James Matthew Barrie Finding Neverland movie
 


Browse by Movie
12 Mighty Orphans 
12 Strong 
12 Years a Slave 
13 Hours 
15:17 to Paris, The 
1917 
2 Hearts 
21 
22 July 
300 
300: Rise of an Empire 
42 
80 for Brady 
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood 
A Journal for Jordan 
A Million Miles Away 
A Small Light 
Act, The 
Adaptation 
Adrift 
Against the Ice 
Air 
All Eyez on Me 
All My Life 
All Saints 
Alpha Dog 
American Gangster 
American Hustle 
American Made 
American Sniper 
American Underdog 
Amityville Horror (1979) 
Amityville Horror (2005) 
Annabelle 
Annabelle: Creation 
Anthropoid 
Antwone Fisher 
Argo 
Arthur the King 
Bad Education 
Bandit 
Battle of the Sexes 
Beanie Bubble, The 
Beautiful Boy 
Beauty and the Beast 
Being the Ricardos 
Bessie 
Best of Enemies, The 
Big Eyes 
Big Lebowski 
Big Short, The 
Big Sick, The 
Bikeriders, The 
Black Bird 
Black Mass 
BlackBerry 
BlacKkKlansman 
Bleed for This 
Blind Side, The 
Bling Ring, The 
Blonde 
Bloodsport 
Blue Miracle 
Boardwalk Empire 
Bohemian Rhapsody 
Boston Strangler 
Boys Don't Cry 
Boys in the Boat, The 
Breach 
Breaking 
Breakthrough 
Brian Banks 
Bridge of Spies 
Burial, The 
Butler, The 
Bye Bye Man, The 
Cabrini 
Calendar Girls 
Can You Ever Forgive Me? 
Candy 
Capone 
Captain Phillips 
Captive 
Case for Christ, The 
Casino 
Catch Me If You Can 
Charlie Wilson's War 
Chasing Mavericks 
Chernobyl 
Clouds 
Cocaine Bear 
Concrete Cowboy 
Concussion 
Conjuring 2, The 
Conjuring, The 
Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, The 
Courier, The 
Crowded Room, The 
Crown, The 
Current War, The 
Danish Girl, The 
Danny Collins 
Darkest Hour 
Dear Edward 
Death of Stalin, The 
Deepwater Horizon 
Deliver Us From Evil 
Detroit 
Devil Wears Prada, The 
Devotion 
Diana 
Dig, The 
Dirt, The 
Disappointments Room, The 
Disaster Artist, The 
Dog Gone 
Dolemite Is My Name 
Donnie Brasco 
Downton Abbey 
Dr. Death 
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story 
Dream Horse 
Dropout, The 
Dumb Money 
Dunkirk 
Eddie the Eagle 
Elvis 
Emancipation 
End of the Tour, The 
Entourage 
Erin Brockovich 
Everest 
Exorcism of Emily Rose, The 
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile 
Eyes of Tammy Faye, The 
Fabelmans, The 
Farewell, The 
Father Stu 
Fatherhood 
Fault in Our Stars, The 
Favourite, The 
Ferrari 
Fighter, The 
Fighting with My Family 
Finding Neverland 
Finest Hours, The 
First Man 
Five Days at Memorial 
Flamin' Hot 
Florence Foster Jenkins 
For Life 
Ford v Ferrari 
Founder, The 
Foxcatcher 
Franklin 
Free State of Jones 
Freedom Writers 
Frida 
Genius 
Get On Up 
Gigi and Nate 
Girl from Plainville, The 
Glass Castle, The 
Gold 
Goldbergs, The 
Good Nurse, The 
Good on Paper 
Goodbye Christopher Robin 
Goodfellas 
Gran Turismo 
Greatest Beer Run Ever, The 
Greatest Showman, The 
Green Book 
Greyhound 
Gridiron Gang 
Hacksaw Ridge 
Hamilton 
Hands of Stone 
Harriet 
Haunting in Connecticut, The 
Heaven is for Real 
Hidden Figures 
Hill, The 
Hillbilly Elegy 
Hit Man 
Hollywoodland 
Home Team 
Hoosiers 
Hours, The 
House of Gucci 
Hurricane, The 
Hustlers 
