Nell - Production Notes

The Story

Raised in a remote cabin in the woods, speaking a strange, impenetrable language, "Nell" (Jodie Foster) is a source of great wisdom and inspiration to the doctor (Liam Neeson) and psychologist (Natasha Richardson) whose lives are unexpectedly transformed as they decide whether to bring this mysterious young woman into contemporary society.

Twentieth Century Fox presents an Egg Pictures Production of a Michael Apted Film, "Nell," starring Jodie Foster, Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson. Michael Apted directs from a screenplay by William Nicholson and Mark Handley, based on the play "Idioglossia," by Mark Handley. "Nell" is produced by Renee Missel and Jodie Foster and is co-produced by Graham Place. Polygram Film International has foreign distribution.

Dante Spinotti, A.I.C. ("The Last of the Mohicans," "Frankie and Johnny," "Blink") is the director of photography; Jim Clark ("The Killing Fields," "The Mission") is the editor. The production designer is Jon Hutman ("Little Man Tate," "A River Runs Through It," "Quiz Show"), and Susan Lyall ("Little Man Tate," "Blink") is the costume designer. The music is by Mark Isham ("Quiz Show," "Time Cop").

About The Production

In 1989, producer Renee Missel saw a Los Angeles production of a play entitled "Idioglossia," written by Mark Handley, and fell in love with its lead character, the beautiful and mysterious Nell. Missel approached Handley and bought the rights.

"I am always attracted to stories with strong female characters, and this story stayed with me," says Missel. "I see Nell as a soul catcher. She reconnects people with their souls, with the disowned aspects of their personalities."

Missel knew she needed a dynamic performer to bring "Nell" to life, so she took the property to Jodie Foster, who not only wanted to star in the film but decided to produce it with Missel.

"I loved this story," says Foster. "There is something so essentially pure and authentic about Nell, a quality most people have lost. I know I have, and I like to choose characters from whom I can learn, people who have lived totally different lives than myself. Nell is a woman who sees the world with all of her senses, not just through her mind."

Nell is a character that defies categorization, Foster says, an element she found most compelling. "Everyone prejudges Nell. They think she's never known any human contact, that she's never known love, that she can't articulate anything, that she's dull. They come up with these boxes in which they put her. What they soon discover is somebody who is totally the opposite of that and, if anything, is perhaps wiser and more in touch with things that the other characters themselves have lost."

"This movie is about defying description, about not being put in a box, and not being labeled and marketed. There are people out there who embody the spiritual and the emotional as well as the intellectual without having to be just one or the other."

Oscar-nominated writer William Nicholson ("Shadowlands") was brought on to recreate Nell from Handley's work. "I was so intrigued with the idea of this wild woman/child," states Nicholson. "When we first meet Nell, we feel she is deprived, but maybe it is we who are deprived. Who is to say that someone who lives alone without all of the conveniences of modern society must be unhappy?"

In the narrative, we discover that Nell was raised by a reclusive mother, Violet Kelty, whose speech patterns were damaged by a series of strokes. Subsequently, Nell was forced to invent her own, seemingly impenetrable language, dubbed "Nellish" by Lovell.

"My intention when designing the language was to make Nell's emotions come to life through her speech," explains Nicholson. "So even though you may not know the words she is saying, you might still be able to understand them. Nell is so expressive and emotionally pure, I felt her language should reflect her persona."

The process of translating this poignant drama onto celluloid, without making it seem overly sentimental, required a director who could approach it with integrity. Foster and Missel wanted Michael Apted not only for his unique visual style as a feature filmmaker, but also for his expertise as an award-winning documentarian. Says Foster, "Michael has a strong sense of reality. He doesn't like to indulge in frills and sentimentality. Michael is a purist who loves real people and their real journeys."

Apted observes, "With this kind of film it's important for the audience to believe in the story and its characters every step of the way. What I wished to infuse, as a filmmaker with a documentary background, was a sense of realism and credibility."

