tulip fever
historical drama tulip fever focuses on cornelis sandvoort, a dutch man who has made his fortune from the tulip trade .
crew setting up to film tulip fever in the cathedral cloister. photo: bill smith
set builders getting norwich cathedral cloister ready for filming tulip fever. photo: bill smith
tulip fever from bookrags. (c) 2018 bookrags, inc. all rights reserved .
the weinstein company has set tulip fever in motion, and pre - production starts in april .
the journey of tulip fever to the screen has been a long and hard road for owen .
i refuse to believe tulip fever is a real movie and not some kind of elaborate prank .
then again, it could be that all the online buzz may actually benefit “tulip fever. ”
dame judi dench is to star in the film version of the novel tulip fever by deborah moggach .
looking for movie tickets? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing tulip fever near you .
scaffolding inside norwich cathedral for the filming of tulip fever, which will start today. picture: denise bradley
tulip fever, shot in 2014, has been finished for a year but only now has a release date .
filming for tulip fever also took place in at locations in suffolk, essex, kent and at pinewood studios .
jennifer lawrence in serena, jake gyllenhaal in accidental love and alicia vikander in tulip fever. photograph: allstar picture library
suddenly “tulip fever” has become the year’s biggest disaster — at least in the minds of some of those following it .
autumn comes in june to the norwich cathedral cloister for the final day of filming tulip fever. photo: bill smith
a new trailer has been released for the movie tulip fever which was partly shot at norwich cathedral and holkham beach .
“ryan murphy will soon announce an fx limited series about the production and release of tulip fever, ” sniped @ jbaker475 .
the garden under construction in norwich cathedral cloisters for filming of tulip fever, which will start today. picture: denise bradley
“tulip fever” was shot in the uk during the summer of 2014. early footage was shown at cannes the following year .
tulip fever, which is due to be released next year, has been on the back burner for more than 10 years .
to paraphrase bill murray' s famous line from tootsie, the long - delayed tulip fever is one nutty 17th century melodrama .
“i refuse to believe tulip fever is a real movie and not some kind of elaborate prank, ” wrote @ cinesnark on twitter .
for all the drama surrounding tulip fever, you’d think it was an absolute train wreck. you’d think there would be gigli - levels of dialogue, like jennifer lopez referring to cunnilingus as “it’s turkey time, gobble gobble. ” but the most shocking thing about tulip fever is that it’s… fine. in fact, if you love messy costume dramas with insane soap opera twists then you are definitely going to love tulip fever .
tulip fever rated r (under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). propagation, copulation. running time: 1 hour 45 minutes .
“soon to be a major motion picture, ” says the cover of the novel “tulip fever. ” someone may need to define “soon. ”
the film is set in netherlands in the early 17th century, during the period known as tulip mania, when single bulbs would sell for enormous sums. in tulip fever, the two young lovers decide to invest in the risky tulip market in order to build a future together .
jack o’connell, who will join alicia vikander, christoph waltz, dane dehaan and holliday grainger in director justin chadwick’s film of deborah moggach’s novel tulip fever .
it’s not that tulip fever is incompetently made or unpleasant to look at or offensive in any way. it’s just that it is very, very boring .
film fans are continuing to be kept in suspense as to when norwich cathedral’s starring role will be revealed on the big screen in the movie tulip fever .
still pre - ex machina when filming for tulip fever ended, vikander had yet to solidify herself as a hollywood commodity. several months after she left the fever set, production began on tom hooper’s the danish girl, which would wrap, release, and win vikander her first academy award in the best supporting actress category well over a year before tulip fever would see the light of day .
yes, if his hectic touring schedule allows as he reportedly turned down a role in producer harvey weinstein’s movie tulip fever because he simply didn’t have the time .
like many complex novels crammed into 100 - page screenplays, tulip fever is a mess of too many subplots, all awkwardly condensed and fighting for screen time .
how ‘won’t you be my neighbor? ’ has given birth to mr. rogers fever
tulip fever is directed by justin chadwick, and stars dame judi dench, christoph waltz, alicia vikander, dane dehaan, zach galifianakis and jack o' connell .
tulip fever, about an artist who falls for a married woman after being commissioned to paint her portrait, is due to be in cinemas in the autumn of this year .
this study guide consists of approximately 72 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of tulip fever .
the following version of the novel was used to create this study guide: moggach, deborah, tulip fever, the dial press, december 18, 2007. kindle edition .
according to a 2015 survey, most teens felt “tired, ” “stressed, ” and “bored” — not waiting for tulip fever to be released, but during regular school hours .
