Creating the Young Victoria
Biographical pictures have swarmed the big screen within the past decade, bringing about attention as big as the Academy Awards to a quick flash in the pan. Usually, it spans out through a person’s entire life, rarely centering on a particular point in time in the said person’s life. The Young Victoria keeps its eye on the ball, centering on a portion of the queen’s early life and the political and romantic entanglements that ensued.
One of the more curious aspects about the transformation of this story to the big screen, is how it came to be. Sarah Ferguson, better known as the Duchess of York, penned a novel called Travels with Queen Victoria, that touched upon what Queen Victoria was like back in her youth. It was from there when she finally struck the idea to get this part of her life known to more people than in just a novel form.
“I took it from the books, [then]I wrote a treatment for Hollywood fifteen years ago and asked for them to make the movie,” says Ferguson. Not everything goes right when it comes to developing the film, as her original plans go sour and the story lies dormant for quite awhile. Ferguson said, “I waited ten years and met Tim Headington and told him I needed to make the movie, then he introduced me to Graham King.” From there, the project got the boost it finally needed, and got shot up straight into production.
After producer Graham King got his hands on the treatment, that’s when Martin Scorsese came into the producing table. “He’s such a historian film buff and he said, ‘It’s never been done before, seeing Queen Victoria in these years.’ You think of her as the old lady in black, looking very spinster-like’. He found it interesting, so I asked him, ‘Why don’t you come over and produce it with me?’ and he did,” said King. The pieces of the puzzle really started to fall into place, when screenwriter Julian Fellowes came knocking on King’s door, practically begging to write up the script. “So he flew over to New York, sat down with Marty and I. We literally talked about the movie from start to finish, like the finished movie that you’ve seen. It was so in his head we told him to go on off ahead and write the script.”
One of the obvious key people in the whole production was director Jean-Marc Vallée who’s vision help sculpted the film into what it became. Vallée shows his love for the material as he gushes on about her whole story. “I liked reading about this girl and knowing that she was going to be the next queen. For an older resentment towards the mother and John Conroy (Mark Strong), family relationships. Of course, it’s the background and the ascension of this young queen, a young woman being the queen of England but we were focusing on the love story.”
One of the more interesting things about creating the The Young Victoria is putting together the proper cast, especially for Victoria and Prince Albert. The open-minded and talented Emily Blunt found herself fluttering over to the script. With one project after another constantly flying her way, she expresses one of the key reasons why she tackles on the roles she does. “I try to play characters that are diverse from each other as possible, simply because it’s more fun for me actually.” From the rude and stylish Emily in The Devil Wears Prada, to her delicate and powerful persona in The Young Victoria, this was right up her alley. Same goes for actor Rupert Friend, who strikes up interest over the whole love story between the two. “I was really excited to go away and do a whole bunch of research and discover the truth behind these guys. I ended up discovering a really romantic love story at the heart of a very important political and sociological time in England’s history.”
The Young Victoria is already out in selected theaters across the nation, and will be opening up to a wider audience on Christmas Day.
