Nicholas Nickleby (2002 film)

A prologue introduces the Nicklebys, country gentry who enjoy a comfortable life in the Devon countryside until the father dies and leaves his family with no source of income. Nineteen-year-old Nicholas, his mother, and his younger sister, Kate, venture to London to seek help from their wealthy, cold-hearted uncle Ralph, an investor who arranges for Nicholas to be hired as a tutor at Dotheboys Hall in Yorkshire and finds Kate work as a seamstress.

Nicholas is horrified to discover his employers, the sadistic Mr and Mrs Squeers, run their boarding school like a prison and physically, verbally, and emotionally abuse their young charges on a regular basis. He eventually rebels and escapes, taking with him the crippled young servant boy Smike. As they journey to London, they stumble upon a theatrical troupe owned and operated by Mr and Mrs Crummles. They cast them in a production of Romeo and Juliet, but despite a successful first night and the couple's invitation to stay, Nicholas is determined to continue their journey to London after hearing that Kate is in trouble.

Nicholas discovers his sister has been subjected to humiliating sexual harassment from the lecherous Sir Mulberry Hawk, a client of their uncle, who has encouraged the man to seduce his niece in the hope that she will succumb and thus cement Hawk's business relationship with him. Nicholas confronts Sir Mulberry and his uncle, renouncing the latter.

Nicholas is reunited with his family, who welcome Smike as one of their own, and finds clerical employment with the kindly Cheeryble brothers, who offer him more than double his previous salary. While thus employed, Nicholas makes the acquaintance of Madeline Bray, an artist who financially supports both herself and her tyrannical father, as her father gambled away his fortune and that of his late wife.

Nicholas' determination to defend his sister's honour leads his uncle to vow he will destroy the young man. What ensues is a series of adventures in which the upstanding Nicholas manages to survive the schemes of his evil uncle, including an attempt to return Smike to Squeers by kidnapping him and an effort to abort Nicholas' growing relationship with Madeline by promising her father he will excuse his debts if the girl weds Hawk. Ralph's designs on Madeline are thwarted when her father dies unexpectedly. Unfortunately, Smike falls ill and soon dies. Soon after, a sinister secret Ralph has harbored for years surfaces, and it is revealed Smike was Ralph's son, whom he had thought dead. Realizing that his son had died the best friend of his most hated enemy, Ralph hangs himself. Kate marries the Cheeryble brothers' nephew Frank, while Nicholas marries Madeline and settles with her in Devon at his father's house and grounds, where Smike is buried.

In Creating a Classic: The Making of Nicholas Nickleby, a bonus feature on the film's DVD release, screenwriter/director Douglas McGrath and his cast and crew discuss the development of the project. The positive audience reaction to a stage reading of the screenplay in a theater in lower Manhattan, which included a number of actors who eventually were cast in the film, convinced McGrath to proceed with the movie. At the request of production designer Eve Stewart, he advanced the time frame from the 1830s to the 1850s so she could incorporate elements of the Industrial Revolution into her design plans.

Jamie Bell's audition for the role of Smike in a London hotel room left McGrath and the producers in tears, and they cast him on the spot. While considering Mrs. Crummles, a smug, opinionated, but lovable dowager, McGrath realized all her traits and characteristics were embodied by Dame Edna Everage, alter ego of actor Barry Humphries, but was hesitant to suggest casting a male in the role. The producers, however, agreed Humphries was an ideal choice. Nicholas was one of the last roles to be cast. Charlie Hunnam had been sent the script, but several months passed before he had an opportunity to read it. He met with McGrath, and based on a couple of hours of conversation with the actor, the director felt he finally had found the right man for the part. Ironically, the British Hunnam had to work with a dialect coach; having lived and worked in the US for the past several years, he had perfected an American accent in order to ensure regular employment.

Costume designer Ruth Myers opted to dress two of the leading characters in clothing pre-dating the period in which the film is set in order to suggest Nicholas, as the newly anointed head of his family, wore clothing inherited from his father, and the impoverished Madeline's dresses were hand-me-downs from her mother.

Locations used in the film included the abandoned 19th century Gibson Mill in Hardcastle Crags; Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire; Churchill College at the University of Cambridge; and Wilton's Music Hall, the Old Vic, and the Reform Club in London. Interiors were filmed in Elstree Studios in Borehamwood and Three Mills Studios in the East End of London.

The film was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. It received the National Board of Review Award for Best Cast, and Romola Garai was nominated for the Jameson People's Choice Award for Best European Actress at the European Film Awards.

• Official website
• Nicholas Nickleby at IMDb
• Nicholas Nickleby at Box Office Mojo
• Nicholas Nickleby at Rotten Tomatoes
• Nicholas Nickleby at Metacritic