Ammonite

Ammonite (2020)

Timing: 1:58 (118 min)

7.001/10
546

6.76/10
9572

6.5/10
26000

All about film

Video 10

Photo 29

Actors and characters

Release date

2020-11-13

Country

United Kingdom

Production

See-Saw Films

Genre

Romance, Drama

Budget

$0

Revenue

$1 109 287

Website

https://www.ammonite-movie.com

Director

Francis Lee

Actors

Kate Winslet, Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Jones, James McArdle, Alec Secăreanu, Fiona Shaw, Sarah White, Liam Thomas, Sam Parks, Claire Rushbrook
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Francis Lee

Producer

Emile Sherman, Iain Canning, Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly, Zygi Kamasa, Rose Garnett, Mary Burke, Simon Gillis

Operator

Stéphane Fontaine

Composer

Dustin O'Halloran

Artist

India Jaques

Audition

Editing

Chris Wyatt, Polly Jefferies
All team (165)

• The film was shot on location in West Dorset, UK, where paleontologist Mary Anning (1799-1847) actually lived and worked.
• Mary Anning's (1799-1847) relatives were delighted that a film would be made about their famous relative, and that Kate Winslet would play her, but they were somewhat disturbed by the fact that the film would show Anning, who was never married, having a lesbian relationship with a woman, for which there is no historical evidence. Director Francis Lee agreed with their arguments, but noted that, since almost nothing is known about Anning’s life, there is also no historical evidence of her heterosexual relationships, which allowed him to take some liberties. Furthermore, he claimed he did not intend to make a biographical film.
• Kate Winslet herself staged the sexual scenes with her co-star Saoirse Ronan. Hoping that Ronan would be more comfortable, Kate Winslet insisted that the bed scenes be filmed on Ronan's 25th birthday, so that she would be in a festive mood (incidentally, this also allowed the actresses to have a little dry sparkling wine before filming). And, on top of everything else, Kate Winslet personally ensured that only women were present on set at that time.
• Kate Winslet was so successful in transforming herself into her character (she even adopted Anning's gait) that when she once appeared on set not in costume, director Francis Lee simply didn't recognize her.
• Winslet's character speaks in the traditional dialect spoken in Dorset (a county in western England). She practiced it for three weeks (even when taking her children to school), listening to a recording made specifically for this purpose by an employee of one of Dorset’s museums.
• Director Francis Lee wanted the pre-production to take 4 months in order to have enough time to thoroughly develop the characters’ images. When he explained all this to Kate Winslet, he instructed her, as part of her preparation for the role, to go directly to Dorset and learn about fossil hunting and working with fossils. The actress followed his instructions.
• After reading the script, Kate Winslet immediately understood that only Saoirse Ronan should play the role of Charlotte. It so happened that director Francis Lee shared the same opinion. At the time of receiving the script, Winslet was filming with Roger Michell (1956-2021) in the drama 'Blackbird' (2019), and Ronan – with director Greta Gerwig in the drama 'Little Women' (2019).