Inspired by the fairy tale charm of the 1958 Sandra Dee–Rex Harrison romantic comedy The Reluctant Debutante, producer Denise Di Novi developed What A Girl Wants, the coming-of-age story of a spirited young woman who dreams of forging a relationship with the father she’s never known. “I think every young girl dreams of finding her prince,” says Di Novi, producer of the inspirational romances A Walk to Remember and Message in a Bottle. “In What A Girl Wants, we have a girl who longs to make her fairy tale fantasy come true, but the prince she’s searching for is her father.”
The girl is Daphne Reynolds, a vibrantly independent seventeen year-old played by Amanda Bynes, star of the new WB comedy What I Like About You and the popular host of Nickelodeon’s The Amanda Show. “Anyone who has kids is aware of Amanda Bynes,” says producer Bill Gerber, whose children watch The Amanda Show religiously. “She’s very bright and has incredible comedic timing. She was only fifteen when we first met with her about this project, and it’s rare to find someone of that age with such maturity and talent.”
“Amanda lights up any room she walks into,” adds producer Hunt Lowry, President and CEO of Gaylord Films/Pandora. “She’s a gifted physical comedienne who radiates the same irreverent charm that instantly endears Daphne to the audience.”
“Like Amanda, Daphne is a girl on the cusp of womanhood,” says director Dennie Gordon, who impressed the filmmakers with her skillful directorial work on the hit comedy TV series Ally McBeal. “She’s street smart without being the least bit jaded. She’s kept her innocence as a very real, accessible girl-next-door.”
Raised by her bohemian mother Libby in New York City, Daphne “fantasizes about what it would be like if her father was in her life,” Bynes explains. “She feels incomplete without knowing this important aspect of herself, especially at this crucial age, when she’s trying who she is and who she wants to be.”
Although Daphne knows the story of her mother’s soulful romance with Henry, the dashing Englishman who broke her heart, Libby made a conscious decision to raise her without his knowledge or support. “Libby chose to raise Daphne as a single parent out of love and protection,” says Kelly Preston, a mother of two who imbues the vivacious Libby with her own infectious joie de vivre. “She didn’t want to introduce Daphne’s father into their lives because she mistakenly believes he turned his back on her nearly 20 years ago, and she doesn’t want him to do the same thing to Daphne.”
The catalyst that sparks Daphne’s decision to find her father occurs at a wedding that she and Libby, a wedding singer, are working in New Jersey. “Daphne has waitressed at countless weddings, and once again, she finds herself watching the traditional father-daughter dance and longing to live out that fantasy herself,” Bynes describes. “All these feelings inside her suddenly crystallize and she makes the very grown-up decision to go find her dad.”
Armed only with a photograph of her father and his name, Henry Dashwood, Daphne hops a flight to London determined to make her fantasy a reality. “She’s spontaneous and she doesn’t think about the consequences,” says Bynes. “I think it’s a sign of Daphne’s self-confidence and bravery that she knows what she wants and she goes for it.”
“We don’t want every teenage girl in America to think it’s okay to run away from home,” cautions Gordon. “But Libby respects Daphne’s decision. She’s not happy about it, but she understands her daughter’s need to know her father. Libby’s most loving gesture as a parent is the freedom she gives Daphne to chase her dream.”
“I think for kids growing up, the most important thing is knowing that your parents love you,” notes executive producer Alison Greenspan. “That love empowers you to have the inner strength to grow up and be confident in the person you are.”
Empowered by Libby’s love and support, Daphne braves the foreboding English rain, checks into a youth hostel and befriends Ian, played by Oliver James, a charming local musician who becomes her informal guide to London. With Ian’s help, Daphne soon discovers that her father is none other than Lord Henry Dashwood, a high-profile politician currently embroiled in a heated election.
“Henry is a good boy,” Colin Firth says of his aristocratic character. “The most scandalous thing he’s ever done is fall in love with Libby. Now, nearly 20 years later, he’s living out his father’s political dreams and he’s engaged to a woman he’s been advised to marry.”
