''Winter's Tale'' (released in the United Kingdom and Ireland as ''A New York Winter's Tale'') is a 2014 American romantic

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction ...

based on the 1983 novel '' Winter's Tale'' by

Mark Helprin Mark Helprin (born June 28, 1947) is an American novelist, journalist, conservative commentator, Senior Fellow of the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy, Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, and M ...

. The film is written, produced and directed by

Akiva Goldsman Akiva J. Goldsman (born July 7, 1962) is an American filmmaker. He is known for making motion pictures and adaptations of popular novels. Goldsman's filmography as a screenwriter includes '' The Client''; '' Batman Forever'' and its sequel '' ...

(in his

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

). It stars

Colin Farrell Colin James Farrell (; born 31 May 1976) is an Irish actor. A leading man in projects across various genres in both blockbuster and independent films since the 2000s, he has received numerous accolades including a Golden Globe Award. ''The ...

Jessica Brown Findlay Jessica Rose Brown Findlay (born 14 September 1987) is an English actress. She played Lady Sybil Crawley in the ITV television period drama series ''Downton Abbey'' and Emelia Conan Doyle in the 2011 British comedy-drama feature film ''Albatro ...

Jennifer Connelly Jennifer Lynn Connelly (born December 12, 1970) is an American actress. She began her career as a child model before making her acting debut in the 1984 crime film ''Once Upon a Time in America''. After having worked as a model for several year ...

William Hurt William McChord Hurt (March 20, 1950 – March 13, 2022) was an American actor. Known for his performances on stage and screen, he received various awards including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award and Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor. H ...

Eva Marie Saint Eva Marie Saint (born July 4, 1924) is an American actress of film, theatre and television. In a career spanning over 70 years, she has won an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award, alongside nominations for a Golden Globe Award and two Brit ...

(in her final film role before her retirement),

Russell Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age twenty one. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maxi ...

and

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his acting career starring as a fictionalized version of himself on the NBC sitcom '' The Fresh ...

. ''Winter's Tale'' premiered at

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on February 13 and was theatrically released on February 14 in the United States by

Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of li ...

. The film has a 13% approval rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

and grossed $30.8 million on a $75 million budget. It also received a Golden Trailer nomination for Best Romance Poster. ''Winter's Tale'' was released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 24, 2014 by

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Vide ...

Plot

In 1895, a young immigrant couple is refused entry into

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

because they have

consumption Consumption may refer to: *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically * Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...

(

Tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...

). When their infant son is not allowed entry to the country without them, the family is forced to return to their ship named City of Justice. The parents break the display case containing a model of the ship and place their baby inside it on the water, then watch him float to the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

shoreline. In 1916, the baby boy has grown up to become Peter Lake (

), a thief raised by a supernatural demon posing as the gangster Pearly Soames (

). Peter is marked for death when he decides to leave Pearly's gang. In a confrontation, he is rescued by a mysterious (winged at times) white

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

, his guardian angel. Although Peter hopes to move to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

and come back in the summer, the horse encourages him to steal from one last mansion. The mansion is the home where Beverly Penn (

) lives, a young woman dying of

, whose fever is so high she sleeps outside in a tent in the winter cold. While her publisher father Isaac (

) and younger sister Willa are not home, Beverly discovers Peter preparing to rob the house. When Peter assures her that he no longer wishes to commit robbery, Beverly offers to make him a cup of tea. They tell each other their stories and fall in love. Pearly orders his men to Beverly's home, believing that saving her is Peter's "miracle" and spiritual destiny and that he can destroy Peter by preventing it. Peter rescues Beverly from being knifed by Pearly, and they escape to the Lake of the Coheeries, where Pearly, who is supernaturally limited to the five boroughs of

, cannot follow. Peter meets Beverly's family at their summer home and wins their respect. While on a walk, Beverly explains to Peter that everyone is born with a miracle inside and they are ultimately destined to become stars when they die. Pearly asks

Lucifer Lucifer is one of various figures in folklore associated with the planet Venus. The entity's name was subsequently absorbed into Christianity as a name for the devil. Modern scholarship generally translates the term in the relevant Bible passa ...

