Finding Neverland is a 2004 semi-biographical film about playwright J. M. Barrie and his relationship with a family who inspired him to create Peter Pan, directed by Marc Forster. The screenplay by David Magee is based on the play The Man Who Was Peter Pan by Allan Knee.

 

Disappointed by the lukewarm reception his latest play received, Scottish playwright J.M. Barrie (Johnny Depp) is clearly in need of some serious inspiration. Unexpectedly, he finds it one day during his daily walk with his St. Bernard in London's Kensington Gardens, where he encounters the Llewelyn Davies family: four fatherless boys and their beautiful, recently widowed mother (Kate Winslet).

 

Despite the disapproval of the boys' steely grandmother (Julie Christie) and the resentment of his own wife (Radha Mitchell), Barrie befriends the family, engaging the boys in tricks, disguises, games and sheer mischief, creating play-worlds of castles and kings, cowboys and Indians, pirates and castaways. He transforms hillsides into galleon ships, sticks into mighty swords, kites into enchanted fairies and the Llewelyn Davies boys into "The Lost Boys of Neverland".

 

From the sheer thrills and adventurousness of childhood will come Barrie's most daring and renowned masterwork, "Peter Pan". Barrie begins rehearsals only to shock his actors with such unprecedented requests as asking to fly across the stage, talking to fairies made of light and don dog and crocodile costumes. Then, just as Barrie is ready to introduce the world to "Peter Pan", a tragic twist of fate will make the writer and those he loves most understand just what it means to really believe.

 

The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival. It was shown at the Telluride Film Festival, the Haifa Film Festival, the Athens Panorama European Film Festival, the Mill Valley Film Festival, the Chicago International Film Festival, and the Leeds International Film Festival before opening in the UK on October 29, 2004. It had a limited release in the United States on November 12, 2004, and opened more widely on November 24, 2004.

 

The film was budgeted at $25 million. It grossed$51,676,606 in the US and $67 million in foreign markets for a total worldwide box office of $118,676,606.

 

The film received critical acclaim. Carina Chocano of the Los Angeles Times described the film as "gently seductive, genuinely tender and often moving without being maudlin" and added, "Depp and Winslet share a rare combination of airiness, earthiness and sharp, wry intelligence."

 

The film was nominated for several Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Depp's portrayal of J. M. Barrie, Best Adapted Screenplay (David Magee), Best Art Direction (Gemma Jackson and Trisha Edwards), Best Costume Design (Alexandra Byrne), Best Film Editing (Matt Chesse), and won one for Jan A. P. Kaczmarek's musical score.