The film begins with the following title card: “Kenya, East Africa, 1913,” and concludes with the epilogue: “Karen Blixen published her first stories in 1934 under the name Isak Dinesen. She never returned to Africa.”
       Danish author Karen Blixen refused to option her work during her lifetime, despite requests from Swedish actress-director Mai Zetterling and American actor Tyrone Power, who travelled to Blixen’s home in Rungstedlund, Denmark, to personally appeal for film rights to Out of Africa. After Blixen’s death in 1962, the executor of her estate, the Rungstedlund Foundation, maintained strict adherence to her wishes that any motion picture adaptation follow her text verbatim, as noted in a 31 Jul 1974 Var article. On 14 Oct 1964, Var announced that the institution had finally sold Out of Africa to Danish director Johan Jacobsen and his wife, filmmaker Annelise Hovmand. As part of the deal, Blixen’s brother, Thomas Dinesen, was named an associate of the production to protect the author’s interests, and British Lion Films was listed as a potential backer. Orson Welles and David Lean had also made separate, unsuccessful attempts to option the book in the 1960s, and actress Greta Garbo was considered for the starring role, according to a 25 Dec 1985 Long Beach Press-Telegram article. Welles eventually directed two other Blixen adaptations, The Immortal Story (1969, see entry) and The Dreamers, which was not completed before his death in 1985.
       Four years after the Jacobsen-Hovmand acquisition, a 4 Feb 1969 DV brief reported that the property had switched ownership, as American producer Julian Blaustein had purchased Out of Africa for Universal Pictures. On 16 Apr 1969, Var stated that screenwriter Robert Ardrey began a script one week earlier. Ardrey, who authored the bestseller African Genesis: A Personal Investigation into the Animal Origins and Nature of Man (1961) and wrote the script for Blaustein’s 1966 release, Khartoum (see entry), reportedly brought Out of Africa to Blaustein’s attention.
       Although a 13 Aug 1969 Var item announced that filming on the Blaustein production was set to begin, the project remained in limbo over the next eight months. A 22 Apr 1970 Var article explained that the property had changed hands yet again, from Universal to Warner Bros., but it failed to gain momentum, and Warner Bros. was expected to put the book back on the market. At that time, producer Martin Ransohoff at Filmways, Inc., hoped to acquire Out of Africa from Warner Bros. and finance the picture as a Danish co-production, with filmmaker Henning Karmark and Nordisk Film supplying half of the budget. Actresses Maggie Smith and Vanessa Redgrave were top considerations for the leading role. By 6 May 1970, Ardrey’s script was completed and financing negotiations were still underway, according to a Var brief published that day, and one year later, the 17 Jul 1971 Var reported that General Electric’s subsidiary, Tomorrow Entertainment, was negotiating a deal with Blaustein. However, financing never materialized, and Blaustein was ultimately unable to put the film into production.
       Seven months passed before a 1 Feb 1972 DV news item announced that producer Si Litvinoff had optioned the property, and filming was scheduled to begin that summer. It took another year and a half for Litvinoff to confirm his acquisition of Out of Africa for Columbia Pictures, after “protracted negotiations” with the Rungstedlund Foundation, as reported in the 31 Jul 1974 Var. Noting that past ventures failed because filmmakers were unable to adhere to the institution’s strict demands, and financial constraints, Var stated that Nicholas Roeg had been hired to write and direct the picture, as he remained open to the foundation’s script changes. On 9 Oct 1975, DV reported that filming on the $5 million production was set to take place some time in 1976, with a script by Julie Rosco.
       Meanwhile, journalist Kurt Luedtke had developed a lifelong obsession with British East Africa, and longed to solve the puzzle of adapting Out of Africa into a feature film. As noted in an 8 Dec 1985 LAT article, Karen Blixen’s fictionalized memoir was particularly difficult to condense into a motion picture because its narrative was non-linear and ephemeral, recounting the author’s Kenyan coffee plantation, her marriage to her second cousin, Baron Bror Blixen-Finecke, and the individuals she encountered in Africa, including Kikuyu tribespeople and European colonialists. Among them was Denys George Finch Hatton, a British aristocrat whom she described with adoration, but refrained from identifying as her lover. Luedtke, who left his executive editor post at the Detroit Free Press to pursue creative writing in Hollywood, received an Academy Award nomination for his first produced screenplay, Absence of Malice (1981, see entry), and was eager to start a new project. That year, he came across a 1977 biography of Finch Hatton called Silence Will Speak, and gained insight into Hatton’s previously undisclosed, intimate relationship with Blixen. As noted in the 25 Dec 1985 Long Beach Press-Telegram, biographer Errol Trzebinski stumbled upon the mysterious romance at a rummage sale in Mombasa, Kenya. An antique cup, inscribed “K. B. from D. F. H.,” prompted three years of research that uncovered the couple’s elusory love affair. Reading Silence Will Speak, Luedtke believed he had finally “found the key” to the Out of Africa puzzle that had stumped past filmmakers, and decided to adapt the book as a romantic “story of a woman who wanted more than she could have, and, as a result, lost everything.” As stated in production notes from AMPAS library files, he “immediately” traveled to Venice, Italy, to acquire screen rights to Hatton’s biography, and coincidentally crossed paths with author Judith Thurman, who had recently completed a first draft of Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller (1982).
