The Golden Bowl is the tale of two flawed marriages. One is that of my character, the poor but well-bred Charlotte to Adam Verver, played by Nick Nolte, an older American millionaire living in Europe to further his art collection. The other is Jeremy Northam's impoverished Italian Prince Amerigo, who is married to Adam's daughter, Maggie, played by Kate Beckinsale. Amerigo and Charlotte were once romantically involved so complications are inevitable.
It was Henry James's last completed novel and is set at the turn of the century. Charlotte is painfully free, a character who has seen around the corner and allowed herself to follow her impulses on and on. She's an orphan with a European upbringing who's avoided American sexual repression. She's out there - in contrast to Maggie who's prim and good.
The Golden Bowl might be a 'period' movie but it was not a research movie. Society has not much changed since 1904. We're still in the aftershock of the Industrial Revolution. I'd always wanted to work with the Merchant-Ivory team because they're among the few film-makers who have consistently investigated the human condition. Performances in their movies are complex and brave - not homogenised. They love people, they love acting and they have something deeply glamorous about them.
Jim [director James Ivory] and Ismail [Merchant, the producer] offered the role to me ages ago but, with a small baby, it was just too intimidating - so I passed. But apparently Ruth [screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala] had taped my picture to the back page of the first draft of the script, so I guess it was some sort of destiny.