This evocative bio pic tells the adventurous tale of Amelia Earhart, the legendary aviatrix and enigmatic symbol of the American free spirit, who was guided by a profound curiosity for everything life had to offer. Earhart’s early aviation triumphs and meteoric rise to fame and fortune were propelled along by her tempestuous partnership and eventual marriage to publisher George Putnam (Richard Gere). Bound by mutual ambition, admiration and, ultimately a great love, their bond could not be broken even with her brief passionate affair with Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor).
Ms. Earhart was the first woman to solo the Atlantic and was the first pilot, man or woman, to fly unaccompanied across the Pacific. In Amelia’s attempt to be the first to fly around the world in an equatorial flight her life was tragically cut short with her mysterious and untimely disappearance over the South Pacific in 1937.
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Hilary Swank, Richard Gere
Crew: Mira Nair (Director), Stuart Dryburgh (Director of Photography), Gabriel Yared (Music Director)
Rating: U/A (India)
Genres: Adventure, Drama, Family, History, Romance
Release Dates: 23 Oct 2009 (India)
Tagline: Defying The Impossible. Living The Dream.
Did you know? The movie shows Amelia Earhart finishing third in the first Santa Monica-to-Cleveland Women's Air Derby in 1929, but does not explain why. At the last stop before the final leg of the race to Cleveland, Amelia Earhart and her friend Ruth Nichols were tied for first. Nichols took off right before Earhart, but her aircraft clipped a tractor on the runway and flipped over. Instead of taking off, Earhart ran to Ruth's plane to drag her to safety. After Earhart was sure that Nichols was not seriously hurt, she took off for Cleveland but finished third largely due to her delayed takeoff. A Warner Bros. movie, Women in the Wind (1939), is also based on this air race and features a plot loosely inspired by this incident. Read More
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as Gene Vidal
as Amelia Earhart
as George Putnam
as Slim Gordon
as Eleanor Roosevelt
as Fred Noonan
as 2nd Woman at Opera
as Minister
as Torch Singer
as Cleveland Reporter
as Frances Putnam
as Paul
as Sheriff
as Bill Stultz
as Elinor Smith
as Gladys O'Donnell
as Gallagher
as Coastguard Man
as Young Amelia
as Parade Reporter
as William Dalten
as Man at Opera House
as Gore Vidal
Direction
Director
First Assistant Director
Second Assistant Director
Production
Producer
Production Company
Executive Producer
Line Producer
Distribution
Distributor
Writers
Screenplay Writer
Camera and Electrical
Director of Photography
Music
Music Director
Sound
Sound Mixer
Foley Artist
Sound Re-recording Mixer
Boom Operator
Casting
Casting Director
Costume and Wardrobe
Costume Designer
Editorial
Editor
Special Effects
Special Effects Coordinator
Stunts
Stunt Coordinator
Visual Effects
Visual Effects Supervisor
Visual Effects Coordinator
Film Type:
Feature
Language:
English
Colour Info:
Color
Sound Mix:
Dolby Digital
Frame Rate:
24 fps
Aspect Ratio:
2.35:1
Stereoscopy:
No
Taglines:
Defying The Impossible. Living The Dream.
Visionary. Lover. Dreamer. Fighter. Legend. Icon.
Visionary. Lover. Dreamer. Fighter. Legend. Icon.
Filming Locations:
Toronto, Ontario
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Transkei
Union Station, Toronto, Ontario
Wolfville, Nova Scotia
Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia
Cape Town, Western Cape
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Dunnville Airport, Dunnville, Ontario
Dunnville, Ontario
Niagara Region, Ontario
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
Parkwood Estate, Oshawa, Ontario
St. Mary's Boat Club, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Stonehurst, Nova Scotia
The Fairmont Royal York Hotel, Toronto, Ontario
Toronto Aerospace Museum, Toronto, Ontario
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Transkei
Union Station, Toronto, Ontario
Wolfville, Nova Scotia
Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia
Cape Town, Western Cape
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Dunnville Airport, Dunnville, Ontario
Dunnville, Ontario
Niagara Region, Ontario
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
Parkwood Estate, Oshawa, Ontario
St. Mary's Boat Club, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Stonehurst, Nova Scotia
The Fairmont Royal York Hotel, Toronto, Ontario
Toronto Aerospace Museum, Toronto, Ontario
Goofs:
Revealing Mistakes
In one of the first scenes in the movie Amelia has a gap between her front teeth (something the real Amelia had); the gap disappears during the rest of the movie.
Revealing Mistakes
When Amelia Earhart asks George Palmer Putnam to dance with her, music plays as soon as she turns the radio on. Radios of the era had vacuum tubes, which had to warm up before anything came from the speaker.