A director who is drawn to character-driven projects, Apted says he was particularly intrigued by the complexity of the lead character. "I've always seen Nell as a kind of mystery. Is she autistic? Is she an abuse victim? Is she intelligent? These are the questions we keep asking and ultimately find out as the story unfolds."

To portray Lovell, the soul-searching doctor who discovers Nell in the forest, the filmmakers cast Liam Neeson, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance as Oskar Schindler in "Schindler's List." Missel exclaims, "Liam is an instinctual actor and the character of Lovell is an instinctual man. Lovell has left the city to return to his roots, to feel the country, to be with simple folk, and Liam conveys this naturally. There is such a goodness and gentleness about Liam. He comes from the heart."

Lovell has given up a practice in the big city to become the resident doctor in the small rural town of Robbinsville. Neeson sees Lovell as a man who may have run away from responsibility, and it is only through his connection with Nell that he is able to discover what he is running from and who he really is.

"He has this vision that he can live a life where you have all the defenses up and not interact with anybody," Neeson explains. "He doesn't want to confront emotions with either another man or another woman and that's what he thinks Nell is all about. She's this woman who apparently is living on her own with her own set of rules in her own framework of existence. He kind of wants to be a part of that. He also wants to protect her, yet he wants to be in there with her, too. And this is not at all an attraction that's sexual."

Foster sees the Lovell-Nell relationship as the cornerstone of the film. "Lovell desperately wants her to trust him, because he needs to be trusted by someone. He wants her to believe that he would never hurt her, that he can save her, that he's her mentor. The truth is that he can't. A co-dependent relationship like that is bound to be disappointing, because no one can protect you from the world."

Natasha Richardson, who co-starred with Neeson earlier this year in Broadway's "Anna Christie," portrays driven psychologist Paula Olsen. Foster observes, "Natasha had the right combination of intelligence and vulnerability needed to portray Olsen, a brilliant woman who has somehow closed herself off from feeling and loving."

Richardson views Paula Olsen as a woman who, through Nell, experiences her rites of passage. "Paula starts out feeling protective towards Nell. She sees Nell as this totally pure, totally free creature who ultimately effects her in this extraordinary and primal way. Nell helps her get in touch with all of the hurt inside, because Paula has built up all these walls and defenses.

"Paula's journey is to go from the scientific and professional woman who knows it all to maybe somebody who doesn't know it all and who makes big mistakes. She rediscovers her heart."

Nell's World

To appropriately illustrate the seclusion of Nell's existence, cast and crew traveled to Graham County, North Carolina, and set up residence in Fontana Dam, nearly two hours from the nearest metropolis. Housed in rustic cabins, crew members lived for months without the "luxury" of phones or television.

"One of my first jobs was to sell the location," says Apted, "to find a place that was so isolated that you could believe someone has existed for 30 years and no one would ever see them."

Apted provided locations manager Scott Elias with explicit instructions to seek out a secluded, pristine locale, far from civilization. Considering the pragmatic as well as the aesthetic, Elias suggested the Smoky Mountains in the southeastern United States, not only for the mild spring climate, but for its pastoral country vistas and majestic mountain setting.

Scouting the area by boat, Apted, Elias and production designer Jon Hutman came upon an idyllic cove situated at the edge of the flooded valley Fontana Lake. Cloistered in a bastion of mountainous terrain, the site became Nell's home.

Cinematically, the location was perfect; logistically, it was problematic. When the filmmakers first arrived in February, the water level of the lake was 50 feet lower than normal. Apted and Hutman were forced to visualize where the cabin, Lovell's tent and Olsen's houseboat should be when the lake is at its full elevation of 1,698 feet. Next, a dirt road had to be paved and plateaus cleared for base camp and vehicles. Hundreds of feet of catwalk were erected to protect this nationally preserved wilderness from trampling feet and heavy equipment. Cast and crew were transported to and from the site daily by boat. A total of 25 acres were utilized over a 4 month period.

