Carol (film)

Carol
The poster shows the partial faces of Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. The image of Blanchett, wearing fur, is facing left and positioned above Mara. Mara is wearing a dark, striped fabric and her image is facing right. Between their images is a horizontal white line. The title "Carol" appears just above this line in the center of the poster in large, white capital letters. Above the title are the names of Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara in smaller, white capital letters, with Blanchett's name above Mara's. Below the title and superimposed in front of Mara's neck are the words "Directed by Todd Haynes" in small, white capital letters, and below it grouped together are other film credits. Below these credits in small, white capital letters is "Screenplay by Phyllis Nagy", and below it "From a Novel by the Author of The Talented Mr. Ripley". The poster's overall color saturation is a golden hue.
North American theatrical release poster
Directed byTodd Haynes
Screenplay byPhyllis Nagy
Based onThe Price of Salt
by Patricia Highsmith
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyEdward Lachman
Edited byAffonso Gonçalves
Music byCarter Burwell
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • May 17, 2015 (2015-05-17) (Cannes)
  • November 20, 2015 (2015-11-20) (United States)
  • November 27, 2015 (2015-11-27) (United Kingdom)
Running time
119 minutes[1]
Countries
  • United Kingdom[2]
  • United States[2]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$11.8 million[3]
Box office$42.5 million[4]

Carol is a 2015 historical drama romance film directed by Todd Haynes. The screenplay by Phyllis Nagy is based on the 1952 romance novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith (republished as Carol in 1990). The film stars Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson, Jake Lacy, and Kyle Chandler. Set in 1950s New York City, the story is about a forbidden affair between an aspiring female photographer and an older woman going through a difficult divorce.

Carol was in development since 1997, when Nagy wrote the first draft of the screenplay. British company Film4 Productions and its then-chief executive Tessa Ross financed development. The film was in development hell, facing problems with financing, rights, scheduling conflicts, and accessibility. Number 9 Films came on board as a producer in 2011, when Elizabeth Karlsen secured the rights to the novel. The film is co-produced by New York–based Killer Films, which joined the project in 2013 after Haynes's collaborator Christine Vachon approached him to direct. Principal photography on the British-American production began in March 2014, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and lasted 34 days. Cinematographer Edward Lachman shot Carol on Super 16 mm film.[5][6]

Carol premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2015, and was released in the United States on November 20 and in the United Kingdom on November 27. Grossing over $42 million on an $11 million budget, the film received widespread acclaim for Haynes's direction and the performances of Blanchett and Mara, and was the best-reviewed film of 2015. It competed for the Palme d'Or at Cannes, where Mara tied with Emmanuelle Bercot for the Best Actress award. The film received many accolades, including nominations for six Academy Awards, nine BAFTA Awards, and five Golden Globe Awards. It also won five Dorian Awards and awards from the New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and National Society of Film Critics. Carol was ranked by the British Film Institute as the best LGBTQ film of all time,[7] and named one of the greatest films of the 21st Century by the BBC.[8]

  1. ^ a b c d "Carol (2015)". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on December 4, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Carol (2015)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on December 4, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
  3. ^ Abramovitch, Seth (September 25, 2015). "Killer Films' Co-Founders Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler on Lesbian Romance 'Carol' and Indie Resilience". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on September 28, 2015. Retrieved September 27, 2015.
  4. ^ "Carol". The Numbers. Nash Information Services. 2015. Archived from the original on December 22, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  5. ^ Fauer, Jon (January 29, 2016). "Ed Lachman ASC on Super 16mm "Carol"". Film and Digital Times. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
  6. ^ Mulcahey, Matt (January 14, 2016). ""The Grain of Super 16 Gives the Film Another Layer": Edward Lachman on Carol". Filmmaker. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference BFI30 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference BBC100 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).