I Am the Night 
I Can Only Imagine 
I Saw the Light 
I Still Believe 
I Wanna Dance with Somebody 
I, Tonya 
Imitation Game, The 
Infiltrator, The 
Inventing Anna 
Invincible 
Irishman, The 
Iron Claw, The 
Jaws 
Jerry and Marge Go Large 
Jersey Boys 
Jesus Revolution 
Jimi: All Is by My Side 
Jobs 
Joe Bell 
Joy 
Judas and the Black Messiah 
Judy 
Just Mercy 
Kill the Messenger 
Killers of the Flower Moon 
King Arthur 
King Richard 
Lady Bird 
Lady in the Lake 
Last Duel, The 
Last Full Measure, The 
League of Their Own, A 
Lee 
Lion 
Lone Survivor 
Lost City of Z, The 
Lost Girls 
Loving 
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom 
Maestro 
Maggie Moore(s) 
Maid 
Man Who Invented Christmas, The 
Manhattan 
Mank 
Marshall 
Masters of the Air 
Mauritanian, The 
McFarland, USA 
Megan Leavey 
Men of Honor 
Midway 
Military Wives 
Million Dollar Arm 
Minamata 
Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, The 
Miracle 
Miracles from Heaven 
Molly's Game 
Monster 
Monuments Men, The 
Mothman Prophecies, The 
Mrs. America 
Mule, The 
Munich: The Edge of War 
My All American 
Napoleon 
Next Goal Wins 
Not Without My Daughter 
Notorious 
Nun, The 
Nyad 
Old Man & the Gun, The 
On a Wing and a Prayer 
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 
One and Only Ivan, The 
Only the Brave 
Operation Finale 
Operation Mincemeat 
Oppenheimer 
Ordinary Angels 
Our Friend 
Outlaw King 
Outpost, The 
Pain & Gain 
Pain Hustlers 
Passion of the Christ, The 
Patch Adams 
Paterno 
Patriots Day 
Pawn Sacrifice 
Penguin Bloom 
People v. O.J. Simpson, The 
Pianist, The 
Pope's Exorcist, The 
Post, The 
Prayer Before Dawn, A 
Promise, The 
Public Enemies 
Pursuit of Happyness, The 
Queen of Katwe 
Queenpins 
Quiet Ones, The 
Race 
Radio 
Railway Man, The 
Reagan 
Reality 
Remember the Titans 
Rescued by Ruby 
Respect 
Revenant, The 
Richard Jewell 
Right Stuff, The 
Rite, The 
Rocketman 
Rookie, The 
Rudy 
Rush 
Safety 
Saving Mr. Banks 
Saving Private Ryan 
Schindler's List 
Scoop 
Seabiscuit 
Self Made 
Sergio 
Serpent, The 
Skin 
Slender Man 
Social Network, The 
Society of the Snow 
Son of God 
Soul Surfer 
Sound of Freedom 
Spencer 
Spotlight 
Staircase, The 
Steve Jobs 
Stronger 
Sully 
Survivor, The 
Tag 
Tender Bar, The 
Tetris 
Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The 
Texas Rising 
Theory of Everything, The 
Thing About Pam, The 
Thirteen Lives 
Tiger King 
Till 
Titanic 
To Write Love on Her Arms 
Togo 
Tolkien 
Top Gun: Maverick 
Trees of Peace 
Trial of the Chicago 7, The 
True Spirit 
Unbroken 
Unfrosted 
United 93 
United Kingdom, A 
United States vs. Billie Holiday, The 
Unsung Hero 
Upside, The 
Vice 
Victoria and Abdul 
Waco 
Walk the Line 
Walk, The 
War Dogs 
Watcher, The 
We Own This City 
We Were the Lucky Ones 
WeCrashed 
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story 
Welcome to Marwen 
When the Game Stands Tall 
When They See Us 
White Boy Rick 
White House Plumbers 
Wicked Little Letters 
Wild 
Wolf of Wall Street, The 
Woman in Gold 
Woman King, The 
Worth 
Young Woman and the Sea 
Zodiac 
Zookeeper's Wife, The 