"When I first arrived at the location in February, there was nothing," recalls Apted. "It was completely barren. While we were shooting, this little city had developed.

"Initially it was very difficult, and it put a lot of pressure on people," Apted continues. There were no modern-day comforts. The nearest store was 19 miles away, and the nearest cinema was 65 miles away. Fortunately, we put together a hearty crew which could deal with this kind of solitude."

Foster exclaims, "I prepared everybody for this. I said, 'Logistically this is going to be the most difficult, arduous movie that you've ever done. This is Nell's world, and she lives in the middle of nowhere, and we're trespassing. When we leave, hopefully we will all leave changed. And there will not be a trace of us left, because the forest will take over again."

"The incredible thing is that after preparing everybody for the worst, I never saw a happier crew," Foster adds. "We wistfully watched the sunrises and the sunsets. Everybody went on hikes on their days off and cooked in their cabins together. I think it was an awakening experience for everybody."

Notes Richardson, "In the end, none of the physical hardships mattered, because we were surrounded by all this beauty, and we were working on this incredible story. It was a luxury to be in a place where there were no distractions, where we could just concentrate and focus on the work and nothing else."

Creating Nell's home also proved to be challenging to the filmmakers. In designing Nell's cabin, Hutman looked beyond the simple structure in order to provide character. "It turned out to be more daunting than I expected," says Hutman. This was not just 'a cabin.' It tells a story, and we first had to develop a back history.

"In trying to understand Nell as a wild child, we realized that she doesn't fit into any of the historical types. Her world is remote, but with a link to the outside world through her mother. She is, in a sense, like the prisoners in Plato's cave, who are able to see only the shadow of the outside world. The influence and presence of contemporary civilization is filtered through her mother's fears and increasing physical debilitation."

Hutman's research included a series of books entitled Foxfire, a remarkable social history of Appalachian folk tradition. Hutman provided his team, as well as other departments, with a memo based on information compiled from the books.

He meticulously constructed the cabin and carefully stocked it as well. "Both the interior and the exterior are rich with historic and personal detail, right down to the spiral quilt in the front room," he says. "We took so much into consideration, including what foodstuffs Nell would have and the utensils she would use."

Hutman and his crew were also forced to contend with fierce weather conditions -- severe thunderstorms, high winds, rising and falling flood levels, mud-soaked terrain -- to keep the cabin and its surroundings intact. Members of the art department daily checked for structural damage and replanted vegetation around the foundation.

The interior of Nell's cabin was constructed at a converted roller skating rink, located just outside the town of Robbinsville, population 765. A week of shooting interiors and exteriors occurred in Robbinsville proper where doctors Lovell and Olsen practice and reside.

Working closely with Apted and Hutman, costume designer Susan Lyall carefully researched the rural garb and applied a bit of psychology to devise Nell's garments.

"Because the story and Nell are fictional, the costumes are totally conceptual," explains Lyall. "We utilized the back history for Nell, and then figured out what kind of clothes she might wear and how she would go about getting them. We also decided that Nell and her mother would not own a sewing machine; everything would be made by hand. Jodie liked the idea of making Nell a good sewer, and we even had some of the stitching show a little."

Ultimately, Lyall established that Nell's accoutrements would reveal a free spirit, a woman who dresses simply and functionally, yet evinces no attachments. Nell wears her clothing "almost like fur or a second skin," she notes.

Throughout the course of production, it was paramount for the filmmakers to illustrate a credible account of a most incredible character.

"I think what we can all learn from Nell," says Foster, "is the kind of tranquility that comes with somebody who is free and doesn't judge. Is her life perfect? Of course not, but unlike the rest of us who spend so much time putting things into categories and saying good, bad, bigger, less, etc, she is at peace and living in the present. There's a lot to be said about living at peace."