 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
 Shall We Dance Production NotesA new comedy about following your own lead.
Chicago lawyer John Clark (Richard Gere) knows his life is almost perfect. He loves his beautiful wife (Susan Sarandon), he’s built a successful career and raised two wonderful kids.
And yet . . . the workday is always the same routine, the commute is a grind and the family’s usually too busy to spend time together. Sometimes John wonders if this is all there is, until one evening on his way home from work he gets off his train and does the unthinkable. Without telling a soul, he secretly begins taking dance lessons. Suddenly, John is thrust into a whole new world – of motion, music, camaraderie and passion. As this very serious man becomes literally light on his feet, his whole life, and marriage, transforms.
The uplifting and comic story of a man’s renewal, Shall We Dance is inspired by the runaway Japanese hit of the same name. In this new version, starring Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez, Susan Sarandon and Stanley Tucci, the tale of a quiet workaholic finding wild rapture on the dance floor is transported to the American search for happiness.
It all begins when John Clark is riding the evening train, and spots out his window a young dance teacher (Jennifer Lopez) staring back at him from the run-down Miss Mitzi’s Studio. Haunted by her gaze, John looks for her night after night. Finally, he gets off the train and signs up for the beginner’s series of ballroom dance lessons.
At his first class, John spends more time on the floor than gliding across it. Awkward and shy, it seems unlikely he’ll ever find any grace at all. But soon, dance becomes John’s obsession, his escape, his one means of pure joy. He’s drawn further and further into this exotic realm, even discovering a fellow employee who’s also hiding his ballroom dance habit (Stanley Tucci), while pretending to be a sports jock.
Yet John cannot seem to tell his wife Beverly about his new-found love out of fear that she’ll think he’s unfulfilled by their marriage. As he clandestinely prepares for Chicago’s biggest dance competition, his secretive behavior causes Beverly to hire a detective, suspecting that John’s having an affair. But John will soon discover that it isn’t enough to chase his most private dreams -- because the best part is sharing them.
“Shall We Dance is not just about a restless man entering the seductive world of dance,” says director Peter Chelsom, “but about a whole group of people who through a kind of boot camp for dancers, get to explore who they really are and who they want to be. From the start of rehearsals I wanted us to acknowledge that the film should not be a story then a dance number, then more story and so on, but that the story always continued through the dance scenes and most importantly the story was actually furthered by the dancing.”
* * *
In 1996, the original Shall We Dance (“Dansu Wo Shimasho Ka”), written and directed by Masayuki Suo, won the hearts of Japanese audiences with its story about an ordinary, hardworking Japanese salary man who, overcome by the feeling that something’s missing in his life and marriage, learns to ballroom dance on the sly. Soon, he has transformed from a wooden, melancholy recluse into someone touched by a sense of magic and possibility. Filled with comic characters and rousing dance sequences, the film touched a universal chord in anyone who had ever longed for something a little more. It went on to win an astonishing 13 Japanese Academy Awards, and travel the globe, becoming a hit with foreign film audiences across the United States and Europe.
Among those deeply touched by the original film was screenwriter Audrey Wells, who felt the delightful story deserved an even wider audience. Wells has long had a fascination with how people are able to find passion – whether romantic or creative – in the midst of today’s busy and distracted modern lives. She’s explored this theme in several films she’s written and directed including “Under the Tuscan Sun” and the award-winning “Guinevere.” But this story was different, she felt, because it wasn’t so much about finding conventional love, but more about rediscovering the joy of pursuing one’s most hidden dreams, and about reviving the spark and passion of a good but routine marriage in mid-life.
Wells began to adapt Shall We Dance into an English-language film, but right away she realized much more than the language was going to have to change. The whole culture surrounding the story would become entirely new. In transferring the story’s location to the United States – with its far more open and diverse, yet often equally adrift, society – Wells also shifted the humor to a hipper, more American style; added Chicago color to the dance school’s comic-tinged patrons; and most of all, re-imagined the main character’s struggle. For John Clark isn’t caught up in the rigidity of Japanese society as in the original -- but in his own limited definition of who he can be beyond a father and lawyer. Wells created Clark as a typical American urban professional, “the type who can do everything extremely well but doesn’t remember how to dream, until he enters that studio.”
That same rediscovery of how to dream spreads out through the rest of the characters in Shall We Dance as well, from Jennifer Lopez’s disillusioned champion dancer, who recovers her desire to compete again, to Stanley Tucci’s outrageous, disguised ballroom wanna-be, who finally learns how to be himself.
The one thing that didn’t change, however, that couldn’t change, was the script’s focus on the sheer thrills of flying around the room, ballroom style, in the arms of a partner who knows your every move. Although the story has a different tone and feel, Wells keeps dance at the heart of the story, letting the gestures and moves of John Clark and his new friends tell part of the tale, and reveal the kind of ineffable feelings that go beyond language.
