{"id":621909,"date":"2026-09-11T23:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T23:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/621909\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T23:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T23:42:09","slug":"onwards-and-sideways-director-john-madden-on-returning-to-tiff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/621909\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Onwards and Sideways’ Director John Madden on Returning to TIFF"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWhen director John Madden<\/a> first read Paul Mayhew-Archer\u2019s script that was based on his experience living with Parkinson\u2019s disease, he knew it had a ways to go. But he recognized its potential.<\/p>\n

\n\tNow nearly a decade later, Madden is ready to show \u201cOnwards and Sideways\u201d to buyers at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival. What initially started as a \u201cboy meets girl\u201d script evolved into something much more complicated, Madden says, now beginning with a chance encounter as two strangers are diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s on the same morning at the same hospital.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat opened up a different kettle of fish,\u201d Madden tells Variety. \u201cIt ended up being much more involving than one had anticipated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe story follows the ripple effects of that chance encounter between Tony (Rhys Ifans) and Emma (Laura Linney), a teacher and composer who find their lives forever intertwined as they take in the news that they only have \u201cfive good years\u201d left to live, per their blunt neurologist. \u201cOnwards and Sideways\u201d follows the pair over the course of five chapters as they fall in love and change each other\u2019s lives after Tony reluctantly takes up Emma\u2019s suggestion on joining a Parkinson\u2019s ballet class.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile much remains unknown about the disease, including the cause, over 10 million people are estimated to be living with Parkinson\u2019s around the world, according to the Parkinson\u2019s Foundation. It\u2019s a disorder of the nervous system that restricts movement across the body, and the effects are felt more over time.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMost of us, in some way or another, are a degree or two of separation away from the condition,\u201d Madden says. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to go very far before you bump into that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMadden spent time working with both Ifans and Linney separately, and describes their chemistry as \u201cnatural\u201d when they began rehearsing scenes together.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe way they respond to one another was fantastic, particularly given that they were acting completely out of chronological order and working with a condition that actually had to be minutely calibrated from moment to moment,\u201d Madden says.<\/p>\n

\n\tTwo consultants worked closely on the film and ensured that its depiction of Parkinson\u2019s was authentic. That was especially important for Rhys and Linney, who portray characters with different symptoms.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cVery quickly, it became natural, instinctive,\u201d Madden adds.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut while \u201cOnwards and Sideways\u201d is bringing Madden back to TIFF after 16 years, where he previously unspooled \u201cThe Debt\u201d and \u201cProof,\u201d it\u2019s a noticeably different strategy than 1998\u2018\u2019\u2019s \u201cShakespeare in Love\u201d employed, which put him on the map with a director Oscar nomination while the film won best picture. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe weren\u2019t in a position to go the festival route because [distributor Miramax] wanted to get it out before the end of the year,\u201d Madden says, recalling the film\u2019s effective late-year release strategy. \u201cI said to [then Miramax topper] Harvey Weinstein, \u2018Look, whatever we do, you can\u2019t let people watch this with four or five people in a screening room. You have to put it with an audience.\u2019 So we played it at the Paris Theater [in New York] and that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Madden hops on a plane to Toronto, bringing \u201cOnwards and Sideways\u201d directly to audiences to see how they respond, he looks back on getting to collaborate with Mayhew-Archer and commends the BAFTA nominee\u2019s \u201cdefiance\u201d in living with Parkinson\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe doesn\u2019t belabor his own condition,\u201d Madden says. \u201cHe\u2019s on record as saying it\u2019s one of the best things that ever happened to him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When director John Madden first read Paul Mayhew-Archer\u2019s script that was based on his experience living with Parkinson\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[93,61,60,264042,270,1998],"class_list":["post-621909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-john-madden","tag-movies","tag-toronto-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}