The film that introduced a young Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen and Jude Law to an international audience – director Brian Gilbert talks about Wilde (1997) at Chiswick In Film festival 2026

Stephen Fry in Wilde (1997); Image IMDb

Two film directors for the price of one at the Chiswick In Film festival – a unique opportunity to meet two highly successful film directors who just happen to be father and daughter

The director of Wilde (1997) and the director of Reawakening (2024) will be talking about their work this weekend at the Chiswick In Film festival after a screening of Wilde at 4.30 pm on Saturday afternoon (28 March) at Chiswick Cinema.

They are father and daughter. Brian Gilbert has been directing films since the early 1980s when David Puttnam spotted his potential in his graduation film from the National Film and Television School. Virginia has directed three feature length films: Hesitation (2007); A Long Way from Home (2013) and Reawakening (2024). She will be returning to the cinema on Sunday 17 May for a screening of Reawakening.

Oscar Wilde was publicly exposed as homosexual by the Marquess of Queensberry, and imprisoned as a result; Image IMDb

Film and theatre are clearly in the blood, as Brian’s father was an actor; Brian was an actor before becoming a director and Virginia set up her own theatre company and wrote for TV and film before she found success as a director.

Brian was already successful as a director when he made the biographical drama about Oscar Wilde, having made several films both here and in Hollywood. Virginia remembers being taken to the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield as a small child and going out to visit her father when he was working in America.

Whatever film project her father had on, he shared with the family. She remembers sitting round reading scripts and discussing music for films as she was growing up.

Wilde was one of three films Brian made with producer Marc Samuelson for Miramax: the Oscar nominated Tom & Viv, then the award-winning Wilde and finally The Gathering. Virginia was a teenager by then and luckily for her, the filming days for the first two films coincided with her summer holidays and she was able to play a role as runner and hang out with the assistant directors.

Jude Law in his break out role 

Bringing future British film stars to an international audience

Wilde had a fantastic cast: Stephen Fry as Oscar Wilde, with Vanessa Redgrave, Jennifer Ehle, Jude Law, Gemma Jones, Judy Parfitt, Michael Sheen, Zoë Wanamaker and Tom Wilkinson in supporting roles; Orlando Bloom making his first screen appearance as a rent boy.

“It was the first film about Oscar Wilde that was able to be frank and explore his relationships more truthfully”, Virginia Gilbert told The Chiswick Calendar. “It made an impact when it came out; it was very successful and it is still known today, which is quite a feat”.

The film introduced several actors to an international audience: Stephen Fry, Jude Law, Michael Sheen and Orlando Bloom.

“Dad really had to fight for Stephen Fry”, Virginia told The Chiswick Calendar. “He wasn’t internationally known then. Jude he discovered – he had only made one small film before that and got The Talented Mr Ripley off the back of Wilde. He really had a very good eye for casting”.

Stephen Fry as Oscar Wilde

Writing for the Los Angeles Times, film critic Kevin Thomas commented:

“Wilde has found a perfect Oscar in the formidably talented Stephen Fry, who brings an uncanny physical resemblance to the Victorian playwright along with a profound grasp of the great wit’s psyche” and described the film as “a lustrous period piece with a high degree of authenticity in decor and costume.”

Stephen Fry was nominated for Best Actor at the Golden Globes; Jennifer Ehle and Zoë Wanamaker were nominated for BAFTAs and Jude Law was nominated for the Evening Standard award as Most Promising Newcomer.

The film won an Ivor Novello award for Best Score and Stephen Fry won Best Actor at the Seattle International Film Festival.

It definitely bears watching – or rewatching – on a big screen. Brian and Virginia will be talking to me about the film and how daughter has learned from father about the craft of directing, on Saturday 28 March.

Book tickets: Wilde

Vanessa Redgrave as Lady “Speranza” Wilde – Oscar’s mother – in Wilde; Image IMDb

A weekend of fabulous films with connections to Chiswick – including Eddie Marsan talking about his latest film No Ordinary Heist, released this weekend

Also at next weekend’s Chiswick In Film festival: Andrea Carnevali talks to director Guillem Morales on Friday night about his psychological thriller The Wasp (2024), starring Naomie Harris, Natalie Dormer and Dominic Allburn; Rob Sprackling introduces the animated children’s film Heidi, for which he wrote the script; and gives a workshop for adults about animation.

Also on Saturday Jacqui Lawrence talks to Susan Simnett, Anne Beresford and Janis Pugh about Chuck Chuck Baby – a musical romance which won two BAFTA Cymru awards in 2024. There will be a film quiz in the bar at 3pm on Saturday.

On Sunday afternoon we will be showing another film which features the debuts or early roles of several notable British actors, including Chiswick’s own Colin Firth: A Month in the Country. In the evening we will be joined by another of Chiswick’s famous actors, Eddie Marsan, to talk about his new film, out this weekend: No Ordinary Heist.

Book tickets for the festival

Book tickets for the Chiswick In Film Festival here: Chiswick In Film

All tickets (apart from Heidi £6.00) are a maximum price of £12.00.

The festival is presented in close partnership between The Chiswick Calendar and The Chiswick Cinema. The festival team are The Chiswick Calendar’s Editor Bridget Osborne, director and screenwriter Rob Sprackling, BAFTA-winning editor Andrea Carnevali and the cinema’s Programme and Marketing Manager Chris Parker. The festival is sponsored by London Bath Co.

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