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'Amelia' takes off at New York City’s Paris Theatre premiere (with slideshow)
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Director Mira Nair, left, and actress Hilary Swank attend the world premiere of
“Amelia” at the Paris Theatre on Tuesday, October 20, 2009 in New York City.
(AP Photo/Evan Agostini)
On this day 87 years ago – October 22, 1922 – Amelia Earhart broke the women's altitude record, flying her bright yellow Kinner Airster biplane, which she had nicknamed "The Canary," to an altitude of 14,000 feet. This event was just one of many achievements in the illustrious career chronicled in Amelia, a film that premiered Tuesday evening at the Paris Theatre in New York City. The biopic, which opens in wide release tomorrow, stars two-time Oscar-winner Hilary Swank.
Co-stars Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor and Virginia Madsen, as well as director Mira Nair (of Monsoon Wedding fame), were also at the premiere. Nair, dressed in a white-satin tunic with silver beads, introduced the film and attempted to have film's actors join her, cajoling, "Come here, Richard Gere, and sing for your supper!" In a break from premiere standard procedures, Nair and the actors watched the film in its entirety with the premiere guests. (Typically, the cast exits the theatre as the lights are lowered for the screening.)
Amelia’s production was very much like the famous aviatrix and feminist icon's life – full of adventure and in constant motion. While some scenes where shot in North America (primarily in Nova Scotia, but also in Toronto, Niagara-on-the-Lake and New York), the bulk of the film’s global landscapes were recreated in South Africa’s diverse environs.
In South Africa, where director Nair lived for three years and for which she holds a special affinity, the production team found not only virtually unlimited open skies but access to vintage art deco airports, as well. The country, in fact, appears in the film as a stand in for eight different countries. A grassy airfield in the Transkei appears as the New Guinea airstrip where Earhart was last seen before she went missing on July 2, 1937, presumably disappearing into the Pacific Ocean.
On Tuesday night, Amelia’s stars and the premiere attendees were last seen making a short trek to Bloomingdale’s down the street from the theatre to celebrate. Costumes from the film are displayed throughout the 59th Street store (as well as four others in the chain), and aviatrix-inspired accessories are currently a very hot fashion trend. Ralph Lauren and Burberry were among the designers that contributed fashions for the displays.
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