Firth is best known to American audiences as stuffy solicitor Mark Darcy in the hit romantic comedy Bridget Jones’s Diary. As Di Novi observes, “Colin plays this reserved aristocrat so convincingly, but there’s great heart beating beneath the surface. He portrays so much through his eyes, through the slightest expression or gesture.”
“Colin is the master of restraint,” Gordon concurs. “His integrity and sex appeal bring added depth and texture to his character. He was my first and only choice to play Henry Dashwood.”
Determined to meet her father, Daphne tracks down the sprawling Dashwood estate, where she unceremoniously breaches the security of the gated compound. Her leap of faith promptly throws the Dashwood household into a tailspin. Not surprisingly, Henry is “utterly shocked when this seventeen year-old American girl shows up with a photo of him and says Hello, I’m your daughter,” Firth relates. “There’s an immediate assumption made by those around Henry that this is a ploy cooked up by his political rivals to ruin or blackmail him.”
But what Henry sees in Daphne instantly recalls Libby and the deep heartbreak he suffered over losing her. Like Libby, he has been living under a misconception for the past seventeen years – while Libby thinks that he abandoned her because she wasn’t good enough for him, Henry believes she left because she didn’t love him. In truth, the patrician Dashwood family deemed her unsuitable for marriage and banished her back to America, all without Henry’s knowledge.
“When Libby left him, Henry shut down,” Greenspan says. “He completely repressed his spirit and he’s living out dreams that belong to someone else.”
“He’s rather formal,” Firth says of Henry’s approach to sudden parenthood, “and he finds it very difficult to express himself as a father. He doesn’t have the language for it.”
Henry isn’t the only one affected by Daphne’s astonishing arrival – his upwardly mobile fiancée Glynnis and her snotty daughter Clarissa instantly resent her very existence. Anna Chancellor, known for her memorable turn as Duckface in Four Weddings and a Funeral, plays Daphne’s calculating stepmother-to-be. “Glynnis is a First Lady merged into an evil stepmother, and all the more fun to play because of that,” Chancellor enthuses. “She’s incredibly ambitious and manipulative; not only does she organize Henry’s life and influence his political decisions to serve her own agenda, but now she’s engaged to marry him and assume the status and power of the Dashwood name. It’s all going swimmingly for Glynnis until Daphne turns up.”
“I think Glynnis is threatened by another woman coming into Henry’s life, especially his daughter,” Bynes observes. “She wants to marry Henry and make Clarissa the belle of the Dashwood ball.”
Daphne’s presence also spoils the carefully constructed social and political schemes plotted by Alastair Payne, Henry’s chief political advisor and business manager – and, conveniently enough, Glynnis’s father. Jonathan Pryce, one of Britain’s finest actors of stage and cinema, plays the cunning politico. “The last thing Payne needs in the middle of this election is a Dashwood love child showing up from across the pond,” says Pryce. There is tremendous potential for this unpredictable American girl to cause extreme embarrassment and cost Henry the election – thereby costing Payne his power.”
Despite the risks, Henry welcomes Daphne into the Dashwood home. In an effort to fit into her father’s high-profile life, Daphne plunges into a whirlwind of debutante balls, tea parties and regattas – a daunting prospect for the slightly gauche young American. “She wants to win him over, so she decides she’d better put on the dress and the tiara and become a debutante,” Gordon reveals. “Meanwhile, Henry has to walk a very fine line between getting to know this girl and servicing his political campaign. He’s a sincere guy who is trying to do the right thing, but he’s deeply conflicted.”
Daphne too is torn. As Bynes sees it, “At first, Daphne’s taken aback by her father’s world, especially when she meets Glynnis and Clarissa. She feels like she doesn’t belong, like she’s interrupting their lives. She doesn’t want to be a part of it, but she recognizes that she’s going to have to adjust if she wants to know her father and be part of his life.”
Unfortunately, Daphne’s initial efforts to impress do little to boost her standing – or Henry’s. Not only does she dare to wear jeans to the Royal Fashion show, but the reluctant debutante literally brings down the house at a coming out party when she rocks out to a James Brown song performed by Ian’s band. “When Daphne crashes the high society scene, she truly turns that world upside down,” Gordon explains. “She says what she thinks, she does what she wants to do, she wears what she wants to wear. She doesn’t understand the artifice of high society etiquette. So she ruffles a lot of feathers.”
