Glorious 39 is set in London and the idyllic Norfolk countryside when Britain stands on the brink of war. Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, is at the forefront of the movement to appease Hitler whilst others, with Winston Churchill as their powerful figurehead, believe that war is essential to combat the Nazi threat.
The film centres on the upper-class Keyes family, determined to preserve their way of life in the midst of political uncertainty. Head of the family, Alexander is an influential Conservative MP, and son Ralph works at the Foreign Office. Adopted eldest daughter Anne is a budding actress, whose charmed life is disrupted when she stumbles upon secret recordings hidden in the outbuildings of her family home. Trying to uncover the source and significance of her discovery, she is drawn into a confusion of secrets and betrayal, the full horror of which is as shocking to the audience as it is to Anne.
Bill Nighy as Anne's father Alexander
As the movie hits British cinemas on 20 November, RTLGroup.com talked to Stephen Poliakoff about his return to the big screen.
In a nutshell, what is Glorious 39 about?
The movie is basically about a conspiracy of the upper political and aristocratic elite in Britain, who want to do a deal with Hitler to prevent Britain from going to war. Churchill definitely wanted the war and the secret service was working against anyone who tried to prevent it. Maybe it was even worse than the involvement of secret services in the Watergate affair. Even though the plot is completely fictitious it is based on historical fact. So many elements of Glorious 39 are true, the spying, the secret service being used by the government to quell all opposition to its policy of appeasement, the sense of panic as war is declared and how passionate feelings were unleashed even amongst the least politically minded about whether to face up to Hitler.
What gave you the idea of this story?
For a long time I’ve been fascinated by these few weeks in history, the story of how Britain came so close to doing a deal with Hitler, and staying out of the Second World War. I wanted to create a suspense film, a thriller like the old Hitchcock movies or Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby. Combining these two ideas finally lead to making Glorious 39.
Talkback Thames usually produce films for television. Glorious 39 is their first theatrical release. How was it to work with them on a big-screen production?
First, the idea originated at BBC Films which produces entirely for cinema, but when I told Lorraine Heggessey, CEO of Talkback Thames, about it, she was very interested in taking part. Talkback Thames did cash flow the whole production. When we started shooting, there was the credit crunch – it was about this time of the year, one year ago. Maybe we would not have been able to do the movie this year without them. It was great to have Lorraine Heggessey as Executive Producer. I’ve known her for a very long time. She’s very energetic and forceful.
What’s the difference between producing for TV and producing for the big screen?
The main difference was that there were many voices involved, more people involved and more companies involved. I mean, I’ve made movies before, so it is not completely new, but it’s not too easy. But once our script was approved, once they like it, I do my very best to realize it.
Anne stumbles upon secret recordings of the pro-appeasement movement
What do you expect from the movie?
Well, I hope that everyone has an exciting time. We already did a screening at the Toronto Film Festival and a few weeks ago at the London film festival. We had some great reactions and hopefully it stays like that, even though the movie is quite dark and unsettling at first. But in the end it’s quite heroic. I hope people will be excited and energized. We are trying to show a different site of history – British history as well as the world’s history. We’ve been seeing them fight back in those days, but I wanted to create a new image of that time.
Will the movie be distributed internationally?
It’s still early in the market, as the movie has just started. But I think there’s great interest all over Europe and the US as well. So, yes, I think so.
What are your next projects?
Well, I’ll be switching around between TV, Theatre and Film. I’m going to write a stage play for the theatre, and I already have a new idea for a movie and a TV film for the BBC. There’s definitely more to come.