FAQ

After one of his plays flops, playwright James Matthew Barrie (Johnny Depp) meets four young boys—Peter (Freddie Highmore), Jack (Joe Prospero), George (Nick Roud), and Michael (Luke Spill)—and their widowed mother Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet) in the park. Over the next several months, the boys' imagination fuels Barrie into writing another play, which eventually becomes the classic known as Peter Pan.

Finding Neverland is based on a 1990 play, The Man Who Was Peter Pan by Allan Knee, which was, of course, inspired by Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, the original play written in 1904 by Scottish author Sir James Barrie [1860-1937]. Barrie eventually made the play into a novel, Peter and Wendy, first published in 1911. Knee's play was adapted for the screen by American screenwriter David Magee.

Peter Pan opens in London, and it turns out to be a hit. Unfortunately, Sylvia has taken so ill that she cannot attend the opening, although she does send Peter to see it. Peter pronounces it "magical". As Sylvia's condition deteriorates, James brings the play, including the entire cast, orchestra, and scenery, to her house so that Sylvia can experience Neverland, as he promised her. In the ending scenes, the family is seen attending Sylvia's funeral. Sylvia's mother (Julie Christie) informs Barrie that he has been appointed, according to Sylvia's will, as co-guardian of the boys. In the final scene, which takes place on a park bench, Barrie promises to always be there for Peter and assures him that his mom has gone to Neverland. Peter collapses in Barrie's arms, crying, and both figures slowly fade from view, leaving just the park bench as the credits start to roll.

Without a copy of Knee's play with which to compare the movie, that's impossible to tell. However, the movie can be compared to the events as they happened in the life of the real James Barrie. When done so, several differences are apparent. The first major discrepancy is that, in the movie, Barrie meets Sylvia when she is already widowed and has four sons. Barrie met the real Sylvia, along with her husband Arthur, in 1897. At the time, they had three sons. Barrie remained a friend of the family (and the children) until Arthur died in 1907, three years after Barrie wrote Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. Barrie's play opened in 1904; the real Sylvia didn't take ill and die until August 1910, six years later. In the movie, Barrie's wife Mary (Radha Mitchell) leaves him because of his association with the Davies; in real life, Barrie sued his wife for divorce on the grounds of infidelity (she had been involved in an affair with another man for over a year).

In the movie, James tells Sylvia's mother that he loved Sylvia and her boys very much. There are no romantic scenes between the two to indicate that there was anything carnal about their relationship. Whether or not the real James Barrie and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies were ever involved romantically is an issue that has been debated, but no verifiable evidence pro or con has emerged. In real life, Mary and James Barrie were divorced in October 1909, ten months before Sylvia's death in August 1910.

An online search for The Man Who Was Peter Pan by Allan Knee has not turned up a manuscript at this time. There is some speculation as to whether or not the play was ever published. However, the novelized version is in the public domain and can be downloaded for free from Project Gutenberg.

The real Sylvia Llewelyn Davies had five sons with her husband Arthur. In order of birth, they were: (1) George (1893-1915), (2) John (Jack) (1894-1959), (3) Peter (1897-1960), (4) Michael (1900-1921), and (5) Nicholas (Nico) (1903-1980). When James Barrie met the Davies family in 1897, Michael and Nico had not yet been born. For the film, Nico was omitted.