tulip fever, the new weinstein company movie about the dutch tulip craze, has a slightly troubled production history. it was originally scheduled to come out in 2016, but the release was delayed to february 2017, then to august, and finally to september .
now tulip fever, the long - awaited film, has finally been unveiled at the cannes film festival, giving fans their first official glimpse of its all - star cast in action .
before she blossoms in tulip fever, alicia will star with henry cavill (napoleon solo) and armie hammer (illya kuryakin) in guy ritchie’s film version of the man from uncle .
weinstein claimed that tulip fever is “a smart film for adults. ” it’s not. it’s a very, very, very dumb film. but i enjoyed the hell out of it .
perhaps the only thing on this list more grueling than anticipating tulip fever for three years, america headed to the polls to elect a new president in november 2016 after an exhausting election cycle that saw the nation split into two clear - cut camps. if early reviews for tulip fever are any indication, the gap could be bridged by near universal disdain for the film .
forget fever - - this floral - scented fiasco is so lifeless you can barely feel a pulse .
tulip fever is a pretty picture, and it effectively transports you back in time, but once you are there you' ll be headed to the exit before you can even smell the tulips .
has there ever been a film as enjoyably cursed as tulip fever? a period romance about a painter and his married muse who try to play the tulip market, tulip fever at least had an auspicious debut: dreamworks optioned the 2000 novel by deborah moggach at the proof stage, long before it would become a best seller, and some of the biggest names in hollywood flirted with adapting it. four years later, tulip fever nearly got off the ground with jude law and keira knightley starring and shakespeare in love director john madden at the helm, but shortly after planting 12, 000 tulip bulbs at the start of production, the british government closed a critical tax loophole that blew up the budget, closed down the film, and left all those poor little tulips to wither .
to paraphrase bill murray ’s famous line from “ tootsie, ” the long - delayed “tulip fever” is one nutty 17th century melodrama. it offers curious viewers a very horny, “ titanic ” - esque forbidden romance, a subplot involving someone pretending to be pregnant for nine months, and then juxtaposes that with in - depth sequences about the tulip trade in 1600s amsterdam. there are numerous, ridiculous twists that “tulip fever” delivers with a completely straight face, and it' s all dressed up with a moody not your usual period film look. but “tulip fever” reveals itself to be so nutty because it explicitly believes it’s not crazy, rambling through its odd events and obsessions without an ounce of 17th century kitsch .
berlin - - two - time oscar winner christoph waltz is preparing for a trip to the u. k. to star in tulip fever, the long - gestating passion project from british producer alison owen .
scenes for the film tulip fever were shot at norwich cathedral and holkham beach in june 2014 and the locations can clearly be seen in the first trailer of the film which has an all - star cast .
at the same time as filming took place in norfolk for tulip fever, scenes for the avengers: age of ultron were shot at the sainsbury centre for visual arts at the university of east anglia campus .
still, all those last - minute delays for tulip fever started to make it into an ongoing industry joke: in addition to death and taxes, you could count on tulip fever to never actually come out. sure enough, mere days before the february 24, 2017 release date, the weinsteins made like lucy with charlie brown’s football and yanked tulip fever off the calendar yet again. at this point, the poor little unloved film had become infamous. “i saw a screening of tulip fever two years ago, ” wrote journalist karen han, “and i still have a hard time believing it. ” after word broke that the weinsteins were test - screening one more retooled version of the film in may, awards watch’s erik anderson tweeted, “first test screening was november … 2014. i think it’s fair to call time of death. ”
sure, valerian was a domestic flop, but luc besson’s sci - fi epic reunited tulip fever costars dehaan and delevingne for an intensive, effects - heavy shoot on a budget of approximately $ 175 million, making it the most expensive french film ever made. and still, the project was cast, filmed throughout 2016, post - produced, and released (on july 21 of this year) before tulip fever hit screens .
however, dehaan is just too darn hot, and may have to turn down tulip fever because it clashes with a film called life, in which he will portray james dean in the last months of his life .
perhaps attempting to prophesy tulip fever ‘s likely box office performance (she is a divine entity with mystic foresight), madonna took a nasty fall on the set of the brit awards on feb. 25, 2015 .
twitter and facebook have given everyone the power to be armchair critics, and they’ve been using it to playfully smack around “tulip fever. ” but to be fair, there are many reasons a movie’s release date gets moved .
the pair hit on the idea of investing in tulip trading to give them the funds to run away .
