‘Empire Of Light’: Read the script of Sam Mendes’ film about the movies and mental illness

Editor’s note: Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series debuts and celebrates the screenplays of films that will appear in this year’s film awards race.

Sam Mendes has directed nine films, but Searchlight Pictures’ rich in light is only the second he has written, after the one from 2019 1917 which was nominated for three Oscars including original screenplay (co-written with Krysty Wilson-Cairns). His latest film reflects on Mendes’ childhood growing up in England, going to the cinema amid social unrest and remembering his mother’s real-life struggle with mental illness.

In 1980, the Empire Theater showed films such as All that jazz and The Blue Brothers. Hilary (Olivia Colman) runs the theatre, including ushers and ticket sellers; She also has an affair with owner Donald Ellis (Colin Firth). She welcomes a new employee, Stephen (Michael Ward), and shows him how to open and run the business.

Meanwhile, Hilary takes medication to control her schizophrenia, which continues to flare up from time to time. Mendes revealed to Deadline that he based Hilary on his own experiences dealing with his mother’s illness and said he wrote the role for Colman just because he saw her. The crown.

In 1981, the Empire allowed the British premiere of chariot of fire. At this point, Hilary and Stephen embarked on a romance in which they share a love of film. But Hilary also witnesses the kind of racism that never touched her life before Stephen. Street thugs harass him and customers walk in his face.

Meanwhile, Stephen rises through the ranks, moving from helping projectionist Norman (Toby Jones) carrying cans of film to the booth to learning how to use the projectors himself.

Although Mendes performed in the 80s, he wrote rich in light during a parallel moment in modern society. He said the racist calculation of the George Floyd protests and the uncertainty about the future post-pandemic of the film inspired his portrayal of racial tension in England in the 1980s against the films and cinemas of the time.

rich in light Filmed in Margate on the north coast of Kent. The Dreamland Theater was transformed into the Empire by production designer Mark Tildesley, and Mendes modified the script to fit the location they found. The Dreamland stopped showing films; In fact, the auditorium became a bingo hall. Tildesley made the Empire look like a theater that had survived since the 1930s and was still going in the 1980s.

rich in light Premiered at the Telluride Film Festival, then played in Toronto, BFI London and more before hitting theaters on December 2nd.

Read the script below.