# The Shipping News
**The Shipping News** is a 2001 American drama film directed by [Lasse Hallström](https://www.edgepedia.org/lasse-hallstrom), adapted by screenwriter Robert Nelson Jacobs from E. [Annie Proulx](https://www.edgepedia.org/annie-proulx)'s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1993 novel of the same name. It stars [Kevin Spacey](https://www.edgepedia.org/kevin-spacey) as Quoyle, a grieving man who moves with his young daughter from upstate New York to his ancestral home in a small Newfoundland fishing village, where a job at the local newspaper and a developing romance begin to transform his life.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62197-THE-SHIPPING-NEWS) • [2](https://www.miramax.com/movie/the-shipping-news/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Source | Based on the novel *The Shipping News* by E. Annie Proulx (New York, 1993)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62197-THE-SHIPPING-NEWS) |
| Director / writer | Lasse Hallström; screenplay Robert Nelson Jacobs[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62197-THE-SHIPPING-NEWS) |
| Principal cast | Kevin Spacey (Quoyle), Julianne Moore (Wavey Prowse), Judi Dench (Agnis Hamm), Cate Blanchett (Petal Bear), Scott Glenn (Jack Buggit), Pete Postlethwaite (Tert X. Card), Rhys Ifans (Beaufield Nutbeem)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62197-THE-SHIPPING-NEWS) • [3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-25-et-kenny25-story.html) |
| Release | December 25, 2001 (Los Angeles and New York openings), distributed by Miramax Films; 111 minutes; MPAA rating R[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62197-THE-SHIPPING-NEWS) • [4](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0120824/) |
| Box office | $11,434,216 domestic and $24,690,441 worldwide against a $38 million budget[4](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0120824/) |
| Awards | Two 2002 Golden Globe nominations, no wins: Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama (Spacey) and Best Original Score (Christopher Young)[5](https://goldenglobes.com/film/the-shipping-news/) |
| Key crew | Cinematography Oliver Stapleton, editing Andrew Mondshein, music Christopher Young, production design David Gropman[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62197-THE-SHIPPING-NEWS) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Quoyle and his daughter relocate to the Newfoundland fishing village of his ancestors, leaving upstate New York behind in the wake of a tragedy. With a job at the local newspaper, the *Gammy Bird*, and a developing romance with a woman who lives with her own demons, Quoyle is transformed by the place.[2](https://www.miramax.com/movie/the-shipping-news/) In the film's account, the death of his estranged wife Petal ([Cate Blanchett](https://www.edgepedia.org/cate-blanchett)) prompts his long-lost Aunt Agnis ([Judi Dench](https://www.edgepedia.org/judi-dench)) to convince Quoyle and his daughter Bunny to head north, where he lands work as a reporter, uncovers dark family mysteries, and finds friendship and love with a single mother, Wavey Prowse ([Julianne Moore](https://www.edgepedia.org/julianne-moore)).[6](https://www.filmeducation.org/pdf/film/ShippingNews.pdf) Quoyle's assignment includes writing up car wrecks and the shipping news itself, the arrivals and departures from the local port.[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-25-et-kenny25-story.html) • [5](https://goldenglobes.com/film/the-shipping-news/)
## Production
**Rights and development.** Proulx sold the film rights to *The Shipping News* for about $500,000 in 1992, before the novel was published. Her only condition was that the film be shot in Newfoundland, a request the initial studio, TriStar, rejected; producer Linda Goldstein Knowlton, who shepherded the project from start to finish, insisted on the remote location.[7](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-26-et-smith26-story.html) The production attracted a series of stars and potential directors over the years. [John Travolta](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-travolta) and later [Billy Bob Thornton](https://www.edgepedia.org/billy-bob-thornton) were set to play Quoyle, and Thornton planned to direct until he too left over creative differences. Disputes about the script led Hallström to depart for other projects, *[The Cider House Rules](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-cider-house-rules-film)* and *Chocolat*, before he returned.[8](https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/historic/2001/12/22/movies-undergo-frantic-last-minute-changes) Hallström recruited Jacobs, his *Chocolat* screenwriter, to rewrite the script.[9](https://www.cinema.com/articles/748/shipping-news-the-production-notes.phtml)
**Financing and shooting.** The film was initially planned as a co-production between Columbia and Miramax, but Columbia pulled out; Miramax took on full financing and brokered a deal returning Columbia's early investment, just under $5 million, with the budget set at $38 million.[10](https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/2001-2/the-shipping-news/) [Principal photography](https://www.edgepedia.org/principal-photography) began on March 12, 2001 in [Dartmouth, Nova Scotia](https://www.edgepedia.org/dartmouth-nova-scotia), with soundstage work there and more than one month spent shooting exteriors in Newfoundland.[9](https://www.cinema.com/articles/748/shipping-news-the-production-notes.phtml) An early production set piece echoed the David Blackwood etching on the paperback's cover: on March 9, 2001, at Cleveland Beach, Nova Scotia, three dogs and 49 extras in 1890s woolen clothing pulled a green house on spruce runners across the ice.[9](https://www.cinema.com/articles/748/shipping-news-the-production-notes.phtml)
Proulx took no part in the filming. She said she had neither the time nor the desire to participate: she did not read the screenplays, visit the set, or meet Hallström or the actors.[7](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-26-et-smith26-story.html) A contemporary review page nonetheless quoted her calling the result "a brilliant film that I didn't dream could be made."[11](https://www.bahistory.org/Newspapers/News_ABTab_20020111.pdf)
