Tuesday, 5 May, ~
U.S. cable channels will show "Lolita"
NEW YORK (AP) -- Cable TV's Showtime has bought the rights to the new movie version of "Lolita" and will be the first to show it in this country, where distributors have balked because it depicts a man sexually obsessed with a 12-year-old girl.
[...]
Film distributors had refused to show "Lolita" in the United States after it had been released in Europe last summer. Filmmakers said it was because the subject matter was too shocking; some distributors said it was because the movie is dull.
Tuesday, July 14, ~
Lolita 'a victim of '90s culture'
By CLAIRE BICKLEY -- Toronto Sun
HOLLYWOOD -- Both a greater awareness of child sexual abuse and a desire to deny it are to blame for the controversy surrounding the new Lolita movie, say its screenwriter and director.
High-profile cases such as the murder of JonBenet Ramsey and the child killings in Belgium have made the public hyper-sensitive to pedophilia themes, says Lolita director Adrian Lyne.
"I think the climate has changed enormously in this country. I think in the '80s or the '70s, this movie would have been released without problem," he said here Sunday.
Two years after completion of the film based on Vladimir Nabokov's novel about a man's sexual affair with a preteen girl, it will finally make its North American debut Aug. 2 on the U.S. cable channel Showtime. It will then be released theatrically in the U.S. and Canada, but is unlikely to ever recoup its $58-million US cost.
Screenwriter Stephen Schiff called audience reaction to Lolita "a litmus test" of whether the public is open to stories with difficult subjects.
"We've been identified by Robert Hughes as a 'culture of complaint.' We're certainly a culture of fear now," Schiff said.
"We're a very, very jumpy, 'Keep it in the dark, maybe it'll go away,' kind of culture. I think that's a sad thing and I think that is part of the reason for the furor."
Wednesday, 5 August, ~
Actor Irons defends Lolita
By FRAZIER MOORE -- Associated Press
NEW YORK -- The notion of a grown man having sex with a preteen girl, even in fiction, gets people going. Maybe they're outraged. Maybe squeamish. Maybe they don't know what they feel, and don't want to find out.
But none of this is news. Recall that in the mid-1950s, Lolita, a novel soberly exploring the subject of pedophilia, was shunned by American publishers for four years. Too controversial.
Now the Vladimir Nabokov classic is graced with a new film adaptation. Directed by Adrian Lyne (Indecent Proposal), it stars Dominique Swain as the notorious nymphet and Jeremy Irons as the obsessed suitor three times her age. It, too, is controversial. Despite the film's release in Europe last summer, distributors shied from booking it in North American theatres.
Thursday, October 1, ~
Lolita draws fire before opening
By BRITTANY JAYDE AVERY -- Calgary Sun
Controversy continues to follow Lolita. Some local women's groups have expressed alarm and outrage over tomorrow's opening of the movie, about a middle-aged man's sexual relationship with his 12-year-old stepdaughter. Hermina Dykxhoorn, president of the Alberta Federation of Women United for Families, urges Calgarians to boycott the film, which will play at the Plaza Theatre and the Canyon Meadows cineplex. "I get tired of this constant pushing from Hollywood to glorify the sexualization of children through movies," said Dykxhoorn.
The film was finished in April of 1997, but director Lyne had difficulties finding a distributor due to the subject matter. Lolita finally made its debut on the U.S. cable network Showtime in August, which led to the current North American theatrical release. There are scenes of kisses, caresses and simulated intercourse between Irons and Swain, who was 15 at the time of the filming. There is no explicit nudity in the sex scenes.
Return to chronology, Summer 1998