The combination of buoyant dance sequences, spirited comedy and a moving storyline about contemporary lives compelled producer Simon Fields and director Peter Chelsom to immediately want to make the film as soon as Wells’ script arrived at their office. They felt this new version of Shall We Dance not only held out the promise of great fun, but hit upon themes not often seen at the movies.
“This is a story people can relate to,” explains Fields. “It isn’t about a desperate man who unrealistically turns his life completely around. Instead, it’s a story about a man who, like most of us, who is basically doing really well, who has a good job, a loving family and a successful marriage. But then one day he sees this amazing face through a window and he begins to wonder if there’s somewhere higher he can go. I hadn’t read anything like that before, that touched upon this question of what’s really possible in an already pretty good life, and that was exciting. I also loved how the story juxtaposes the elegance and grace of ballroom dance.”
Adds Chelsom: “What I liked about Audrey Well’ take on Shall We Dance is that these people go to miss Mitzi’s expecting to learn to dance and yet emerge learning so much more. Each character is broken down. Each character seems to be carrying a secret they are not ready to share. And they all develop because one man one day got off a train in order to have one dance with one girl he saw at a window. I like the cause and effect of the premise.”
Fields and Chelsom were familiar with the original Japanese film but were impressed by how Wells had carefully relocated it across the Pacific ocean, allowing it to reflect a more American exuberance and perspective on seeking satisfaction beyond work and family life.
Observes Chelsom: “Much of the conflict in the original Japanese film stems from Japanese taboos about the public intimacy of dance. Obviously, this wouldn’t work in an American setting. But the American taboo that’s central in Audrey’s screenplay is this idea that if you’re living the American dream, then you don’t have the right to hold up your hand and say ‘hey, I’m unhappy.’ What I loved about this story, and what I was so drawn to, is that it’s about a restlessness that is all around us but not often talked about. In spite of having so much, John Clark is missing something. It’s as if he’s living an ideal, not really living his life. He realizes that even though he and his wife are always on the move, something inside them has just stopped, and he’s driven to find some kind of passion. That’s the beautiful subtlety of this movie for me.”
Chelsom was also compelled by the chance to capture the kinetic magic of ballroom dance on film as a director. As it turns out, Chelsom hails from Blackpool, England, the acknowledged Mecca of ballroom dancing and the annual site of its World Championship. Although Chelsom himself never danced professionally, no one escapes Blackpool without an undying appreciation for the infectious joy of waltzes, rumbas and foxtrots. Explains Chelsom: “Pretty much everyone in Blackpool has been sent to dancing lessons by age nine.”
Fields, too, as a fellow Englishman, had fallen under the spell of ballroom dance as a child. He explains: “In England, ballroom dancing is very much a part of our culture, and is actually considered a big sport. When Peter Chelsom and I were growing up, every Sunday we had two hours of ballroom dancing on television. So to take on a film that is about the allure of dancing seemed, for us, almost second nature."
Surging in popularity in the U.S., ballroom is a uniquely transporting dance style – featuring a man and a woman gliding across a bare floor responding only to the music and one another. Each individual dance has its own creative personality, its own emotions and appeal to the spirit, from the raw eroticism of the rumba to the intimate charm of the waltz. With its inherent fluidity and romance, ballroom dancing is also a highly cinematic art-form, as Chelsom discovered as he set out to reveal its tenderness, its exhilaration and some of the suspense of dance competitions on screen.
“I’ve always felt that Ballroom is secuctive and a little ridiculous at the same time and that makes for great comedy. It also makes for moments of extraordinary grace. It takes courage – especially if you’re John Clarke. It’s actually not about the dancing, it’s about the daring. I had been looking to make a film about dance for many years.
To play John Clark -- the quiet, hard-working lawyer who gets off his train one night and steps into a life-changing desire to dance -- the filmmakers knew they needed someone special. They wanted an actor so assured and charismatic that, right off the bat, most people would assume he must be happy – a significant switch from the low-key businessman of the Japanese film – and that he’s the last person on earth who would seek out dance lessons in a dilapidated studio in a gritty part of town.
“We knew we didn’t want a ‘Willy Lohman’ type or your average middle class man for John,” explains Field. “Instead, we wanted someone who already appears fulfilled, a man clearly at the top of game. Then, when he takes this left turn that re-ignites his enthusiasm and revitalizes his marriage, it takes both the audience and him by surprise.”
These criteria led the filmmakers to Richard Gere, who most recently won a Golden Globe Award for his role as the far slicker, soft-shoeing lawyer in “Chicago.” “We needed a very, very subtle performance from someone who could also learn to become a great dancer before the audience’s eyes,” remarks Peter Chelsom. “What’s interesting about character, John, is that he’s a guy who’s never really been the center of attention. He’s always been the one keeping things together, being the dad, the boss. But now he has all this space just to be himself, and he’s very selfconscious about it at first, until he starts to open up, which Richard captures beautifully.”
