Tagline: You can’t always run from your past.
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past movie storyline. Celebrity photographer Connor Mead (Matthew McConaughey) loves freedom, fun and women… in that order. A committed bachelor with a no-strings policy, he thinks nothing of breaking up with multiple women on a conference call while prepping his next date. Connor’s brother Paul is more the romantic type. In fact, he’s about to be married. Unfortunately, on the eve of the big event, Connor’s mockery of romance proves a real buzz-kill for Paul, the wedding party and a houseful of well wishers-including Connor’s childhood friend Jenny (Jennifer Garner), the one woman in his life who has always seemed immune to his considerable charm.
Just when it looks like Connor may single-handedly ruin the wedding, he gets a wake-up call from the ghost of his late Uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas), the hard-partying, legendary ladies man upon whose exploits Connor has modeled his lifestyle. Uncle Wayne has an urgent message for his protégé, which he delivers through the ghosts of Connor’s jilted girlfriends-past, present and future-who take him on a revealing and hilarious odyssey through a lifetime of failed relationships. Together, they will discover what turned Connor into such a shameless player and whether he has a second chance to find – and this time, keep – the love of his life.
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is a 2009 American romantic comedy film whose plot is based on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Mark Waters directed a script by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. Filming spanned February 19, 2008 to July 2008 in Massachusetts with stars Matthew McConaughey, Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Garner, Lacey Chabert and Michael Douglas. The film was released on May 1, 2009.
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past features a wedding day and the day before, rather than the familiar Christmas and Christmas Eve from A Christmas Carol. The three ghosts share similar appearances with the original descriptions, and the film shares the traditional plot points from the book. On the film’s opening weekend, it debuted at #2 with a gross of $15.4 million (3,175 theaters, $4,854 average), far behind X-Men Origins: Wolverine’s $85.1 million gross. The film made $55.3 million in the United States and Canada along with $47 million from foreign territories for a worldwide total of $102.2 million.
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past was originally set up at Touchstone Pictures with Ben Affleck attached to play the lead character, but he opted out of the movie. It was primarily filmed at Castle Hill in Ipswich, Massachusetts The film was also the first pairing of Michael Douglas and Anne Archer since the 1987 hit thriller Fatal Attraction, although they shared no scenes together. Jennifer Garner and Christa B. Allen again appear together for the first time since 13 Going on 30 in 2004, and they again play the older and younger versions of the same character.
About the Production
Probably Not the Best Man to Pick As Your “Best Man,” Even If He Is Your Only Brother
The last place on earth anyone would expect to find Connor Mead would be at a wedding. More to the point, that last place would certainly be his own wedding, although it’s tough enough to imagine him overcoming his allergy to matrimony long enough to attend anyone else’s big day. But this is different. It’s his brother’s wedding, and for Paulie’s sake alone Connor is willing to make the trek from his high-style New York City life to the Newport, Rhode Island home of his childhood, where the ceremony is scheduled to take place at their late Uncle Wayne’s lavish estate.
Connor is expecting to be a little uncomfortable with the festivities, but that’s OK; it’s just one weekend. What he is not expecting is how he will feel when he comes face to face with his former flame Jenny Perotti (Jennifer Garner).
“Connor is used to being the confident guy, charming and funny, kind of edgy and always at the top of his game. He’s really not out to hurt anyone, he just wants to have a good time. But he’s also a guy who has lost his way and doesn’t know it. He’s been playing this role so long he doesn’t even realize that in the end it’s a lonely path,” says Matthew McConaughey, who stars as the story’s perennial bachelor.
“Seeing Jenny again would be his first clue,” suggests director Mark Waters.
Beautiful, smart and self-assured, Jenny could have been the best thing that ever happened to Connor… if he hadn’t walked out on her years ago. Now the maid of honor, she is all business when it comes to her ex, determined that nothing-and no one-will mar this special occasion, and that means putting Connor on notice in case he’s planning anything that would take the focus off the happy couple.
“Having experienced the Connor Mead treatment, Jenny has no patience for him,” states Jennifer Garner. “They were best friends as kids and really meant something to each other, then reconnected and dated as adults but, by then, he was well on his way to becoming a world-class playboy and totally disappointed her. He nearly ruined her faith in men. When they are reunited at the house there are definitely sparks flying but not necessarily the good kind.”
Waters views Jenny as “a combination of the girl next door and the one who got away, with a touch of something else that Connor can’t quite pin down. There’s a rich history between them and the sense that Jenny knows Connor in a way that no other woman ever will. For all her disappointment in what he has become, she knows the real Connor is better than that; consequently she calls him on his games and puts him in his place. Matthew and Jennifer really tap into that sparring rhythm and that undercurrent of competition that’s a carryover from Connor’s and Jenny’s childhood together.”
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Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009)
Directed by: Mark S. Waters
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Breckin Meyer, Lacey Chabert, Anne Archer, Amanda Walsh, Emma Stone, Michael Douglas, Camille Guaty, Rachel Boston, Amanda Walsh, Noureen DeWulf
Screenplay by: Scott Moore, John Lucas
Production Design by: Cary White
Cinematography by: Daryn Okada
Film Editing by: Bruce Green
Costume Design by: Denise Wingate
Set Decoration by: Barbara Haberecht
Art Direction by: Maria L. Baker
Music by: Rolfe Kent
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual content throughout, some language and a drug reference.
Distributed by: New Line Cinema
Release Date: May 1, 2009
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