Greenwich Entertainment has acquired U.S. and Canadian distribution rights to “Mad About the Boy – The Noel Coward Story,” an intimate portrait of one of the 20th century’s greatest writers and wits.
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Barnaby Thompson produced, wrote and directed the documentary about Coward, using unprecedented access to Coward’s estate. The film is told in his own words and music, using his diaries, photos and home movies, along with archival interviews with Coward and his contemporaries. Alan Cummings narrates and Rupert Everett voices Coward.
Coward was a popular and acclaimed playwright, actor, director, singer, songwriter and novelist. He wrote 60 plays, 500 songs, five screenplays, 14 films adapted from his plays, nine musicals, 300 poems, 21 short stories, two novels and three autobiographies. He also performed in over 70 plays and 12 movies.
But before he achieved fame, he grew up in poverty and left school when he was only nine years old. He was also covertly gay at a time when that was illegal. Despite his hardscrabble childhood, Coward’s public persona showcased him as a heartthrob and the epitome of the debonair upper-crust Englishman. By the age of 30, he was the highest-paid writer in the world and a star on the Broadway stage. He wrote, directed and acted in plays and movies such as “Private Lives,” “Blithe Spirit,” “Brief Encounter” and “In Which We Serve.” And, though he lacked formal musical training, he became a world renowned songwriter and performer — Frank Sinatra once said, “If you want to hear how a song should be sung, go see Mr. Noël Coward.” He also discovered John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier and David Lean, and was a spy in the Second World War — don’t worry, it was for the Allies.
The documentary will open Oct. 9 at New York’s IFC Center along with select theaters nationwide and on home entertainment platforms beginning Oct. 11.
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In the 1950s, Coward and his work would fall out of fashion, supplanted by a theater that emphasized stories of working class realism such as “Look Back in Anger” and “A Taste of Honey.” But after some of his shows flopped, he reinvented himself as a cabaret performer in Las Vegas. In the 1960s, Coward received a knighthood and renewed appreciation for his work.
“One can only marvel at Coward’s glittering career and the fact that his plays are among the most frequently revived suggests his brand of wit never goes out of style. It’s Barnaby’s account of his personal story and the hints of pathos that Coward was at pains to keep well hidden, that makes the telling so poignant and relevant,” says Greenwich’s co-president Edward Arentz.
Thompson produced the film with Gregor Cameron. It was executive produced by Stanley Buchthal, Bob Benton, Amanda Ghost, Len Blavatnik and Vince Holden. London-based Altitude Film Sales handled international sales and the deal was negotiated by Altitude’s Mike Runagall and Greenwich’s Arentz.
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