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Neverwas

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Neverwas
DVD cover
Directed byJoshua Michael Stern
Written byJoshua Michael Stern
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyMichael Grady
Edited byJeff McEvoy
Music byPhilip Glass
Production
companies
Distributed byMiramax Films
Release date
  • September 9, 2005 (2005-09-09) (Toronto)
Running time
108 minutes
Countries
  • United States
  • Canada
LanguageEnglish

Neverwas is a 2005 Canadian-American fantasy drama film, written and directed by Joshua Michael Stern in his directorial debut. It stars Ian McKellen, Aaron Eckhart, Brittany Murphy, Nick Nolte, William Hurt, and Jessica Lange. It was first shown at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival. However, the film was never given a full theatrical release, eventually being released straight to DVD in 2007.

Plot

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Zach Riley is a psychiatrist who leaves a job at a prestigious university to take up a position at the privately run mental institution, Millwood, belonging to Dr. Reed. What he doesn't reveal at the time of his appointment is that this was the very place where his novelist father, T.L. Pierson, spent many years of his life as he battled chronic depression. T.L. later wrote a popular children's classic, Neverwas, about a child (based on young Zach himself) who enters a secret world to free a captive king. T.L. later committed suicide; Riley, who found the body, has always partly blamed himself for his father's death.

Riley is assigned to work with a schizophrenic patient, Gabriel Finch, and soon realizes that Finch sees himself as the captive king. As he listens to Finch and resumes his acquaintance with childhood friend Maggie Paige, he realizes that more things link him to the book – and also to Finch's recovery – than he ever thought. T.L.'s novel was based on Finch's stories, told to him by Finch while both were patients in the hospital. Finch believes that the book is a sort of oracle confirming his personal reality, and that Riley is the boy hero. Riley comes to see himself this way in a sense, as he discovers that Finch's "hallucination" concerns actual places and events.[1][2][3]

Cast

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Production

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Development

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The film was written and directed by filmmaker Joshua Michael Stern in his directorial debut. It was produced by Sidney Kimmel and Greg Shapiro, and co-produced by Aaron Eckhart who starred in the leading role. The film was distributed by Neverwas Productions and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2005. It was initially distributed by Miramax Home Entertainment for its home media release.[4] Owing to the theme of a fairy tale which is based on real events, the film has often been compared with Finding Neverland (2004), which Miramax were also involved with.[5]

Filming

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Principal photography took place in September 2004 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[6][7]

Home media

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The film's U.S. DVD from Miramax Home Entertainment was released on July 3, 2007.[4]

In December 2010, Miramax was sold by The Walt Disney Company, their owners since 1993. That same month, the studio was taken over by private equity firm Filmyard Holdings.[8] Filmyard licensed the home media rights for several Miramax titles to Echo Bridge Entertainment, and on February 14, 2012, Echo Bridge reissued Neverwas on DVD.[9] It was one of the more recent Miramax films to be reissued by Echo Bridge, as the initial home video release had only occurred four year prior. In 2011, Filmyard Holdings licensed the Miramax library to streamer Netflix. This deal included Neverwas, and ran for five years, eventually ending on June 1, 2016.[10]

Filmyard Holdings sold Miramax to Qatari company beIN Media Group during March 2016.[11] In April 2020, ViacomCBS (now known as Paramount Skydance) acquired the rights to Miramax's library, after buying a 49% stake in the studio from beIN.[12] Neverwas was one of the 700 titles they acquired in the deal, and since April 2020, the film has been distributed by Paramount Pictures.[13] On March 4, 2021, Neverwas was made available on Paramount's new streaming service Paramount+, as one of its inaugural launch titles.[14][15]

References

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  1. ^ Mark Deming (2007). "Neverwas (2005) – Overview". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2007-10-18.
  2. ^ "Promotional film on 'Neverwas'". YouTube. Archived from the original on May 8, 2019. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  3. ^ "Review: Neverwas". Cinematical. July 3, 2007.
  4. ^ a b "Neverwas DVD" – via www.blu-ray.com.
  5. ^ "Neverwas (2005) -vs- Finding Neverland (2004) Review by Bryce Zabel". Movie Smackdown. July 2007. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  6. ^ "Neverwas (2005) – Box Office / Business". Internet Movie Database.
  7. ^ "Neverwas (2005) – Filming Locations". Internet Movie Database.
  8. ^ Teather, David (July 30, 2010). "Disney sells Miramax to investment group for $660m" – via The Guardian.
  9. ^ "Neverwas DVD" – via www.blu-ray.com.
  10. ^ "Miramax Deal With Netflix Ends on June 1st - Over 400 Movies Leaving". What's on Netflix. May 21, 2016.
  11. ^ Smith, Nigel M. (March 2, 2016). "Iconic film studio Miramax sells to Doha-based beIN Media Group" – via The Guardian.
  12. ^ Szalai, Georg (April 3, 2020). "ViacomCBS Closes Acquisition of 49 Percent Miramax Stake in $375 Million Deal" – via The Hollywood Reporter.
  13. ^ "Neverwas (2005) | Kaleidescape Movie Store".
  14. ^ Member, Samuel Spencer Newsweek Is A. Trust Project (March 4, 2021). "All the Shows and Movies Streaming Now on Paramount+". Newsweek.
  15. ^ "Paramount+ is officially live: The genre movies and shows you can watch today (and in the future)". SYFY. March 4, 2021.
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