This Day in Indie History: Gosford Park

Robert Altman’s Gosford Park was released nationwide on this day in 2002. Altman developed the story with cast member Bob Balaban. The screenplay, written by Julian Fellowes (Vanity Fair), won the film’s only Academy Award (out of seven nominations), and Altman also took home a Golden Globe for Best Director. The film follows the events at an English country house in the 1930s, after a mysterious murder puzzles the wealthy guests and lowly servants alike. In addition to Balaban, Gosford Park boasts an impressive cast that includes Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas, Clive Owen, Emily Watson, Kelly Macdonald and Jeremy Northam, to name a few.

Film Factoid: Gosford Park pays homage to Jean Renoir’s Rules of the Game, as both are set during a weekend party in the English countryside. It is said that Altman’s hunting scene is a direct tribute to the rabbit hunt in Renoir’s classic.