RATINGS: IMDB ― 7.2/10, Rotten Tomatoes ― 56%, ME ― 80%
Denys: [to Karen, whose horse has run away, leaving her at the mercy of an approaching lion] I wouldn't run. If you do, she'll think you're something good to eat.
Karen Blixen: [staring at lion] Have you - Do you have a gon ?
Denys: She won't like the smell of you.
Karen Blixen: Shoot - shoot it.
Denys: She's had breakfast.
Karen Blixen: Please shoot her.
Denys: Well, let's give her a moment.
Karen Blixen: [as lion comes closer] Oh my god, shoot her !
[Lion approaches Karen then wanders off into brush]
Karen Blixen: Just how much closer did you expect to let her come ?
Denys: A bit. It wanted to see if you'd run. That's how they decide. A lot like people that way.
Karen Blixen: She almost had me for lunch !
Denys: Well, it wasn't her fault, baroness. She's a lion.
Karen Blixen: Well, it wasn't mine.
Denys: Doesn't that outfit come with a rifle ?
Karen Blixen: Ye-ah, uh.
[looks around]
Karen Blixen: On my saddle.
Denys: Better keep it with you. Your horse isn't much of a shot.
Trivia (From IMDB):
Early in the film, Baroness Karen Blixen is introduced to her servants. Although the scene is inter-cut with close-ups and other inserts in the film, the first take was filmed as one long shot that required Streep to meet and exchange dialogue with several other characters. As soon as director Sydney Pollack yelled "Cut," Streep, wearing a high-collared shirt and snug jacket, yelled "get this thing off of me!" and ripped open her jacket. A beetle the size of Streep's hand had crawled down the front of the jacket moments after the camera rolled, yet she continued filming the scene, Much of it remains in the final film.
In one scene, Karen Blixen, travels across dangerous terrain to bring supply wagons to her husband's regiment. During the night, a lion attacks one of the oxen and Karen tries to fight it off with a whip. Meryl Streep was assured that the lion would be tethered by one of its back legs so he couldn't get too close. When the scene was shot, the lion had no restraint, and it got closer than Streep anticipated. The fear on her face is real.
Meryl Streep developed her accent by listening to recordings of Karen Blixen reading her own works.
The production designers used a great deal of Karen Blixen's furniture, which she never sent back to Denmark after leaving Kenya.
Karen Blixen remains the only woman who has ever been invited to drink in the men's bar at the Muthaiga Country Club. Certain rules have been relaxed over the years, men are even allowed in certain parts of the club without jacket and tie, but the "men only" rule remains. Another bar allows women.
Audrey Hepburn was originally offered the role of Karen Blixen.
Robert Redford initially intended to play Denys Finch Hatton as an Englishman. Director Sydney Pollack felt it would be too distracting for audiences. Redford had to overdub some of his lines from early takes, when he used a trace of English accent.
Sydney Pollack initially never considered Meryl Streep for the role of Karen Blixen as he figured she wasn't sexy enough. Streep landed the part by showing up for her meeting with the director wearing a low-cut blouse and a push-up bra.
When Denys washes Karen's hair, he quotes from "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. One line, "He prayeth well, who loveth well both man and bird and beast," is inscribed on the real Denys Finch Hatton's gravestone.
Production designer Stephen B. Grimes spent a year building a replica of Karen Blixen's house and 1913 Nairobi. The film's sets were built not far from where Blixen had once lived, in a town now called Karen.
Released in 1985, the centenary of Karen Blixen's birth.
About 70% of the movie was actually filmed in Africa.
Actual descendants of the Kikuyu tribe who were described in the book appeared in the film. It was filmed near the Ngong Hills outside Nairobi, Kenya.
The scenes set in a wintry Denmark were actually filmed in Hunstanton, Norfolk, England.
The film was shot on location in Africa, but local laws prohibited the use of wild animals in film. Trained lions were imported from California.
Meryl Streep was extremely nervous throughout the hair-washing scene, which was shot close to some very territorial hippopotamus.
While he was editing the picture, director Sydney Pollack used musical selections from John Barry to act as his temp track. When it came the time to actually score the film, Barry seemed like the perfect choice.
Klaus Maria Brandauer was always Sydney Pollack's first choice to play Bror Blixen. Pollack had been particularly taken by his performance in Never Say Never Again (1983).
