Elizabethtown Movie Trailer. It is only after his father dies that Drew Baylor – the young man at the center of “Elizabethtown” – begins to know his father and to explore his own rich family tree. He is aided in his journey by Claire, the “warrior of optimism” he meets on his way to the memorial in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. The rich mix of comedy and drama makes it a movie experience not quite like any other and one uniquely that of a Cameron Crowe film.
“I remember thinking, `Wow, we’re making a really special, heartfelt story that I think a lot of people will be able to relate to,’” says Orlando Bloom, who plays Drew. “When you’re sitting in the theater and you see somebody coming to terms with life and death, success and failure – which is everything that Drew does – it feels freeing, because you realize that these emotions.”
Bloom recalls Crowe’s vision for the character as “so specific and detailed but so loose and free. It is a very incredible way to work – you know he’s got all the angles covered.”
Paula Wagner notes, “Orlando is a truly gifted actor. He inhabits the role of Drew with an energy and insight that makes for a transcendent journey. He brings a beautiful subtlety to his character that is at once charming and humorous as he takes us on the journey to Elizabethtown and back. His world opens up with the reflection of love and family that Drew’s father held so dear and Claire’s character so remarkably infuses into his world.
Through his collaboration with Cameron, Orlando successfully accomplishes the incredibly challenging role of a man on a journey in search of his truth. He beautifully reaches an emotional catharsis that allows the audience to share in the moment. This is such a unique performance. No one has seen Orlando quite like this before. He conveys such complexities so effortlessly.”
“Elizabethtown” marks the second collaboration between Crowe and Bloom. Crowe had previously directed a 30-second spot for The Gap that featured Bloom and Kate Beckinsale. Cameron was impressed with the actor (who had been seen only in “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” and a small role in “Black Hawk Down”) and the two made a pact to work together in the future.
At Crowe’s suggestion, Bloom also spent hours studying classic relationship movies like Billy Wilder’s “The Apartment” and George Cukor’s “The Philadelphia Story.” Another favorite was William Wyler’s “The Best Years of Our Lives.” Bloom watched “The Apartment” numerous times, as did nearly every actor in the film. Bloom recalls the director’s enthusiasm for the film: “He would tell me, `Just watch Jack Lemmon.’ Drew has the heart of Jack Lemmon and, on a good day, the elegance and style of a young Cary Grant.” As a result of the multiple viewings, Crowe relates, “Orlando can do a mean Jack Lemmon imitation. But most importantly, he has what the great actors have: heart and soul and humor and the vulnerability to put it all out there.”
But the most important result of this take-home work was that it helped him get into the spirit of those classic Hollywood films to which “Elizabethtown” pays homage. “Movies like that aren’t about the visual effects and explosions – they’re human stories about family, about life, about death. I think that’s the kind of movie Cameron makes.” Many of Bloom’s roles have required the actor to ride horses, wear elaborate period costumes and master difficult stunt work with weapons and hand to hand combat. For “Elizabethtown,” the actor’s biggest physical challenge was to lose his famous British accent; Bloom plays his first role as an American in this film. He worked diligently on set and off to perfect the accent and credits his ability to lose his accent in large part to his dialect coach and to Crowe’s focused concept of the character.
For the role of Claire, Crowe knew he would need a radiant presence capable of becoming, in his words, “the soul of the movie, a character that is pure and simply a messenger of love.” As production began, Cameron was pleased to find that his instincts regarding Dunst were accurate, noting that “she’s finely tuned and amazingly instinctive.” Each new scene took him to new levels of appreciation for her attitude and technique. “It was a blast working with Dunst,” Crowe remarks. “There’s nothing wasted in her acting.”
Dunst recalls, “It was one of the best characters that I’ve ever read for a woman my age – it was so well written. It was just really easy for me to just slide into these words.” She was drawn to Claire’s constant life perspective: “She’s not self-deprecating at all; in fact, she’s very positive all the time. She’s really just there to help the other person – I can relate to that.”
Claire is an airline attendant who takes her job very seriously. “She’s the type of girl who’s there to make people happy and help people,” says Dunst. Portraying an airline attendant came easily for the actress as her mother worked as an airline stewardess in the 1960s and `70s. “It’s in my blood,” the actress jokes.
Working with Bloom was also a positive experience for Dunst. “He has such a vulnerability about him and such a sweetness. He’s not jaded at all. He’s just so easy to be around because he’s a dork like me; neither of us had to try to be cool with each other. It was just so very easy.”
