The Artistic Odyssey of an Elusive Lady : ‘Judith Hearne’ Finally Makes It to the Screen After Many Detours

Thirty-three years ago, an Irish-born, Canadian journalist named Brian Moore sat in a cabin in Northern Quebec and decided to write a novel. The result--”The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne”--was an acclaimed work about an aging woman’s struggle to find her identity as the secure elements in her life start to disintegrate.

While never a best seller, the book has never been out of print. It also has a remarkable history of being one of the all-time most sought after, fought for and elusive to produce screen projects.

Timothy Knowlton, director of film and television rights at the Curtis-Brown literary agency, called the book’s situation as a hot literary property “virtually unique. There are other books which have been under option for decades, but I can’t think of another example of something as consistently active for such an extended period of time.”

The movie “The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne,” starring Maggie Smith and Bob Hoskins, adapted for the screen by Peter Nelson and directed by Jack Clayton, has just opened in the United States through Island Pictures. Why did it take so long, despite the interest of a who’s who of film makers and performers?

“Well, it’s pretty depressing stuff,” said Moore. “I know it hits a chord for a lot of people, but that wasn’t enough to raise the money in the past.”

Shortly after the book’s U.S. publication in 1956, director Daniel Petrie optioned it with plans to turn it into a stage production. “Moore did several drafts, the final one setting all the action in the boarding house where Hearne lived,” said Petrie. “We came very close. Cheryl Crawford was going to produce and Katharine Hepburn would star, but she’d only commit to a three-month run and that killed the deal.”

There were others, including director Jose Quintero, who envisioned “Judith Hearne” as a stage play. At different times Shirley Booth and Geraldine Page were approached to play the role if a script and financing could be arranged.

Petrie said that in the early 1960s he was approached by Broadway producer Arthur Cantor about rethinking it as a film. “We went to see Elliott Hyman at 7-Arts as a potential backer and to our chagrin he told us that he’d already bought the property for John Huston.”

Announced as part of a Huston package, along with “The Man Who Would Be King,” in 1962, production was to begin the following summer. The director reportedly read his screenplay to Hepburn on a trans-Atlantic flight and she agreed to play the role. But Huston did “Freud” instead and the property languished.

The option was then taken up by producer Jerome Hellman in 1966 as a project for United Artists. Hellman commissioned Moore to write the screenplay and approached Deborah Kerr to play the title role. Sterling Hayden would play the other lead and Irving Kershner was set to direct.

“I wasn’t happy with the screen play and asked Waldo Salt to take a crack at it,” said Hellman. “It was magnificent and while UA turned cool on it, Warners became interested. Then the studio was bought by Kinney and the new administration wasn’t interested in a low-budget, offbeat film. We simply ran out of option time.”

In 1971, Joseph E. Levine took a two-year option on the property. Two years later, he bought it outright with the provision that if no film were produced within 10 years, the rights would return to Moore. Levine worked out an agreement with David Susskind to make the film and again Petrie was called in to direct. Playwright Brian Friel had done a new script and Vanessa Redgrave expressed interest in the role.

“Frankly, I thought Friel’s script was too dour and downbeat,” said Petrie. “I met with Redgrave and quickly realized she totally misunderstood the material. At one time or another we had Shirley MacLaine, Faye Dunaway and Robert Mitchum. David could never put the financing together.”

When Avco bought Embassy pictures in 1981, writer-producer Peter Nelson was asked to look at the project. When the company’s rights lapsed, he personally optioned it. “For almost three years I was renewing it every six months and finally decided I had to buy it or forget it.” He emptied his personal pension, bought the rights, cleared a series of lingering clouded rights and dug in to produce the film.

Nelson had engaged Petrie at an early stage of his involvement but the two men had a falling out. Allan Sharp was hired to write a new version and avenues were explored to realize it as both a feature and a television film. Finally, Nelson decided to write his own script.

Again Shirley MacLaine expressed interest and brought in director Mike Nichols, who wanted to update the material and set it in Boston. That package fell through and for a brief moment Joanne Woodward was aboard with her husband, Paul Newman, as possible director.

“Suddenly Hemdale thought they could finance it,” recalled Nelson. “At about the same time (producer) Jack Schwartzman called me to say he wasn’t interested but could he send it on to United British Artists. About three months later, Richard Johnson called and in very short order a deal was struck to jointly produce it with Maggie Smith. Financing was arranged with HandMade Films who suggested Bob Hoskins and within two months all the legal documentation was completed, including signing (director) Jack Clayton.”

Although the director had never been officially involved in the past “Hearne” incarnations, he said that on three different occasions--in 1961, 1964 and 1970--he sought to option it. “It was always under option with a director attached to it. It’s pure fluke I wound up doing it but I’m certainly not complaining.”

Initial critical response to the film has been favorable and the film’s producers are confident that it will be a financial success. But were all the years of toil worth it?

“I’m envious of Nelson,” said Hellman. “He’s the guy who got it on the screen.”

“If you asked me why me and not someone else, I honestly couldn’t say,” Nelson insisted. “The lonely passion for a lot of people has been not making this movie. I did a lot of hard work and have to believe had just a little luck going for me.”