Nicholas Nickleby (2002) on Netflix
His father's death leaves Nicholas Nickleby and his family without money, so they go to London to ask their wealthy uncle Ralph for help. Ralph finds Nicholas work at a boys' school.
- Netflix2.1/5
- IMDb7.1/1015,152 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes78%
Trailer
Plot summary
When his father dies and leaves the family with no income, nineteen-year-old Nicholas Nickleby, his mother and his sister Kate travel from the Devon countryside to London to ask help from their wealthy uncle Ralph. Ralph takes an immediate dislike to his nephew, yet he arranges a tutoring post for him at Dotheboys Hall, a boarding school in Yorkshire, and gets Kate a place as a seamstress. At the school, Nicholas finds that his employers, Mr. and Mrs. Squeers, run the place like a prison and mistreat their young charges. Nicholas rebels and leaves, taking the crippled servant boy Smike with him.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Nicholas Nickleby (2002)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- While considering Mrs. Crummles, a smug, opinionated but lovable dowager, McGrath realized all her traits were embodied by Dame Edna Everage, the alter ego of actor Barry Humphries, but was hesitant to suggest casting a male in the role. The producers agreed Humphries was ideal, and he also played Mr. Leadville in the same sequence.
- At the request of production designer Eve Stewart, screenwriter and director Douglas McGrath advanced the time frame from the 1830s to the 1850s so that she could incorporate elements of the Industrial Revolution into her design plans.
- Jamie Bell's audition for the role of Smike, in a London hotel room, left screenwriter and director Douglas McGrath and the producers in tears, and they cast him on the spot.
- Charlie Hunnam had been sent the script, but several months passed before he read it; after a couple of hours of conversation the director felt he had found the right man. The British Hunnam then had to work with a dialect coach, having perfected an American accent while living in the US to ensure regular employment.
- Costume designer Ruth Myers dressed two leading characters in clothing pre-dating the period of the film: Nicholas, the newly-anointed head of his family, wears clothing inherited from his father, and the impoverished Madeline's dresses are hand-me-downs from her mother.