REEL FACES HOME


Finding Neverland (2004)
Starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet
based on Peter Pan author James Matthew Barrie's relationship with Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and her children
Reel Face: Real Face:
Johnny Depp Johnny Depp
Born:

June 9, 1963
Birthplace: Owensboro, Kentucky, USA
JM Barrie James Matthew Barrie
Born:

May 9, 1860
Birthplace: Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland, UK
Died: June 19, 1937, London, England, UK (pneumonia)
Kate Winslet Kate Winslet
Born:

October 5, 1975
Birthplace: Reading, Berkshire, England, UK
Sylvia Llewelyn Davies Sylvia Llewelyn Davies
Born:

1866
Died: 1910 (cancer)
Freddie Highmore Freddie Highmore
Born:

February 14, 1992
Birthplace: London, England, UK
Peter Davies Peter Llewelyn Davies
Born:

April 5, 1897
Died: April 5, 1960, London, England, UK (suicide)

"The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it. " - J.M. Barrie, from his novel The Little Minister (1891)



Questioning the Story:
  



Was James Matthew Barrie a pedophile?
After viewing the movie Finding Neverland in 2004 with a few friends, one of them, who was an English Major in college at the time, left the theater telling us that the movie wasn't true because James Matthew Barrie was really a disgusting pedophile. She was exuberant in her claims and seemed to enjoy giving us the "real" story. I questioned whether to believe her or not, and after doing my own research I have discovered that there is little, if any proof to support her statement.

The youngest Davies boy Nico, who died in 1980, arrived at the balanced conclusion that the author of "Peter Pan" was "a lover of childhood, but was not in any sexual sense the pedophile that some claim him to have been." J.M.'s obsession with childhood is speculated to have been the result of his own emotionally traumatic life as a boy. When J.M. was six-years-old his older brother David died in a skating accident. At the time of his death, David had grown to be the perfect child in his mother Margaret's eyes. When David passed away Margaret ignored her other children, refusing their pleas for her affection.

Young James (J.M.) suffered greatly. He adopted his deceased brother's mannerisms in an attempt to win his mother's affection. Once he even dressed in David's old clothes. Nothing he tried worked. Margaret never recovered from the loss of her favorite son, and James never stopped trying to become the child that was his brother David, even after his mother's death in 1895 and on into his adult life.

J.M. Barrie and the Lost Boys by Andrew Birkin

Where did J.M. Barrie meet the Davies children?
Like in the movie, Barrie (Johnny Depp) first met the children of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet) at his favorite park, Kensington Gardens. Sylvia's sons George (the eldest) and Jack were the first Davies boys that Barrie met. He encountered George, Jack, and the family nurse Mary during his walks at the park, entertaining the lads by "wiggling his ears and perform[ing] magic tricks with his eyebrows". He also told the boys stories of pirates and treasure. George would return home and tell his mother Sylvia about the imaginative man in the park.

Where did J.M. Barrie first meet Sylvia Llewelyn Davies?
SylviaIn real life, Barrie did not first meet Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (portrayed by Kate Winslet in Finding Neverland) in the park at Kensington Gardens. He met her in 1897 at a dinner party hosted by Sir George (a lawyer) and Lady Lewis. Barrie was seated next to Sylvia, whom he would later refer to as "the most beautiful creature he had ever seen," with "a tip-tilted nose, wide, grey eyes....and a crooked smile." Barrie began a conversation with Sylvia after he noticed her tuck a few desserts under her coat. She explained that they were for her son Peter. The two began talking and eventually realized a common connection, Sylvia's son George whom Barrie had entertained several times in the park.

Was Sylvia's husband Arthur still alive when Barrie befriended the family?
Yes. Unlike in the movie Finding Neverland, Sylvia's husband Arthur was still alive when J.M. Barrie befriended the family in 1897. Arthur Llewellyn Davies had observed Barrie's affection for Sylvia and the children for nearly ten years, until he died from cancer of the jaw in 1907. During that time Arthur often resented Barrie's interference with his family. Despite the two not being the best of friends, J.M. Barrie included Arthur in the dedication at the start of "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens", which read, "To Sylvia and Arthur Llewellyn Davies and their boys (my boys)." The absence of Arthur in the movie was one of Finding Neverland's most significant omissions.

Did Barrie really have a St. Bernard dog like in the movie Finding Neverland?
JM Barrie dog PorthosYes. Peter Pan author JM Barrie really did own a large Saint Bernard dog named Porthos, which he walked in Kensington Gardens. The dog had been a present that JM gave to his wife Mary on their wedding day. Pictured at right is J.M. with Porthos and in the upper right is the movie Finding Neverland's canine character Porthos.

