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Wimbledon (film)
Encyclopedia
Wimbledon is a 2004 romantic comedy film
directed by Richard Loncraine
. The film centers on a washed-up tennis pro named Peter Colt (played by Paul Bettany
) and an up-and-coming tennis star named Lizzie Bradbury (played by Kirsten Dunst
) during the Wimbledon Championships.
The film was dedicated to Mark McCormack
, who died on 16 May 2003 after suffering cardiac arrest four months earlier.
), an English professional Tennis Player in his thirties whose ranking has slipped from 11th to 119th in the world, considers he never really had to fight for anything as his wealthy but not close family easily put him through studies and allowed him to pursue his Tennis ambitions, he bravely exchanges jokes with his German sparring partner Dieter Prohl, who is in a similar position. Tough, he earns a wildcard
spot to the Wimbledon tournament
, but internally feels that it's time to admit he's getting too old to compete with fitter coming men (or boys) and intends, after this last Wimbledon, to take a job with the prestigious tennis club instead.
However, as Wimbledon begins, by accident, he bumps into Lizzie Bradbury (Kirsten Dunst
), the American rising star of female tennis, falls in love with her and finds her interest in him changes his entire perception, even gives him the strength to win again. As their love grows, Peter's game becomes better and better, but her game starts spoiling as she spends too much time with Peter, ignoring her practice and tiredness. However, her overprotective father-cum-manager Dennis Bradbury (Sam Neill
) proves determined to nip their relationship in the bud, believing it detrimental to her career. One day, Dennis comes to Peter’s hotel and yells at him for spoiling his daughter's game. She overhears this and decides to leave him.
Both of them play several games with different opponents and win. But without Lizzie’s support, Peter's confidence and concentration start to shake. Lizzie enters into semi-final while Peter also manages to reach semi-final but with difficulty. The night before their semi-final games, Peter sneaks into Lizzie’s hotel room and persuades her to have sex. Initially, she denies as she requires more rest & sleep for her semi-final game next morning, but later on agrees to. Next day, he performs quite well and wins his semi-final match in straight sets, whilst Lizzie loses her match due to tiredness for lack of sleep & losing her focus after last night together with Peter. Lizzie gets upset and breaks their relation while accusing his madness & last night greed for sex as cause for loss of her match, her dreams & perhaps her career too. She leaves before he can say or explain anything and decides to immediately return to USA.
Peter has to play the final match against Jake Hammond (Austin Nichols), an arrogant American star who Peter has already had an argument with involving Lizzie, but finds himself out classed. At the airport, Lizzie watches an interview on TV in which Peter apologizes to her and declares his love for her openly. She drops her idea to go home, and comes back to Wimbledon.
Before Lizzie reaches the stadium, Peter has already lost two sets and is running behind in the third one due to the fast & forceful tricky serves by Jake. He has lost all of his focus due to breakup with Lizzie. Before the game is interrupted by rain, his back muscles get stressed & he has started thinking about quitting the game rather than face a sure defeat. Suddenly, Lizzie comes to him in the dressing room and tells him that she has forgiven him, and prepares him to play & face the fate rather than quit. She tells him the secret about Jake’s tricky serves. With Lizzie cheering him on, Peter makes a recovery in the game and wins the title with a diving volley. Just after the game he announces his retirement, and proposes Lizzie for marriage in the stadium in front of the crowd, which she accepts. He and Lizzie get married, and with his support & coaching, Lizzie goes on to win the U.S. Open and Wimbledon twice, ultimately achieving her dreams. In the last scene, Peter is with their youngest child, a boy, watching Lizzie and their eldest child, a girl, playing tennis together on a neighborhood court in New York City.
Real tennis professionals on set
The film used locally recruited Wimbledon residents as extras.
Some of the grass court scenes with Bettany were filmed at the Stoke Park Club
.
The London Zoo
's entrance was used for the entrance to Wimbledon.
The beachfront scenes were filmed on location in Brighton
.
, based on 140 reviews. The New York Times review stated that Wimbledon was a "much more conventional film," but with "cleverer-than-average dialogue and sharply drawn subsidiary characters".
prequels and The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
. The song that plays in the trailer of the film is "Everlasting Love
" by U2.
Romantic comedy film
Romantic comedy films are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. One dictionary definition is "a funny movie, play, or television program about a love story that ends happily"...
directed by Richard Loncraine
Richard Loncraine
Richard Loncraine is a British film and television director.Loncraine received early training in the features department of the BBC, including a season directing items for Tomorrow's World...
. The film centers on a washed-up tennis pro named Peter Colt (played by Paul Bettany
Paul Bettany
Paul Bettany is an English actor. He has appeared in a wide variety of films, including A Knight's Tale, A Beautiful Mind, and The Da Vinci Code...
) and an up-and-coming tennis star named Lizzie Bradbury (played by Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, singer and model. She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories...
) during the Wimbledon Championships.
