What Do The Critics Say?

"Streep's holy woman is a beast in a habit of the very accurate throwback variety, and she will put the fear of God in you." Tricia Olszewski WASHINGTON CITY PAPER "One viewing sold me on its basic quality. A second look convinced me that Doubt is at least verging on something like greatness." Ken Hanke MOUNTAIN EXPRESS "Doubt strikes a deeper chill in our hearts than the creepiest thriller." Claudia Puig USA TODAY "Every element of Doubt is in perfect balance." Peter Howell TORONTO STAR "It's a film that allows you to do your own thinking while enjoying some of the most inspired acting to be found in movies today." Sandra Hall SYDNEY MORNING HERALD "Crammed with great performances and authentic period detail (you can almost smell the cafeteria food and the mimeograph ink), it's a fine adaptation of a provocative play. Shanley should feel proud of himself. It's an intellectual, philosophical approach to a brutally painful subject." Stephen Whitty NEWARK STAR-LEDGER

"Riveting and unforgettable, this intense drama really pulls you in and holds you with a terrific script and four unforgettable Oscar-worthy performances." Edward Douglas COMINGSOON "Mercilessly, it immerses its characters in the depths of certainty and the consequences of blind faith." Mark Sells OREGON HERALD "You won't see four better performances than this is any other 2008 film." Robert Roten LARAMIE MOVIE SCOPE "Confident filmmaking, a fiercely clever script and a gifted cast wonderfully bring this set of complex characters to life." Rich Cline SHADOWS ON THE WALL "Streep and Hoffman inhabit their roles to the fullest. Even for actors in their league, parts as rich as these don't appear too often." John Wirt ADVOCATE "Doubt's success rides on words and delivery but Shanley: who won his Oscar for writing Moonstruck, deftly incorporates cinematic devices (the silent, assured camerawork is affecting) to easily expand his play beyond stagey confines." Ben McEachen SUNDAY MAIL ADELAIDE

