 |
|
The Holiday
|
|
|
|||
 The Holiday Production NotesIn Nancy Meyers' The Holiday, a romantic comedy from the director of Something's Gotta Give and What Women Want, two women trade homes only to find that a change of address can change their lives.
Iris (Kate Winslet) is in love with a man who is about to marry another woman. Across the globe, Amanda (Cameron Diaz), realizes the man she lives with has been unfaithful. Two women who have never met and live 6000 miles apart, find themselves in the exact same place. They meet online at a home exchange website and impulsively switch homes for the holiday. Iris moves into Amanda's L.A. house in sunny California as Amanda arrives in the snow covered English countryside.
Shortly after arriving at their destinations, both women find the last thing either wants or expects: a new romance. Amanda is charmed by Iris' handsome brother Graham (Jude Law) and Iris, with inspiration provided by legendary screenwriter, Arthur (Eli Wallach), mends her heart when she meets composer Miles.
Synopsis
Amanda Woods (Cameron Diaz), the owner of a prospering advertising firm that creates movie trailers, lives in Southern California. Iris Simpkins (Kate Winslet) writes the popular wedding column for London's Daily Telegraph and resides in a charming cottage in the English countryside.
Though Iris and Amanda live 6,000 miles apart, they are in exactly the same place: Just before Christmas, Iris and Amanda decide to take a needed break from the men in their lives (played by Edward Burns and Rufus Sewell) - and neither is much in the mood for a nostalgic chorus of Auld Lang Syne.
Amanda, wanting to get out of town for the holidays, stumbles onto an internet site that specializes in home exchanges, and finds Iris' English cottage to be the perfect antidote to her troubles. On impulse, Amanda and Iris agree to crisscross continents and move into each other's homes for two weeks.
Iris lands in Los Angeles on a spectacularly clear day warmed by the gusts of the seasonal Santa Ana winds. Not long after she arrives at Amanda's Brentwood home, she is befriended by Arthur (Eli Wallach), a noted screenwriter from Hollywood's Golden Era, and Miles (Jack Black), a film composer who works with Amanda's ex-boyfriend.
In England, where it is anything but balmy, Amanda is just settling into the cozy solitude of the snow-covered Rose Hill Cottage, when Iris' handsome brother Graham (Jude Law) comes knocking at the cottage door. In an unexpected turn of events, both women discover that the best trips are the ones where you leave your baggage behind.
Production Information
“I need some peace and quiet… or whatever it is people go away for.” -- Amanda (Cameron Diaz)
The initial spark for her new romantic comedy, The Holiday, was ignited a few years ago when screenwriter/director Nancy Meyers was planning a vacation and serendipitously happened upon an internet site that arranges house swapping - across cities, across countries, across continents. “I had no idea this kind of thing ever existed,” she confesses. “On the website, I read about all these fantastic houses. Eventually, I realized I would have to trade mine to get one.”
But the idea of house swapping continued to intrigue her. “I thought it would be a wonderful starting point for two women who are both running away from something,” says Meyers. “Amanda and Iris are both down in the dumps and realize they must do something about it. Swapping houses becomes the first step in taking their lives back.”
Amanda Woods (Cameron Diaz) runs a thriving L.A. marketing business, but is less successful when it comes to romance. “Her most recent break-up has caught her totally off-guard,” says Diaz. “She decides she has to get away - and that getting some distance may help her cope better.”
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, Iris Simpkins (Kate Winslet) has just learned that the man she loves is about to marry someone else. “It's like a colossal smack in the mouth,” says the four-time Oscar nominee. “Iris is vulnerable and naïve when it comes to love and she needs to find a way to get over this man.”
Deep down, both women realize that the problem they're facing is larger than just their most recent disappointment. “I think Amanda and Iris are secretly hoping that the change will help them fix something about themselves, help them address issues they've been dealing with for a long time. Leaving their environments helps them do that.”
“I have the classic male problem of no follow through. Absolutely never remember to call after a date -- but as this wasn't a date, I guess I am off the hook.” - Graham (Jude Law)
“The Holiday is about leaving your baggage behind and opening your eyes to what's in front of you and what you're really feeling,” observes Jude Law, who plays Graham, Iris' brother, in the movie.
“When Amanda meets Graham she is attempting to relax and refocus her life,” says Diaz. “And suddenly, she finds herself falling in love, something she truly didn't expect to happen again so quickly.”
At Amanda's house in Brentwood, Iris befriends one of her neighbors, Arthur (Eli Wallach), a screenwriter from Hollywood's Golden Era. It is just the kind of friendship she needs at the moment - someone who is genuinely interested in her. “He's very good company and his stories about his life, as a screenwriter in Hollywood, fascinate Iris,” says Winslet.
When Iris hosts a Chanukah party for Arthur and his closest friends (played by Bill Macy and Shelley Berman), “I crash the party,” says Jack Black, who plays Miles, a music composer.
Miles is having romantic problems of his own with his girlfriend Maggie, played by Shannyn Sossamon. “Miles is sort of Maggie's lapdog,” observes Black. “He's always falling for the heartbreaking hottie. He wants to share his passion for music with her, but she's not really engaged in his world. It's Iris who becomes interested in everything Maggie's been ignoring.”
Music becomes the vehicle through which Miles expresses his growing affection for Iris. “He walks up and down the aisles of the video store singing the themes of all his favorite movies to her,” says Meyers.
Later, when Iris is at his house, Miles plays a piece of music that he wrote for her, telling Iris that it sounds like her. “That was probably my favorite scene,” recalls Black. “I was just sitting at the piano, playing her songs, and we started singing. It was a very romantic idea and a lot of fun.”