set in 17th century amsterdam, tulip fever follows a married woman (alicia vikander) who begins a passionate affair with an artist (dane dehaan) hired to paint her portrait. the lovers gamble on the booming market for tulip bulbs as a way to raise money to run away together. the official version from urltoken on april 29, 2016
the reasons for tulip fever ’s delay are myriad, and for the most part unknowable; as one source familiar with the situation pointed out, ask five different people about why a film has been delayed and you’ll get five different answers. the one person who likely knows for sure is harvey weinstein, who first teamed up with steven spielberg’s dreamworks to make the film back in 2002, and has been driving the tulip fever train since—down to the multiple release date switches .
the second delayed release date for “tulip fever” shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, given the lack of promotion surrounding the film’s opening. twc’s official twitter account for the movie tweeted just three times, all of which took place last april .
alicia, who won recognition for her performances in the films a royal affair and joe wright’s under - appreciated anna karenina, is in the final stages of negotiations to play the lead in the much delayed screen version of deborah moggach’s novel tulip fever .
tulip fever is based on the novel by deborah moggach, who also penned the best exotic marigold hotel, and it tells the story of a young married woman, sophia, who has a passionate affair with an artist commissioned by her husband to paint her portrait .
many of the movies released in this grim hollywood summer have had tough roads on their way to opening, but no saga has been quite as convoluted as the one surrounding tulip fever, which opens in theaters at last on friday—nearly two decades after the film rights to the british novel upon which it is based became a hot commodity. eventually filmed in 2014, test - screened later that year, and then shuffled around the release schedule at least three times, tulip fever began to get attention not for its starry cast, or prestigious literary source material, but distinct vibe of being unwanted. as kyle buchanan wrote in new york magazine earlier this month, when the film’s release had been once again pushed back by a week, “has there ever been a film as enjoyably cursed as tulip fever? ”
but chadwick’s strong grasp on visual tone doesn’t benefit the narrative. “tulip fever” eventually hurls itself into a semi - amusing void of feeling like it came from another planet, one where everyone is too crazy of a romantic for their own good, and tulips are god. is this story a sexy, star - crossed romance? a cruel tragedy about really dumb people? a very, very dry comedy? it is all plausible with “tulip fever. ” but however you want to engage it, the film wilts right before your eyes .
the star turns — including one from zach galifianakis as the sort of drunk you do not want to entrust with your nest egg — stave off boredom, but the most disappointing thing about the end to the speculative bubble surrounding “tulip fever” is that there isn’t much there .
in amsterdam during the 1630s, fortunes were made and lost speculating on tulips. while comparisons are often made between the “tulip crash” of 1637 and the stock market’s plunge in 1929, reading a fictional account of the craze was quite informative. but while i loved the unique setting and enjoyed all the factoids i learned, in the end i was disappointted to find that tulip fever was just another adultery story .
you are now back on a project called tulip fever. in 2004, you wrote a passionate editorial piece in the telegraph called ‘the tax man killed my movie’ about the fraught history when this was in development with dreamworks. could you bear to tell us a little about that ?
in june 2014 tulip fever began filming on location at norwich cathedral and i was lucky enough to be right there in the thick of it, marshalling the public, going out on food runs and communicating with the crew over radio like i was on some kind of covert mission .
but tulip fever seems special even by that yardstick. it’s a film that, more likely than not, was never anything more than ordinary—an oscar player that missed the mark, hardly an unusual phenomenon in any given year. but all this fuss over its mysterious release has turned it into a genuine curio, the kind of potential camp - fest that will be remembered for years simply because of the circumstances of its production. we’ll finally know how good, or bad, tulip fever is on friday. but the real thrill for this one has been in the wait .
so when i tell you that just this week, the weinstein company pushed tulip fever from a limited release on august 25 to a wide release on september 1, i don’t know whether that means you should reserve your ticket, laugh in my face, or both. i know i was amused to find out that after years of showing the film to journalists and then suddenly pulling it back, the weinsteins have now set a review embargo that will elapse the afternoon of september 1, well after the movie is alleged to start playing for general audiences. but who knows if it actually will? a perverse part of me hopes the cycle will still continue, with contrite ushers entering the theater just as those initial tulip fever matinees begin. why let tulip fever come out and be forgettable when it could slip away yet again and be the stuff of legend ?
the unique setting of tulip fever is very interesting. amsterdam and its citizens are brought to life in vivid detail. but while there is plenty of history, it never overwhelms the story. in fact, i would have liked hearing even more about tulip speculation. i can understand why people would speculate about the future of gold or food products, but it’s a little hard to understand exactly why tulips were so expensive .
it’s unclear if “tulip fever” is worth watching. a theater aficionado who saw a rare early screening reports a few giggle - worthy moments, including waltz’s character asking his bride for a hand because “my little soldier is drowsy tonight” and the incongruous sight of hipster comedian zach galifianakis in period dress .