(

), for access to the lake home, but his request is denied. Instead, Pearly, who refers to himself as a Knight among Lucifer's angels, calls in a debt owed to him by another of Lucifer's angels. At a ball, the angel disguised as a waiter poisons Beverly's drink. When Peter and Beverly return home from the ball, Peter watches the shadows she casts upon the sides of her lighted tent, joins her, and the two make love. Her pulse races faster than ever due to the poison in her heart, and she dies. After the funeral, when Peter and his mysterious white horse return to the city, Pearly and his men surround them on the Brooklyn Bridge. To save its life, Peter orders his mysterious winged horse to fly away, and Pearly gives Peter five vicious head-butts, pushing him off the bridge. Peter miraculously survives but wanders around the city with amnesia for a century, drawing chalk art of a red-headed girl on the pavements. In 2014, the 119 year-old, but physically undiminished Peter, bumps into a young girl named Abby and meets her mother, Virginia Gamely (

). He rediscovers the brass name plate of the "City of Justice", the model ship in which his parents placed him. Peter then discovers the Theatre of the Coheeries, founded by Isaac, who has dedicated it to Beverly. He visits the Isaac Penn Reading Room where Virginia works, and she helps him restore his memory using historical photographs archived at the library. While there, he meets Beverly's now elderly sister Willa (

), the owner of Virginia's newspaper, who recognizes him. When Peter visits the Gamelys for dinner, he learns that Abby has cancer. Realizing that Abby, who is wearing a red scarf (like his sketches) and has red hair, is his "miracle" and spiritual destiny, instead of Beverly as he originally believed, Peter convinces Virginia that he can save Abby. Pearly learns that Peter is still alive and with Virginia, and he is surprised to learn from Lucifer that Peter was Beverly's miracle, making him love her so much that he couldn't die. Enraged, Pearly asks to fight Peter as a mortal so he can destroy him forever, and Lucifer grants his request while reminding him that if he loses then he himself will be destroyed forever. Pearly and his men arrive at Virginia's apartment, causing Peter and Virginia to flee to the rooftop with Abby. The mysterious winged horse flies them to the Lake of the Coheeries, but Pearly, now mortal, can pursue Peter beyond the Five Boroughs. After Horse dispatches Pearly's men by crashing the ice so that they all drown, Peter and Pearly engage in a fistfight. Peter is losing until a light shines from the heavens and allows Peter to stab Pearly in the neck with the name plate from the boat, "City of Justice." Pearly turns to snow and Peter is able to save Abby on the princess bed after he kisses her forehead. After visiting Beverly's grave one last time, Peter mounts the horse to be carried away to the stars, while the elderly Willa witnesses his ascension.

Cast

as Peter Lake *

as Beverly Penn *

as Pearly Soames / Demon *

as Judge /

as Willa Penn ** McKayla Twiggs as young Willa Penn *

as Isaac Penn *

as Virginia Gamely *

Matt Bomer Matthew Staton Bomer (born October 11, 1977) is an American actor. He is the recipient of accolades such as a Golden Globe Award, a Critics' Choice Television Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. In 2000, he made his television debut o ...

as Peter's father * Lucy Griffiths as Peter's mother *

Finn Wittrock Peter L. Wittrock Jr. (born October 28, 1984), known as Finn Wittrock, is an US actor and screenwriter who began his career in guest roles on several television shows. He made his film debut in 2004, in ''Halloweentown High'' before returning to f ...

as Gabriel * Kevin Corrigan as Romeo Tan *

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

as Humpstone John * Kevin Durand as Cesar Tan

Production

Initially Warner Bros. attempted to sign

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...

in 2002, but he turned down the chance to direct the movie, calling it "unfilmable." Later on, ''Winter's Tale'' became a "passion project" for director

, who was given the go-ahead by Warner Bros. In February 2011 with a budget of $75 million. It was reported that the film's budget was dropped to $60 million in February 2012; at the same time

and

were linked to the project in supporting roles. Benjamin Walker,

Tom Hiddleston Thomas William Hiddleston (born 9 February 1981) is an English actor. He gained international fame portraying Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), starting with ''Thor'' in 2011 and most recently in the Disney+ series ''Loki'' in 2021 ...