Wealth, status and social standing mean little to Daphne, but nothing is more important to her than getting to know Henry, so she enlists her ally Ian for moral support and a crash course in debutante behavior. “Ian is a really sincere guy who likes Daphne exactly the way she is,” Bynes says. “He’s not rich, but he works at all the high society events and he can teach her how to act in that environment. He shows her around London and makes her feel comfortable when she’s at a really uncomfortable time in her life.”
Native Brit Oliver James, who plays the dashing Ian, acted as Bynes’ intrepid London tour guide during their downtime. “She’s so lovely,” James says of his costar. “We really got on well, which was nice for us both. This was my first movie and she was over here from the States on her own. We had a great time working together and becoming friends.”
Gordon discovered film newcomer James during the London phase of the casting process. “We had a tall order to fill, because we needed a charismatic guy who could sing as well as act,” she recalls. “At Oliver’s audition, he sang a Red Hot Chili Peppers song a capella, with the voice of an angel. I thought, This is too good to be true; there’s no way this guy can act. Then we started reading a scene and he was amazing. I called everyone in Burbank, woke them up, and said Ian just walked through the door.”
Ian’s sincerity resonates in the question he puts to Daphne during the course of her debutante tutorial: Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out? But Daphne is determined to be the daughter she thinks Henry wants her to be.
As she attempts to prove to herself and her father that love – and proper etiquette – can conquer the time and circumstances that have separated them, Dashwood begins to open his heart to the daughter he never knew. “Daphne is the breath of fresh air Henry has needed for the past seventeen years,” Greenspan suggests. “Not only does she remind him of Libby, she reminds him of the person he was when he was with her.”
“One of the things I’ve always loved about this story is that the father learns something about life from his daughter,” says Di Novi. “Being a parent teaches you a lot, and this girl’s complete honesty and candor teach her father who he’s meant to be.”
Daphne’s first glimmer of the man her mother fell for so many years ago comes at a prestigious regatta, when she thwarts the advances of a hands-on admirer and causes a minor sensation among the scandalized bystanders. In a moment of spontaneity and instinctual rebellion, Henry commandeers Ian’s motorcycle, Daphne jumps on back and they make a roaring escape from the rabid paparazzi.
Firth’s experience handling the motorcycle for the sequence wasn’t quite as heroic, however. “I found that if you have one motorbike lesson, then don’t practice for a couple of weeks, you have about 10 minutes of thinking you’re rather brilliant before you fall off,” he divulges. “I went up a hill at high speed and then fell over at two miles an hour. I came back with bits falling off the bike.”
Their daring escapade strengthens the growing bond between father and daughter, but pressure from Payne and Glynnis for Henry to return to his proper self and uphold the obligations of the Dashwood name proves too great. “At a certain point,” says Firth, “the whole burden of duty and family legacy poses a serious threat to their happiness. Henry tells Daphne, If you are going to be a member of this family, there are sacrifices that have to be made. I have to make them. You have to make them. Basically, it means no more spontaneity. No more fun.”
Daphne straightens up, plays by the rules and stifles her vibrant personality – a sacrifice that severely dampens her spirits and her budding romance with Ian. Meanwhile, Libby rushes to London to rescue her daughter from the fate she had feared for herself so many years ago, only to find herself swept up in Daphne’s journey of self-discovery.
“Libby thought she left Henry behind her when she left England,” Preston says. “But when she sees the connection he and Daphne have made, and how much love he has for their daughter, it awakens these intense feelings that she never thought she’d experience again.”
“When Daphne sets out on this adventure, she not only finds her father and learns about herself, but she also rekindles this fantastic love affair between her parents,” Gordon observes. “And this family learns that life is full of second chances if you take them.”
Although Daphne’s journey began with the desire to know her father, her biggest discovery is herself. “Ultimately, Daphne figures out who she really is and that she’s happy with that person,” Bynes concludes. “She doesn’t need to change for her father. She doesn’t need to change for anyone. She’s great just the way she is.”