an artist falls for a young married woman while he' s commissioned to paint her portrait during the tulip mania of 17th century amsterdam .
dane dehaan, who is in talks about starring with alicia vikander in the film version of another deborah moggach novel, tulip fever, to be directed by justin chadwick (who helped idris elba deliver the best performance of his career as nelson mandela in mandela: the long walk to freedom) .
so i went to cape town to do this movie called the giver which is not something i developed but something that needed some sorting out which was tempting to me. so i did that and then by that time we were coming up to unofficial pre - production on suffragette so we locked ourselves to that and then we lost all the money on suffragette because focus got closed at universal so we had to re - finance it with pathé meanwhile we’d got justin on to direct tulip fever so we knew we were heading towards tulip fever which will start shooting may 15th and i’ve usually got something i’m developing .
not for the reasons harvey weinstein wants you to love it, however. in a weird - as - hell op - ed for deadline published before the film’s release, weinstein basically pleads with people to watch tulip fever and to give it the benefit doubt after the near seventeen years it’s taken to reach theaters .
a number of years ago i fell in love with a book called tulip fever. the rights were controlled by a brilliant producer, alison owen. written by deborah moggach, i felt the book had all the makings of a crime fiction shakespeare in love — funny, witty, and ironic, but with a great james m. cain plot twist. it was a true noir that just happened to take place in 1634 amsterdam with a great hook. it tells the true story of how people bet on the futures of tulip bulbs. i know that sounds crazy, but a thousand years from now we’ll all be asking why people today bet on the futures of cattle and sugar. the whole commodities market is pretty nutty when you think about it. and in 1634 amsterdam people bet on tulip bulbs, and not just the tulip flower, but the bulb and the kind of tulip it would birth .
suspenseful and full of intrigue, tulip fever is a gripping period drama based on a bestselling novel. the story follows a young wife who' s unable to conceive and after falling for a painter plots to fake a pregnancy and childbearing death in order to run - off with her new lover. featuring alicia vikander, dane dehaan, and christoph waltz, the cast is rather impressive and gives strong performances. however, the writing is weak and does a poor job at developing the romance and the tulip subplot. still, the sets and costumes are incredibly well - done, as is the score; which adds a lot of tension and drama to the film. tulip fever has some storytelling problems, but overall it delivers a fairly compelling tale of love, betrayal, and sacrifice .
and then? more aborted attempts to bloom, and a hell of a lot more salt. in may 2015, a month after ex machina made vikander white - hot, weinstein trotted her out at a cannes press gathering to promote tulip fever, which he promised would be coming soon. it didn’t. rumored for a november release, it quietly slipped off the weinsteins’ calendar, even as the danish girl came out that season and made vikander an oscar winner. the only weinstein - vikander collaboration released that year was burnt, an underperforming bradley cooper vehicle that weinstein had prodded a vikander cameo in after they worked together on tulip fever .
fresh from shooting up rural 1930s texas in a & e' s two - part tv movie bonnie and clyde: dead and alive, holliday grainger may next be heading for 17th century amsterdam. the manchester actress is in negotiations to play the protagonist sophia sandvoort in justin chadwick' s adaptation of the bestselling tulip fever .
but for alison owen, the producer who first shopped around the rights to deborah moggach’s novel and has stuck by the project for 17 years, tulip fever is still her baby... albeit one old enough to go off to college. and the drumbeat of critical disdain surrounding tulip fever —largely from people who haven’t seen it, but are baffled by its release - date woes—drove her to write an op - ed for the huffington post in her film’s defense. it’s the first time the producer, whose credits include shaun of the dead and saving mr. banks, has felt the need to stand up for her own film so publicly .
adapted from deborah moggach’s bestselling novel of the same name and directed by justin chadwick, “tulip fever” stars vikander as a young woman who falls in love with an artist (dehaan) who has been commissioned to paint her portrait. zach galifianakis, judi dench, jack o’connell, holliday grainger, cara delevingne, and tom hollander all co - star in the film, which takes place in the 17th - century and is set against the tulip market boom that took hold of amsterdam .
tulip fever is based on the novel of the same name by deborah moggach, and adapted by tom stoppard. pic centers around a married woman (vikander) in amsterdam who begins a passionate affair with an artist (dane dehaan) who is hired to paint her portrait. the lovers plot to run away together, and do so by banking on the tulip bulb market. holliday grainger, jack o’connell, zach galifianakis, matthew morrison, tom hollander and cara delevingne co - star .
