London, 1903: four lads, three women, and J.M. Barrie in the year he writes "Peter Pan." After one of his plays flops, Barrie meets four boys and their widowed mother in the park. During the next months, the child-like Barrie plays with the boys daily, and their imaginative games give him ideas for a play. Simultaneously, a friendship deepens with Sylvia, the lads' mother, to the chagrin of his wife Mary, with whom he spends little time (separate bedrooms), the widow's mother, and high society, which gossips about his attraction to the widow and to her sons. As Sylvia's health worsens, Barrie's ties to the boys strengthen and he must find a way to take his muse to Neverland.

During filming, on his second day on the set, Dustin Hoffman lost the tip of a finger in an accident when a folding chair collapsed and dropped him to the floor. Doctors were unable to reattach the finger tip. To manage the pain, Hoffman performed one day of shooting on morphine. In one scene, he keeps his hand in his pocket to hide the bandages.

Peter Llewelyn Davies:
That scepter's made of wood.


J.M. Barrie:
Yes, well, we do dream on a budget here, don't we?

Continuity: While they are watching the play in the Davies' home Michael goes from leaning onto his mother to sitting up straight to leaning on his mother again.

Composed by David Marshall (PRS)
Published by Studio G Ltd (PRS)
Courtesy of Promusic