Felicity is modeled on Beryl Markham, another writer who lived in East Africa and was supposed to be another of Denys Finch Hatton lovers. Markham was also one of the first women to fly across the Atlantic. Sydney Pollack was fortunate enough to meet the elderly Markham early in pre-production.
The story was originally planned as a project for Greta Garbo. At various times, Orson Welles, David Lean and Nicolas Roeg had tried to make a film about Karen Blixen.
The town of Karen, just outside Nairobi, is named after Karen Blixen.
The pilot in the scene where the flamingos take flight was Sir Henry Dalrymple-White, a British Baronet and former WW2 pilot who moved in Kenya in the 1940s. He flew until he was 80.
Industrial strength fire extinguishers were used to keep lions at bay.
Sydney Pollack shot the film in 1.85:1, against his preference of anamorphic wide-screen, because he was tired of having his films cropped off for TV presentations.
Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.
Leslie Phillips developed kidney trouble, due to dehydration, during filming.
It took director Sydney Pollack and writer Kurt Luedtke two years to find the spine of Karen Blixen's stories upon which they could hang the elements of the plot.
Leslie Phillips's cameo role in this film won him the part of Mr. Maxted in Empire of the Sun (1987).
David Rayfiel did an uncredited rewrite of the script.
The scene in which Karen is invited into the Men's Bar at the Mutheiga Club was actually filmed at a local school. The actual Men's Bar is a small room at the club.
When Nicolas Roeg was attached as director in the mid 70's, he planned for Julie Christie and Ryan O' Neal to play his two leads in " Out of Africa ".
Julie Christie was considered for the role of Karen Blixen.
Joss Ackland was offered the role of Bror Blixen. He turned it down in order to star in Shadowlands (1985).
Nicolas Roeg planned to direct the film in the early 70s, using a screenplay written by Judith Rascoe. The scene where Bror informs Karen Blixen of Finch Hatton's death is a leftover from that treatment.
At Finch Hatton's funeral, Karen Blixen reads from A.E. Housman's poem, "To an Athlete Dying Young." Her toast in the bar borrows from Housman's, "With Rue My Heart is Laden".
The man who giving the eulogy at Berkeley Cole's funeral is an actual preacher. Mike Harries, known as the Flying Preacher, is from an old, pioneer family that, among other things, brought sisal to Kenya. Mike had been hired to assist the English actor originally hired for the part. Bad weather that delayed filming, and the actor's fondness for food and drink paid for by Sydney Pollack, prompted Pollack to send him back to England and hire Mike for the small, but very important, role.
Trivia (From IMDB):
Early in the film, Baroness Karen Blixen is introduced to her servants. Although the scene is inter-cut with close-ups and other inserts in the film, the first take was filmed as one long shot that required Streep to meet and exchange dialogue with several other characters. As soon as director Sydney Pollack yelled "Cut," Streep, wearing a high-collared shirt and snug jacket, yelled "get this thing off of me!" and ripped open her jacket. A beetle the size of Streep's hand had crawled down the front of the jacket moments after the camera rolled, yet she continued filming the scene, Much of it remains in the final film.
In one scene, Karen Blixen, travels across dangerous terrain to bring supply wagons to her husband's regiment. During the night, a lion attacks one of the oxen and Karen tries to fight it off with a whip. Meryl Streep was assured that the lion would be tethered by one of its back legs so he couldn't get too close. When the scene was shot, the lion had no restraint, and it got closer than Streep anticipated. The fear on her face is real.
Meryl Streep developed her accent by listening to recordings of Karen Blixen reading her own works.
The production designers used a great deal of Karen Blixen's furniture, which she never sent back to Denmark after leaving Kenya.
Karen Blixen remains the only woman who has ever been invited to drink in the men's bar at the Muthaiga Country Club. Certain rules have been relaxed over the years, men are even allowed in certain parts of the club without jacket and tie, but the "men only" rule remains. Another bar allows women.
Audrey Hepburn was originally offered the role of Karen Blixen.
Robert Redford initially intended to play Denys Finch Hatton as an Englishman. Director Sydney Pollack felt it would be too distracting for audiences. Redford had to overdub some of his lines from early takes, when he used a trace of English accent.
Sydney Pollack initially never considered Meryl Streep for the role of Karen Blixen as he figured she wasn't sexy enough. Streep landed the part by showing up for her meeting with the director wearing a low-cut blouse and a push-up bra.