a passion project for british producer alison owen, tulip fever is based on deborah moggach' s novel about an artist (dehaan) who falls in love with a married woman (vikander) after he' s commissioned by the husband (waltz) to paint her portrait. justin chadwick directed from an adapted script by tom stoppard .
traditionally, multiple delays are the sign of a weak film, but up until i saw tulip fever, i held out hope that it might secretly be good. the screenplay is by living legend tom stoppard! the cast includes christoph waltz and judi dench! it’s about flowers and dutch master painters! how bad could it possibly be ?
he also implies that the film is a “noir, ” writing: “a number of years ago i fell in love with a book called tulip fever. the rights were controlled by a brilliant producer, alison owen. written by deborah moggach, i felt the book had all the makings of a crime fiction shakespeare in love —funny, witty, and ironic, but with a great james m. cain plot twist. it was a true noir that just happened to take place in 1634 amsterdam with a great hook. it tells the true story of how people bet on the futures of tulip bulbs. i know that sounds crazy, but a thousand years from now we’ll all be asking why people today bet on the futures of cattle and sugar. the whole commodities market is pretty nutty when you think about it. and in 1634 amsterdam people bet on tulip bulbs, and not just the tulip flower, but the bulb and the kind of tulip it would birth. ”
sometimes, a film changes weekends because the studio fears the slot is too competitive. other times, a movie could be undergoing reshoots or continuing to be tweaked in an effort to improve it. that’s what happened with “tulip fever, ” one insider says. the filmmakers were adjusting the music, for example, as late as this month .
david harewood has booked a role in the weinstein company drama tulip fever for director justin chadwick. he will play prater, amsterdam’s foremost tulip grower / dealer, in the film about a 17th century dutch woman who begins an affair with an artist hired to paint her portrait. harewood’s credits include tv’s homeland and robin hood, and upcoming roles include abc’s selfie, hbo’s the money and features free in deed and grimbsy. he is repped by apa, conway van gelder grant and authentic talent & literary management .
looks the blossoming part with its elegant, painterly staging, but never finds an appropriate tone for the tale' s sex, envy and tulip - bartering theatrics .
a highbrow bodice - ripper set against the financial frenzy of the western world’s first speculative bubble, deborah moggach’s 1999 novel tulip fever has “cinematic” written all over it. yet after a long, circuitous route to the screen, it arrives not as a lusty tale in full bloom, but as a tastefully arranged still life in search of an animating spark .
two years after tulip fever was first scheduled for release, audiences will finally be able to see it in theaters. but the film, out friday, isn’t being screened for critics, and the release strategy is reminiscent of someone being snuck out the back door in hopes of attracting as little attention as possible. it’s a fittingly strange ending to one of the most mysteriously drawn - out productions in recent film memory—but so many questions remain. what happened to tulip fever along the way, to transmogrify it from high - end awards contender to a studio’s secret shame? and will the fuss around its delayed release actually help in drawing eyeballs to a movie that might otherwise have been dismissed as a staid costume drama ?
lewis donated the one existing print to the library of congress in 2015, stipulating that it not be exhibited before june 2024. should the institution duly unveil it then, ending decades of feverish speculation as to just how bad it can possibly be, a margaret - style redemption seems unlikely to ensue – though tulip fever’s problems will at least be put in proportion .
it will now see christoph waltz, alicia vikander and dane dehaan in the lead roles, with dame judi playing an
ungodly and rather saucy
tulip - selling abbess .
set against the backdrop of the 17th - century tulip wars, a married noblewoman (alicia vikander) has an affair with an artist (dane dehaan) and switches identities with her maid to escape the wealthy merchant she married. she and her lover try to raise money together by investing what little they have in the high - stakes tulip market .
days before the movie was pegged to hit theaters, as many in the film community speculated whether tulip fever would meet its seemingly locked - and - loaded sept. 1 release date, harvey weinstein, who’d been attached to the project in one way or another for several years, wrote an optimistic piece for deadline hollywood, prompting viewers to go in with an open mind .
the weinstein company has delayed the release date of “ tulip fever ” — again. the period drama starring alicia vikander and christoph waltz had previously moved from july 15, 2016 to february 24, 2017. the company confirmed monday that the movie will now be released later in the year, but declined to comment further or specify when in the year the film might hit theaters .
adapted from deborah moggach’s novel of the same name, “tulip fever” stars vikander as a young woman who falls in love with an artist (dane dehaan) who has been commissioned to paint her portrait. zach galifianakis, judi dench, jack o’connell, holliday grainger, cara delevingne and tom hollander all co - star in the film, which takes place in the 17th - century .