Revealing Mistakes
When Amelia Earhart flies with Eleanor Roosevelt, the altimeter reads 0 feet the entire time.
Revealing Mistakes
In the Papua radio shack and the Naval facility, no one changes the transmitter from Standby to Transmit during the shortwave radio conversation.
Revealing Mistakes
When Amelia Earhart sets her Vega down in Ireland, it's pristine. There isn't a single bug splatter or any other blemish on the finish to indicate that it just flew the Atlantic ocean.
Factual Mistake
When Amelia is approaching Karachi, it is 1935 and the caption on the screen states "Karachi, Pakistan". Pakistan wasn't formed until Partition from India in 1947. So in 1935 Karachi was still part of India.
Factual Mistake
The third-class petty officer, who is nodding off, salutes the second-class petty officer when he enters the room. Enlisted men only salute officers, not each other. Additionally, Navy and Coast Guard personnel never salute indoors, and they do not salute while "uncovered" (not wearing headgear.)
Factual Mistake
The Coast Guard crewmen on the Itasca are wearing their "whites". They were obviously working, so the enlisted men should have been in light blue chambray shirts and denim pants; the officers should have been in khaki.
Continuity
When "Bill" Stultz is near the dock where the "Friendship" plane is getting ready to take off, a coffee cup is in his hand. When he decides to get on the plane, he walks down the dock and puts his cup on a barrel. When the plane turns into the harbor a few seconds later, the cup is gone.
Continuity
When Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan talk in the Papua New Guinea hut, a woman leaves the bar, then reappears in the same spot a few seconds later.
Character Error
As mentioned in an earlier post, the 3rd Class Petty Officer on the Itasca should not have saluted the 2nd Class Petty Officer, but the mistake that is more unusual is that when the Commander steps into the room later on, no one says, "Attention on deck!" The standard call when an officer is present. Coming to attention is done instead of saluting indoors, and is stood until the officer says, "Carry on".
Audio/Video Mismatch
When Amelia Earhart is flying and thinking about riding the horse, the horse and rider switch from trotting to galloping between shots but the sound is of a horse cantering throughout the entire scene.
Audio/Video Mismatch
In the scene when the "Friendship" is about to take off for the first time, we hear the sound of an engine firing and running up. At the same time we see the center engine just starting to turn over, and neither of the other two engines are running.
Revealing Mistakes
At the airport in Hawaii, a modern plane can be seen far in the background.
Miscellaneous
George Palmer Putnam and Amelia Earhart hear "Moonglow" on the radio in 1928. The song was recorded in 1934.
Miscellaneous
When Amelia Earhart is signing the Lucky Strike endorsement, George Palmer Putnam hands her what appears to be either a ball point pen or a mechanical pencil. Ball point pens were not in common use until the late 1930's. If this were a pencil, one would never sign a contract in pencil.
In one of the first scenes in the movie Amelia has a gap between her front teeth (something the real Amelia had); the gap disappears during the rest of the movie.
Revealing Mistakes
When Amelia Earhart asks George Palmer Putnam to dance with her, music plays as soon as she turns the radio on. Radios of the era had vacuum tubes, which had to warm up before anything came from the speaker.
Revealing Mistakes
When Amelia Earhart flies with Eleanor Roosevelt, the altimeter reads 0 feet the entire time.
Revealing Mistakes
In the Papua radio shack and the Naval facility, no one changes the transmitter from Standby to Transmit during the shortwave radio conversation.
Revealing Mistakes
When Amelia Earhart sets her Vega down in Ireland, it's pristine. There isn't a single bug splatter or any other blemish on the finish to indicate that it just flew the Atlantic ocean.
Factual Mistake
When Amelia is approaching Karachi, it is 1935 and the caption on the screen states "Karachi, Pakistan". Pakistan wasn't formed until Partition from India in 1947. So in 1935 Karachi was still part of India.
Factual Mistake
The third-class petty officer, who is nodding off, salutes the second-class petty officer when he enters the room. Enlisted men only salute officers, not each other. Additionally, Navy and Coast Guard personnel never salute indoors, and they do not salute while "uncovered" (not wearing headgear.)
Factual Mistake
The Coast Guard crewmen on the Itasca are wearing their "whites". They were obviously working, so the enlisted men should have been in light blue chambray shirts and denim pants; the officers should have been in khaki.
Continuity
When "Bill" Stultz is near the dock where the "Friendship" plane is getting ready to take off, a coffee cup is in his hand. When he decides to get on the plane, he walks down the dock and puts his cup on a barrel. When the plane turns into the harbor a few seconds later, the cup is gone.
