Fairytale opening for JM Barrie film
Hollywood stars Kate Winslet and Johnny Depp turned on the charm to give the new film on the life of Peter Pan creator JM Barrie a fairytale beginning.
The box office A-listers descended on London’s West End for the premiere of Finding Neverland, which tells the story of the inspiration behind the boy who never grew up.
American heart-throb Depp, 41, plays the Scottish author in the Hollywood blockbuster while British co-star Winslet, 29, plays Sylvia Llewelyn Davies.
It was Davies’ young sons who gave Barrie the idea for the children’s classic after he befriended them.
Arriving at the Odeon Leicester Square last night, Winslet told how she took the young stars of the film under her wing.
Wearing a floor-length turquoise Ben de Lisi dress, she said: “I had to whip them into shape every now and again but there was lots of hugging and it was all very family-like.”
Finding Neverland, which also stars Julie Christie and Dustin Hoffman, tells the story of how Barrie, who never had children of his own, met Davies’ boys in London’s Kensington Gardens and became their playmate.
American critics have touted Depp, who arrived with French singer girlfriend Vanessa Paradis, for his first Oscar.
But the Pirates of the Caribbean star, who struggled to perfect the necessary Scottish accent, shrugged off the potential glory.
Depp, who has two children with Paradis, said: “I can’t say that occupies my every thought or every moment.
“That’s not my job to think about that, but if people want to say that, that is really sweet.”
The other star in the film is 12-year-old British actor, Freddie Highmore, who plays Peter Llewelyn Davies, the inspiration for Peter Pan himself.
And his more famous co-stars were quick to praise the youngster, who is also set to appear as Charlie in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Depp said: “He doesn’t need advice from me. I need help from him.”
Highmore said he still did not know whether he wanted to be an actor but said of his heroes: “Johnny Depp is fantastic. He will turn an ordinary scene into one which you will always remember.
“Kate is amazing. Off camera she was really loving and always looking after me.”
Earlier, Winslet, who is married to film director Sam Mendes, said having two children of her own had helped her play the movie’s mother.
“There is something about the physicality of being a parent that you don’t know about until you become one,” she said.
The movie has been accused of playing down the ambiguous nature of Barrie’s obsession with children.
Some descendants of the Llewelyn Davies family are also said to have expressed some disappointment for not “sticking to the facts”.
But Depp said: “All this happened around 100 years ago so there are always going to be questions about the exact truth.”
And director Marc Forster added: “For me the film was about how JM Barrie was inspired to write Peter Pan. You have to take out certain characters because you are just dealing with those who inspired the story.”
The premiere comes in the centennial year of the creation of Peter Pan, which was first performed as a play in 1904 at the Duke of York’s Theatre, London.
The event hoped to raise thousands of pounds for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.
Barrie donated the lucrative rights to Peter Pan to the hospital before his death in 1937.
Finding Neverland is released on October 29.