tulip fever, the weinstein company film that had last been set for july 15 in limited release, has now been pushed to february 24, 2017. the film stars oscar winner alicia vikander, christoph waltz and judi dench. set in 17th century amsterdam, it is based on novel of the same name by deborah moggach, written by tom stoppard and directed by justin chadwick .
another excitement for moggach is the likelihood that the film of tulip fever, which she wrote in 1999, will finally be released. it’s the story of a love affair in 17th - century amsterdam between sophie, the wife of an ageing flower merchant, and the young artist employed to paint her – all set against the weird mania for tulips that gripped holland in the 1730s .
timing is everything. that’s the takeaway, both on - screen and off, from “tulip fever, ” a well - bred, if tawdry period drama set in amsterdam at the height of tulipmania, in 1637, when prized bulbs might fetch more than the value of a house. it was an economic bubble, of course (although the term would not be coined [ … ]
the sins of lust, greed, and vanity combine with a destructive force in the novel tulip fever by deborah moggach. three lives are changed forever when sophia begins an affair with an attractive, young painter despite her better judgement. themes in the novel include deception and disguise, the emptiness of beauty and vanity, master - servant relationships, and the role of art in the world .
the weinstein company has again changed the release date — and this time, the theater strategy — for its period drama “ tulip fever. ” after locking a limited release date of friday, august 25 earlier this summer, the film will now open wide one week later, on friday, september 1. the company announced on wednesday that the film will now hit theaters the first week of september .
for tulip fever, the tulip market becomes a metaphor for the uncertainty of love and sex, for the rush of investing all of your emotional energies in one person, and then the overwhelming crash when the relationship ends and all of the futures you imagined together are destroyed. (“we just need to put all our eggs in one basket! ” cries jan feverishly, referring either to investment strategy or babies, who knows .) and while sex and money are both dramatically heady themes, it’s hard to remain all that interested in either when they’re presented as bloodlessly as they are here .
super - producer harvey weinstein’s long - delayed period piece about a tulip war, an affair, and a fake pregnancy has finally hit theaters. and it is… something. [ warning: spoilers ]
let’s take it back to the summer of 2014: it was a simpler time, when democrats controlled the senate and lemonade was still just a refreshing beverage. it was also a season that would birth one of the most epic clusterf—s in movie marketing history, when director justin chadwick and then - burgeoning stars alicia vikander, cara delevingne, and dane dehaan set out to make a little period drama called tulip fever .
the decision to push “tulip fever” comes after a tough year for virtually all independent distributors in the theatrical marketplace, including twc. the company saw its 2016 films generate around $ 15 million in combined u. s. box office grosses. its total from 2016, including grosses from prior years, was $ 64 million. from 2010 to 2015, the company topped $ 200 million every year at the domestic box office .
as the contemplative and frozen sophia, vikander channels the presence she had in “ ex machina ” where she played an android understanding her actions and wanting to break free. it’s a sincere performance as someone trying to find happiness, and makes you realize how perfect she’d be in the domestic imprisonment of a douglas sirk - style drama (which “tulip fever” tries to be the 17th century version of, in a way) .
with the film now playing in theaters nationwide, let’s reflect on those bygone days, when beyoncé (the album) was a mere nine months old, amy pascal’s emails were still private, and hillary clinton’s presidential campaign was but a hurricane of brainstorming texts sent to huma abedin’s iphone 5s. here’s a list of notable cultural happenings that have shocked, awed, and everything - in - betweened since tulip fever began filming .
owen says the delays boiled down to coordinating talent schedules for publicity commitments, and weinstein’s desire to give tulip fever the right release date. “harvey shared this passion with me for a long time, ” owen said. “he wanted to give it the right release. he’s a man of his word. if he wants to do something then he’s less inclined to care about what interpretation people are going to put on that action. ”
plenty of movies fit that description — and considering the hoopla, the most disappointing thing about “tulip fever, ” directed by justin chadwick (“the other boleyn girl”) and set in 17th - century amsterdam, is that it’s neither a secret masterpiece nor a laughable disaster. true, there is the scene in which jan (dane dehaan), the hunky portraitist having an affair with sophia (alicia vikander), the unhappily married wife of a merchant, explains to her that the key to their escape is to bet big in the dutch tulip market. “all we have to do is put all our eggs in one basket, ” he says .
the movie, which is actually set in 17th century amsterdam during the height of tulip mania, is based on the novel of the same name by deborah moggach, who also penned the best exotic marigold hotel .