As Daphne realizes who she really is and what she really wants, Henry re-discovers an important part of himself that he has denied for too long. “He’s been largely suffocated by duty and formality, and it’s his relationship with his daughter that ultimately frees him from that,” Firth says.
“Henry goes from being very stiff and reserved to being more sensitive and communicative about his feelings and emotions,” Bynes reveals. “Daphne teaches him it’s okay to be loud and funny and inappropriate, if that’s who you are. Be true to yourself and follow your heart.”
When she finally lets go of her fantasy, Daphne discovers that reality is far better than the dream life she imagined for herself. “This movie reaffirms the timeless message that people should be who they are and not try to impress through fakery or in-authenticity,” Greenspan says.
This modern day fairy tale touches on some vital lessons in every child’s coming-of-age. “There are some very deep themes running through the romance, the comedy, the heartbreak and the happiness,” Di Novi believes. “The importance of a loving relationship between a father and daughter; the importance of a parent in a child’s life; and the importance of a parent’s willingness to make sacrifices in order to be a good parent.”
Like Daphne, Bynes had a challenging and rewarding experience abroad. “I was ready at this point in my life to go on an adventure for myself and meet new people, but I never imagined it would be so much fun and so much work. I was tired at the end of the night!” she says with a laugh. “But I loved playing Daphne. We brought out the best in each other.
“It’s a dream of many young Americans to go to Europe – it can be your first big adventure, if you’re lucky enough to go,” notes producer Denise Di Novi. “It was important that we film on location in England and not on a stage or somewhere that doesn’t truly have the magic that London holds for so many people.”
Hunt Lowry concurs. “England is absolutely a character in the picture, with its fabulous manor houses, the structural design of London and Parliament. We couldn’t have done this movie anywhere in the world but London.”
Director Dennie Gordon was so passionate and determined to make What A Girl Wants in England that before the film was even greenlit, she traveled to England on her own coin to woo Colin Firth and to snap hundreds of potential location photos.
Di Novi acknowledges with a laugh that the production itself took a coming-of age voyage. “In England, we Americans were the fishes out of water, so to speak. For example, we had to explain why we were homesick on Fourth of July. But there was a really nice give and take between the two worlds and our experiences underscored the truth that teenagers are teenagers anywhere you go.”
Director Dennie Gordon and company commenced principal photography on What A Girl Wants on June 5, 2002, outside one of Britain’s finest private homes, West Wycombe Park in Buckinghamshire, an hour’s drive from Central London.
In the course of the film’s nine-week schedule, London and its environs revealed hidden gems in a city full of surprises. Location managers Nicholas Daubeny and Robin Higgs, fresh from the rigors of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, flexed their expertise in selecting some of the prime sights of London and the Home Counties.
Principal among the locations was West Wycombe Park, which stood in for the Dashwood home (both interiors and exteriors). The lake provided a memorable scene between Ian and Daphne and the grounds also doubled as the site for two lavish weddings.
West Wycombe Park, a National Trust property, is open to the public – who were quite intrigued to find themselves in the middle of a film set! Sir Edward Dashwood and his wife Lady Lucinda and their young family still live at the Estate, and the family not only played host to the filmmakers, they also allowed the use of their name for the cinematic Dashwood family. “Dashwood” is a famous name in English heritage – a Dashwood ancestor started the Hellfire Club, a scandalous gentlemen’s club of the 19th century.
“Casting our Dashwood Estate was almost as difficult as casting any of the actors,” Gordon reveals. “It had to have a very specific ability to be foreboding and intimidating and massive – and then have the ability to warm up once Daphne has moved inside the house. We used the theme of Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone to inform our production design of the house. For example, when Daphne moves into the Dashwood Estate, the sky turns a brighter blue and the flowers bloom more brilliantly. This home is around 500 years old with this extraordinary color, this gorgeous gold and ochre that gave us an opportunity to let the house come to glorious sunshine life.”
Gordon credits director of photography Andrew Dunn with bringing the house – and her vision for Daphne’s journey – to life. “I hired Andrew because I love the way he tells stories with the camera,” she says. “His background, from Ever After to Sweet Home Alabama to Gosford Park, told me that he was the ideal cinematographer to shoot this movie.”