Why didn't Barrie and his wife Mary have any children?
It was rumored that J.M. Barrie may have been impotent. However, it is just as likely that Barrie and his wife, actress Mary Ansell, rarely consummated their marriage. Barrie had little interest in sex, and he found more pleasure in playing with other people's children than having any of his own. Biographer Andrew Birkin (author of J.M. Barrie and the Lost Boys) stumbled upon several revealing entries from some of Barrie's private notebooks, which seem to indicate his feelings about marriage. Written in the third person, the entries appear to be story ideas.
   �Greatest horror�dream I am married�wake up shrieking.
   �Even while proposing, the thought of how it wd read go thro' him.
   �He never has contact with a woman�If he had this might have made him exult less
   in making women love him.


Barrie further eluded to his own troubles at being intimate in his story "Tommy and Grizel," which tells of a devastated marriage. It was published six years into his own marriage to Mary Ansell. "Grizel, I seem to be different from all other men; there seems to be some curse upon me. . . . You are the only woman I ever wanted to love, but apparently I can't."

Did J.M. Barrie really divorce his wife Mary?
Yes. Married in 1894, author J.M. Barrie divorced his wife Mary Ansell in 1909 after she sought consolation in the arms of another man. Most historians sympathize with Mary and do not condemn her for any kind of adulterous behavior that she may have undertaken. Her marriage to Barrie had been an unhappy one partly because Barrie gave much of his attention to the Davies family instead of his wife. The Davies children had practically become his own (he would legally adopt them in the year following Sylvia's death), leaving Mary feeling childless and abandoned.



I heard that the real J.M. Barrie was a dwarf, is that true?
Yes. J.M. Barrie suffered from psychogenic dwarfism. As an adult he stood only 4'10". This is a whole foot shorter than his onscreen counterpart Johnny Depp. Psychogenic dwarfism is a growth disorder that occurs between the ages of 2 and 15, brought on by extreme emotional deprivation or stress. The condition results in decreased growth hormone (GH) secretion, inappropriate height and weight, and immature skeletal age.

What caused J.M. Barrie's extreme emotional stress during his childhood and teenage years?
The emotional stress in J.M. Barrie's life took hold of him when he was only six. It was then that his thirteen-year-old brother David died in a skating accident while away at school. His mother Margaret's grief over the loss of her favorite son caused her to alienate herself from her remaining children. Barrie's father did not interact with the children at all. As a result of extreme neglect and likely psychological abuse, Barrie became afflicted with psychological dwarfism (see above). He never grew beyond 4'10".

Barrie's short and frail physique led to feelings of insecurity. As a result, his shyness worsened during his teen years, and by the age of seventeen he began to avoid social gatherings altogether. Barrie wrote his feelings down in one of his school notebooks, "The boys write on walls, [a] name of boy and girl, coupling them together. As they never did it to me, I wrote my own with a girl's name....[I] am ashamed at being small enough to travel half ticket by rail."

Is Peter Pan based on Sylvia Llewelyn Davies' son Peter?
Michael Llewelyn DaviesThe fictional character of Peter Pan created by author J.M. Barrie is based on an amalgam of all five Davies children. The story and characters are also based on elements of Barrie's own childhood. The character of Peter Pan was in fact named after Peter Llewelyn Davies, but it was reportedly Michael Davies who Peter Pan was most closely modeled after. Michael was rumored to be Barrie's favorite of the five brothers, and it was Michael who Barrie photographed in the Peter Pan costume (shown at right). The picture was supposed to become the model for the famous statue of Peter Pan erected in Kensington Gardens in London, England. However, the sculptor ended up using a different child as a model, which disappointed Barrie. Michael was also the name of one of the three Darling children in Peter Pan.

Did the movie Finding Neverland feature all of the Davies children?
No. In the movie we see four of the five Davies children: George Llewelyn-Davies (1893�1915), John Llewelyn-Davies or Jack (1894-1959), Peter Llewelyn-Davies (1897�1960), and Michael Llewelyn-Davies (1900�1921). The film omits the youngest child, Nicholas Llewelyn-Davies or Nico (1903�1980).