for all involved, the tulip market appears to be the answer. the 17th - century dutch tulip craze created one of the first futures markets, a bubble in which the price of tulips seemed guaranteed to rise and rise and rise immeasurably. if you get in on a bulb early enough, the lovers reason, your investment is certain to double itself within a month — until, all of a sudden, it doesn’t .
in 2016, the weinstein company announced a summer release date, july 15, which at least indicated that tulip fever was no longer the awards - season hope it had once been conceived as. even that plan couldn’t stick, though: the week before release, tulip fever was ignominiously shoved off to february 24, 2017. rumors had been flying over the quality of the film and the health of the weinstein company in general — after a tough 2015 winter quarter where the company was hit with layoffs and had a string of underperforming titles, the studio had started offloading shelved movies like the michelle williams drama suite francaise to lifetime, rather than put them through a costly theatrical release. and the weinsteins were no strangers to sitting on a movie well past its expiration date: the studio infamously shelved the john cusack film shanghai for five years, releasing it in 2015, well after cusack’s star power had waned .
grainger isn’t the main character, but she takes over the movie, as we wait for her shanghaied baby daddy to reappear and clear up the lunacy that overtakes “tulip fever” in its second half. what began as a respectable, if somewhat flat 17th - century love story, complete with gorgeous costumes and lush score, seems to lose its wits as it goes along — which may have been the mindset of the era, but feels like a miscalculated opportunity here .
the star - studded movie, which is actually set in 17th century amsterdam during the height of tulip mania, is based on the novel of the same name by deborah moggach, who penned the best exotic marigold hotel .
updated with new release date: tulip fever, the 17th century period romance starring oscar winners alicia vikander, christoph waltz, and judi dench will now open september 1 nationwide. it marks the fourth release - date chance for the pic directed by justin chadwick: initially, the movie was scheduled for july 15, 2016, before distributor the weinstein company announced a week before that date it would move to february 24. soon before that date the pic was shifted to august 25 .
tulip fever initially stoked awards buzz after its cannes sneak peek, thanks to its elaborate costumes and high - profile talent. but critical reviews are heading south (the film stands at a 37 on metacritic), and the film academy has shifted so far away from tradition in recent years thanks to a series of diversity initiatives that it’s difficult to imagine a traditional period picture being received with such enthusiasm, even if its trajectory hadn’t ultimately been defined by its distribution - based woes .
there’s no way around reviewing “tulip fever” without noting that the movie has been buried deeper than a tulip bulb. the vulture writer kyle buchanan has already provided a rundown of the substantial delays in the film’s release, which — for a project once regarded as an oscar contender — might be taken as a sign of an odor other than floral. this week, harvey weinstein, the co - chairman of the weinstein company, the film’s distributor, took the extraordinary step of defending the movie in advance with a column for deadline hollywood, though it is laced with passive - aggressive barbs like “i know this film’s not perfect, very few are, but it’s a perfectly good time in a movie theater. ”
call it the tulip fever cycle: every time this movie is ready to bloom, someone comes along to sow the crop with salt. it took nearly a decade more for a director and cast to finally stick, but in 2013, producer harvey weinstein and director justin chadwick (the other boleyn girl) set dane dehaan and alicia vikander to play the movie’s leads. in the middle of 2014, they filmed it, and by the end of that year, they had a cut ready .
it’s the story of a 17th - century love affair in amsterdam, set against the backdrop of tulipmania, when the bottom fell out of the lucrative tulip market (during which a single bulb could be worth flower tubs of money) .
in order to cover the expenses they have incurred in hiring a doctor willing to lie and cover up their deception, as well as money they will need to set up a new lives for them selves, jan and sophia get involved in the tulip trade. at the time in amsterdam, tulip bulbs were trading for astronomical amounts of money. jan begins dabbling in the market. at the beginning of his small tulip business, he is successful. feeling as if they are indestructible, jan and sophia decide to cash in all of their assets and borrow money to purchase a semper augustus bulb, the most valuable of the tulip bulbs. circumstances cause jan to send his simpleminded servant, gerrit, to pick up the bulb. gerrit botches the job and returns to jan empty handed. not only do jan and sophia not have they money they need to pay off their creditors, they do not have the money they need to leave the country .
ultimately, tulip fever is populated with cardboard cutouts of characters who fall in and out of love without exchanging a word because how else will the plot move, and who casually destroy each other’s lives because the movie has to end sometime. it’s not interested in emotions or personalities, but in how relationships work when they’re viewed as cold - blooded economic exercises. it’s almost a sort of aesthetic experiment: what happens when you tell a love story as a story about the rise and fall of speculative markets ?
