The Republic of Love

The Republic of Love is a 2003 romantic comedydrama film directed by Deepa Mehta. It is based on the novel of the same name by Carol Shields and stars Bruce Greenwood and Emilia Fox. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2003. It was released publicly on February 13, 2004.

The film is based on the novel The Republic of Love by Carol Shields and the characters of Tom and Fay were created by her. The Republic of Love was conceived as a film adaptation in 1996, when Triptych Media producer, Anna Stratton read the book and was highly impressed with its humour and diversity of characters, and confessed to being a fan of Shieldss writing. She said, It was the characters really that offered up a delicious cast for a film. I was also drawn in by the humour characters, situations and events that made me laugh out loud and the interweaving of the magical elements the mermaid myth and Toms middle of the night radio life with the love story. The story itself is classic rapture, rupture, reconciliation and love stories are one of the most popular filmic forms.Once Stratton had decided to produce the film, she looked to the United Kingdom to provide sufficient resources and for a coproducer, given the popularity of Shields work in the UK. Stratton met British producer Julie Baines in 1998 in San Francisco in 1998 and discussed a collaboration with Bainess Dan Films company and Triptych Media. In the summer of 2000, Stratton approached director Deepa Mehta, who fell in love with the story and commented, The book, a treatise on the nature of love, attracted me, as it is complex and yet accessible. It is really about different aspects of love mature love, familial love, sibling love and the nature of love and how elusive it is. Mehta recommended Bruce Greenwood to play the role of Tom and subsequently attracted him to the role. Meanwhile, Stratton and Baines had remained in contact and met once again in early 2002 to discuss financing the project together and to find the female lead in Emilia Fox. Fox was immediately enticed by the character of Fay and said of the plot, It mixes the idealistic with the realistic which I thought was very clever, and theres a strong balance, theres something we can hold onto. Producers Chris Auty, B

Source: Wikipedia