Aaron Taylor-Johnson Aaron Perry Taylor-Johnson (né Johnson; born 13 June 1990) is an English actor. He is best known for his portrayal of the title character in '' Kick-Ass'' (2010) and its 2013 sequel, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) character Pietro Ma ...

, and Garrett Hedlund auditioned for the role of Peter Lake while

Elizabeth Olsen Elizabeth Chase Olsen (born February 16, 1989) is an American actress. Born in Sherman Oaks, California, Olsen began acting at age four. She starred in her debut film role in the thriller ''Martha Marcy May Marlene'' in 2011, for which she wa ...

Bella Heathcote Isabella Heathcote (born 27 May 1987) is an Australian actress and model. She began her acting career in 2008. The following year, she had a recurring role as Amanda Fowler on the television soap opera ''Neighbours''. Heathcote has since portr ...

Gabriella Wilde Gabriella Zanna Vanessa Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe (born 8 April 1989), known professionally as Gabriella Wilde or Gabriella Calthorpe, is an English actress and model. She has appeared in the films '' St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Go ...

and

Sarah Gadon Sarah Lynn Gadon (born April 4, 1987) is a Canadian actress. She began her acting career guest-starring in a number of television series, such as '' Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' (1999), '' Mutant X'' (2002), and ''Dark Oracle'' (2004). She also ...

tested for the role of Beverly Penn. In March 2012 it was reported that

had been offered the role of Beverly,

was linked to the role of Peter Lake in the following month.

joined the cast as Beverly's father, Isaac Penn, in August 2012. In September 2012 multiple new cast members were announced, including

, Lucy Griffiths and

. The final major addition to the cast was

, whose involvement was confirmed in October 2012 shortly before the start of filming.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as ...

began in October 2012 but was delayed due to

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

. Shooting took place at locations across

including

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...

, Red Hook, Brooklyn,

East Village, Manhattan The East Village is a neighborhood on the East Side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is roughly defined as the area east of the Bowery and Third Avenue, between 14th Street on the north and Houston Street on the south. The East Village ...

, and

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

. Filming was also done at Lyndhurst in

Tarrytown, New York Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North ...

. The

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

was

Caleb Deschanel Joseph Caleb Deschanel, (born September 21, 1944) is an American cinematographer and director of film and television. He has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography six times. He is a member of the National Film Preservat ...

, who photographed the film with

Arri Alexa The Arri Alexa (stylised as ΛLEXΛ) is a digital motion picture camera system developed by Arri. First introduced in April 2010, the camera was Arri's first major transition into digital cinematography after previous efforts such as the Arrif ...

digital camera A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile devices ...

s and

Panavision Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company founded in 1953 specializing in cameras and lenses, based in Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses dur ...

C-, E- and G-Series anamorphic lenses.

Release

''Winter's Tale'' premiered in

on February 13, 2014, and was theatrically released on February 14, 2014, in the United States by

. The film opened poorly at #7, grossing $7.3 million in its first weekend. ''Winter's Tale'' grossed just $12.6 million in the United States and $18.2 million abroad for a total of $30.8 million worldwide.

released it on DVD and Blu-ray on June 24, 2014.