Andrew was just fabulous,” executive producer Alison Greenspan adds. He really imparted a beautiful, rich look to the film. As Daphne comes into the house, it’s infused with a light and an energy, and Andrew is the one who was able to bring that texture to the screen.”
Because much of the action in What A Girl Wants takes place during the London Social Season, the filmmakers emphasized lush and lavish locations. Few locations could be considered more lavish than the Painted Hall at the Royal Naval Academy of Greenwich, the setting for the Royal Fashion Show, the first society event Daphne attends.
The Royal Naval Academy at Greenwich is now part of the University of Greenwich campus, and in an earlier age, Henry VIII and his daughters Mary and Elizabeth were born at Greenwich Palace on the site of the Royal Naval Academy. The Painted Hall has been magnificently restored and is considered one of the grandest pieces of baroque painting by an English artist.
The Chapel at the Royal Naval Academy was used as a location for a political rally given by Henry Dashwood. The chapel, long associated with Britain’s seafaring legacy, bears the apt inscription: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
A singular breakthrough for the filmmakers occurred when they were granted permission to film a ball for four days in Lancaster House, currently used for high level Government entertaining and important international conferences. (Lancaster House is next door to Clarence House, the late Queen Mother’s London residence, now to become the London residence of His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales.) To secure permission to lens at the prestigious locale, Gordon had tea with the Vicar.
Several days were also spent on location at Royal Air Force Halton, once the weekend retreat of Lionel de Rothschild. Upon Lionel’s death, his son Alfred inherited Halton and from 1879-1883 built Halton House, one of the first houses to be built with electric light and to use central heating. In the basement there is the forerunner of the modern sauna – a plunge bath.
In addition, two very pleasant days were spent at Henley, by the river Thames, where the annual Henley Regatta is a prominent date on the social calendar of England.
In the East End of London, the What A Girl Wants production team gave a makeover to Borough Market, a bustling thoroughfare, which was transformed into a New York Chinatown street, complete with wrought iron fire escapes. A coffee shop became a Chinese restaurant – confusing a local resident on that particular Sunday morning when he arrived for his caffeine fix!
During the final week of the picture, a small unit including Colin Firth and Kelly Preston traveled by charter plane to Morocco to film for three days in and around Quarzazate on the edge of the Sahara.
Headed by designer Shay Cunliffe, the costume department was charged with gathering a considerable quantity of elegant clothes and accessories for the socialites who populate the posh occasions depicted in What A Girl Wants – and the jewels alone represent a king’s ransom of baubles and beads.
Cunliffe was able to create a seamlessly lavish look with the generous contributions of the prestigious jeweler Bulgari, who supplied several hundred thousand dollars worth of jewelry to the costume designer – in fact, one necklace worn by Anna Chancellor is valued at nearly $100,000.
Armed with gorgeous garments procured from the finest dressmakers in London, Cunliffe dressed hundreds of extras for the many extravagant dances and events staged by the production. Many of these “extras” were in fact high-society socialites who imbued the glamorous couture with the proper mannerisms and attitudes required at such occasions. The ball that took place at Lancaster House featured a Guinness, a Rothschild and a neighbor of the Prince of Wales!
“As a costume designer, when I first read the script, I thought, These will be fabulous clothes to do!” Cunliffe discloses. “I was thrilled to be able to tell this story through the clothes. For example, in contrasting the American girl and this fantasy England, I cheated reality in that she is the only person allowed to wear blue jeans. I envisioned Daphne in a great, worn-out, dragging-on-the-ground pair of hip hugging jeans. But of course every young person the world over is wearing them these days, so I just had to decide, Not in my film they’re not! She alone is the one in sneakers and jeans with things dangling from them.”
Each major event was staged with its own special sartorial flavor. “With the Henley Regatta, we went overboard on the nautical, red, white and blue-themed outfits. We gave each of the gatherings a different tone,” reveals Cunliffe. “For the first ball, which is meant to be rather dull and a bit of a failure, we put everyone in vintage clothes. Daphne’s coming out ball was based on My Fair Lady, but a bit chicer, with a lot of white and black and silvery glitter.”
