Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool is a 2017 biographical romantic drama film directed by Paul McGuigan and starring Annette Bening and Jamie Bell, with a cast that includes Vanessa Redgrave and Julie Walters. It is based on the memoir of the same name by Peter Turner, which tells of his relationship with Academy Award-winning American actress Gloria Grahame in 1970s Liverpool and, some years later, her death from stomach cancer. The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on 1 September 2017. It was released in the United Kingdom on 16 November by Lionsgate and in the United States on 29 December by Sony Pictures Classics. At the 71st British Academy Film Awards, it received three nominations: Best Actress (Bening), Best Actor (Bell) and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film received generally positive reviews. Synopsis In medias res, in October 1981, Gloria Grahame is playing the role of Amanda in The Glass Menagerie in Lancaster and takes ill. She calls upon a former lover, Peter Turner, who reluctantly takes her to his parents' home in Liverpool to recuperate. Back in 1979, in the twilight of her once-prolific and Academy Award-winning career, Gloria is playing the role of Sadie in W. Somerset Maugham's Rain in London and asks another tenant at her boarding house—Peter—to practice dancing disco with her. Gloria is flirtatious with Peter, who is also an actor. They see Alien together, have a drink together afterward, and strike up a friendship. After an argument, their relationship becomes intimate, despite their noticeable age difference.