## Adaptation from the novel
Hallström and Jacobs deviate from the book considerably. In the novel, Quoyle has two small daughters; the film gives him one. The novel famously calls him "a third-rate newspaperman," while the film's Quoyle has never written anything before applying to the *Gammy Bird*.[12](https://www.fact-archive.com/encyclopedia/The_Shipping_News) • [3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-25-et-kenny25-story.html) Critics identified themes of the novel that the film softens or drops: Quoyle learning that love can be comfortable rather than painful, his growth from bumbling incompetent to competent manager, and his daughter Bunny learning about death.[12](https://www.fact-archive.com/encyclopedia/The_Shipping_News) A scholarly study of the novel notes that Hallström's film largely omits the book's theme of postmodernity's effects on the fictional outport community of Killick-Claw.[13](https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/SCL/article/view/21455) Hallström himself called the novel "almost provokingly undramatic."[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-25-et-kenny25-story.html)
## Reception
The film opened to mixed reviews. Kenneth Turan of the *Los Angeles Times* wrote that the key problem was not the script but the decision to cast Kevin Spacey as the oafish Quoyle, and judged that the book's edges and eccentricities had been softened.[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-25-et-kenny25-story.html) Roger Ebert's review was warmer, praising the newspaper characters, especially [Rhys Ifans](https://www.edgepedia.org/rhys-ifans) and [Pete Postlethwaite](https://www.edgepedia.org/pete-postlethwaite), and [Scott Glenn](https://www.edgepedia.org/scott-glenn) as the publisher who would rather go fishing.[14](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-shipping-news-2001) Peter Bradshaw in *The Guardian* called it "a profoundly tiresome, unconvincing, formulaic emotional blockbuster with some of the most outrageous accents to be heard in the cinema today."[15](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2002/mar/01/culture.reviews) The *Deseret News* found the adaptation episodic and judged that it missed the point of the story.[16](https://www.deseret.com/2002/1/18/20089807/film-review-shipping-news-the/)
**Box office.** Positioned by Miramax as an end-of-year awards contender after an accelerated post-production, the film opened on December 25, 2001 in 186 theaters with $1,205,174 and a $6,479 per-screen average, in a crowded holiday frame.[10](https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/2001-2/the-shipping-news/) It finished with $11,434,216 domestically and $13,256,225 internationally, for a worldwide total of $24,690,441 against its $38 million budget.[4](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0120824/) The Numbers records slightly different figures, a $35,000,000 production budget and $11,405,825 domestic gross.[17](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Shipping-News-The) Its two Golden Globe nominations, for Spacey's performance and Christopher Young's score, produced no wins.[5](https://goldenglobes.com/film/the-shipping-news/)
## References
1. [The Shipping News (2001), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62197-THE-SHIPPING-NEWS)
2. [The Shipping News, Official Site, Miramax](https://www.miramax.com/movie/the-shipping-news/)
3. [Kenneth Turan, "Sailing Is Too Smooth for 'Shipping News'", Los Angeles Times, December 25, 2001](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-25-et-kenny25-story.html)
4. [The Shipping News (2001), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0120824/)
5. [The Shipping News, Golden Globes Awards Database](https://goldenglobes.com/film/the-shipping-news/)
6. [Film Education Digital Resource Spring 2002: The Shipping News study guide](https://www.filmeducation.org/pdf/film/ShippingNews.pdf)
7. ["Adapting to Hollywood", Los Angeles Times, December 26, 2001](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-26-et-smith26-story.html)
8. ["Movies undergo frantic last-minute changes", Winnipeg Free Press, December 22, 2001](https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/historic/2001/12/22/movies-undergo-frantic-last-minute-changes)
9. [Shipping News, The: Production Notes, Cinema.com](https://www.cinema.com/articles/748/shipping-news-the-production-notes.phtml)
10. [The Shipping News (2001): Failed Oscar Bait, Bomb Report](https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/2001-2/the-shipping-news/)
11. [Allston-Brighton TAB, January 11, 2002, page 17](https://www.bahistory.org/Newspapers/News_ABTab_20020111.pdf)
12. [The Shipping News, Fact Archive encyclopedia entry](https://www.fact-archive.com/encyclopedia/The_Shipping_News)
13. [Dervila Cooke, "Tradition, Modernity, and the Enmeshing of Home and Away: The Shipping News and Proulx's 1990s Newfoundland", Studies in Canadian Literature 38(1), 2013](https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/SCL/article/view/21455)
14. [Roger Ebert, review of The Shipping News, December 25, 2001](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-shipping-news-2001)
15. [Peter Bradshaw, review of The Shipping News, The Guardian, February 28, 2002](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2002/mar/01/culture.reviews)
16. [Jeff Vice, "Film review: Shipping News, The", Deseret News, January 18, 2002](https://www.deseret.com/2002/1/18/20089807/film-review-shipping-news-the/)
17. [The Shipping News (2001), The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Shipping-News-The)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Adaptations of literature, stage, and other media › Films based on novels, novellas, and short fiction › Films based on contemporary literary fiction › Drama and romance adaptations*
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