A Work in Progress: It’s Complicated Begins
Over the past 30 years, Nancy Meyers has made several successful romantic comedies featuring adult characters forced to come face-to-face with truths they’ve long been avoiding. Throughout the years, the filmmaker has incorporated her own life experiences into her work. In It’s Complicated, she taps into the world of life after divorce.
Meyers’ screenplay examines a divorced couple who become exes with benefits. The decade-separated Jane and Jake Adler find themselves stumbling through the comic emotional minefield of a clandestine affair, while the charming-yet-reserved Adam struggles to move on from a painful divorce of his own.
“Some people never learn the simple truths,” offers Meyers. “It’s the lucky ones who ultimately learn something. I tend to explore things that, in some ways, I wrestle with. Writing has always been very therapeutic for me. A lot of my movies parallel events in my life, but I’ve never joined the army [Private Benjamin], and I’ve never had an affair with my ex-husband. The plotting is never the truth, but what’s underneath is heartfelt.”
Meyers found enormous comedic possibilities exploring the territory of an ex-wife having an affair with her ex-husband. For inspiration, she looked to Paul Mazursky classics from the `70s-such as An Unmarried Woman and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice-as examples of films strongly identifiable with the period in which they were made. Mazursky really captured the zeitgeist of the times. She offers: “I was drawn to the post-divorce world that exes find themselves in and how their relationship, in many ways, never really ends: the bumping into one another, figuring out how to still parent together, how to live in the same town together. I noticed how much the word `together’ still exists once you’re divorced.
“The idea of a exes reuniting surreptitiously was intriguing,” Meyers reflects. The comic possibilities were very rich, and the repercussions of this ex-couple back in each other’s lives seemed dangerous and liberating at the same time. This story really pulled me in. The `What if?’ factor was just so complex, it had so many levels to it and then there was a new man to bring into the mix…just to complicate it even further.”
With her story in place, Meyers worked with producer Scott Rudin to make the project happen. “I’ve known Scott for over 25 years, and I watched his career grow; he is a phenomenal force in the business,” she notes. “He has impeccable taste, makes smart, interesting films and works with great filmmakers. I went to him with this movie and said, `I’d really love your help in putting it together and making the film.’ He’s been an incredible asset to the movie.”
“Nancy is a genuinely wonderful filmmaker,” says Rudin. “I’ve always been a huge, huge fan of hers, so I was completely thrilled when she invited me to produce this one with her. I used to offer her movies to direct all the time, and she always turned me down, saying that she wasn’t ready. Well of course she was ready, and this is, in my opinion, her very best film.”
Throughout their development process, Rudin was moved by the authenticity of feeling he found in the project. He states: “Nancy never once sacrifices any of the comedy she’s reaching for by simultaneously investing the story with so much emotional truth. The detailed representation of the marriage, the intimacy between the people-all of it is moving and true, and makes the movie relatable.”
Friends and Lovers
While writing the script, Nancy Meyers kept Meryl Streep in mind for the role of the 50-something Jane, a successful mother and business owner who feels she has finally moved on from her divorce and is building the life she wants. Says Meyers: “I pictured Meryl in this part and I pictured her doing things that I would never have the guts to do. Thinking of Meryl pushed me as I wrote. Jane is definitely braver than I am, and it was fun writing that bravery and the choices she would make and the chances she would allow herself to take. As she says in the film, she `experimented with a part of herself.’ I’d rather experiment with a character in a movie than actually make the choices she makes…but that’s why she was so fun and engaging a character for me to write.”
Of having Streep sign on, Meyers shares: “She was the first person I went to, and I was thrilled beyond words that she wanted to do it. She’s extraordinary; she’s the most prepared actor I’ve ever worked with. Meryl doesn’t just know her lines, she sees the movie as a whole-as a filmmaker would.”
Rudin agreed with Meyers that Streep would be the production’s ideal Jane. He and Streep have had a long and rich history of working together that began in 1996 with Marvin’s Room. “I can’t imagine ever having a more exciting, ongoing collaboration with anyone than the one I’ve had with her,” he reflects. “She is simply the greatest actress on the planet. She brings every ounce of her talent to the set every day. One of the best things about my job is getting to sit in an editing room and watch take after take of what Meryl does.”
“The variety, the detail, the truthfulness and authenticity, the articulation-there’s simply no one like her,” he continues. “Meryl’s performance in this film has such ease and charm and wit, and her Jane is so endearing and brave that I just completely fall for her every time I see the movie. I’ve done so many movies with Meryl-and have seen her play everything from a nun to a fox-that I thought nothing she did could surprise me anymore; that’s how familiar I am with her brilliance. But the way she makes Jane so ardent and openhearted and loving is miraculous. Everything she does in the part is completely lived-in; she just wraps herself up in the role.”
