Preliminary Work
Producer Daniel Wilson is drawn to the novel by his wife Zoey, and is immediately inspired by it. In 1986, he contacts Atwood and acquires the filmmaking rights with the idea of committing the famous English playwright Harold Pinter for the screenplay – which Atwood very much liked. “I didn’t want to do the script, and one of the reasons we sold the rights to Danny was because it was his idea to get Harold Pinter for the screenplay.” (s. “Production Notes”, p. 1). As director, a veteran of British Free Cinema, Karl Reisz, is casted. Reisz and Pinter worked successfully on the film adaptation of THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT’S WIFE (GB 1980) after John Fowles’ novel of the same name. Nevertheless, Hollywood Studios reject the project because “a film for and about women … would be lucky if it made it to video.” In 1988, Sigourney Weaver joined the project and brings in Volker Schlöndorff as a director, after Karel Reisz was no longer available. Schlöndorff and the production companies were not satisfied with Pinter’s “(…)extreme shortening of the story, which left (…) scarcely enough material for a feature film.” (Schlöndorff 2011, p. 398). Pinter is not interested in any further work on the screenplay, which is why Schlöndorff continues to to the writing.
Cast
When Sigourney Weaver becomes pregnant, she drops out of the project. Schlöndorff hopes to replace her with Greta Scacchi to play the role of Kate/Offred. “But the distribution and the production companies, that are all-powerful in America, (…) insisted on Natasha Richardson, the daughter of Tony Richardson and Vanessa Redgrave, who is also a brilliant actress.” Schlöndorff brings Robert Duvall as the “commander” into the project. His wife Serena Joy is played by Faye Dunaway, who knows Duvall from Lee Strasbergs’s Actors Studio.
Shooting
Shot over 11 weeks in and around Durham, North Carolina, with a (for a Hollywood movie) relatively small budget: “It is a low-budget movie. (…) Faye Dunaway, all-star she is, was dressed out of Sears catalogue, $49.50. Locations used are i.a. the colonial house of Lars und Mary Hunsvald (the Commander’s house), the American Tobacco Company warehouse, St. Mary’s College in Raleigh, two high schools and the campus of Duke university. On the latter, the “hanging scenes” are being shot over several days – which creates some controversy on the part of the university.
Schlöndorff emphasizes the importance of the American artist Jennifer Bartlett for this film, who, for trade union reasons, does not receive a credit, whose artistic collaboration is no less important: “She was my most important collaborator besides Igor Luther, the cinematographer, in the creating of this world of Gilead.” With both Bartlett and Luther has Schlöndorff worked before: with Bartlett at theater and opera productions, with Luther on THE TIN DRUM and DIE FÄLSCHUNG (Circle of Deceit). The costumes are designed by Colleen Atwood (unrelated to Margaret), who has been awarded several Academy awards since then. Schlöndorff advises her to regard the costumes as “uniforms ordered from a catalogue issued by the government”.
