People: Mar. 19, 1984

The epic novel has intrigued and defied the efforts of such talented screenwriters and directors as Harold Pinter, Luchino Visconti and Peter Brook. For 22 years Producer Nicole Stephane could not get anyone to complete a film based on Marcel Proust's seven-volume Remembrance of Things Past. Then, "motivated by pure altruism," German Director Volker Schlŏndorff (The Tin Drum), 44, agreed to "jump on the sinking vessel to try to save it." He focused on a single vignette from the book. English Actor Jeremy Irons, 35, and Italian Screen Siren Ornella Muti, 28, signed to...

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