The film was dedicated to Mark McCormack
Mark McCormack
Mark Hume McCormack was an American lawyer, sports agent for professional athletes and a prolific writer...
, who died on 16 May 2003 after suffering cardiac arrest four months earlier.
Plot
Peter Colt (Paul BettanyPaul Bettany
Paul Bettany is an English actor. He has appeared in a wide variety of films, including A Knight's Tale, A Beautiful Mind, and The Da Vinci Code...
), an English professional Tennis Player in his thirties whose ranking has slipped from 11th to 119th in the world, considers he never really had to fight for anything as his wealthy but not close family easily put him through studies and allowed him to pursue his Tennis ambitions, he bravely exchanges jokes with his German sparring partner Dieter Prohl, who is in a similar position. Tough, he earns a wildcard
Wild card (sports)
The term wild card refers broadly to a tournament or playoff berth awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal play.-International sports:...
spot to the Wimbledon tournament
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
, but internally feels that it's time to admit he's getting too old to compete with fitter coming men (or boys) and intends, after this last Wimbledon, to take a job with the prestigious tennis club instead.
However, as Wimbledon begins, by accident, he bumps into Lizzie Bradbury (Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, singer and model. She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories...
), the American rising star of female tennis, falls in love with her and finds her interest in him changes his entire perception, even gives him the strength to win again. As their love grows, Peter's game becomes better and better, but her game starts spoiling as she spends too much time with Peter, ignoring her practice and tiredness. However, her overprotective father-cum-manager Dennis Bradbury (Sam Neill
Sam Neill
Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill, DCNZM, OBE is a New Zealand actor. He is well known for his starring role as paleontologist Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III....
) proves determined to nip their relationship in the bud, believing it detrimental to her career. One day, Dennis comes to Peter’s hotel and yells at him for spoiling his daughter's game. She overhears this and decides to leave him.
Both of them play several games with different opponents and win. But without Lizzie’s support, Peter's confidence and concentration start to shake. Lizzie enters into semi-final while Peter also manages to reach semi-final but with difficulty. The night before their semi-final games, Peter sneaks into Lizzie’s hotel room and persuades her to have sex. Initially, she denies as she requires more rest & sleep for her semi-final game next morning, but later on agrees to. Next day, he performs quite well and wins his semi-final match in straight sets, whilst Lizzie loses her match due to tiredness for lack of sleep & losing her focus after last night together with Peter. Lizzie gets upset and breaks their relation while accusing his madness & last night greed for sex as cause for loss of her match, her dreams & perhaps her career too. She leaves before he can say or explain anything and decides to immediately return to USA.
Peter has to play the final match against Jake Hammond (Austin Nichols), an arrogant American star who Peter has already had an argument with involving Lizzie, but finds himself out classed. At the airport, Lizzie watches an interview on TV in which Peter apologizes to her and declares his love for her openly. She drops her idea to go home, and comes back to Wimbledon.
Before Lizzie reaches the stadium, Peter has already lost two sets and is running behind in the third one due to the fast & forceful tricky serves by Jake. He has lost all of his focus due to breakup with Lizzie. Before the game is interrupted by rain, his back muscles get stressed & he has started thinking about quitting the game rather than face a sure defeat. Suddenly, Lizzie comes to him in the dressing room and tells him that she has forgiven him, and prepares him to play & face the fate rather than quit. She tells him the secret about Jake’s tricky serves. With Lizzie cheering him on, Peter makes a recovery in the game and wins the title with a diving volley. Just after the game he announces his retirement, and proposes Lizzie for marriage in the stadium in front of the crowd, which she accepts. He and Lizzie get married, and with his support & coaching, Lizzie goes on to win the U.S. Open and Wimbledon twice, ultimately achieving her dreams. In the last scene, Peter is with their youngest child, a boy, watching Lizzie and their eldest child, a girl, playing tennis together on a neighborhood court in New York City.
Cast
- Paul BettanyPaul BettanyPaul Bettany is an English actor. He has appeared in a wide variety of films, including A Knight's Tale, A Beautiful Mind, and The Da Vinci Code...
as Peter Colt - Kirsten DunstKirsten DunstKirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress, singer and model. She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories...
as Lizzie Bradbury - James McAvoyJames McAvoyJames McAvoy is a Scottish stage and screen actor. He made his acting debut as a teen in 1995's The Near Room and continued to make mostly television appearances until the early 2000s. His notable television work includes State of Play, Shameless, and Frank Herbert's Children of Dune...
as Carl Colt - Bernard HillBernard HillBernard Hill is a British actor of film, stage and television. In a career spanning thirty years, he is best known for playing Yosser Hughes, the troubled 'hard man' whose life is falling apart in Alan Bleasdale's groundbreaking 1980s TV drama, Boys from the Blackstuff...
as Edward Colt - Eleanor BronEleanor BronEleanor Bron is an English stage, film and television actress and author.-Early life and family:Bron was born in 1938 in Stanmore, Middlesex, to a Jewish family of Eastern European origin...
