Tagline: They never saw it coming.
Derailed movie storyline. Advertising executive Charles Schine (Clive Owen) is just another Chicago commuter who regularly catches the 8:43am train to work. But the one day he misses his train and meets Lucinda Harris (Jennifer Aniston), his life is changed forever.
Lucinda is charming, beautiful and seductive. Despite the fact that each are married with children, their attraction to one another is magnetic. Lunch dates quickly become cocktails after work, and before long, Charles and Lucinda’s infatuation leads them to a hotel room. Their seemingly perfect affair goes terribly awry when LaRoche (Vincent Cassel), a brutal stranger, breaks into their room and holds them at gunpoint.
This once illicit liaison turns into a nightmare more dangerous and violent than either could have ever imagined. Charles’ life soon becomes filled with deception, blackmail, violence and crime. Unable to confide in his wife or speak to the police, Charles finds himself trapped in a world he doesn’t recognize, with no trace of the life he once knew.
Derailed is a 2005 American crime thriller film based on the novel of the same name by James Siegel. The film is directed by Mikael Håfström and stars Clive Owen, Jennifer Aniston, Vincent Cassel, Giancarlo Esposito, David Morrissey, RZA and Xzibit. This was also the first film to be released by The Weinstein Company in the United States. The film is set in Chicago.
Derailed opened in 2,443 theaters for an opening weekend gross of $12,211,986. The film made a domestic gross of $36,024,076 and an international gross of $21,455,000, giving it a worldwide gross of $57,479,076.
About the Production
Derailed explores the repercussions of making one terrible mistake that can change someone’s life entirely. As Jennifer Aniston says, “If only he had made his train… It’s a great moment.”
Lorenzo di Bonaventura read the galley to James Siegel’s book over the Christmas holiday. He couldn’t put it down and says “it felt immediately like a movie.” Once he learned that the rights were still available, he went after it. The story spoke to him: “All of us have made mistakes in our lives-all of us have made a bad decision at one point or another, and sometimes it’s a small decision so you don’t anticipate the ramifications. I think in Charles Schine’s case, life has dealt him a couple of unfair blows, and he’s at a vulnerable moment in his life. Unfortunately for him, this vulnerability allows him to make the mistake.”
The novel also enamored screenwriter Stuart Beattie. “I read it in one night and thought it was a great Hitchcockian story.” He also really liked the book’s central character. “He is such a sympathetic guy. He made a big mistake, but he was paying for it, and paying for it. I think if I were in his shoes, I would do the exact same things, making the same mistakes, getting deeper, and deeper into a hole just as Charles does, I just thought it was terrific. Derailed is everything a good thriller should be.” Beattie immediately wanted to be a part of it. “I don’t see those Hitchcock-type films being made anymore. Films like `North by Northwest’ where ordinary guys get caught up in extraordinary situations and the plot has fantastic twists and turns.”
Di Bonaventura hired Beattie to write the script because, as he explains, “He fundamentally understood what made the book work as a movie-what made the characters. He visualized the movie right away.
Once hired, Beattie is proud to say that he’s been “the only writer on the film from beginning to end – which is a rarity in Hollywood these days. I’d say maybe one in a hundred films treats the writer so well. It has been phenomenal.” He joked to friends that “I’m going to go into arbitration against myself just so that I feel normal, and feel like it’s a normal movie. Otherwise it’s going to feel too weird.”
Because the film has so many twists and surprises, Beattie had to be careful not to lose his audience. “It’s really a matter of watching every line you write, and making sure that it can be read in a completely different way once you know what’s really going on. So, when you see the film the first time, it’ll be one movie, and I hope when you see the film a second time, it will be a completely different movie. That is part of what’s so great about this story – being able to do that.”
The actors were all drawn to the power of the script. Aniston called it a “roller coaster.” She says “I read it pretty quickly. There was so much that you didn’t see coming. It was beautifully written.”
Xzibit explains, “When I first got the script I read it cover-to-cover, and I thought the story was very realistic. I thought this could actually happen. The characters seemed extremely real, and I just thought that the way it was written, and the way that I knew it was gonna be filmed, it would be very interesting. I am glad to be a part of it.”