The Inside Story From the opening moments of Pulitzer Prize winner John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt" to its powerful conclusion, uncertainty hangs in the air, drawing the audience into a provocative mystery in which two nuns, a priest, and the mother of a young boy: as well as the audience itself, are forced to confront their core beliefs as they struggle with judgment and verdict, conviction and doubt. In the battle of wills that ensues, "Doubt" raises probing questions about the challenges of navigating a world increasingly confronted by sweeping changes and moral dilemmas. It was the very word 'doubt' that first inspired Shanley to write what would become the most acclaimed play of the last decade, and now, to adapt the story into a screenplay that enlarges the play’s world and uses the fluidity of cinema to plant new seeds of uncertainty. At the time he began writing, Shanley recalls vast numbers of polarized political pundits literally shouting at each other on television. "I felt surrounded by a society that seemed very certain about a lot of things. Everyone had a very entrenched opinion, but there was no real exchange, and if someone were to say 'I don’t know', it was as if they would be put to death in the media coliseum. There was this mask of certainty in our society that I saw hardening to the point that it was developing a crack: and that crack was doubt," Shanley explained. "So I decided to write a play that celebrated the fact that you can never know anything for certain. I wanted to explore the idea that doubt has an infinite nature, that it allows for growth and change, whereas certainty is a dead-end." Shanley's play would go on to be celebrated with New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Drama League Award, the Drama Desk, the Tony, and of course, the Pulitzer. In the wake of the play’s international success, Shanley came to believe that "Doubt", with its ability to provoke and move audiences around the world, could inevitably do the same for movie audiences. Shanley had been writing screenplays for two decades, and had won an Oscar® for penning the romantic comedy "Moonstruck". Adapting "Doubt", he says, would be the most difficult screenwriting experience of all. The challenge at hand was to completely re-envision his play and allow it to become a different creature on the screen. "This story started with memories of growing up in the Bronx and then those memories became a play, and I used the stage and all the materials it had to offer to tell the story that way; and now, as a film, it has a profoundly different character," Shanley says. "Theatre is very organized and real life is disorganized, so part of the process was shattering the story back into pieces and making it more like those original memories." There was one overarching concern with the adaptation: conveying a sense of energy and urgency, and bringing the story’s deeply embedded issues to the surface. "Flynn and Aloysius are dynamic, shrewd and verbal people, and they are not afraid to use words as weapons. So much of the drama of this story is in the dialogue: especially in the confrontation between Flynn and Aloysius. I needed to figure out a way to make that work cinematically,” Shanley says. “In the beginning I wrote half a draft and threw it away because I felt I was failing at translating the story: and for a while I was miserable." But, by the time he finished the screenplay, Shanley was excitedly anticipating returning to his childhood stomping ground to shoot: and to having the nuns and neighbors he grew up with participate in the production. "I’ve actually had enormously formative experiences with the nuns I’ve known," he says. Sister Mary Margaret McEntee (also known as Sister Peggy) who taught Shanley at St Anthony’s when he was a feisty first grader and she a fresh-faced twenty one year old on her first teaching assignment, would later inspire the creation of Sister James. Brought on as a consultant, she worked closely with Streep, Adams and Hoffman, answering questions on attire, ritual and tradition and, lending her spirit and memories to the players and crew as inspiration. Generously, she shared her own experiences teaching at St Anthony’s with the filmmakers. "I thoroughly enjoyed teaching there," she said. "Everything was very uniform and very rigid: but it was very peaceful." Sister Peggy also had memories of young priests emerging with a new point of view in the 1960s. "I saw many young priests who were moved by the changes of the times and were becoming friendlier, more open, very much like Father Flynn." She also takes great pride in Shanley's accomplishments, noting: "I taught him how to read and write, so I’m very happy to know that a student of mine has done so well with words." When it came to casting the film, Shanley ("The January Man") could have turned to some of the acclaimed actors who appeared in the stage play: instead, he decided to start fully anew. 1980 and 1983 Oscar ® winning actress Meryl Streep ("Kramer vs Kramer" 1979 & "Sophie's Choice" 1982) came to the production excited by the expansiveness of John Patrick Shanley’s screen adaptation. "This story is a living organism and John took the opportunity to come in and both expand and distill it to its strongest incarnation." Streep says the story’s ability to provoke on a personal level remained the big draw. "This is a story that people really see through the prism of their own biases and experiences, their own emotional connection to authority, both celestial and temporal." In her preparation for the role, Streep worked closely with the nuns at the College of Mount St Vincent, which she says was a distinct pleasure. "The discipline, the purity, the clear intelligence of these women was fascinating to me, and they were very helpful." When it came to the role of Father Flynn, Shanley says there was only one actor who I could think of who "could make Meryl sweat through every scene." 2006 Oscar ® winning actor Philip Seymour Hofmann ("Capote" 2005) Hoffman was that actor. Both he and Streep had worked together previously, playing mother and son on stage in "The Seagull". Shanley remembers when they were filming their big scene in "Doubt": "it was a battle royale; it was gladiatorial, it was outsized, and it was thrilling to watch. It was one of the most electrifying weeks I’ve ever had. The set became like the ring that prizefighters go into. when they were called to do it, they would get in there and the walls would shake." Hofmann ("The Big Lebowski" & "Almost Famous") revealed: "When John Shanley called, it did take me by surprise because I’d never thought of myself in the part." Vibrant and talented 2006 Independent Spirit Award winner Amy Adams ("Junebug") was cast as Sister James. "I was with these two enormously talented, enormously powerful actors which was frightening and intimidating. Sister James wants to please them both and hopes to learn from them both. So did I." Viola Davis, who played Jean in "Nights In Rodanthe", picked up a Black Reel Award for her role as Mrs Miller in "Doubt". Davis really impressed Shanley. "I have to say that I feel she is one of the most talented actresses I’ve ever seen," he said. She may have only one scene in the film, but it's an indelible moment. Davis says, "I think in many ways she has more courage than any other character in the story." Synopsis

It’s 1964, St. Nicholas in the Bronx. A vibrant, charismatic priest, Father Flynn, is trying to upend the school’s strict customs, which have long been fiercely guarded by Sister Aloysius Beauvier, the iron-gloved Principal who believes in the power of fear and discipline. The winds of political change are sweeping through the community, and, indeed, the school has just accepted its first black student, Donald Miller. But when Sister James, a hopeful innocent, shares with Sister Aloysius her guilt-inducing suspicion that Father Flynn is paying too much personal attention to Donald, Sister Aloysius is galvanized to begin a crusade to both unearth the truth and expunge Flynn from the school. Now, without a shred of proof or evidence except her moral certainty, Sister Aloysius locks into a battle of wills with Father Flynn, one that threatens to tear apart the church and school with devastating consequences.

