British talents James D'Arcy
(“Master and Commander”) and Andrea Riseborough (“Never Let Me Go”) play the
ill-fated Duke and Duchess of Windsor in The Weinstein Company's elegant
romantic drama “W.E.,” Madonna's Oscar-nominated film about one of the greatest
real love stories of all time. The will be shown exclusively at Ayala Malls
Cinemas (Glorietta 4, Greenbelt 3 and Trinoma).
“W.E.”
starts in the year 1998, when Manhattan is abuzz with anticipation about the
upcoming auction of the estate of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. But the
auction is far more than a diversion for Wally Winthrop (Abbie Cornish), a New
Yorker trapped in an unhappy and abusive marriage. Transfixed by the exquisite
artifacts of the Windsors' lives, Wally becomes obsessed with the love story of
Wallis Simpson (Riseborough), the chic, charismatic American who captured the
heart of King Edward VIII (D'Arcy). As she learns more about the sacrifices
Wallis made in choosing to be with Edward, Wally finds the courage to follow
her own heart and create her own happiness.
Finding
the right actress to play Wallis Simpson was essential to the telling of the
story. Director Madonna needed someone who was able to embody Wallis’s feisty
“pep,” but with a hint of fragility. The acclaimed British actress Andrea
Riseborough was eventually cast in the role of Wallis Simpson. She was fresh
from her critically acclaimed performance as the young Margaret Thatcher in the
BBC film “The Long Walk to Finchley,” which earned her a Television BAFTA
nomination.
Recalls
Madonna, “Casting Wallis Simpson was almost impossible. She was very
particular, and I was looking for a certain quality – something fragile,
something androgynous and yet still feminine in a really old-fashioned way –
plus this nervous, birdlike energy. When Andrea walked into the room, I knew
immediately she was the one. It was the way she wore her dress, the length of
her neck, the expressiveness of her hands. I had seen her play Margaret
Thatcher and I had seen her in a period piece as well, “The Devil's Whore” and
I saw that she transformed herself in each character.”
For
her part, Riseborough was drawn to “W.E.” after hearing two friends talk about
it in New York. “They were meeting with Madonna to talk about being involved,
so this was my first inkling that it was happening,” she says. “When I first
read the script, I found the dual reality interesting. Seeing a historical
figure through the eyes of a modern-day woman and then on the flip side being
able to relate to a woman in the late 1930s who was about to potentially become
a Queen, I thought this was very interesting.”
Madonna's
evident passion for the project was also a lure, Riseborough explains. “I
really wanted to play Wallis with Madonna directing because she has such an
affinity with Wallis. Madonna has read every publication about her, and I think
she understands her in a very specific way in relation to her own life, but that
is not something I have talked about with her. I just knew from the first
moment that we met and talked about Wallis that she needed to tell the story.”
After
joining the cast, Riseborough’s preparation period began with researching her
role and the period. Riseborough found the private letters between Wallis and
Edward particularly illuminating. “The letters were just fascinating. They go
all the way up to and past the abdication, so you can really get a full
picture,” the actress remarks. “Wallis and Edward had a really interesting
language they used with one another, like a private code.”
Photo courtesy of Weinstein Company |
British
actor James D’Arcy was cast in the role of the Duke of Windsor, and as with the
other actors, found Madonna’s knowledge of Wallis and Edward to be highly
impressive. “She had clearly done mountains of research, had written the
script, and what became immediately obvious was that she’d been working on this
for a long time,” D’Arcy remembers. “She had read more or less everything there
was to read about Edward and Mrs. Simpson.”
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