Marquis de Sade’s life, stories inspire “˜Quills’
By Daily Bruin Staff
Nov. 21, 2000 9:00 p.m.
 Fox Searchlight Pictures Geoffrey Rush
stars in "Quills" as the Marquis de Sade. Although he is in an
asylum, his novels are smuggled out by his chambermaid.
By Jacqueline Maar
Daily Bruin Contributor
The tale of the Marquis de Sade’s life is as mysterious
and intriguing as the stories he wrote.
Directed by Philip Kaufman, “Quills” is based on the
life of the Marquis de Sade (Geoffrey Rush). The notorious author
of legendary tales of scandal is remembered in history as a
catalyst for expression during the oppressive eighteenth
century.
“I thought it was this great fable that has the power of a
folk tale,” said Kaufman in a recent interview.
Set in post-revolutionary France, the movie focuses on the
Marquis’ life in an insane asylum and tells the tale of the
madman behind the infamous stories of eroticism.
Written by Doug Wright, “Quills” was originally a
critically acclaimed play that earned him an Obie award for his
script. Wright had to adapt the characters from the original play
to film.
 Fox Searchlight Pictures Abbe Coulmier (Joaquin
Phoenix), a priest who tries to help the Marquis de Sade,
speaks with Madeleine (Kate Winslet) a chambermaid
in "Quills" directed by Philip Kaufman. “I think the
characters in the play have an iconic stature. Each character
represents an idea and there’s a flamboyant camp
theatricality to the play that plays gorgeously on stage but can
really curdle on screen,” Wright said. “So I think the
challenge was taking these larger-than-life figures in the play and
giving them flesh and blood in a body of human concerns that made
them (cinematic) and not theatrical ones.”
Sadism’s namesake, the Marquis wrote novels such as
“120 Days of Sodom,” “Juliette” and
“Justine.” Using language that is both humorous and
completely revolting, his stories often involve mutilation,
coprophilia, and necrophilia.
Written in 1791, “Justine” tells the story of a
virtuous girl who is used and abused verbally, physically and
sexually until she finally bleeds to death at the hands of her
husband.
By opening a window into the Marquis’ soul and life,
“Quills” allows the audience to become the Marquis and
see through his eyes, words and stories. Although mostly fiction,
“Quills” is based around the life of Sade. Wright
combined historical fact with fiction to create his own version of
the Marquis.
“(“˜Quills’) takes a few rudimentary facts and
combines them with the spirit of (the Marquis’) fiction to
tell a sort of parable about issues in our time, violence in art,
and incendiary artists working in an unstable culture,”
Wright said. “I plucked Sade from the musty old pages of
history and plunked him down into my own tale.”
To prepare for the role of the Marquis de Sade, Rush spoke to
Wright about the character in order to explore all aspects of the
Marquis’ multi-dimensional personality.
“While shooting (the film), I’d tell Doug Wright,
“˜We’ve really got to find the diva in this character,
because he’s a perverse, rancid, old, decadent, aging rock
star up in the deluxe suite at Charenton that comes with this
notoriety and legend,” Rush said.
He looked in the script for moments in the story that would show
the Marquis’ personality and perfectly convey the character
to the audience.
“(I would tell Wright), “˜I think this is a Barbara
Stanwyck moment or Norma Desmond. There’s got to be some
delusional fantasy at work here that can quickly take you, to a
degree, to how flamboyant the character is,'” he
said.
The supporting cast of characters includes Madeleine (Kate
Winslet), a chambermaid who helps Sade smuggle out his stories to
be published, Abbe de Coulmier (Joaquin Phoenix), a kind priest who
tries to help as well as heal the Marquis and Dr. Royer-Collard
(Michael Caine) who is sent to Charenton to cure the Marquis.
Although, Rush and Kaufman came from very different backgrounds
and generations, Rush said, they connected.
“Phil Kaufman just generates a great daring enthusiasm in
the openness with which you can discuss ideas and anything
counts,” Rush said.
When Kaufman first read the script he was immediately interested
in doing the movie.
“It was a miracle when FOX Searchlight sent me
Doug’s script; it was like immediately I was stunned to read
it,” he said. “I’ve been saying that I sat
stunned for about an hour after reading it and hopefully
we’ve been able to impart that feeling into the movie so that
the audiences will have some of that same stunned feeling that I
first had when I read it.”
FILM: “Quills” opens today in
theaters nationwide.