The Verdict "Cinemagoers will have no doubts after seeing the powerful, thought provoking bigscreen adaptation of John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt", that they have witnessed something very special. Two Oscar winners ®, an Independent Spirit Award winner and a Black Reel Award winner all give career defining performances that will remain idelibly emblazened in your mind. The head to head confrontation near films end between Streep and Hofmann, will knock the socks off audiences. This scene is every bit as powerful as those performed by two time Oscar ® winner Elizabeth Taylor (1961 & 1967) and two time Golden Globe winner Richard Burton (1953 & 1978) in the film that earnt Taylor her second Oscar (Butterfield 8 was her first), "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" That film too, was an adaptation of a stage play. Like Shanley did with "Doubt", "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" writer Edward Albee was also highly decorated. 1996 American National Medal of the Arts recipient Albee was a three time Pulitzer Drama Prize winner and a two time Tony Award winner (1963 and 2002). Appearing with Streep and Hofmann are two actresses whose performances can't be overlooked. Amy Adams ("Charlie Wilson's War") goes from strength to strength. Her role as Sister James projects just the right mix of innocence, disbelief and tears to further enhance Streeps portrayal of Sister Beauvier. For all the screen-time Adams, Hofmann and Streep consume, one cast member nearly upstages them all. That person is actress Viola Davis ("Antwone Fisher" & "Disturbia"). She gives a stunning, heart wrenching performance as Mrs Miller, mother of the young boy Sister Beauvier believes Father Flynn has become to familiar with. Mrs Millers stand may puzzle and shock some audience members who lose sight of the fact that "Doubt" is set in 1964. Is Father Flynn guilty of misconduct? Is he hiding the truth about his relationship with the boy Donald Miller? Will conviction win out over doubt? The answers are in the highly commended and hugely entertaining, "Doubt". 5 STARS." Crew Bytes "DOUBT" was .......
directed by John Patrick Shanley ["Joe Versus the Volcano"]; screenplay by John Patrick Shanley ["Joe Versus the Volcano", "Alive: The Miracle of the Andes" and "Congo"]; casting by Ellen Chenoweth ["No Country For Old Men", "Burn After Reading" and "Gran Torino"]; costume design by Ann Roth ["The English Patient", "Signs", "The Village" and "Mamma Mia! "]; production design by David Gropman ["Chocolat", "The Shipping News" and "Little Children"]; cinematography by Roger Deakins ["O Brother, Where Art Thou?", "A Beautiful Mind", "No Country For Old Men" and "In the Valley of Elah"]; original music by Howard Shore ["A History of Violence", "The Last Mimzy" and "Eastern Promises"]. Who's Who

Meryl Streep Philip Seymour Hoffman Amy Adams Viola Davis Joseph Foster II Alice Drummond Audrie Neenan Susan Blommaert Carrie Preston John Costelloe Lloyd Clay Brown Bridget Megan Clark Mike Roukis Haklar Dezso Frank Shanley Robert Ridgell Frank Dolce Paulie Litt Matthew Marvin

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Sister Aloysius Beauvier Father Flynn Sister James Mrs Miller Donald Miller Sister Veronica Sister Raymond Mrs Carson Christine Hurley Warren Hurley Jimmy Hurley Noreen Horan William London Zither Player Kevin Organist Ralph Tommy Conroy Raymond

Run Time 104 minutes Rated M [AUST] Copyright ©2009 - Miramax - All Rights Reserved ©2009 All Rights Reserved - The Movie Pages & Impact Internet Services - Protected by Australian, International, Copyright & Trademark Laws.