When Denys washes Karen's hair, he quotes from "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. One line, "He prayeth well, who loveth well both man and bird and beast," is inscribed on the real Denys Finch Hatton's gravestone.
Production designer Stephen B. Grimes spent a year building a replica of Karen Blixen's house and 1913 Nairobi. The film's sets were built not far from where Blixen had once lived, in a town now called Karen.
Released in 1985, the centenary of Karen Blixen's birth.
About 70% of the movie was actually filmed in Africa.
Actual descendants of the Kikuyu tribe who were described in the book appeared in the film. It was filmed near the Ngong Hills outside Nairobi, Kenya.
The scenes set in a wintry Denmark were actually filmed in Hunstanton, Norfolk, England.
The film was shot on location in Africa, but local laws prohibited the use of wild animals in film. Trained lions were imported from California.
Meryl Streep was extremely nervous throughout the hair-washing scene, which was shot close to some very territorial hippopotamus.
While he was editing the picture, director Sydney Pollack used musical selections from John Barry to act as his temp track. When it came the time to actually score the film, Barry seemed like the perfect choice.
Klaus Maria Brandauer was always Sydney Pollack's first choice to play Bror Blixen. Pollack had been particularly taken by his performance in Never Say Never Again (1983).
Felicity is modeled on Beryl Markham, another writer who lived in East Africa and was supposed to be another of Denys Finch Hatton lovers. Markham was also one of the first women to fly across the Atlantic. Sydney Pollack was fortunate enough to meet the elderly Markham early in pre-production.
The story was originally planned as a project for Greta Garbo. At various times, Orson Welles, David Lean and Nicolas Roeg had tried to make a film about Karen Blixen.
The town of Karen, just outside Nairobi, is named after Karen Blixen.
The pilot in the scene where the flamingos take flight was Sir Henry Dalrymple-White, a British Baronet and former WW2 pilot who moved in Kenya in the 1940s. He flew until he was 80.
Industrial strength fire extinguishers were used to keep lions at bay.
Sydney Pollack shot the film in 1.85:1, against his preference of anamorphic wide-screen, because he was tired of having his films cropped off for TV presentations.
Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.
Leslie Phillips developed kidney trouble, due to dehydration, during filming.
It took director Sydney Pollack and writer Kurt Luedtke two years to find the spine of Karen Blixen's stories upon which they could hang the elements of the plot.
Leslie Phillips's cameo role in this film won him the part of Mr. Maxted in Empire of the Sun (1987).
David Rayfiel did an uncredited rewrite of the script.
The scene in which Karen is invited into the Men's Bar at the Mutheiga Club was actually filmed at a local school. The actual Men's Bar is a small room at the club.
When Nicolas Roeg was attached as director in the mid 70's, he planned for Julie Christie and Ryan O' Neal to play his two leads in " Out of Africa ".
Julie Christie was considered for the role of Karen Blixen.
Joss Ackland was offered the role of Bror Blixen. He turned it down in order to star in Shadowlands (1985).
Spoilers ―
In real life, Karen and Denys' romance was slightly different. They met at a hunting club, not out on the plains. He disappeared for two years on military assignment in Egypt. He started flying and taking tourists on safaris after he moved in with Karen, not before. Karen learned of his death from some friends in Nairobi. The film never mentions that Karen miscarried their baby.
In real life, Karen and Denys' romance was slightly different. They met at a hunting club, not out on the plains. He disappeared for two years on military assignment in Egypt. He started flying and taking tourists on safaris after he moved in with Karen, not before. Karen learned of his death from some friends in Nairobi. The film never mentions that Karen miscarried their baby.
Nicolas Roeg planned to direct the film in the early 70s, using a screenplay written by Judith Rascoe. The scene where Bror informs Karen Blixen of Finch Hatton's death is a leftover from that treatment.
At Finch Hatton's funeral, Karen Blixen reads from A.E. Housman's poem, "To an Athlete Dying Young." Her toast in the bar borrows from Housman's, "With Rue My Heart is Laden".
The man who giving the eulogy at Berkeley Cole's funeral is an actual preacher. Mike Harries, known as the Flying Preacher, is from an old, pioneer family that, among other things, brought sisal to Kenya. Mike had been hired to assist the English actor originally hired for the part. Bad weather that delayed filming, and the actor's fondness for food and drink paid for by Sydney Pollack, prompted Pollack to send him back to England and hire Mike for the small, but very important, role.
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