“Kirsten’s portrayal of Claire in `Elizabethtown’ is flawless and honest,” says Wagner. “Besides being a consummate professional, she is truly a naturally gifted actress who dedicates herself to finding the unmistakable truth that brings her characters to life. In Claire, she creates a unique individual – although we have not met her before, we feel as though we have known her for years. As Claire says, `I’m impossible to forget but, I’m hard to remember.’”
Like her co-star, Dunst raves about working with Cameron Crowe. Both actors tout his ability to make the set comfortable and safe. As Dunst describes it, “I’ve never worked with a director who’s been so involved in my performance. The tone he sets is a very safe atmosphere and everybody is so supportive.”
For the part of Hollie Baylor, Drew’s recently widowed mother, the director chose veteran actress Susan Sarandon. For Crowe, the Academy Award winning actress’s wide range of memorable roles in many different kinds of films made her the perfect choice to portray the character described in the screenplay as “an earthy woman with a restless intellectualism – a brainy seeker of truth and knowledge.”
“Susan Sarandon is iconic as a movie star,” says Crowe. “She brings a lot of power. She has captured people’s hearts – she plays characters that people bring into their homes; they make a personal connection with her.”
Sarandon says her part calls on her to be both strong and frail while she deals with the devastating news that her husband has died. Initially, Hollie crumbles under the pressure and enlists her oldest son to handle the details. At the memorial service, she is able to gather the strength to move forward and begin to live a life without Mitch.
During production, Crowe became even more of a fan, noting that her scenes with Judy Greer, who portrays her daughter Heather, have “magic to them. I can feel the story of the movie in all their shots.” Sarandon felt strongly about fitting the part and becoming one of the Baylor family. When she first met Orlando and Judy Greer, who plays her daughter, she looked into their eyes and stated with a laugh, “Yep, we look like a family.” The role required her to expand her already impressive skill set to include tap dancing. Hollie has a very moving scene at her husband’s memorial in which she dances a soft-shoe number to the tune of “Moon River.”
“When her husband passes, Hollie gets a little lost… but she’s a strong woman — she’s going to get through it,” says Sarandon. “I admired her resolve; Cameron wrote a beautiful role and it was a dream to work with him. He creates an atmosphere conducive to taking chances. And he was passionate about this project. I was proud to be part of this trip and was grateful to be given the opportunity to unleash my dormant tap dance monster.”
Orlando Bloom’s experience working with Sarandon made a huge impression: “She just rocks in this role… she takes this sort of neurotic and terribly painful, heart-torn woman and puts this brave face on it… she’s strong and you know she’s going to survive… and get it all done.”
The cast of supporting actors is filled out by a number of accomplished actors, some well-known veterans and others talented newcomers. Alec Baldwin portrays Phil, Drew’s boss at Mercury Shoes. In addition to his many starring roles, Baldwin has made a recent career of scene-stealing supporting appearances.
Phil runs Mercury Shoes with a confidence and serenity that has a distinct Zen Buddhist flair – but it’s an attitude that may not be completely genuine. “I think Phil has been reading a lot of Eastern stuff. There’s this self-conscious Asian, Zen-ed out quality to Phil’s marketing and his whole universe,” says Baldwin. “One minute it’s Zen Buddhism and the next minute it’s Sun-Tzu and The Art of War. For Phil, it’s whatever works – whatever gets that stock price up.”
A mega-successful businessman who must make a very difficult decision, Phil and Drew share an almost father-and-son like relationship – until Drew’s new shoe design brings complete catastrophe to the company. Phil then very methodically explains that Drew must take the fall and fires him – all in the most serene-yet-straightforward manner. “Phil is one of those guys who’s defined by huge success and an ability to be a good leader by bringing all his people into this world around him.
“Everybody thinks they’re working for a father figure, but the father figure disappears quickly when he sees you identified with failure,” Baldwin continues. Baldwin had wanted to work with Cameron Crowe for years and considers himself lucky to have the opportunity. As Baldwin puts it, “Cameron is such a wonderful writer – he has such an honest way of writing. He is such a sweet guy – clear, enthusiastic and adventurous and he provides you with that kind of environment where you feel you can try anything.”
“I’m a huge fan of Alec’s,” says Crowe. “Watching him is like cinema candy, and you can’t get enough. I wasn’t sure the part was big enough for him. But he sent me a note after `Almost Famous’ and wrote that he was a huge Led Zeppelin fan. There was daylight there.”
