By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Jan. 31: A new retelling of Black Narcissus, the 1939 Rumer Godden novel that was turned into an Oscar-winning film starring Deborah Kerr in 1947, has been filmed in the Himalaya using Nepali actors.
This story, set in 1934, recounts the travail of a group of Catholic nuns as they move to Mopu – a remote place in the lap of Himalayas in order to establish a mission and school.
Almost the entire crew of the FX and BBC production filmed in the Himalayas of Nepal for three weeks while most of the indoor scenes were shot at Pinewood Studios, where the original film was shot. With awesome views of the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri massifs, the landscape was, for many, the star of the show.
“I was at a meeting with BBC when they said they were planning a new adaptation of Black Narcissus, and I said no one else should do it but me,” said Andrew MacDonald, grandson of the 1947 film’s co-director Emeric Pressburg, whose work includes Trainspotting and The Beach. Talking about the recent remake, MacDonald said, “The film was made because my grandmother loves the book. Novelist Rumer Godden, who was brought up in India, was not a fan of the film and one of her complaints was that it had not been filmed in the Himalayas. So it was important for us to go there, as well as use real Nepalese people. Rumer’s family was also keen on us remaking it so that people go back to the book.”
Location Nepal, sister company of Films and Adfilms and one of the leading international production services company based in Nepal, founded and led by Gautam Dhimal (and Prem Upadhya were contacted to cater to the needs of the production. Dhimal and his team started by scouting numerous locations along with Director and Director of Photography Charlotte Bruss Christensen (of Fences, The Girl on the Train and A Quiet Place fame) before settling on Mustang and its surrounding areas. They also conducted various auditions in Kathmandu to select actors to play the different roles that require Nepali people.
Black Narcissus was released in the US through the FX network and in the UK through the BBC in November and December of last year respectively. Since then it has garnered quite a buzz with fans and travellers around the world owing to its unique directorial and story approach to novel, with the exotic location of the Himalayas acting as a cherry on top.