Hyde Park on Hudson

Overview

Producer/director Roger Michell teams with screenwriter Richard Nelson to adapt Nelson's BBC radio play chronicling the extramarital affair between President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Bill Murray) and his distant cousin, Daisy (Laura Linney), which comes to light during a royal visit from the King and Queen of England (Samuel West and Olivia Colman) at his home in Hyde Park. As war engulfs Europe and the king seeks the support of the American government, President Roosevelt struggles to balance his domestic affairs with his international obligations as Commander in Chief.

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Special Features

Deleted scenes; A look inside Hyde Park On Hudson; First days; Featire commentary with director Roger Michell and producer Kevin Loader

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Editorial Reviews

All Movie Guide - Perry Seibert

With the possible exception of Robert Downey Jr., who lasted just one season on Saturday Night Live, no alumni of that perennially popular late-night sketch show has earned a larger reputation as an actor than Bill Murray. In Roger Michell's highly enjoyable Hyde Park on Hudson, Murray surprises us yet again with his remarkable talent. The movie tells the tale of Franklin Delano Roosevelt Murray hosting the newly crowned King George VI Samuel West and his wife Queen Elizabeth Olivia Colman, at the Roosevelt family home during the royal couple's first visit to the United States. The polio-stricken president has kept his medical condition a secret from the world at large, and they bond over the fact that Bertie, as the king is known to intimates, suffers from a stutter -- a historical fact those who have seen The King's Speech are already quite familiar with. As the two powerful figures try to lay the groundwork for an alliance between their countries on the eve of World War II, FDR is drawn into a relationship with Daisy Laura Linney, a distant cousin who becomes one of the few people with whom he can share his thoughts and feelings. While the relationship between those two becomes more complicated, the president attempts to orchestrate a public display of the new bond between himself and the British monarch by getting the latter to be photographed eating a hot dog. Richard Nelson's script for the film might be short on drama, but it's long on character. As written, FDR is a man who rose to power in part because he's preternaturally able to make others feel comfortable even when he himself is ill at ease. That's a rich contradiction for any actor, but Murray is a particularly inspired choice for the part. He's a gifted performer whose early comedies connected with audiences because he was able to make you feel -- with a sly gaze or a ridiculous twist of a line delivery -- like you were in on the joke, and he exploits that conspiratorial charm to both comic and dramatic gold throughout Hyde Park on Hudson. There's a showcase scene about halfway through the movie in which FDR and Bertie are alone together for the first time and finally able to talk one-on-one, and it's a riveting pas de deux of acting. You really feel like a fly on the wall overhearing what it sounds like when the most influential people in the world try to make personal connections. For a film that draws such believable portraits of various relationships, it's surprising to realize how extraneous the storyline involving Daisy is. If she was supposed to be the audience surrogate for this material she's entirely unnecessary, because Murray's take on FDR assumes that role. On the other hand, if Daisy exists to spotlight the president's dark side, that seems like too much time devoted to something that, in the larger context of history, doesn't seem egregiously bad. Roger Michell had already shown a deft touch for light comedy Notting Hill and drama Changing Lanes when he combined the two beautifully in Venus -- a picture that snared Peter O'Toole an Oscar nomination. Here, his powers are again at full force; we know the main characters in this movie inside and out, and when you realize how the film has made such towering historical figures into recognizable, flawed, and likable people, you can appreciate what he, his cast, and his screenwriter have accomplished. Like the men at the center of the story, Hyde Park on Hudson isn't perfect, but its fauls accentuate its strengths.

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Product Details

Release Date: 4/9/2013
UPC: 025192113390
Original Release: 2012

Rating:

Source: Universal Studios
Region Code: 1
Aspect Ratio: Cinemascope (2.35:1)
Presentation: Color / Wide Screen
Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Language: English
Time: 1:35:00
Format: DVD
Sales rank: 52

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Hyde Park on Hudson
1. Chapter 1 [2:49]
2. Chapter 2 [7:16]
3. Chapter 3 [5:11]
4. Chapter 4 [4:06]
5. Chapter 5 [5:46]
6. Chapter 6 [2:10]
7. Chapter 7 [2:56]
8. Chapter 8 [3:09]
9. Chapter 9 [2:18]
10. Chapter 10 [1:23]
11. Chapter 11 [5:02]
12. Chapter 12 [3:49]
13. Chapter 13 [8:13]
14. Chapter 14 [5:09]
15. Chapter 15 [3:38]
16. Chapter 16 [5:30]
17. Chapter 17 [7:14]
18. Chapter 18 [5:09]
19. Chapter 19 [3:40]
20. Chapter 20 [5:06]
21. Chapter 21 [4:30]

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Disc #1 -- Hyde Park on Hudson
Play
Scenes
Bonus
   Deleted Scenes
   A Look Inside Hyde Park On Hudson
   First Days
   Feature Commentary With Director Roger Michell And Producer Kevin Loader
      Commentary: On
      Commentary: Off
Setup
   Spoken Language
      English 5.1
      Feature Commentary With Director Roger Michell And Producer Kevin Loader
   Subtitles
      English SDH Subtitles: On
      Español Subtitles: On
      Français Subtitles: On
      Subtitles: Off
Previews
   Lost In Translation
   Broken Flowers
   Pride & Prejudice
   Beginners
   Jane Eyre
   Atonement
   The Debt
   Somewhere
   Play All

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Bill Murray	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Laura Linney	Daisy
Samuel West	Bertie, The King
Olivia Colman	The Queen
Elizabeth Marvel	Missy,
Olivia Williams	Eleanor
Elizabeth Wilson	, Mrs. Roosevelt
Eleanor Bron	, Daisy's Wife
Nancy Baldwin	Mrs. Astor
Tim Beckmann	President's Aide
Guy Paul	President's Aide
Eben Young	President's Aide
Samantha Dakin	Mary the Maid
Buffy Davis	Cook
Buffy Davis	Cook
Morgan Deare	Plumber
Tim Ahern	Hungry Driver
Tommy Campbell	Hungry Driver
Jeff Mash	Hungry Driver
Kevin Millington	Hungry Driver
Nell Mooney	Superstitious Maid
Robert G. Slade	Waiter
Jonathan Brewer	Ish-ti-opi
Kumiko Konishi	Princess Te Ata
Blake Ritson	Butler
Parker Sawyers	Thomas
James McNeill	Photographer
British Imperial Military Band	Brass Band
Amersham Band	Brass Band
Christopher Austin	Conductor

Roger Michell	Director, Producer
David Aukin	Producer
Christopher Austin	Musical Direction/Supervision
Simon Bowles	Production Designer
Dinah Collin	Costumes/Costume Designer
Lol Crawley	Cinematographer
Pauline Fehily	Makeup
Nicolas Gaster	Editor
Ellen Lewis	Casting
Kevin Loader	Producer
Nicola Mairs	Production Manager
Barrie McCulloch	Asst. Director
Barrie McCullough	Asst. Director
Richard Nelson	Screenwriter
Chris Reynolds	Special Effects Supervisor
Tessa Ross	Executive Producer
Morag Ross	Makeup
Jeremy Sams	Score Composer
Hannah Santeugini	Art Director
Gail Stevens	Casting
Phaze UK	Sound Editor
Emilie Yong	Makeup

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All Movie Guide - Perry Seibert

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