Chaplin
Film Poster
Directed by	Richard Attenborough
Produced by	Richard Attenborough Mario Kassar
Written by	Diana Hawkins William Boyd Bryan Forbes William Goldman
Starring	Robert Downey, Jr Dan Aykroyd Geraldine Chaplin
Music by	John Barry
Editing by	Anne V. Coates
Studio	Carolco Pictures
Distributed by	TriStar Pictures
Release date(s)	December 25, 1992
Running time	144 min.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Chaplin is a 1992 British biographical film about the life of English comedian Charlie Chaplin. It was produced and directed by Richard Attenborough and stars Robert Downey, Jr., Dan Aykroyd, Kevin Kline, and Anthony Hopkins. It also features Geraldine Chaplin in the role of her own paternal grandmother, Hannah Chaplin.

The film was adapted by Diana Hawkins, William Boyd, Bryan Forbes and William Goldman from the books My Autobiography by Chaplin and Chaplin: His Life and Art by film critic David Robinson. The original music score was composed by John Barry.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Principal cast 3 Critical reception 4 Academy Awards 5 DVD Release 6 Sequel 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Plot summary

The film is structured around lengthy flashbacks as the elderly Chaplin recollects moments from his life during a conversation with fictional character George Hayden (Anthony Hopkins), the editor of his autobiography. Chaplin's recollections begin with his childhood of extreme poverty, from which he escapes by immersing himself in the world of the London music halls, after which he relocates to the United States. The film includes references to some of his many romantic episodes (including Hetty Kelly, Mildred Harris, Georgia Hale, Marion Davies, Edna Purviance, Lita Grey, Paulette Goddard, Joan Barry and Oona O'Neill).

[edit] Principal cast

Actor/Actress	Role
Robert Downey, Jr.	Charlie Chaplin
Geraldine Chaplin	Hannah Chaplin, Charlie's mother
Paul Rhys	Sydney Chaplin, Charlie's half-brother
John Thaw	Fred Karno, British music-hall impresario
Moira Kelly	Hetty Kelly / Oona O'Neill Chaplin, Charlie's final wife
Anthony Hopkins	George Hayden, Charlie's biography editor
Dan Aykroyd	Mack Sennett, an early Hollywood film producer
Marisa Tomei	Mabel Normand, a young Hollywood actress
Penelope Ann Miller	Edna Purviance, a young Hollywood actress
Kevin Kline	Douglas Fairbanks, a leading man in early Hollywood movies
Matthew Cottle	Stan Laurel, a Hollywood comedian
Maria Pitillo	Mary Pickford, a leading lady in early Hollywood movies
Milla Jovovich	Mildred Harris, a young Hollywood actress
Kevin Dunn	J. Edgar Hoover, head of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation
Deborah Moore	Lita Grey, a young Hollywood actress
Diane Lane	Paulette Goddard, a young Hollywood actress
Nancy Travis	Joan Barry, a young Hollywood actress
James Woods	Joseph Scott, a California attorney
David Duchovny	Roland Totheroh, Chaplin's long time cameraman

[edit] Critical reception

Although the film was criticized for taking dramatic licence with some respects of Chaplin's life, Downey's performance as Chaplin won almost universal acclaim. Attenborough was sufficiently confident in Downey's performance to include historical footage of Chaplin himself at the end of the film.

The film was lauded for its high production values, but many critics dismissed it as an overly glossy biopic.^[1] One critic wrote that the screenplay "endeavors to cover too much ground. The life of Charlie Chaplin was so vast and varied that a film is far too restrictive a format to give it justice."^[2]

[edit] Academy Awards

Award	Person
Nominated:
Best Actor	Robert Downey, Jr.
Best Score	John Barry
Best Art Direction	Stuart Craig Chris Butler

[edit] DVD Release

The film was released on DVD in 1998. A fifteenth-anniversary edition was released by Lions Gate Entertainment (who obtained the distribution rights to the film in the interim) in 2008 (admittedly 16 years after the film's original release date). The anniversary edition contained extensive interviews with the producers, and included several minutes of home-movie footage shot on Chaplin's yacht. The box for this DVD mistakenly lists the film's running time as 135 minutes (it is 144 minutes, the same as the original theater release).^[3]

[edit] Sequel

A movie entitled "Poe", as in Edgar Allen Poe, has been slated to release in 2012. Though it will not have anything to do with Charlie Chaplin, it will be a similar biographical film with Robert Downey, Jr.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Chaplin at the Internet Movie Database
• Chaplin at Allmovie
• Chaplin at Rotten Tomatoes
• Review of 'Chaplin' at clown-ministry

v • d • e Films directed by Richard Attenborough 1960s Oh! What a Lovely War (1969) 1970s Young Winston (1972) · A Bridge Too Far (1977) · Magic (1978) 1980s Gandhi (1982) · A Chorus Line (1985) · Cry Freedom (1987) 1990s Chaplin (1992) · Shadowlands (1993) · In Love and War (1996) · Grey Owl (1999) 2000s Closing the Ring (2007)