The Other Boleyn Girl (2008 film)

• 1. The Sisters' Ascent

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  In the year 1527, King Henry VIII of England stood before his brother's widow, Catherine of Aragon. Their marriage had produced no male heir to secure the Tudor dynasty. The only surviving child was Princess Mary, whom the king feared could not successfully rule. Lady Mary Boleyn wed Sir William Carey, one of Henry's courtiers. Her maternal uncle, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, and her father, Sir Thomas Boleyn, plotted to install her older sister, Anne, as Henry's mistress. They sought to improve their family's status through this arrangement. Anne accepted the dangerous promise of an eventual marriage to a high-born nobleman. When Henry was injured in a hunting accident, he became smitten with Mary. She tended his wounds and granted the Boleyns a prominent place at court. Both sisters became ladies-in-waiting to Queen Catherine while William Carey was sent abroad as an ambassador. The King seduced Mary, who became his mistress. Anne secretly married her lover Henry Percy, a nobleman betrothed to Lady Mary Talbot. When George learned about the marriage, he informed Mary. Matrimony among nobles required first approval by the king. To protect Anne, Mary alerted their father and uncle, who had the union annulled. Anne was sent to France to learn court manners.

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• 2. Portman And Johansson

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  Natalie Portman took on the role of Anne Boleyn because it was a character she had not played before. She described Anne as strong yet vulnerable, ambitious and calculating, willing to step on people but also feeling remorse for it. One month before filming began, Portman started taking daily classes to master the English accent under dialect coach Jill McCulloch. McCulloch stayed on set throughout the entire production. This marked Portman's second film to use her English accent after V for Vendetta. She wore hair extensions for the long hair when her own hair was short at the time after shaving her head for that previous project. Scarlett Johansson portrayed Mary Boleyn, Anne and George's sister and Thomas Boleyn and Elizabeth Howard's daughter. She disliked court life and would much rather live in the countryside. Her character was first married to William Carey. After his death, she remarried to a man named William Stafford. Eric Bana commented that he was surprised upon being offered the role of Henry VIII. He described the character as somewhat juvenile and driven by passion and greed. Bana interpreted the character as someone involved in an incredibly intricate situation largely through his own doing. In preparation, he relied mostly on the script to come up with his own version of the character. He deliberately stayed away from other portrayals of Henry in films because he found them too confusing and restricting.

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• 3. Tudor Locations

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  Much of the filming took place in Kent, England during 2007. Hever Castle was not used despite being the original household of Thomas Boleyn and family from 1505 to 1539. The Baron's Hall at Penshurst Place featured prominently in the production. Dover Castle stood in for the Tower of London in the film scenes. Knole House in Sevenoaks was used in several key sequences. The home of the Boleyns was represented by Great Chalfield Manor in Wiltshire. Other scenes were filmed at locations in Derbyshire including Cave Dale and Haddon Hall. Dovedale and North Lees Hall near Hathersage also served as shooting sites. Ely cathedral appeared as a major location for the film. Dover Castle transformed into the Tower of London for the execution scenes of George and Anne Boleyn. Knole House became the setting for many of the film's London night scenes. The inner courtyard doubled for the entrance of Whitehall Palace where grand arrivals and departures were staged. The Tudor Gardens and Baron's Hall at Penshurst Place transformed into the interiors of Whitehall Palace. These spaces hosted scenes of Henry's extravagant feast.

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• 4. Box Office Returns

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  The film earned $9,442,224 in the United Kingdom during its theatrical run. It brought in $26,814,957 in the United States and Canada combined. The total worldwide gross reached $78,199,679. This figure exceeded double the film's production budget of $35 million. Theatrical release occurred on the 29th of February 2008. Its world premiere took place at the 58th Berlin International Film Festival held from February 7 to 17, 2008. Home media distribution followed with Blu-ray and DVD formats released on the 10th of June 2008. Extras on both editions included an audio commentary with director Justin Chadwick. Deleted and extended scenes appeared alongside character profiles and featurettes. The Blu-ray version included BD-Live capability and an additional picture-in-picture track. That track contained character descriptions, notes on the original story, and passages from the source book. Production studio BBC Films also owns the rights to adapt the 2006 sequel novel titled The Boleyn Inheritance.

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• 5. Critical Divisions

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  Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 43% based on 148 reviews. The weighted average score stood at 5.30 out of 10 points. Metacritic assigned the film an average score of 50 out of 100 from 34 reviews. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called the film more slog than romp. She described it as oddly plotted and frantically paced pastiche. Her review noted the film was underwritten and overedited. Many scenes seemed whittled down to the nub according to her analysis. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone stated the film moved in frustrating herks and jerks. He praised the combustible teaming of Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson. Their performance gave the Boleyn sisters a tough core of intelligence and wit. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian awarded three out of five stars. He called it flashy, silly yet undeniably entertaining Tudor romp. Sukhdev Sandhu of The Telegraph said the film promised an erotic charge that it never carried off. He found it tasteful but unappetising overall. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said this was an enjoyable movie with an entertaining angle on hard-to-resist period history.

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