What Maisie Knew (2013) on Netflix
Six-year-old Maisie's parents, Susanna, a rock singer, and Beale, an art dealer, argue constantly in their New York home. Their split leaves the girl in the middle of a custody fight.
- Netflix4.0/5
- IMDb7.4/1029,538 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes87%
Trailer
Plot summary
Susanna sings in a rock band and Beale deals art internationally, and the two of them share a New York apartment with their six-year-old daughter, Maisie. Their fights are vicious and frequent, and Maisie is often left to the nanny, Margo, and does not always grasp what her parents do, as when her mother calls a locksmith to change the front door lock and shut her father out. The couple separates, and a court gives both parents custody of Maisie. After that, Margo becomes Beale's wife, and Susanna answers with a sudden marriage of her own to Lincoln, a bartender she hardly knows. Maisie takes to Lincoln, which her mother resents.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about What Maisie Knew (2013)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Carroll Cartwright and Nancy Doyne wrote the script in 1995, adapting Henry James's 1897 novel, while Cartwright was in a legal dispute over the custody of his daughter. Director Scott McGehee said Cartwright used the novel as a lens through which to write about his own divorce and raising his daughter.
- While shooting one of the film's final scenes, six-year-old Onata Aprile fell asleep and could not be woken, so the shoot was postponed for two weeks. The directors said her early bedtime also limited how long they could work with her each day.
- Steve Coogan was Scott McGehee and David Siegel's first choice to play Beale, though the film's producers wanted to cast another English actor. The directors felt Coogan was right because, however awful Beale behaves, he somehow comes across as sympathetic.
- Casting the role of Maisie took eight weeks, with casting director Avy Kaufman suggesting about 100 young girls while McGehee and Siegel also held auditions at New York elementary schools. Six-year-old Onata Aprile auditioned relatively late and was cast three weeks before production started.
- Julianne Moore was anxious about having to sing as part of her role, so she prepared by meeting music producer Peter Nashel, singer Elaine Caswell and Alison Mosshart, the lead singer of The Kills, whose songs she performed in the film.