The role appealed to Gere who, like his character, was initially drawn to the alluring image of a girl staring out the window – and all the what-if’s and what-might-have-beens such an image arouses. “I felt that this was the kind of experience that everyone has had at one time or another, riding in a car, or in a plane or a train, where you suddenly see this person and you become aware of this whole other world out there that you could be a part of,” Gere says. “The interesting part is that most of us turn away, while John decides to explore it which leads to something very positive for him.”
He continues: “I don’t think in the beginning John can even pinpoint anything that is wrong in his life or marriage. It’s more of a distant dissatisfaction he can’t put his finger on. And the challenge as an actor was figuring out how to show that. Melancholy isn’t something you can play exactly – you can’t paint melancholy on a face. So I approached the feeling inside John more as a kind of itch, a kind of inner agitation he doesn’t really understand at first, that drives him to do something that seems pretty crazy in his world, but that expands his whole life in a new direction.”
Gere was also drawn to the theme of Shall We Dance, which he describes as “learning to become the person you dream of yourself being.” He especially liked the idea of joining an ensemble of actors who each discover new sides to themselves – both comic and serious -- through their willingness to let it all go while they dance. “Every character at the studio has their own quirks and oddities, and Miss Mitzi’s becomes its own wonderful little world of outcasts,” comments Gere.
“But there’s also an honest camaraderie and acceptance of one another there. I think John comes to see that all the people at the studio from Paulina to Vern, once had dreams for their lives, but then they got to a point where they didn’t believe in them anymore, or life’s obstacles got in the way. In the course of the film, they all come face-to-face with their dreams again. I think, in fact, we all can.”
Though Gere is not professionally trained, ever since his tap-dancing role in “Chicago,” he has had his own love affair with dance, the freedom and fun of which he sees as a key to John Clark’s transformation. “The emotional and psychological challenges of really opening yourself up to a dancing partner, of becoming sensitive to your every move, of accessing deeper emotions to express yourself, changes you,” he comments. “That’s why we still love Fred Astaire, because his grace and his open heart still move us today. There’s just something about dancing that has that power.”
Another aspect of the film that impressed Gere was the realistic treatment of John Clark’s marriage, which is not so much troubled as it is just a little blasé after so many years of union. “It’s not the usual dysfunctional relationship,” Gere notes. “Really, I think the Clarks are typical of many American households, where nothing’s really wrong, but maybe you also have the feeling everything’s not quite as great as it could be. Susan Sarandon is wonderful as Beverly, John’s wife, because she’s so grounded and rooted and she sort of waits to see where her husband’s existential crisis is going to lead.”
The filmmakers chose Susan Sarandon for the role of Beverly because of her distinctive embodiment of feminine intelligence. Notes Chelsom: "Susan rides that fine line between revealing the depth of the film’s themes while also playing it for comedy. She really embraced the deep sorrow of being a wife who feels excluded from her husband's life, and at the same time, she captured this funny neurosis that escalates when you start to mistrust your spouse. It’s the goodness of her character that really breaks your heart. Because she’s done nothing wrong, but she isn’t sure what to do about her husband’s restlessness. She is type of wife who really takes care of her family and so it throws her to find out what her husband wants right now is something she cannot provide.”
To play Paulina, the dance teacher who has lost her inspiration until John Clark arrives, Peter Chelsom hoped to find an alluring actress who also had a significant background in professional dance – which led him to Jennifer Lopez. Chelsom considered her life-long passion for dance an invaluable asset to the film. “We thought it was vital to have an actress who understands with her body and soul what it is to dance and to live that kind of unpredictable, emotional life,” he says. “Jennifer embodies that, and she is such a terrific dancer that you really believe she could be a ballroom champion.”
While her counterpart in the Japanese film was more fragile, the filmmakers saw that Lopez could convey the vulnerability of the role while adding her own strong personality and open sensuality. "Jennifer has the same longing as the original Japanese character but she brings something more vibrantly American and fiery to it,” says Fields.
Lopez was intrigued by the script not only because of the dancing, but because of its picture of ordinary people finding extraordinary inspiration in their lives. “I loved the portrait of these different types of people from many walks of life all coming together to fulfill some long lost dream,” she says. “The dance studio becomes a place where they can find out who they are, what they want and what’s missing from their lives. And, most of all, dance gives them a beautiful place to go, to forget about things, and just fly above it all.”
Another major influence on John Clark is Stanley Tucci in the role of Link Peterson, an office geek by day at John’s law firm who has an outrageous alter ego that emerges when he is practicing his beloved Latin dances at night. Tucci was eager to play the lively comic role that is a departure from anything he’s done before. "I love Link as a character, because to me, no one is just one person, no one is just whom they present to the public or to their family. Everyone has some secret part of themselves they they’ve always wanted to express,” he says. “To be able to play somebody who has two separate parts of himself that then merge into one whole person at the end, that is a thrill, it really is a thrill. And then there’s the fact that it’s an incredibly funny part."
|
|||||
Sitemaps, RSS Feeds & Social Networks
|
|||||||
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez in Shall We Dance?
