Henry James

What Maisie Knew Illustrated Henry James

What Maisie Knew is a 2012 American drama film directed by Scott McGee and David Siegel and written by Carroll Cartwright and Nancy Doyen. Starring Julianne Moore, Alexander Skarsgård, Onate April, Joanna Vander ham and Steve Coogan, it is a modern adaptation of Henry James' 1897 novel What Maisie Knew. Six-year-old Maisie lives in a New York apartment with her parents, Susanna, a singer in a rock band, and Beale, an international art dealer. Susanna and Beale argue with each other viciously and constantly, often ignoring Maisie and leaving her in the care of their nanny, Margo. After the separation, Margo moves into Beale's apartment and they get married soon afterwards. In response to the marriage, Susanna impulsively marries Lincoln, a bartender whom she barely knows. Maisie bonds with Lincoln, but Susanna quickly grows resentful of how much Maisie warms to him. Cartwright and Doyen wrote the film's script in 1995 but the project languished in development hell until McGee and Siegel were hired as directors. It was filmed in New York over seven weeks in 2011 with music scored by DeVotchKa's Nick Urata.