Meyers usually puts on music when she writes, and she often creates a mood on set by playing the songs she was listening to when she created a particular scene. On The Holiday, she treated the cast and crew to a wide variety of music.
The effect of a piece of music was especially palpable when she was shooting an exterior sequence with Amanda and Graham in a formal garden in the English countryside. “I'm a big Claude Lelouch fan (the French director whose most famous film was 1966's A Man and a Woman with its memorable score by Francis Lai),” says Meyers, “and I shot a `60s style montage with Jude and Cameron. We just improvised all day. It was raining on and off, so as soon as the rain would stop, we'd run out and shoot and then huddle back into the tent until it stopped again. It was a really memorable day.”
Indirectly, the effect of music was even felt in the Chanukah party scene in Los Angeles, which Meyers imbued with a realistically celebratory feel. “That was a wild day of shooting,” she recalls. “I decided that in addition to doing coverage for each person, I would just run the camera around the table and let the scene play out in live time. It was very freeing for the actors and turned out to be very effective.”
“The wind…it's what makes it so warm at this time of year. Legend has it, when the Santa Anas blow, anything can happen” - Miles (Jack Black)
In The Holiday, Meyers has fashioned a true ensemble, pairing two of today's most appealing actresses, Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet, with two equally charismatic leading men, Jude Law and Jack Black, and a strong supporting cast that includes Eli Wallach, Edward Burns, Rufus Sewell and Shannyn Sossamon.
Diaz brings a rich history of comedic and dramatic work to her portrayal of Amanda Woods, with credits ranging from her star-making turn in My Best Friend's Wedding, to There's Something About Mary, Being John Malkovich, Gangs of New York, In Her Shoes and many other successful films over the past decade.
“Cameron is a real comedienne and one of the great rewards of working with her is how much she makes me laugh,” says Meyers. “She is great with dialogue and is really adept at physical humor. She sometimes reminded me of Goldie Hawn, whom I love. She has very similar comedic instincts.” (Hawn notably starred in one of Meyers' earlier successes Private Benjamin).
For her co-star, Law, working with Diaz was pure delight. “Cameron is like having the sun on set every day,” he beams. “She understands the world of this kind of film so well. I learned a great deal just by watching her.”
Law and Winslet were new to the genre of romantic comedy. “The way Nancy breaks down the beats of a scene, the timing of a joke or a reveal, is kind of a science,” says Law, who has earned Oscar nominations in the past for his performances in Cold Mountain and The Talented Mr. Ripley. “It's hard work, but she makes it look easy.”
Winslet heartily concurs: “Oh yes. The flow and rhythm of Nancy's writing is incredibly precise.”
The Holiday marked a welcome change of pace for Winslet, who earned her first Academy Award nomination for Sense and Sensibility. Her 1997 performance in Titanic made her, at age 22, the youngest actress ever to be twice nominated. She was nominated again for Iris, and then again for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. “I've spent a lot of time in my career wearing corsets,” she says, “and am proud to be part of a contemporary comedy playing an English person.”
Being asked to be funny was another new experience. “The biggest reward for me on this film was to be in the middle of a scene and hear ten people at the video monitor burst out laughing,” she smiles.
But the character of Iris has several facets, all of which Winslet exploited to the fullest. “There were times when Kate brought me to tears,” says Meyers. “She can reveal herself in so many ways, and all of them are honest.”
To complement her two sterling leading ladies, Meyers took great care in choosing their romantic interests. “I wanted Graham to be complicated, but not in the normal way. Hopefully, his issues are unexpected,” she says. “Jude is very right for this part. He is also wonderful with Cameron, and the work he does in this film is quite different from anything I've seen him do before.”
The choice of Jack Black to play Miles was more than just a stroke of bold casting on Meyers' part, she admits. “When I saw Jack in School of Rock, I fell in love with him,” she says. “I wrote this part for him because I adored him so much from that movie. But I never thought he would say yes because it's a very different role for him - it's a love story.”
In truth, Black was surprised when he was approached. “When I first heard that Nancy had written a part with me in mind, I thought, really? Have you heard my band Tenacious D?” he laughs, “because I've got a lot of raunchy humor in my film history. But Nancy said, `I know what you do and I like it.' So I was like, `all right, good, let's do it.' I can't believe I actually got paid to stare at Kate Winslet from really close up and watch her kick-ass acting.”
Meyers cast Amanda and Iris' ex-boyfriends with similar care, honing in on Edward Burns for Ethan and Rufus Sewell for Jasper. Interestingly, Burns had previously directed and starred opposite Diaz in the romantic comedy She's the One. In The Holiday, their relationship is far less cordial, however, “Cameron gets to punch me twice,” Burns laughs. “I guess you have to be in really good shape to do a romantic comedy.”
Diaz admits that she was in rare fighting form for her scenes with Burns. “I don't think I've ever had as much fun playing a break-up,” she says. “Eddie was perfect as Ethan - dry and deadpan. I didn't want our scene to end. But Ethan deserved to be punched in the face. His actions were beyond questionable. They needed to be called out. And, believe me, I called him out.”
|
|||||
Cameron Diaz and Jude Law in The Holiday.
Sitemaps, RSS Feeds & Social Networks
|
|||||||
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Movies Central
Movies Central website is created and designed by Atlantis, 2000 - 2010
All film stills, posters, and trademarks are the property of their respective owners and may not be reproduced for any reason whatsoever. If proper notation of owned material is not given please notify us so we can make adjustments. Copyright © 2009 HTML Sitemap
