The Rainbow

According to David Hemmings's autobiography 'Blow Up and Other Exaggerations', he was the first choice for the role of Uncle Henry, but Ken Russell had to withdraw the offer because American film distributors did not want him. Strangely, Ken then cast Elton John for the role, before the singer balked at the wig, costume and demanding acting lessons and wanted to leave the project. The next choice was Alan Bates (who had played Birkin in the sequel Women in Love (1969)), but he declined and the role went back to Hemmings.

CHARACTERS & CAST · SOURCED

In The Rainbow (1989), actress Glenda Jackson plays the mother of the character she played in Women in Love (1969). Both films were directed by Ken Russell and both were adaptations of D. H. Lawrence novels.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

Sammi Davis believes that she and Amanda Donohoe being friends before appearing together in this film made it easier for them to play the nude love scenes. "We were good friends and very comfortable with each other. I really loved her. When it came to doing those scenes, it wasn't embarrassing. We giggled a bit because we thought it was funny, not because we were shy with each other. After all, we're actresses," Davis said. "We were running around, jumping about naked. We thought it was quite funny. It was more like two women having fun, more like being little kids again. I can't explain it, but I wasn't shy about undressing in front of Amanda, and she wasn't in front of me. It was a bit embarrassing having the crew standing around me. Some were thoughtful enough to look away."

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

The cast and crew who worked on both Ken Russell's film adaptations of D. H. Lawrence's The Rainbow (1989) and Women in Love (1969) included director Ken Russell, actress Glenda Jackson, actor Christopher Gable, cinematographer Billy Williams, set and production designer Luciana Arrighi, and gaffer and electrical supervisor George Cole.

BEHIND THE SCENES · SOURCED

Source novelist D. H. Lawrence's novel "The Rainbow" (1915) is a prequel section to Lawrence's novel "Women in Love" (1920), published about five years apart. Both books were filmed by director Ken Russell [See: The Rainbow (1989) and Women in Love (1969)].

DEEPER MEANING · SOURCED

Sammi Davis said the hardest thing to do was the nude scenes. "Paul McGann and I found ourselves completely naked on a mountain peak full of rocks and thorny bushes in the Lake District. But despite all the discomfort, you feel like a little child running naked in the rain. More people should try it," she said.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

It was actor Christopher Gable's last feature film.

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Glenda Jackson was cast after the first choice turned down the role because she thought it was too small.

CHARACTERS & CAST · SOURCED

It is the only feature film of Glenda McKay, who plays Gudrun. She was named "Glenda" after Glenda Jackson, who played the role of Gudrun Brangwen in Women in Love (1969) and plays her mother in this film.

CHARACTERS & CAST · SOURCED

Ken Russell first developed the screenplay for The Rainbow (1989) together with producers Michael Nolin and Charles Roven, but when production financing first came through he chose to make Crimes of Passion (1984) instead.

PRODUCTION STORY · SOURCED

Sammi Davis plays the character Ursula Brangwen in Ken Russell's The Rainbow (1989). Gudrun Brangwen had been played by Glenda Jackson in Russell's earlier film Women in Love (1969); in The Rainbow (1989) she plays Anna Brangwen, the mother of Ursula Brangwen (Sammi Davis).

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

Glenda Jackson and Christopher Gable appeared in Ken Russell's film The Boy Friend (1971).

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

In director Ken Russell's filmed D. H. Lawrence adaptation, actress Glenda Jackson also appeared, having starred in Russell's earlier Lawrence adaptation Women in Love (1969), for which she won the Best Actress Oscar for her leading role. Jackson was not present at the 1971 Oscar ceremony, but actress Juliet Mills accepted the statuette on her behalf. In The Rainbow (1989), Jackson plays the mother of the character she played in Women in Love (1969).

CHARACTERS & CAST · SOURCED

Ursula and Gudrun, who are also the protagonists of Women in Love (1969), are half Polish because their mother Anna is the daughter of a Polish immigrant doctor working in Bedminster.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

This was the fifth and last collaboration between Glenda Jackson and Ken Russell. The other four films are Women in Love (1969), The Music Lovers (1971), The Boy Friend (1971) and Salome's Last Dance (1988).

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

It is the second of three D. H. Lawrence novels filmed by director Ken Russell. One was made for television and two for cinema; the TV mini-series was also turned into a feature film version. The three titles are Lady Chatterley (1993), The Rainbow (1989) and Women in Love (1969), the last two shot and released exactly twenty years apart.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

It is the only screenwriting credit of the director's second wife, Vivian Russell. The marriage broke up shortly after the film's release.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

The film was made and released about seventy-four years after the source novel of the same name by D. H. Lawrence was first published in 1915.

DEEPER MEANING · SOURCED

Molly Russell played the character Molly Brangwen, who shares her name. Molly Russell is the daughter of the film's director, Ken Russell.

EASTER EGGS & REFERENCES · SOURCED

The film competed for the Golden St. George Grand Prize at the 16th Moscow International Film Festival in 1989 and was screened there.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

The painting appears at the end of the book, in scenes that in both works feature a large, colourful rainbow.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

Ken Russell's film adaptations of D. H. Lawrence's novels, The Rainbow (1989) and Women in Love (1969), were made and released roughly twenty years apart.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

This is the second of three collaborations between the actress Molly Russell and the director Ken Russell. Molly Russell is the daughter of the director Ken Russell. The titles are Crimes of Passion (1984), The Rainbow (1989) and Lady Chatterley (1993), the last two of which are film adaptations of novels by D. H. Lawrence.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED

This was Nicola Stephenson's debut.

INTERESTING FACTS · SOURCED