the words “tulip fever” are likely to become industry shorthand for the once - promising, high profile project that somehow hits a wall between completion and release, though it’s far from the first example. remember serena? you’re forgiven if you don’t. the misbegotten depression - era melodrama starred bradley cooper and jennifer lawrence, and was shot by the oscar - winning danish film - maker susanne bier months before silver linings playbook made a mint from that particular star combo in 2012, winning lawrence an oscar in the process .
in 2013, when she dropped her self - titled album without any prior warning, beyoncé helped usher in a new era of promotional tactics in the music industry, her name becoming a verb synonymous with surprise releases. she was likely hard at work on the album’s follow - up, lemonade, while vikander and company filmed, ultimately unveiling the lp, a companion film, and a new era in her career, on april 23, 2016 — long before weinstein locked in a confirmed release date for tulip fever .
this also doesn’t include other characters, who have their own appearances that make “tulip fever” even stranger. tom hollander plays a creepy but genuinely helpful obgyn named dr. sorgh; zach galifianakis is jan’s sidekick, expressly used for glaring comedic beats about his character being clueless or drunk; even judi dench appears in this movie as a nun who manages the orphanage that provided sophia and now grows flowers. keeping in check with this film' s strange way of using people, dench is hardly on screen despite giving an emblematically stoic performance .
timing is everything. that’s the takeaway, both on - screen and off, from “ tulip fever, ” a well - bred, if tawdry period drama set in amsterdam at the height of tulipmania, in 1637, when prized bulbs might fetch more than the value of a house. it was an economic bubble, of course (although the term would not be coined for nearly another century, with the so - called british south seas bubble), and fortunes were made and lost according to when investors entered the market .
an affair between a man and a woman in 17th century holland, during a period where tulip bulbs became hot trading items, with a single bulb selling for as much as ten times the average annual salary. but his participation will depend on scheduling with
here was a time, way back in the simpler, more innocent mists of the early 2000s, when tulip fever was a very hot hollywood property. deborah moggach’s bestselling novel, a historical romance set in 17th - century amsterdam, put dollar signs and golden statuettes in the eyes of producers seeking a period hit in the vein of shakespeare in love. tom stoppard, that film’s oscar - winning screenwriter, did the adaptation; jude law and keira knightley were cast, only for the uk government to seal off the tax loophole enabling its funding .
it’s easy for some writers to focus on a delay and be snarky, and that’s fine because snarky can be entertaining. but as a result, we decided to do something different — we decided to test the film with novelists who didn’t know about the post - production story of tulip fever, and we were more than vindicated with their positive reactions. philippa gregory (the other boleyn girl) said it was “beautifully filmed with a stellar cast that takes you to the atmospheric streets of amsterdam at the height of the madness of ‘tulip fever’ when a single bulb could cost a fortune and a flower was worth more than a woman’s happiness. ” sally bedell smith (diana in search of herself: portrait of a troubled princess) said it was “thoroughly suspenseful, stunningly filmed and beautifully acted. ” daniel james brown (the boys in the boat) said he “was fully engaged right from the get - go, and [ his ] interest never flagged. ” anthony doerr, dan jones, jodi picoult, emma donoghue and ml stedman all had just as wonderful things to say about the film.
tulip fever is an upcoming historical drama film directed by justin chadwick and written by sir tom stoppard , adapted from a novel by deborah moggach . it stars alicia vikander , dane dehaan , zach galifianakis , judi dench , christoph waltz , jack o'connell , holliday grainger , matthew morrison and cara delevingne . the plot follows a 17th-century painter in amsterdam who falls in love with a married woman of whom he has been hired to draw a portrait . the film is set to be released in the united states on august 25 , 2017 , by the weinstein company . 
tulip fever is an upcoming historical drama film directed by justin chadwick and written by sir tom stoppard, adapted from a novel by deborah moggach. it stars alicia vikander, dane dehaan, zach galifianakis, judi dench, christoph waltz, jack o'connell, holliday grainger, matthew morrison and cara delevingne. the plot follows a 17th-century painter in amsterdam who falls in love with a married woman of whom he has been hired to draw a portrait. the film is set to be released in the united states on august 25, 2017, by the weinstein company.
tulip fever is an upcoming historical drama film directed by justin chadwick and written by sir tom stoppard, adapted from a novel by deborah moggach. it stars alicia vikander, dane dehaan, zach galifianakis, judi dench, christoph waltz, jack o'connell, holliday grainger, matthew morrison and cara delevingne. the plot follows a 17th-century painter in amsterdam who falls in love with a married woman of whom he has been hired to draw a portrait. the film is set to be released in the united states on august 25, 2017, by the weinstein company.