Holland movie’s original vision was ‘abandoned’ | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV

Holland is available to watch on Prime Video and the mystery thriller film follows a midwestern schoolteacher who begins to suspect her husband is cheating on her. Enlisting the help of one of her colleagues, she ends up discovering dark secrets about her spouse.

The film stars Nicole Kidman as teacher Nancy Vandergroot and Matthew Macfadyen as her husband Fred. The premise for the film initially came to light in 2013 and it was going to be titled Holland, Michigan.

During the first production of the movie in 2013, the story was described as a “suburban thriller laced with black humor” similar to the likes of Fargo. Yet for the 2022 announcement of the project, the film is described as more of a “Hitchcock-style thriller”.

Back in 2013, huge names including Naomi Watts and Bryan Cranston were attached to star, with Errol Morris announced as the director. Production was due to start in the following April, but the plans were abandoned by 2015.

Amazon Studios secured the film rights in 2016, leading to its production with a new cast and crew in 2022. Initially announced as Holland, Michigan, the title was changed to Holland when the film release was announced.

The original script was set in the present day, but director Mimi Cave shifted the timeline to 2000.

She revealed the town she grew up in drew parallels with Holland, so she felt a real kinship with the characters.

The director explained to Variety: “The script, when it was written back in 2013, was set at present day, and I chose to set it back to 2000 because it felt to me like some of the themes they were dealing with, in terms of like Dave feeling like an outsider, felt more of that time.

“Also, I was able to relate to that period a little bit more since I left the Midwest around 2002.”

She did film for a couple of days in Holland, Michigan, and had originally wanted to film the final scene, the Tulip Time parade, on the main street.

However, she explained: “It just became difficult. We ended up finding this amazing little town called Clarksville, Tennessee, and we really kind of took over the town.

“I think it ended up fitting better, in a weird way, because the Holland we created was an elevated, more surreal version of Holland, Michigan.”

She had been in the middle of editing Fresh when her agent sent her the project.

“I knew a little bit about the history of it and how it had tried to have a couple of different lives. And, for some reason I couldn’t stop thinking about it,” she said.

Holland is available to watch on Prime Video