Continuity
When Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan talk in the Papua New Guinea hut, a woman leaves the bar, then reappears in the same spot a few seconds later.
Character Error
As mentioned in an earlier post, the 3rd Class Petty Officer on the Itasca should not have saluted the 2nd Class Petty Officer, but the mistake that is more unusual is that when the Commander steps into the room later on, no one says, "Attention on deck!" The standard call when an officer is present. Coming to attention is done instead of saluting indoors, and is stood until the officer says, "Carry on".
Audio/Video Mismatch
When Amelia Earhart is flying and thinking about riding the horse, the horse and rider switch from trotting to galloping between shots but the sound is of a horse cantering throughout the entire scene.
Audio/Video Mismatch
In the scene when the "Friendship" is about to take off for the first time, we hear the sound of an engine firing and running up. At the same time we see the center engine just starting to turn over, and neither of the other two engines are running.
Revealing Mistakes
At the airport in Hawaii, a modern plane can be seen far in the background.
Miscellaneous
George Palmer Putnam and Amelia Earhart hear "Moonglow" on the radio in 1928. The song was recorded in 1934.
Miscellaneous
When Amelia Earhart is signing the Lucky Strike endorsement, George Palmer Putnam hands her what appears to be either a ball point pen or a mechanical pencil. Ball point pens were not in common use until the late 1930's. If this were a pencil, one would never sign a contract in pencil.
Trivia:
Gene Vidal (played by Ewan McGregor), who was widely assumed to have had a romantic relationship with Amelia Earhart as depicted in this movie, had only one child, Gore Vidal (played by William Cuddy). Gore eventually grew up to become quite a celebrity himself as a controversial but successful author, screenwriter and political activist.
The movie shows Amelia Earhart finishing third in the first Santa Monica-to-Cleveland Women's Air Derby in 1929, but does not explain why. At the last stop before the final leg of the race to Cleveland, Amelia Earhart and her friend Ruth Nichols were tied for first. Nichols took off right before Earhart, but her aircraft clipped a tractor on the runway and flipped over. Instead of taking off, Earhart ran to Ruth's plane to drag her to safety. After Earhart was sure that Nichols was not seriously hurt, she took off for Cleveland but finished third largely due to her delayed takeoff. A Warner Bros. movie, Women in the Wind (1939), is also based on this air race and features a plot loosely inspired by this incident.
A Lockheed 12 Electra Junior was used to represent the modified 10E Electra that Ms. Earhart flew in her final flight. The 12 is smaller than the 10.
Although Swank underwent pilot training in Wolfville, Nova Scotia for filming at Acadia University, her appearance in the aerial sequences was limited, with three other women pilots contracted for the flying scenes.
A large section of the ring for this movie took place in New York, Toronto, Parkwood Estate in Oshawa, Nova Scotia, Dunnville, Ontario and Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario as well as various locations in South Africa.
Hilary Swank, who played the titular role, also took on the role of Executive Producer, working closely with Nair, the director.
The screenplay for this movie was written by Ronald Bass and Anna Hamilton Phelan, using research from sources including East to the Dawn by Susan Butler and The Sound of Wings by Mary S. Lovell.
The movie shows Amelia Earhart finishing third in the first Santa Monica-to-Cleveland Women's Air Derby in 1929, but does not explain why. At the last stop before the final leg of the race to Cleveland, Amelia Earhart and her friend Ruth Nichols were tied for first. Nichols took off right before Earhart, but her aircraft clipped a tractor on the runway and flipped over. Instead of taking off, Earhart ran to Ruth's plane to drag her to safety. After Earhart was sure that Nichols was not seriously hurt, she took off for Cleveland but finished third largely due to her delayed takeoff. A Warner Bros. movie, Women in the Wind (1939), is also based on this air race and features a plot loosely inspired by this incident.
A Lockheed 12 Electra Junior was used to represent the modified 10E Electra that Ms. Earhart flew in her final flight. The 12 is smaller than the 10.
Although Swank underwent pilot training in Wolfville, Nova Scotia for filming at Acadia University, her appearance in the aerial sequences was limited, with three other women pilots contracted for the flying scenes.
A large section of the ring for this movie took place in New York, Toronto, Parkwood Estate in Oshawa, Nova Scotia, Dunnville, Ontario and Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario as well as various locations in South Africa.
Hilary Swank, who played the titular role, also took on the role of Executive Producer, working closely with Nair, the director.
The screenplay for this movie was written by Ronald Bass and Anna Hamilton Phelan, using research from sources including East to the Dawn by Susan Butler and The Sound of Wings by Mary S. Lovell.
