Wimbledon (film)

Infobox_Film
name = Wimbledon


caption = "Wimbledon" film poster
director = Richard Loncraine
writer = Adam Brooks,
Jennifer Flackett,
Mark Levin
starring = Kirsten Dunst,
Paul Bettany,
James McAvoy
producer = Tim Bevan,
Liza Chasin,
Eric Fellner
distributor= Universal Pictures
StudioCanal
budget = ~ US$31,000,000
released = 13 September 2004
runtime = 98 min.
language = English
imdb_id = 0360201|

"Wimbledon" is a film released in September 2004. It is a romantic comedy about a washed-up tennis pro named Peter Colt (played by Paul Bettany) and an up and coming tennis star called Lizzie Bradbury (played by Kirsten Dunst) during the Wimbledon Championships.

Cast

* Kirsten Dunst as Lizzie Bradbury
* Paul Bettany as Peter Colt
* James McAvoy as Carl Colt
* Bernard Hill as Edward Colt
* Eleanor Bron as Augusta Colt
* Celia Imrie as Mrs Kenwood
* Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Dieter Prohl
* Sam Neill as Dennis Bradbury
* Austin Nichols as Jake Hammond
* Kirsten Taylor Montjoy Hunter as Elizabeth Hammond
* Jon Favreau as Ron Roth
* Jonathan Timmins as The Ballboy
* Robert Lindsay as Ian Frazier

ummary

Paul Bettany plays Peter Colt, a journeyman British professional tennis player ranked 119th in the world. He earns a wildcard spot to the Wimbledon tournament. Tired of it all, he resolves to quit after this last tournament, and even gets a job to coach tennis at a country club. However, as Wimbledon begins, Peter meets and falls in love with Lizzie Bradbury (Kirsten Dunst), a young, brilliant, American tennis pro. As their love grows, Peter's game gets better and better, winning his semi-final match in straight sets — while Lizzie loses hers, having lost her focus after a night together with Peter. Peter begins playing the final match against Jake Hammond, an arrogant American star who Peter has already had an argument with involving Lizzie, but finds himself outclassed. Lizzie, on her way home to America, sees an interview in which Peter apologizes, and comes back to Wimbledon. With Lizzie cheering him on, Peter wins the title, and retires. He and Lizzie have a long-term relationship and Lizzie goes on to win the U.S. Open and Wimbledon twice. In the last scene Peter and Lizzie are seen training their two little children on a New York tennis court.

Trivia

* Pat Cash was the tennis advisor on set and trained the actors.
* Some scenes were filmed during the Championships in 2003 between matches. It is the only time in the history of the tournament that this has been allowed.
* At the time of the film, and as of 2007, there is no retractable roof on Centre Court. However, such a roof is in the planning stages, and construction is expected to be complete in time for the 2009 Wimbledon.
* The actors served with real tennis balls. All others were added digitally.
* The London Zoo's entrance was used for the entrance to Wimbledon.
* According to the DVD commentary, Maria Sharapova was turned down to play one of Lizzie's opponents because she looked too much like Kirsten Dunst from a distance.
* The storyline of Colt echoes that of Goran Ivanišević's winning of the 2001 Wimbledon Championships after entering through a wildcard seed while ranked 125th. He also beat the British No.1, Tim Henman, on the way to victory (In the film Peter beat Tom Cavendish, the British No.1)
* This movie was dedicated to Mark McCormack who was a big name in sports and died on May 16, 2003 after suffering a cardiac event four months earlier.
* The film's digital soundtrack uses the "Surround EX" format, the same 6.1 track format used for the "Star Wars" and the "Lord of the Rings" films.
* The song that plays in the trailer of the movie is 'Everlasting Love' by U2

Real tennis pros on set

* Vikas Punna as "Ajay Bhatt"
* Beti Sekulovski as Lizzie's first Opponent
* Murphy Jensen as "Ivan Dragomir"
* Alun Jones as "Tom Cavendish"
* Rebecca Dandeniya as "Arliyia Rupesindhe"
* John McEnroe as "Himself/Commentator"
* Chris Evert as "Herself/Commentator"
* Mary Carillo as "Herself/Commentator"
* John Barrett as "Himself/Commentator"

External links

* [http://www.wimbledonmovie.com/ Official website]
*imdb title|id=0360201|title=Wimbledon
*rotten-tomatoes|id=wimbledon|title=Wimbledon
*mojo title|id=wimbledon|title=Wimbledon
* [http://www.moviehole.net/news/20040907_4192.html Kirsten Dunst interview]