Mr. Turner is an upcoming film — recently debuted at Cannes, and set for release in the fall of 2014 — based on the last 25 years in the life of the renowned British “painter of light”, JMW Turner.

The film is directed by Mike Leigh, who has apparently wanted to do a film on Turner for some time, and stars Timothy Spall as the eccentric (and not necessarily likable) artist.

Rather than a historical novelization, or a story spun off from characters in a painting, this appears to be a genuine biopic — and by initial accounts, a very good one at that.

There is an official trailer, as well as a clip from a sequence in which Turner visits the preparations for the Royal Academy exhibition. The latter, I think, is even more interesting than the official trailer. I love the recreation of the Exhibition Room at Somerset House (of which you can see Thomas Rowlandson’s drawing here).

The screen captures above are from both the trailer and the clip. The painting to which Turner applies a daring touch of red at the last minute (as you can read here) is Helvoetsluys; – the City of Utrecht, 64, Going to Sea, currently in the collection of the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum. (I’ve added an image of the painting from the Tate page at the bottom; it’s not a frame from the film.)

Evidentially, the director has attempted to recreate several of the scenes that inspired some of Turner’s famous paintings, including The Fighting Temeraire (above, frames two and three).

Looking forward to this one.

[Via The Guardian]