A Timely Return for ‘Crucible’

Without question it’s one of the classiest combinations of talent ever to collaborate on a film.

Arthur Miller, elder statesman among American playwrights, has rewritten for the screen his controversial 1953 drama “The Crucible,” one of the most highly regarded American plays of the post-World War II era. The 20th Century Fox film will be directed by Nicholas Hytner, known for his distinguished British theater work (“Carousel,” “Miss Saigon”), who recently made a widely praised film debut with “The Madness of King George.”

“The Crucible” deals with the infamous witch-hunt trials in Salem, Mass., toward the end of the 17th Century. But Miller drew vivid parallels between the witch-hunts of that era and McCarthyism, which was at its height when the play was first performed.

The role of John Proctor, the idealistic, nonconformist Salem farmer, will be played by Oscar-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis. It marks his return to filming after a two-year break.

Hytner has just returned in an effervescent mood from scouting locations for the film. Day-Lewis, he said, was “the only actor approached” to play John Proctor: “I’m not sure whether there’s anyone else who could have done it as well as I’m sure he will.

“He hasn’t worked since he did ‘In the Name of the Father’ and ‘The Age of Innocence.’ Daniel only does work when he finds something worth doing.”

Hytner’s real excitement, though, stems from Miller’s returning to his seminal work after a 40-year gap. After “The Madness of King George,” he was deluged with mediocre scripts; reading Miller’s first draft for a film of “The Crucible” was, he said, “like reading English again.”

The story, he added, “has a fantastic universality. It’s not just tied to the McCarthy era. It’s the idea of an individual of conscience refusing to conform to the idiocy of a hysterical community.”

Hytner believes the idea has contemporary relevance, and cited topics like gay witch-hunts, child abuse cases and the imposition of political correctness on college campuses. “If you think about the way the religious right is heading in America, I’d have thought releasing ‘The Crucible’ next year could be dynamite,” he said. “It’ll also be in the middle of a (presidential) election campaign, and I’d have thought ‘The Crucible’ will have a lot to say about that.”

Miller has now written a number of drafts. “They diverge (from the original play) in terms of structure, but as far as the heart of the play is concerned, it remains intact,” Hytner said. “It’s not about McCarthyism, it’s closer to the play’s essence. This is absolutely not a piece of work that’s rooted to the time of its creation. It has its own life as far as making a movie is concerned.

“It’s full of the most wonderful new material now. Arthur is finding new scenes and new images to tell the story, and each draft is moving toward a cinematic ideal.”

Miller’s best-known script to date is “The Misfits,” the 1961 film that was the last vehicle for his former wife Marilyn Monroe. He also wrote “Everybody Wins,” a 1990 Karel Reisz film that failed to win critical or popular acclaim.

“Arthur wants this to be a big, popular movie,” Hytner said. “The challenge, of course, is to do just that without selling ‘The Crucible’ short. But it ought to be possible. This is a thrilling play that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go.”

Shooting is set to start in September. Hytner will reunite with two close collaborators from “The Madness of King George”--director of photography Andrew Dunn and editor Tariq Anwar. But Ken Adam, who won an Oscar for his production design on “King George” last month, will not be rejoining the team for “The Crucible”; Lilly Kilvert has been named in his place.

Possible locations have been scouted in Massachusetts, Maine and Nova Scotia. “There are suitable locations in all three states,” Hytner said. “But I’d love to make it in Massachusetts. There’s a spirit in the air there, a particular landscape and feeling of the New World. If it was left to me, I’d make it as close to Salem as possible.”*