Orson Welles told Peter thirty years before about the unspoken story of the death of film director Tom Ince on board WR Hearst's yacht in 1924 - it was totally covered up. The most likely explanation was that Hearst killed Ince thinking he was Chaplin fooling around with Hearst's mistress Marion Davies, and that he bought Louella Parsons' silence by giving her a lifetime contract as a journalist - as Peter himself said, up until that point she was a nothing. Abuse of power stories remain topical. This is very successful.
Kirsten Dunst as Davies, Joanna Lumley as novelist Elinor Glyn and Eddie Izzard as Chaplin, take the acting honours. With Cary Elwes as Ince, Edward Herrmann as Hearst, Claudia Harrison as Ince's mistress and Jennifer Tilly as Parsons. With Victor Slezak, James Laurenson (doctor), Roland Vibert (steward), Chira Schoras, Claudie Blakely.
Written by Steven Peros. Photographed by Bruno Delbonnel. Lovely production design too. Weirdly it didn't get an international release.
Dunst as Davies larking about on set is one of the highlights, as well as Peter's super-long dissolves.
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