What happened to the Davies children after their mother Sylvia died?
After both Sylvia and Arthur Llewelyn Davies died of cancer, custody of the children was given to JM Barrie as Sylvia's will had instructed. Barrie had already been acting as a surrogate father to the boys ever since their real father's death approximately three years earlier. Some have speculated that Barrie may have forged his name into Sylvia's will, replacing that of Jenny Hodgson, the boys' nurse. Regardless, Barrie was able to provide for the boys so that they didn't have to be split up. In letters that Sylvia wrote before she died, she indicated her desire for Barrie to be involved in the children's lives, "...I should like all my dear one's love letters to me to be burnt unread...& lie with me & Arthur in the Hampstead churchyard close to that other dear grave...Of one thing I am certain -- that JM Barrie (the best of friends in the whole world) will always be ready to advise..."

In the years that followed, several tragedies befell the Davies boys, which ultimately left Barrie in an everlasting state of grief. He would never be able to create anything on par with Peter Pan ever again. On March 15, 1915, 21-year-old George Llewelyn Davies was killed in battle during a WWI advance on the Germans at St. Eloi. Six years later in 1921, the second youngest Davies boy Michael drowned with a friend, Rupert Errol Victor Buxton, while he was away at Oxford University as an undergraduate. The two inseparable friends were found clinging together, and it was speculated that they had been lovers who had made a suicide pact.

What happened to Peter Llewelyn-Davies?
Young Peter, portrayed by Freddie Highmore in the movie Finding Neverland, won the Military Cross for his efforts in World War I. He later became a publisher. His lifelong notoriety with the character of Peter Pan troubled him greatly. He once referred to the play as "that terrible masterpiece," though no one is certain why his association with the character bothered him so much. Yet, it is certain that Peter felt insulted when James Matthew Barrie left his fortune to his secretary, Cynthia Asquith, and not to the Davies boys, who were the inspiration for "Peter Pan". Peter's son Ruthven once wrote, "My father had mixed feelings about the whole business of Peter Pan. He accepted that Barrie considered that he was the inspiration for Peter Pan and it was only reasonable that my father should inherit everything from Barrie. That was my father's expectation. It would have recompensed him for the notoriety he had experienced since being linked with Peter Pan � something he hated."

On April 5, 1960, almost seven months after the death of his brother John, 63-year-old Peter committed suicide by throwing himself under a train as it was pulling into the station at Sloan Square, London. It is not known why Peter Llewelyn Davies took his own life. A coroner's jury ruled that he had killed himself "while the balance of his mind was disturbed".

Did J.M. Barrie really donate the royalties from Peter Pan to a children's hospital?
Yes. In 1929 Barrie gave the copyright of his children's classic to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. Even though the UK copyright expired in 1987 (50 years after Barrie's death) then Prime Minister Lord Callaghan successfully proposed an amendment to the Copyright Act, which gave Great Ormond Street the unique right to royalties from stage performances of Peter Pan (and any adaptation of the play), forever. (Section 301, Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988).



Video of J.M. Barrie & Photos Taken by Barrie:
Titled "The Boy Castaway", this YouTube video features a short video clip of Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie followed by photos that he took of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies' boys at the lake in 1901. He compiled the photos into a story titled "The Boy Castaways of Black Lake Island".

JM Barrie video clip Watch "The Boy Castaway"




J.M. Barrie Audio Clips:
The two J.M. Barrie audio clips listed below are from the website jmbarrie.co.uk. In the first clip, taken from a June 7, 1930 speech, the real J.M. Barrie recounts how he injured the lip of his best friend, James Robb. The second short audio clip features Barrie speaking at the unveiling of author Thomas Hardy's statue in Dorchester on September 2, 1931.

real J.M. Barrie audio clip J.M. Barrie Talks About Splitting his Friend's Lip - MP3, 0:25

Barrie voice clip J.M. Barrie Speaking About Thomas Hardy - MP3, 0:41

Barrie voice clip Johnny Depp Talks About the Character - Real Player, 0:29




Link-to-Learn More:
Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity
Read Literature by J.M. Barrie at eLook
Roger Ebert Finding Neverland Movie Review



Watch the Finding Neverland Movie Trailer:

Finding Neverland movie trailer - SPLYCED

EXPLORE
THE STORY

 
CONTACT US | BOARDS | HOME | TERMS | PRIVACY POLICY

Copyright © 2025 ChasingtheFrog.com, CTF Media