According to a recent press release from the San Francisco Film Commission, the HBO film Hemingway & Gellhorn will be shooting in San Francisco from February through May.
The movie, which is being produced by James Gandolfini, stars Clive Owen as Earnest Hemingway and Nicole Kidman as Martha Gellhorn, Hemingway’s third wife who also happened to be one of the greatest war correspondents of the 20th Century.
The movie will follow the couple’s relationship from the time they met in 1936 through the time they spent together in the Spanish Civil War. They divorced after only five years but it is said that Martha’s competitive spirit inspired Hemingway’s For Who The Bell Tolls.
As one of the few Martha Gellhorn geeks left on the planet (if there are others out there, please let me know!) I’m both excited and horrified about this project as we all know biopics about women writers can either be genius (think The Hours) or dreadful (think Sylvia). The good news is that the movie has been a passion project for Gandolfini for more than 6 years, at one point he was even attached to play Hemingway, so hopefully he’ll stay true to who Hemingway and Gellhorn were, for better or worse.
If you have any scoop about the movie or catch them filming next month, drop me a line at olv@onlocationvacations, I’ll be watching this one closely!
Jan. 9, 2010
I am a big fan of James Galdolfini. I think he is one of the last, good professional actors in Hollywood. His performance as mob Boss Tony Soprano was both intimidating and captivating. I would love to be able to see where the show is filming just to catch a glimpse of him!
S.K.