PLEASE NOTE: As EI readers know, we have this year introduced streaming audio interviews to the site. Now, with a little help from our talented friends, I'm proud to introduce streaming video to einsiders.com. By clicking on the link below, you can watch our edited interview with Director Marc Forster together with clips from his film FINDING NEVERLAND courtesy of Miramax.

Watch using Windows Media Player Marc Forster talk about FINDING NEVERLAND and see clips from his film by clicking here: http://einsiders.com/features/interviews/video/neverland.wmv

"Peter Pan is a universal theme that we all are afraid of becoming older and all afraid ultimately about death." Director Marc Forster said after a screening of his new film FINDING NEVERLAND opening in limited release this weekend. The film is about playwright J.M. Barrie and the experiences that may have led him to write his classic PETER PAN.

Forster continued.

"And the fear of death also has to do with growing up and I think has to do with the child we have within us. It is very beautiful but also very painful to leave childhood behind and become an adult. Most artistic people and people in general would like to keep the child within us alive and have more possibilities and ways to see things differently because as a child we embrace much more freedom than we do as an adult."

In FINDING NEVERLAND, Johnny Depp plays J.M. Barrie who after his latest play flops finds inspiration for his next in the most unlikely of places: a widower's children. Barrie almost becomes a child again himself as he crafts what becomes PETER PAN.

"When I went on this journey [to make the FINDING NEVERLAND] I wanted to experiment with these transitions between fantasy and reality." Forster told us. "It's ultimately about perspective and whose perspective it is, and whose character's perspective it is. Is it James Barrie's or the kids or Peter's? And it is important to make it clear whose perspective it is."

Forster's wonderful film suggests that only through empathizing with children can Barrie breathe life into his little fantasy about Neverland and children who never grow old. Amazingly the story takes something sweet, Barrie's play days with the children, and makes it sweeter only to achieve something real and touching. Much will be made of the fact that although Kate Winslet is enchanting as the widow and mother, Barrie's relationship is more about her boys and does not involve conventional romance. This must have looked awkward and even contrived on paper, but making this kind of thing work on screen involves great acting and a light touch of direction.

"When I do a first take in a film I basically let the actors do whatever they want to do to see what happens." Forster said. "You can find something very spontaneous and beautiful in these moments."

And it helped that Forster was blessed with a talented and experienced cast including Dustin Hoffman and Julie Christie in significant supporting roles. Christie contributed spontaneity to her role that Forster smartly embraced. But the film belongs to Johnny Depp who no matter what he is in manages to create an interesting and thoughtful character.

Forster told us about casting choices.

"The first person we always envisioned was Johnny Depp and I am so glad that he accepted the part and wanted to do it. He has this special special quality of being a brilliant actor and also being an actor that just always picks parts that he is passionate about.

"Once he accepted the part we were looking for someone to play the part of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, the female part, the lead part. And there were several people but Kate Winslet was the most passionate and I think that she is a brilliant actress. I wanted someone who was very hands-on with the kids and very physical with the kids and Kate has that quality to be believable as a mother."

The family dynamics in the film are solid. Winslet plays the widow and mother and her children literally act as Depp's Barrie's team of muses. Julie Christie adds dimension to what could have been a flat one note evil mother-in-law role. Ultimately, everything about the family and Barrie's wholesome involvement is authentic.

Credit must go to the Forster for creating a family-like environment with the children on the set. He told me that he played around with the kids "with a video camera to see how the chemistry of the family would work." Using this technique and probably others he got the ebb and flow of familiar relations pretty accurate in a film devoid of the meanness indicative of cinematic depictions common today.

And that had to require a great amount of restraint for Forster who doesn't reinforce or drive home his sentiment with a lot of wordy conversation.

"I believe very much in silences and quiet moments." He admitted. "I think that so much stuff is over-written these days. And I think that silences speak much stronger to us than dialogue often. A look and an expression can mean much more than explaining something.

"Johnny Depp has the same notion. He likes to say less because he also feels that it is more powerful."

FINDING NEVERLAND is remarkably moving without overwhelming its audience. It opens in limited release this weekend and can be seen in more cities in coming weeks.

Jonathan W. Hickman