Haley Bennett Interview: Widow Clicquot & Playing the Grande Dame of Champagne
9Director Thomas Napper and producer and star Haley Bennett (Swallow) premiered their film, Widow Clicquot, at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. To discuss this female-driven story, the duo sit down with Collider’s Steve Weintraub at the studio in the Cinema Center by MARB and dig into the passion of both winemaking and cinema.
Widow Clicquot takes place in France during the Napoleonic Wars, spanning from 1797 to 1807, in a tale based on the real-life story of the “Grande Dame of Champagne.” Part heartbreaking love story and part drama of overcoming all odds, Bennett stars as the titular Widow Clicquot, whose love for her late husband, François (played by Tom Sturridge), and his eccentric and revolutionary theories aid her in trailblazing ahead despite challenges that stand in her way. As a young, widowed mother, Barbe-Nicole Clicquot finds herself left with her late husband’s vineyards and a family legacy in danger of falling into someone else’s hands while battling the ever-changing seasons and fierce competitors. The film also features Natasha O’Keeffe (Peaky Blinders), Ben Miles (Andor), and Sam Riley (Maleficent).
During their interview, Napper and Bennett discuss how the New York Times best-selling biography, The Widow Clicquot, inspired their script and the ways the script had to change in its journey to the screen. We learn how these changes ultimately transformed the film into “the intimate portrayal and characterization of this woman,” why Bennett feels she knows Veuve Clicquot “wholly,” and how the editing room transformed the narrative.
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