Hyde Park on Hudson
Hyde Park on Hudson is a 2012 historical drama film directed by Roger Michell. The film stars Bill Murray as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Samuel West as King George VI, Olivia Colman as his wife Queen Elizabeth and Laura Linney as Margaret "Daisy" Suckley, a cousin and childhood friend of the President. It was based on Suckley's private journals and diaries, discovered after her death and fictionally dramatizes her close relationship with Roosevelt and the 1939 visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to Roosevelt's country estate.[5][6][7]
Hyde Park on Hudson
- David Aukin
- Kevin Loader
Nicolas Gaster
- Daybreak Pictures
- Film4 Productions
- Free Range Films
Focus Features (United States)[1]
Universal Pictures (United Kingdom)
- 31 August 2012 (Telluride)
- 7 December 2012 (United States)
- 1 February 2013 (United Kingdom)
95 minutes[2]
English
$8.9 million[4]
Plot[edit]
In spring 1939, Sara Delano, the mother of Franklin D. Roosevelt, asks his sixth cousin Margaret "Daisy" Suckley to visit the ill President at their country estate in Hyde Park, New York. Although Daisy and Roosevelt have not seen each other for years, the distant relatives form a strong relationship and Roosevelt often asks Daisy to visit Hyde Park when he stays with his mother. Daisy becomes one of the women close to Roosevelt, including Sara Missy LeHand, the president's secretary, and Eleanor, the president's wife. Despite his power, the president is often unable to control the other women, so the quiet, shy Daisy is his confidante and he tells her that Top Cottage will be their shared refuge after his presidency.
In June 1939, King George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth, visit the United States, during which they stay with the Roosevelts at Hyde Park. The British hope the visit will improve the chances of American support during the future war with Germany. George, who is King because his brother Edward VIII abdicated, is nervous because of the importance of the visit, his stutter, and having to eat a hot dog for the first time at a picnic in his honor. Roosevelt reassures George by citing his own inability to walk and observes others do not see their handicaps because "it's not what they want to see". The president tells the King he hopes to overcome Americans' reluctance to help Britain.
The night the king and queen arrive, Daisy discovers LeHand is having an affair with Roosevelt. LeHand tells a shocked Daisy their respective relationships with the president are not his only ones, mentioning Dorothy Schiff and Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd, and Daisy must accept sharing Roosevelt with other women. At the picnic the next day, the king eats a hot dog for a photo op, and Daisy, in a voiceover, states the visit helped the two countries form a Special Relationship. Daisy rejects Roosevelt's requests to see her until he calls on her in person. They reconcile and Daisy accepts her role as one of the president's mistresses. As years pass, Daisy watches Roosevelt become frail as a wartime leader; nonetheless, she says that everyone "still [looked] to him, still seeing whatever it was they wanted to see".
Production[edit]
Screenwriter Richard Nelson was inspired by the story of Daisy Suckley after reading a posthumously published collection of her letters and diaries. He felt drawn to the story because of the unique perspective Daisy offered on a series of important historical events. He also connected with the setting, since Nelson lives in Rhinebeck and had even met Daisy briefly before she died in 1991.
Originally conceived as an idea for a film, Nelson's choice of director, Roger Michell, proved not immediately available. Nelson re-worked the script as a radio play, which was produced by the BBC in 2009, directed by Ned Chaillet. Once Michell became available, production began on the film.[8]
In early March 2011, director Michell started searching for U.S. actors to play President Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt.[9] Bill Murray agreed to play Roosevelt in late March.[10] Production designer Simon Bowles created upstate New York in England where the entire film was shot.