.pippa
  • Rebecca Miller’s The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, about a woman in Connecticut heading for a nervous breakdown after her husband leaves her for a younger woman opened in 2009–several reports on its autobiographical aspects, with the Alan Arkin character (older man with three marriages under his belt) being somewhat based on Arthur Miller.synecdocheny
  • Charlie Kaufman’s 2009 movie, Synecdoche, New York, contained as one of its central conceits, a production of Death of a Salesman, performed with a deliberately young cast.
  • The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010) with Nicholas Cage, features as a character, an evil witch named Abigail Williams, shown in Puritan dress.
  • A film version of The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, directed by Nicole Kassell, starring Michael Douglas–though completed, has no plans for release.eden
  • A film version of The Man Who Had All the Luck, directed by Scott Ellis with screenplay by Rebecca Miller, has also been shelved.
  • The 2001 movie, Plain Jane, based on Miller’s novella Homely Girl, A Life was released in Europe in 2001 under the title Eden, but is not available in the US–the screenplay was not Miller’s and there have been many changes.  Reviews were poor–so a US release is unlikely. Miller himself has a small role in the movie, playing the female protagonist’s elderly father.