Jessica Biel plays Ellen, Drew’s girlfriend, who dumps him upon the ruinous debut of the Späsmotica, the sneaker that Drew has spent the last eight years of his life perfecting. The character of Ellen was a difficult task for any actress, as she must do some outwardly callous things but still remain likable. Biel was honored to join the cast of respected actors and can’t compliment Crowe’s style of direction enough. “He brings things out of you that you never thought were really there; it feels great,” says Biel.
Hard working character actor Bruce McGill is Bill Banyon, a former friend of Mitch Baylor who has a shady past and swindled Mitch out of a large sum of money at one time; as a result, the Baylor family, especially Hollie Baylor, hates him. McGill has worked with some of the industry’s most respected directors and Crowe made it clear that he wanted no one else for the part. McGill recalls, “I found it irresistible and I’m so glad to have been in the film. I knew as soon as we started rehearsing that this was an unusual project with a great depth of texture to it.”
Judy Greer is Drew’s stressed out sister Heather Baylor, who is forced to witness firsthand their mother’s grief and subsequent management of it. Crowe is a huge fan of Greer’s and, as filming progressed, he observed that her scenes with Sarandon had a very special quality. “They make a great team – funny and deep,” says the director.
After screening the film “All the Real Girls,” Crowe chose relative newcomer Paul Schneider to portray Drew’s cousin, Jessie Baylor. The role is pivotal because, in many ways, Jessie serves as Drew’s interpreter and guide while he is in the midst of the Baylor family experience. Jessie is somewhat lost in his life and ends up taking his own journey as the film progresses. The single father to a rambunctious five-year-old named Samson, Jessie has thoughts of reliving the former glory of his high school rock-n-roll band, Ruckus. To give Schneider some background in the Louisville, Kentucky music scene, Cameron sent the actor on the road with local band My Morning Jacket for a week. Having played in college bands, he and the band bonded immediately. He was also required to play drums, an instrument he was already familiar with, and sing the vocals on the seminal Lynyrd Skynyrd tune “Free Bird.”
Cameron Crowe films are renowned for their memorable and talented cast of characters and “Elizabethtown” is no exception. Crowe and his regular casting director Gail Levin assembled one of the most diverse and interesting groups of people to inhabit the world beyond the featured roles. The extended Baylor family includes the Food Network’s Paula Deen of “Paula’s Home Cooking” as Aunt Dora. “She’s a natural,” says Crowe of Deen, who makes her motion picture debut in “Elizabethtown.” “Gail Levin saw her on the Food Network, and was blown away by how personable and real she is on camera. She just makes you feel good. Plus she’s unflappable. Watch her with her favorite guest, Jimmy Carter – she’s amazing. And of course she’s an amazing cook, which is perfect for the movie – when you meet her, she’s cooking, and she cooks throughout the movie. She expresses love with the food that she cooks.”
Deen says that her character and her director were both perfect matches for her as she made her motion picture debut. “I’m exactly like Aunt Dora,” she says. “I try to make my house exactly like hers – a warm, friendly place where the smell of home cooking invites you in. When I got the part, I was nervous at first, because I’ve never acted before – but Cameron created such a positive, safe atmosphere that it was easy just to channel myself and become Aunt Dora.”
Other actors playing Baylor family members include acclaimed singer/songwriter Loudon Wainwright as Uncle Dale and Crowe’s own mother, Alice Marie Crowe, as Aunt Lena. It’s no surprise that Cameron Crowe tapped several actual musicians for small parts in the film. In addition to Wainwright, the renowned singer-songwriter Patty Griffin is seen as Baylor family friend Sharon and the fictional rock band Ruckus is actually made up of members of My Morning Jacket and musician Charlie Crowe.
Elizabethtown (2005)
Directed by: Cameron Crowe
Starring: Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon, Jessica Biel, Judy Greer, Paul Schneider, Bruce McGill, Gailard Sartain, Alec Baldwin, Alice Marie Crowe, Paula Deen
Screenplay by: Cameron Crowe
Production Design by: Clay A. Griffith
Cinematography by: John Toll
Film Editing by: David Moritz
Costume Design by: Nancy Steiner
Set Decoration by: Robert Greenfield
Art Direction by: Beat Frutiger
Music by: Nancy Wilson
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for language and some sexual references.
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: October 14, 2005
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