Production Companies Fox Searchlight Pictures, Hollywood Partners Munich (as Hollywood Partners), Industry Entertainment, Walrus & Associates (as Walrus & Associates Ltd.)
Studio Fox Searchlight, Hollywood Partners, Industry Entertainment, Walrus & Associates
Doug Wright first encountered the Marquis de Sade in a biography given to him as a gift — a gift that began a decade-long fascination and creative journey. 'I was so compelled by the insane drama of the Marquis' life that I started to voraciously read everything he'd written," explains Wright. "I found his works to be among the most disturbing and extreme works I'd ever encountered — from any era. We believe we live in a time with so much shock-media culture that we're inured to sex and violence — but here I found writing that was still a jolt to the senses. Here was writing that remained at once exhilarating and deeply terrifying."
Digging deeper into the Marquis' life, Wright also encountered the story of Dr. Royer-Collard, the physician charged by Napoleon with providing a "cure" for the Marquis' wicked pen. "When I came across this detail, I immediately thought that expanding upon it would make for an intriguing story — a story about what happens when you deny a really volatile imagination its only means of expression," explains Wright.
This was the jumping-off point for Wright's play QUILLS, which drew as much from the Marquis de Sade's fiction as from the facts of his life. "I wanted the story to be full of melodrama, terror and Sade's incendiary sense of humor," says Wright. "I wanted to represent not so much the fact of his life as the spirit of his life. And at the same time I wanted to explore all the arguments for and against censorship, to show the ongoing battle between extremists and moralists — and the humanists who often get crushed in between." Producer, Peter Kaufman, adds "I remember Michael Caine saying that the great thing about the story is the way it wrong-foots you. You think you're going in to see a film about the evil Marquis de Sade and it turns out that it's surprisingly funny. Of course, there is a dark side to the story, but the film never loses its fun or wicked sense of humor."
The play drew widespread critical acclaim and garnered Wright an Obie. It also wound up in the hands of independent film producers Julia Chasman and Nick Wechsler, who immediately saw its cinematic potential. "The play was very, very moving to us," explains Julia Chasman, "because it was about someone who in many ways is still shocking and revolting but whose story has a powerful resonance in the world today. What we saw in this beautifully written tale was a chance to say something about freedom of speech in the arts — and about the remarkable idea that thoughts are inherently free; that no matter how hard you try to imprison them, they can't be stopped. Doug Wright did all that in an entertainment that runs the gamut of true human emotions."
Chasman and Wechsler also saw in QUILLS a rare opportunity for the right filmmaker and cast to go to daring extremes of creation and performance. They were thrilled to learn that Philip Kaufman had an interest in QUILLS. "We knew it needed a very special director because it was such risky and complex material and it demanded someone of the highest intellectual and artistic caliber," observes Wechsler. Kaufman decided to take on the challenge. He and Doug Wright began a process of intense writer-director collaboration that would, in a rare demonstration of respect for the writer's contribution, continue throughout the entire film's production.
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