Richard Gladstein, producer of the Oscar-nominated Finding Neverland, will attend a screening of the 2004 film at the New Orleans Museum of Art on Oct. 20. Afterward, series curator Meryl Poster will speak with Gladstein, with time for audience questions.
According to NOLA.com, the event marks the final installment of the museum's 2026 Producer's Choice film series, which Poster curated. NOMA describes the series on its own event page as an ongoing program she created, pairing screenings with conversations between Poster and the people who made the films. The museum's listing for the Finding Neverland event states that it will feature a post-screening conversation between Poster and Gladstein, the film's producer.
The event is scheduled for Oct. 20 at NOMA’s Lapis Center for the Arts. NOLA.com reports a 6–8 p.m. event, while NOMA’s listing gives a 6–9 p.m. window, with doors opening at 6 p.m. and the screening starting at 6:30 p.m. NOMA lists tickets at $10 for members and $15 for general admission, available through the museum’s website.
The Series and Its Venue
NOMA’s records offer another example of the Producer’s Choice format: a separate screening of Shall We Dance on Wed, September 23rd, at the Lapis Center for the Arts, followed by a Zoom conversation with actor Lisa Ann Walter. It was a prior installment with a different film and guest from the Oct. 20 Finding Neverland event, according to NOMA’s listing. NOMA describes the Lapis Center for the Arts as a multipurpose space for film screenings, lectures, theater and dance performances, among other uses, according to the museum.
The Story Behind the Film
Finding Neverland dramatizes how Scottish playwright J.M. Barrie came to write Peter Pan, a connection Variety identifies as central to the film’s account of Barrie’s life. NOLA.com reports that Barrie met Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and her four boys in Kensington Gardens, and that his relationship with the family inspired the story that became Peter Pan. Sylvia was still married when they met, a detail handled differently in the stage play that inspired the film.
Allan Knee’s play, The Man Who Was Peter Pan, provided the basis for the film. NOLA.com reports that the play included four of Sylvia’s five children and portrayed her as a widow when Barrie met her; the film also portrays Sylvia as a recent widow.
The Cast
The cast includes Johnny Depp as Barrie, Kate Winslet as Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, Dustin Hoffman as producer Charles Frohman, and Julie Christie as Sylvia’s mother, Emma. Variety’s 2004 review also credits Christie in the role.
Poster's connection to the film goes back to her studio days. During her tenure as co-president of production at Miramax, she oversaw Finding Neverland's development and production as a senior studio executive, according to the museum's event page. That same listing credits her with overseeing numerous Academy Award-winning and nominated films during that period.
Gladstein's Oscar-Nominated Track Record
Gladstein received two Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, one for The Cider House Rules and one for Finding Neverland, according to NOMA's event listing. His producing credits also include She's All That and The Bourne Identity, and he has produced multiple Quentin Tarantino films, per NOLA.com's reporting.
The film premiered in Leicester Square, London, on Oct. 17, 2004, and also had a premiere in Brooklyn that year, according to NOLA.com.