       At that time, Columbia retained screen rights to Out of Africa with executive producer Kim Jorgensen, and Luedtke had a connection to the studio because it had distributed Absence of Malice. He approached the film’s director-producer, Sydney Pollack, with his plan for Out of Africa, but Pollack was skeptical, having attempted an adaptation of his own years earlier, according to the 8 Dec 1985 LAT. After reading the first draft of Luedtke’s script in 1982, Pollack was convinced the story was a success, but he worked with Luedtke for another year before presenting it to Columbia chairman Frank Price. On 23 Dec 1983, LAT announced that development had begun at Columbia, but Pollack noted that the deal was not finalized, since he was engaged as a “creative consultant” at the newly established Tri-Star Pictures. The studio had a complicated relationship with Columbia, as both were accountable to the same parent company, Coca-Cola, but did not share projects. A Dec 1983 Ampersand item added that actress Jessica Lange had acquired screen rights for Pollack to direct at that time, but she did not retain the property.
       Nearly two months later, a 17 Feb 1984 NYT column reported that Out of Africa would be a Columbia-Tri-Star co-production. Pollack was pursuing his longtime collaborator, Robert Redford, for the starring role of “Denys,” and British actress Jane Seymour was the top choice for “Karen,” as stated in a 21 Mar 1984 HR news item. According to the Long Beach Press-Telegram, Pollack was initially disinterested in casting an American actress, fearing her Danish accent would sound forced. However, Luedtke reportedly wrote the part for Meryl Streep, and the actress actively campaigned for the role. She learned to replicate Blixen’s voice from audio tape recordings, but Pollack ultimately asked her to tone down the author’s aristocratic speech pattern, fearing it would alienate the audience.
       On 2 May 1984, LAT reported “rumors” that Redford and Streep had been cast. However, Columbia had put the property into turnaround the previous week, and Pollack was in negotiations with Universal, where Frank Price had taken over as chairman after leaving Columbia in the wake of Coca-Cola’s takeover. The 8 Dec 1985 LAT explained that Columbia was wary of financing another big-budget African production after losing more than $26 million on Sheena (1984, see entry), but Price did not balk at Out of Africa’s proposed $20-million budget.
       By 5 Oct 1984, Out of Africa was ready for production, as announced in a NYT column published that day. Principal photography began on 14 Jan 1985 in a town near Nairobi, Kenya, called “Karen” after the famous author who once lived there. Karen Blixen’s home was recreated from an existing farmhouse at the Ngong Dairy, since her real home had been converted into a government facility, as stated in production notes. (The house was later transformed into a national museum due to the success of the film Out of Africa, according to a 25 Mar 1986 HR announcement. The landmark was protested by some Kenyans, who did not wish to glorify the country’s colonialist heritage.) On set, the Blixen home interiors included actual furnishings that belonged to the author, including a bedstead, dressing table, and wardrobe that were uncovered in the town of Naivasha, Kenya. Blixen had sold most of her belongings before leaving Africa, and set decorator Josie MacAvin scoured the area to trace their whereabouts. The McMillan Memorial Library in Nairobi lent a chair and inlaid trunk that belonged to Blixen, as well as an ornate desk that was believed to be owned by the real Lord Delamere, Hugh Cholmondeley. The Ngong Dairy also provided the location of the Kikuyu village and the Muthaiga Club.
       The set for Blixen’s coffee factory was constructed on the Ololua Ridge, just miles from its original location. Approximately 750 bushes were transplanted from an estate that was once owned by Gustav Mohr, who planted the crops sixty years earlier while he and Blixen were close friends.
       The film’s second main location was situated in Langata, a suburb of Nairobi, where the city was re-created as it appeared in 1914. Blixen spent nearly nineteen years in Nairobi, although the time span was shortened to a decade for the picture, and the set was modified throughout production to depict the passage of time. Nairobi sites also included the Rift Valley, where scenes were shot at the Masai Mara National Reserve. In Tanzania, filming took place at the Ngorongoro Crater near Arusha, and in the Manyara Region’s Lake Manyara.
