Based on Noel Coward’s hugely popular 1941 play, the 2020 film adaptation of Blithe Spirit is set to rise for a new generation of Aussie fans when it premieres exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in Australia next month.
The film follows best-selling crime novelist Charles (Dan Stevens), who is struggling with catastrophic writer’s block and a stressful deadline for his first screenplay. His picture-perfect second wife, Ruth (Isla Fisher) is doing her best to keep him focussed in the hope of fulfilling her dream of heading to Hollywood.
Charles’ desperate search for inspiration leads him to invite Madame Arcati (Judi Dench), a medium recently exposed as a fraud, to perform a séance in their home. They all get more than they bargained for when Arcati accidentally summons the spirit of his deceased first wife: the fiery and jealous Elvira (Leslie Mann), who embarks on a mission to kill Charles so she can spend eternity with him, which leads to an increasingly comical and deadly love triangle.
Isla Fisher, who plays Ruth Condomine, said: “I love the language, I love the period, the costumes, I loved meeting the director Edward Hall and hearing his take on it, and I really wanted to work with Judi Dench and Dan,” says Fisher, although she jokes that the appreciation worked both ways; “I just think she (Dench) really wanted to work with me. She’s a big fan of Home & Away, and this was her chance, and so she grasped it!”
Blithe Spirit is directed by Edward Hall, written by Nick Moorcroft, Meg Leonard, Piers Ashworth, and based on the play by Noël Coward.
Blithe Spirit premieres exclusively on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, April 2