RZA continues, “Everything that happens in this movie is one surprise after another. It’s not going to be easy for the audience to figure it out. Sometimes you go to movies and you watch 15 or 20 minutes, and you know what’s gonna happen at the end. That’s not gonna happen here.”
About the Characters
Beattie loves the Schine family. “I love that at the center of this film is this great family-it’s the heart and soul of the film, and you care about them so deeply because of what their daughter is going through. You want to care about this unit.” At the same time, Owen points out “you get the feeling they’re pretty much trapped in their lives, and maybe they’ve spent an awful lot of time dealing with their child and they’ve sort of forgotten about each other.”
The film turns, however, on the relationship between Charles and Lucinda. Beattie sees them both as lost characters. “When they meet, Charles and Lucinda are two incredibly lonely people. They have families, they have jobs, they have essentially full lives but they’re empty inside for one reason or another. And, really, it’s about two people finding out they can connect.” Aniston agrees. “They’re both at a place in their lives when they need to meet each other.”
Says Beattie, “by the time they make the decision to go to the hotel, they’ve crossed that line of `I’m tired of giving for everyone else.’ I think it’s almost a selfish thing, but they’ve gotten to the point where they are running on empty, and they need something to make the everyday existence worthwhile.”
Aniston sees Lucinda as “an interesting, tortured” woman. Owen’s Charles Schine is innocent and charming, but under tremendous stress from his family and career.
Owen explains, “I’m playing a very reactive part. He finds himself in a horrible situation, and then things spiral out of control, and his life goes completely crazy. He’s in a sort of Kafka nightmare.”
Cassel sees many facets to his character LaRoche, “He’s very smart; he’s very slick; he’s funny in his own way. A dangerous, fun guy.” Producer Mark Cooper says, “It’s a game for [LaRoche]. It’s a game that he enjoys and where he’s very successful. He knows how to turn the screw and get that man’s life savings.” Beattie describes the complexities, “LaRoche has two roles to play – tough on the outside he is the uneducated mugger, deep down, he’s a sophisticated, intelligent criminal.”
Winston, played by RZA, demonstrates the film’s most steadfast loyalty. Beattie admits, “Winston is a fantastic character. I love his arc.” RZA was thrilled because, “with my Hip Hop background, I usually play roles that are more aggressive and all `hood.’ And, this guy had a different kind of range to him – even though he was more of a nice guy who worked in the office, he still had his past of bein’ a thug.”
Locations
The film was shot in Chicago and London. One Chicago location put the production behind the great steps where “The Untouchables” was shot. Aniston shares “I love being on location. I hate being away from home more than anything, but once I get away and I’m on location, I love it.”
On set, the cast and crew were quite close. Aniston explains “we actually had a great dinner together when I got to Chicago. We stayed out way too late, and heard the great music Chicago is famous for. The people are lovely. It’s one of the sweetest groups of people with whom I’ve worked.”
Xzibit is proud of his second film role: “I think when you take a certain director, and his viewpoint, and the way he sees cinema, and combine that with a diverse cast and a great story, you can’t lose. It’s simple. It’s a masterpiece.”
Aniston agrees. “It’s very rare that I actually want to see a movie that I’ve done, and I’m really looking forward to seeing this film. This was a big challenge for me, but so much fun. I had a good time digging my heels into something sort of out of the box. I loved that. And these people are-across the board-the greatest people.”
Derailed (2005)
Directed by: Mikael Håfstrom
Starring: Clive Owen, Jennifer Aniston, Melissa George, Vincent Cassel, Addison Timlin, RZA, Bill Armstrong, Rachael Blake, Catherine McCord, Georgina Chapman
Screenplay by: Stuart Beattie
Production Design by: Andrew Laws
Cinematography by: Peter Biziou
Film Editing by: Peter Boyle
Costume Design by: Natalie Ward
Set Decoration by: Daniel B. Clancy, Marina Morris
Art Direction by: Mark Raggett
Music by: Ed Shearmur
MPAA Rating: R for disturbing violence, language and sexuality.
Distributed by: The Weinstein Company
Release Date: November 11, 2005
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