Johnny-come-lately reports will mislead you, but be certain; there’s almost nothing new in Fox Searchlight’s press release about John Madden’s “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” which starts principal photography in India later this week, but a reminder of the project doesn’t hurt.
The cast already includes Tom Wilkinson, Judi Dench, Dev Patel, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy and one new element is that fact that Peter O’Toole no longer seems to be part of the ensemble (and Smith replaced Julie Christie a few months ago, so there’s been a few bits of juggling going round).
The project seems to put Madden (the director of “Shakespeare In Love”) back on familiar territory after a detour into seedier drama (“Killshot” with Mickey Rourke and Joseph Gordon-Levitt) was essentially buried and forgotten by the Weinstein Company.
Based on the book “These Fine Things” by Deborah Moggach, the project “is a comedy of Eastern and Western manners with the shrewd Indian executive who sees a gap in the market when he notices that a lot of elderly folk in the U.K. are farmed out to dismal retirement developments. He hits on the idea of converting an old guest house in Bangalore.”
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel follows a group of British retirees who decide to “outsource” their retirement to less expensive and seemingly exotic India. Enticed by advertisements for the newly restored Marigold Hotel and bolstered with visions of a life of leisure, they arrive to find the palace a shell of its former self. Though the new environment is less luxurious than imagined, they are forever transformed by their shared experiences, discovering that life and love can begin again when you let go of the past.
We assume this one will probably try and hit awards season 2011.