![]() The Knockturnal: The film has a lot of really strong, inspirational women. And even though getting work as a secretary doesn’t seem like so much now, when it was coming after a time when you couldn’t get any job respectably, or do anything, it was a pretty major achievement and I think we need to remember that. And we’d sort of forgotten about them, but we shouldn’t forget about them because they were very inspiring. They were the first ones to work, the first ones to get the vote, the first ones to really start pushing the boundaries. Julian Fellowes: This generation of women owes a lot to that first generation after the first world war. Was that intentional with the timing of this film? We’re in a time change and it’s a big moment for women as it was then. The Knockturnal: This story feels very timely. I always write strong women, and this seemed to suit me. I liked the balance of it very much and I like strong women. ![]() So it’s quite collaborative and rather moving to me anyway. At the same time, the older woman gives the younger woman confidence and releases her. In this story, the young woman essentially releases the older woman from the kind of Victorian mores she’s grown up with and allows her to claim her own life. It was a very interesting febrile period in the 20s and things were changing, particularly for women, they were changing. Julian Fellowes (screenwriter): Yes, well found the book and she and Simon bought the book and then we really all took a punt on it actually. The Knockturnal: What was it about this story that drew you? Michael Engler: I think it was a time of real change in the world and I think those are the times when people’s character really rises or falls in terms of how they are affected by it, how they get on board, how they reveal themselves in the context of social change. What did you find particularly resonant about the story? What was something you connected with personally? The Knockturnal: The main story is about women and empowerment but there’s a lot going on in the background. I feel in the film world, there is almost nothing that really takes the complexity of women’s sexuality at different ages and portrays it seriously and in a complex way and I thought that was a really interesting thing to look at for these two actresses. And then the script was beautiful and the story is just, I think an incredibly modern story to tell. Michael Engler (director): It was Julian and Elizabeth that brought me into it and I would automatically be interested in anything they asked me to look at. The Knockturnal: What drew you to this film? I understand it in the works for a bit with you and Julian and Elizabeth. We got the chance to speak with The Chaperone’s director, screenwriter, and select stars about their involvement with the film. A cast loaded with talented female leads hits this sentiment home. The film set squarely in the “Roaring Twenties” era of women’s empowerment and social change, feels surprisingly timely. Though the two could not be more different, both come away from the trip forever changed by the other. Local housewife and strict adherent to convention Norma Carlisle (Elizabeth McGovern) decide on a whim to accompany Louise as her chaperone. She journeys from Wichita, Kansas to New York City as a rebellious 15-year-old to study with a prestigious dance troupe. The Chaperone, a period film based on Laura Moriarty’s best-selling novel of the same name, follows 1920s silent film star Louise Brooks (Haley Lu Richardson) before her fame. PBS Distribution and Masterpiece films hosted the event just ahead of the film’s opening in New York on March 29 th. Cameras flashed in the lobby of the MoMA on Monday evening as stars of The Chaperone walked across the red carpet laid out for the premiere screening event.
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