Critical response

On review aggregation site

, the film has an approval rating of 13% based on 151 reviews and an average rating of 3.55/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''Winter's Tale'' tries to retain the grandiose sweep of its source novel, but fails to fill it in with characters worth rooting for or a sensible plot." On another aggregation site,

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, it has a score of 31 out of 100 based on 35 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. In a negative review for RogertEbert.com, Sheila O'Malley awarded the film one-and-a-half stars, stating: "It lacks visual splendor... It lacks emotional depth. It lacks scope and magic." O'Malley criticized Russell Crowe for "hoping that a facial tic will somehow translate as menacing", finding his first scene with Will Smith to be "incomprehensible". She did, however, praise Colin Farrell's "urgent, heartfelt performance". In his one-star review for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'',

Peter Bradshaw Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''. Early life and education Bradshaw was educated at Haberdasher ...

was more critical of Farrell, questioning why he gives Peter an Irish accent when " s character has never been to Ireland." Bradshaw concluded his review by suggesting that the film could be made worse only by "releasing a giant, vicious, genetically engineered man-eating badger into the cinema while it's playing." Reviewing the film for ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'',

Justin Chang Justin Choigee Chang (born January 3, 1983) is an American film critic and columnist for the ''Los Angeles Times''. He previously worked for ''Variety''. Early life Justin Chang graduated from the University of Southern California in 2004. Chan ...

claimed that writer-producer-director Akiva Goldsman was "out of his depth" but "fortunate in his choice of actors", finding Farrell to be "watchable", Jessica Brown-Findlay to be "luminous and intelligent", and Eva Marie-Saint's first film appearance since ''

Superman Returns ''Superman Returns'' is a 2006 American superhero film directed by Bryan Singer and written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris from a story by Singer, Dougherty and Harris based on the DC Comics character Superman. It is the sixth and fina ...

'' to be "welcome". Chang also praised the production design of Naomi Shohan, and the "moody, muted tones" of

's cinematography. Slackerwood's Jordan Gass-Pooré also gave the movie a negative review: "This movie may have people believe that there is a miracle inside everyone, which is on one hand uplifting, and on the other, really disappointing because, in the end, the moral of the movie is that people are all the same. And Winter's Tale is no different."

Awards

The film's poster was nominated for a

Golden Trailer award The Golden Trailer Awards are an American annual award show for film trailers founded in 1999. The awards also honor the best work in all areas of film and video game marketing, including posters, television advertisements and other media, i ...

Music

The musical score for ''Winter's Tale'' was composed by

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Oscars and four Grammys, and has been nominated for two Emmys and a Tony. Zimmer was also named on the list of Top 100 Living G ...

and Rupert Gregson-Williams. A soundtrack album was released on February 11, 2014 by

WaterTower Music WaterTower Music (formerly New Line Records from 2000 to 2010) is an American record label serving as the in-house music label and run by entertainment company Warner Bros., ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The name and logo are based ...

. On February 4, 2014, four tracks were revealed on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

. "

Miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...

", by Scottish singer

KT Tunstall Kate Victoria "KT" Tunstall (born 23 June 1975) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician. She first gained attention with a 2004 live solo performance of her song "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on '' Later... with Jools Holland''. The ...

became the lead single of the soundtrack. The three other tracks were "What's the Best Thing You've Ever Stolen?", "You Don't Quit Me, Boy", and "She Was Like a Bright Light" all composed by

and Rupert Gregson-Williams.

Soundtrack

* " Masquerade Suite" – Written by Aram Khachaturyan * "

" – Written, produced, and performed by

* All other music – Composed and written by

and Rupert Gregson-Williams

References

External links

* * * * *
Getty Images from the set
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winter's Tale 2014 films 2010s romantic fantasy films 2014 romantic drama films American romantic drama films American romantic fantasy films Dune Entertainment films Films scored by Hans Zimmer Films about horses The Devil in film Films based on American novels Films based on fantasy novels Magic realism films Films set in 1895 Films set in 1916 Films set in 2014 Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Village Roadshow Pictures films Warner Bros. films Films directed by Akiva Goldsman Films produced by Akiva Goldsman Films with screenplays by Akiva Goldsman Films produced by Marc E. Platt Films scored by Rupert Gregson-Williams 2014 directorial debut films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films