       Two months into production, a 20 Feb 1985 Var column reported that controversy arose on set when Kenyan background actors objected to being depicted bare-chested. The men believed that wearing only shorts was “indecent” and undignified, and demanded to be attired in “suits or similar modern attire.” An editorial by the ruling Kenya African National Union (KANU) party in the Kenya Times complained: “To require independent Kenyans to now play inferior to a white ‘memsahib’ in a movie, just because Karen Blixen in her book saw Kenyans as inferior, is taking it too far… the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting should not allow foreign films to come here and insult us on our own soil just because some racist author wrote a racist book ages ago.” Kenyan actors also called for an increase in their daily wage of $3.70. Articles in the 16 May 1985 Gallup Independent and the Jan 1986 edition of Playgirl, which listed African wages between $9 and $15 per day, reported that white extras earned approximately $25 for the same amount of hours. However, the production defended the discrepancy, claiming that the increased rate reflected “supply and demand.” Since far fewer white actors were available, the filmmakers were obliged to incentivize recruitment with higher wages. In addition, producer Terrence Clegg reported his concern that offering a daily rate of $25 to members of an African populace that largely earned less than $3 a day might “cause a riot.” Clegg stated that government officials warned him not to compensate actors above the local pay scale, because Kenyans might “abandon their regular jobs for a few weeks’ work” and disrupt business. Production notes stated that film hired a total of “2,100 Europeans and 7,250 African” extras.
       Due to strict laws protecting indigenous wildlife, five lions were imported from an animal actors’ preserve in CA, according to the Gallup Independent and the 8 Dec 1985 LAT. Three of the lions had already travelled to Africa for other films, including “Asali,” who had made the trip five times.
       Complications with unpredictable weather patterns, as well as delays attributed to the controversy surrounding actors’ wages, caused the production to exceed its anticipated schedule, and the budget increased from $20 million to $30 million. Pollack told the LAT that filming concluded after 101 days, of which Meryl Streep worked ninety-nine. Referring to Out of Africa as the most challenging picture of his career, Pollack reported that he was greatly concerned about its commercial success. The first cut was 220 minutes long, and Pollack believed its slow pace, “lack of narrative drive,” and contrived foreign accents would be unacceptable to audiences. After Pollack edited the film to approximately 155 minutes, Universal insisted on a press screening in Nov 1985, and it was critically acclaimed. On 12 Nov 1985, DV announced that a world premiere was set for 10 Dec 1985 at the Plitt Century Plaza Theatres. The screening grossed $500,000 for a new ambulatory center and cancer institute at Saint John’s Hospital, as reported in a 23 Apr 1986 DV news item.
       Out of Africa was released on 18 Dec 1985 to mixed reviews, with many critics taking issue with the film’s length and slow pace. Although the 9 Dec 1985 HR praised the picture for its “masterful” movement through “carefully modulated visual rhythms,” the 18 Dec 1985 LAT complained that the sophisticated aesthetics did not generate “enough electricity” to charge the drawn-out narrative, and the 18 Dec 1985 NYT contended that “with the exception of Miss Streep’s performance, the pleasures of ‘Out of Africa’ are all peripheral.” Still, the film fared well at the box-office, earning $31,404 in its opening day at four theaters in New York City and two in Los Angeles, CA, according to a 20 Dec 1985 HR article.
       While the picture continued to generate interest in the U.S., particularly after it was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, it was not well-received in Kenya, where it opened on 31 Jan 1986. As noted in a 21 Feb 1986 LAHExam article, the Kenya Times repeated accusations of wage discrimination, and criticized the film for failing to depict Kenyans in “strong” roles, stating that Africans were portrayed as “romanticized ‘houseboys,’ servants whose existence seems to be owed to the presence of the ‘memsahib’ and their various masters.” Although many Kenyans refused to see the picture “for political reasons,” LAHExam noted that Karen Blixen was perceived as “pro-native” by other colonialists in her time, since she fought against “forced labor” and advocated for education.
       Out of Africa generated an upsurge in Kenya’s tourism, with reports of over 5,000 Americans alone visiting the country after the film’s release. The East African Breweries Ltd. hoped to capitalize on the newfound interest in Kenya, signing a contract with the Creative Import Marketing Co. in Milwaukee, WI, to import “Tusker Malt Lager.”
       Despite box-office setbacks in Kenya, Out of Africa performed well in foreign markets, grossing over $34 million as of 9 Apr 1986, as reported in a Var column published that day. Universal stated that the picture was breaking records abroad, with Japanese revenues of more than $2 million in the first twenty-four days of opening.
       The film won seven Academy Awards for Art Direction, Cinematography, Directing, Music (Original Score), Sound, Writing (Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium), and Best Picture; and was nominated in four additional categories: Actor in a Supporting Role (Klaus Maria Brandauer), Actress in a Leading Role (Meryl Streep), Costume Design, and Film Editing. Out of Africa ranked #13 on AFI’s 2002 100 Years… 100 Passions, and #15 on AFI’s 2005 100 Years of Film Scores.
       End credits include: “Special thanks to: Syd Dutton and Bill Taylor of Illusion Arts, Inc., and the Rungstedlund Foundation.” End credits state: “The majority of this motion picture was photographed on Agfa XT color negative.”