as Augusta Colt - Celia ImrieCelia ImrieCelia Diana Savile Imrie is an English actress. In a career starting in the early 1970s, Imrie has played Marianne Bellshade in Bergerac, Philippa Moorcroft in Dinnerladies, Miss Babs in Acorn Antiques, Diana Neal in After You've Gone and Gloria Millington in Kingdom...
as Mrs Kenwood - Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Dieter Prohl
- Sam NeillSam NeillNigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill, DCNZM, OBE is a New Zealand actor. He is well known for his starring role as paleontologist Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III....
as Dennis Bradbury - Austin NicholsAustin NicholsAustin Nichols is an American film, television actor and director who is perhaps best known for his role as Julian Baker in The CW drama series One Tree Hill. He is also known for his roles in films such as The Day After Tomorrow and Wimbledon...
as Jake Hammond - Kirsten Taylor Montjoy Hunter as Elizabeth Hammond
- Jon FavreauJon FavreauJonathan Kolia "Jon" Favreau is an American actor, screenwriter, film director and comedian. As an actor, he is best known for his roles in Rudy, Swingers , Very Bad Things, and The Break-Up. His notable directorial efforts include Elf, Iron Man and its sequel, and Cowboys & Aliens...
as Ron Roth - Jonathan Timmins as The Ballboy
- Robert LindsayRobert Lindsay (actor)Robert Lindsay is an English actor who is best known for his television work, especially his roles of Wolfie Smith in Citizen Smith, Michael Murray in G.B.H., Captain Sir Edward Pellew in Hornblower and Ben Harper in My Family which has been on television screens since 2000.-Early life:Lindsay was...
as Ian Frazier
Real tennis professionals on set
- Vikas Punna as Ajay Bhatt
- Beti Sekulovski as Lizzie's first opponent
- Murphy JensenMurphy JensenMurphy Jensen is an American professional tennis player from Ludington, Michigan, and currently the coach of the Washington Kastles of World TeamTennis. His elder brother is former professional tennis player Luke Jensen...
as Ivan Dragomir - Alun JonesAlun Jones (tennis)Alun Jones is an Australian professional tennis player. He currently resides in Canberra, Australia with wife Jill....
as Tom Cavendish - Rebecca Dandeniya as Arliyia Rupesindhe
- John McEnroeJohn McEnroeJohn Patrick McEnroe, Jr. is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles , nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title...
as Himself/Commentator - Chris EvertChris EvertChristine Marie "Chris" Evert is a former world number 1 professional tennis player from the United States. She won 18 Grand Slam singles championships, including a record seven championships at the French Open and a record six championships at the U.S. Open. She was the year-ending World No...
as Herself/Commentator - Mary CarilloMary CarilloMary Carillo is an American sportscaster and former professional tennis player.-Tennis career:Carillo played on the women's professional tennis circuit from 1977 to 1980. She was ranked as high as number 33, in the WTA Rankings, from January through March 1980, then retired due to knee injuries...
as Herself/Commentator - John BarrettJohn Barrett (tennis)John Barrett is an English former tennis player, commentator, and author.-Life and career:Barrett born in North London and educated at University College School in Hampstead. As a tennis competitor, he played in 21 consecutive Wimbledon Championships between 1950 and 1970, and at his best was...
as Himself/Commentator - Pat CashPat CashPatrick Hart "Pat" Cash is a retired Australian professional tennis player who won the men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1987.-Early career:...
was the tennis adviser on set and trained the actors.
Production
The actors served with real tennis balls. All others were added digitally to make it appear like they were serving.The film used locally recruited Wimbledon residents as extras.
Filming locations
Some scenes were filmed during the Championships in 2003 between matches. It is the only time in the history of the tournament that this has been allowed.Some of the grass court scenes with Bettany were filmed at the Stoke Park Club
Stoke Park Club
Stoke Park is a historic estate in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire. The Mansion is located amongst of parkland, lakes, historic gardens and monuments. The site is now a hotel, spa and country club....
.
The London Zoo
London Zoo
London Zoo is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for scientific study. It was eventually opened to the public in 1847...
's entrance was used for the entrance to Wimbledon.
The beachfront scenes were filmed on location in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
.
Reception
Reviews of the film were overall mixed to positive, with a 60% rating on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, based on 140 reviews. The New York Times review stated that Wimbledon was a "much more conventional film," but with "cleverer-than-average dialogue and sharply drawn subsidiary characters".
Box office
The film opened at #4 making US$7.1 million in its opening weekend in the North American box office.Soundtrack
The film's digital soundtrack uses the "Surround EX" format, the same track format used for the Star WarsStar Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
prequels and The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
The Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...
. The song that plays in the trailer of the film is "Everlasting Love
Everlasting Love
"Everlasting Love" is a song written by Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden that has been a hit for various artists, including Robert Knight, Carl Carlton, Love Affair, and Gloria Estefan.- Overview :...
" by U2.