Cunliffe also incorporates subliminal tailor-made details to signal important characterizations. “Glynnis’s clothes are very constricting, similar to the vice grip it seems she has on Dashwood. She wears big gold collars, and with the final ball gown, she wears a great collar of pearls. Her daughter Clarissa’s gowns have a rather aggressive bodice to match her attitude, and all her friends have bodices that are sort of like little teeth, in my mind.”
Music plays a huge part in What A Girl Wants, and the film’s music is a lively mix of both contemporary and familiar songs. “There was a very extensive pre-record for the film because there’s a lot of performing in the movie, with Oliver as well as Kelly Preston,” says producer Bill Gerber, describing the process by which tracks are recorded prior to shooting, then used as playback during the performance scenes for lip-synching purposes. “The background of the film is very musical.”
“Designing a soundtrack for this movie was a real challenge, because it’s a story for all ages,” reveals director Dennie Gordon. “We created a blend of current hits from The Donnas to Craig David, rock and roll classics like The Clash and old school make-out music like Frank Sinatra. It was a very tricky selection process, but we ultimately narrowed it down to fifteen source songs, seven songs that are performed in the film, and 37 pieces of beautiful score from my composer, Rupert Gregson-Williams.”
Actress Kelly Preston, who has never before sung in public, makes her debut with covers of the popular songs “Heaven is a Place on Earth,” “Shout!” and the Celine Dion hit, “Because You Love Me.”
“I didn’t realize that I was going to sing in this film, but when they asked me, I said, Well, I’ll give it a try!,” Preston enthuses. “It was a lot of fun. In the recording studio and in the dance studio, it was much more rewarding than I ever expected.”
“What Kelly has delivered as a singer is something that we never imagined,” director Dennie Gordon says. “We thought we’d have to get someone to dub in her vocals. But Kelly trained like a trooper and did all of her own singing. She was in the studio day and night rehearsing and her tracks are spectacular.”
“We recorded several songs for Ian’s and Libby’s bands to perform in the movie,” says Gerber. “Covers of ‘What a Wonderful World’ and ‘Have I Told You Lately That I Love You,’ as well as some wonderful original compositions. Our music supervisor, Debra Baum, was in London working with the English musicians and producers very early in the production process. She’s been invaluable.”
Professional singer and film newcomer Oliver James sings several songs in the film. “I can go on and on about Oliver James. He’s a true talent and a huge star in the making,” says Baum, who was impressed by James’ dedication to detail. “He hadn’t played guitar, so he needed to try and learn some guitar chords because the visual authenticity was really important to him.
“We only had Oliver for a couple of days, during which time he had to learn his lines, learn to ride a motorcycle and learn five songs, including some really difficult classics,” Baum continues. “He was literally in the studio for only two hours and he recorded all five songs, all of which are used for his on-camera performances. He not only did a great job on the current and original songs, but he was also truly amazing at covering Frank Sinatra, Louie Armstrong and James Brown classics. On every level, he’s delivered big time.”
James approached one of the songs he was slated to perform with a bit of trepidation. “At one point in the film, Daphne and Ian decide to liven up a very boring party by surprising the crowd with a James Brown number called ‘Get Up Offa That Thing,’” James relates. “Now, this song hasn’t been covered since James Brown sang it, so there was no pressure or anything.”
Two of the songs James recorded for the film, “Long Time Coming” and “Greatest Story Ever Told,” appear on the What A Girl Wants soundtrack, along with “London Calling” by the Clash, Craig David’s “What’s Your Flava,” Meredith Brooks’ “Crazy,” and “Half Life,” by Duncan Sheik.
Directed by: Dennie Gordon
Starring: Amanda Bynes, Colin Firth, Kelly Preston, Jonathan Pryce, Eileen Atkins, Anna Chancellor, Christina Cole, Oliver James, Chris Mulkey
Screenplay by: Jessica Bendinger
Production Design by: Michael Carlin
Cinematography by: Andrew Dunn
Film Editing by: Charles McClelland
Costume Design by: Shay Cunliffe
Set Decoration by: Rebecca Alleway
Music by: Rupert Gregson-Williams
MPAA Rating: PG for mild language.
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: April 4, 2003
