Just another WordPress weblog

Studio Cut


De Niro, Rockwell are father and son in “Everybody’s Fine” 0

Posted on March 31, 2010 by kankan
Compelling actors Robert De Niro and Sam Rockwell star in Miramax Films’ heartwarming drama-comedy “Everybody’s Fine” as estranged father and son who suddenly reconnect.  The film will be shown exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas (Glorietta 4, Greenbelt 3 and Trinoma) starting April 7.
In the film, widower Frank Goode (De Niro) realizes his only connection to his family was through his wife. Despite a strict warning from his doctor, Frank sets out on a journey across the US with the intention of surprising each of his children (Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale and Rockwell) with an impromptu visit.
Most influential on De Niro’s work in the film was his own deeply personal experience as a father.  “I can identify with this stuff, to say the least,” De Niro remarks.  “I can understand what Frank is going through with his kids and that’s what was so interesting to me.”
The tiniest details in De Niro’s performance brought out Frank’s underlying need and hunger for his children’s affection. Notes producer Glynis Murray:  “When you watch De Niro in the supermarket walking along with his bag or taking his photographs and then carefully putting his camera back into the right place in his little bag, a lot of people instantly feel, ‘that’s my dad!’ He has that massive relatability.”
Sam Rockwell, who plays Frank’s son, Robert, was compelled by the story’s probing of the scattered modern family.  “It seems these days almost everyone is pretty estranged from their parents,” he observes.  “It’s a common thread, so this is kind of a soul-searching movie.”
Rockwell, known for his iconoclastic performances in such films as “Match Stick Men” and “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” was intrigued by Robert – who has made it well in to adulthood without his father even really knowing what he does for a living.  “Robert has kind of kept his whole life secret,” he muses.  “He has been trying pretty successfully to stay aloof from his family for years when Frank arrives.”
Robert is also the first of the Goode children to tell his father that they don’t exactly view their childhoods as ideal.  “He’s the first one to spill the truth to Frank and confront him in a real way,” he says.  “They are all trying to protect their dad from what they fear could destroy him. But I think they begin to see there is also a point when trying to protect your parents goes too far.”
Says Glynis Murray of Rockwell’s performance:  “We’ve seen him be funny and scary and be very, very powerful, but I don’t think we’ve ever seen him do this kind of introspective role, playing a person who is so sensitive.  It’s pretty different and I think it’s a great part for him.”
“Everybody’s Fine” is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International.

deniro01

Compelling actors Robert De Niro and Sam Rockwell star in Miramax Films’ heartwarming drama-comedy “Everybody’s Fine” as estranged father and son who suddenly reconnect.  The film will be shown exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas (Glorietta 4, Greenbelt 3 and Trinoma) starting April 7.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags:
Category movies

Barrymore, Beckinsale play sisters in “Everybody’s Fine” 0

Posted on March 23, 2010 by kankan
Drew Barrymore and Kate Beckinsale portray sisters living hundreds of miles apart and whose father (Robert De Niro) suddenly makes a surprise visit, in Miramax Films’ touching dramatic comedy “Everybody’s Fine.”  The film will be shown exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas (Glorietta 4, Greenbelt 3 and Trinoma) starting April 7.
Barrymore plays Rosie, the dancer seemingly living the high life in Las Vegas .  “It’s a film about connecting and communicating and I found the whole concept intriguing,” Barrymore describes the film.  “As you grow up, there is this shock at how distant people can become, how much they grow apart, and how hard it is to carve out time for family and friends.  I liked that the film wanted to talk about that because I think it’s so important.”
She also had great affection for the song-and-dance Rosie tries to pull of for her father’s sake.  “Rosie is putting on an act for her father because she knows he’s really prideful that his little girl has realized all her dreams, so even though she’s struggling, she is not going to show him that,” Barrymore explains.  “She’s trying to do the right thing, but, like her sister and brothers, she’s stuck in a cycle that needs to be broken.”
Barrymore says the character really came to life when she began working with her fellow cast mates.  “I hate those fake Hollywood families where people do one read-through and suddenly they’re a family,” she says.  “This was different because we spent time a lot of time together so that the tactile feeling of affection would come across between us.”
She continues:  “I especially loved being sisters with Kate Beckinsale.  She’s a very cool girl and a wonderful actress and that was an easy dynamic to jump into.  And I’ve already done a number of films with Sam Rockwell, and it’s always a great pleasure having the chance to work with him again.  With Robert De Niro, I felt I couldn’t just call him ‘Bob,’ so I started calling him ‘Daddy D.’  I wanted to get to know him well enough that those emotions would happen naturally on screen.”
Kate Beckinsale, had a similar experience in preparing to play Amy, the advertising executive who is hiding some key facts about her married life from her father.  “I think we all felt very connected and cobbled together, like a real family,” she says.  “Everyone was full of emotions about the story.  We might not have had the same experiences as our characters but the themes of secrets in families, of trying to protect your parents and the relationships between siblings was something everybody could relate to.  It was especially personal to Bob and that sort of filtered down to each of us.”
Beckinsale notes that when the father shows up at Amy’s architecturally spectacular modern house, he finds that the magazine cover surroundings don’t match what’s going on inside.  “He shows up by surprise in this odd crisis moment and Amy just starts lying and it begins to spiral until she can’t stop,” she says.  “I think for Amy it’s especially hard to let go of being the one person in the family who’s very successful in the practical parts of life.  Her brothers and sisters are all artists, but she’s always been the responsible, pragmatic one and the working mother. She wants her father to see that.”
It was easy, Beckinsale adds, to get into the father-daughter dynamic because of what De Niro provoked in her.  “We all felt that he had this quality that reminded us of our own fathers,” she explains.  “It’s not the way he looks or what he does, but he has this mix of strength and vulnerability that reminded everyone – even people momentarily visiting the set – of their dads.”
“Everybody’s Fine” is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International.

sister_everybodysfine

Drew Barrymore and Kate Beckinsale portray sisters living hundreds of miles apart and whose father (Robert De Niro) suddenly makes a surprise visit, in Miramax Films’ touching dramatic comedy “Everybody’s Fine.”  The film will be shown exclusively at Ayala Malls Cinemas (Glorietta 4, Greenbelt 3 and Trinoma) starting April 7.

Read the rest of this entry →

Tags:
Category movies



↑ Top