When she read the script, Streep was moved by the fact that Meyers had “tapped into something deep about families who’ve encountered divorce…or anybody who has been abandoned by someone they love.” Streep understood Jane as a woman who “had reached a point where, after the disruptions of a life, is having a good time.” She elaborates: “Her business is finally launched and successful, and she’s reconciled herself to the divorce that ended her marriage 10 years before. Jane’s embarking upon this big building project and interested in the architect of it. Things are looking great… until Jake re-enters her life.”
The actress believed that the comedy’s setup was sensitive to, as she puts it, “forgotten women: women who don’t see their lives played out the way they do in this film. There are no movies in which a woman, 10 years happily divorced, reignites a relationship with her ex. This is not a common occurrence in movies… or in life.”
Cast to play Jane’s competing love interest was comic actor Steve Martin, who’d previously worked with Meyers on the Father of the Bride films. The director had been eager to write another role for him, and she penned Adam, a recently divorced architect who was struggling to let go of his past. “Steve is absolutely wonderful at light comedy,” says Meyers. “I knew this from working with him on Father of the Bride. He brings a tremendous warmth and ease to a movie. It was fantastic to watch the legendary Steve Martin play some of the smaller, more reserved moments in this movie. He found so much humor in the tiniest of moments. His Adam is a bit wounded, and Steve plays that vulnerability with a real openness and charm, making Adam a very endearing character. Also, the way his Adam relates to Jane is entirely different than the Jake and Jane dynamic.”
Martin looked forward to reuniting with his old friend. “Nancy called me and said I have this part that I would like you to play,” he recalls. “In my head, I went, `Yippee!’ I read it and found, as is typical with Nancy’s movies, it was sophisticated and accurate to human behavior. She writes quirkiness very well without it looking too exaggerated. She writes real people, and I was flattered to be asked to be in the movie.”
Of the relationship Adam has with Jane, Martin says, “He sees Jane as an established, successful businesswoman who is very self-contained and knows what she wants. He finds her a little bit scatterbrained; she can get a little nervous sometimes. But he likes her; he sees her dependability, and he also sees her quirkiness.”
Moviegoers are used to seeing Martin play characters that are extremely animated. But Adam is initially quite shy and reserved as he gets back into the dating scene. Discussing his thoughts on this often-subtle performance from the actor, Rudin reflects: “I’ve always thought Steve had tremendous tenderness and heart. And there are so many classic, unforgettable performances-remarkably affecting and emotionally surprising, as well-given by people who we know and love primarily for their ability to be funny and to make us laugh, and who, on occasions like this one, also get to make us cry. Steve does that in this movie.”
To play the part of Jane’s smitten ex-husband, the filmmakers cast two-time Emmy Award- and two-time Golden Globe Award-winning actor Alec Baldwin. Baldwin has been a fan of Meyers’ since the time she was primarily writing screenplays. He has fond memories of her earlier films, including Private Benjamin and The Parent Trap, as well as her later directing efforts, such as What Women Want and Something’s Gotta Give.
“I’ve always loved her films,” he says, “because they are adult movies about adult relationships, and the trouble people get into in these relationships. But another reason I wanted to do this film was Meryl. Like most actors working today, I have worshipped Meryl for a long time, and I’m grateful for this opportunity to work with her. And then, of course, there was Steve Martin. He’s already a veteran of these movies with Nancy, and I have been a fan of Steve’s movies forever. I think it works because you’d be hard-pressed to find two people who were more dissimilar than Steve’s character and my character.”
“Alec is a very skilled comic actor,” the writer / director returns. “There’s no piece of dialogue he can’t turn for you; he’s able to bend the speeches in the script into exactly the shape they’re meant to be, and then he manages to add something to it with just the right gesture-a look, an eye movement, a nod. He makes Jake impossible to resist for the audience…and for Jane.”
“Alec is our Spencer Tracy,” Rudin states. “He’s got unbelievable skill, but it’s almost completely invisible. You simply cannot deconstruct what he does; it’s that original and unique.
He enjoyed seeing the accomplished actors portray Jane and Jake. Rudin continues: “It’s very rare that you see the kind of deftness in a comic partnership that Alec and Meryl have. The give and take, the way they pass the ball back and forth, is exquisite. Just about my favorite thing in this movie is the intimacy between them and the fact that as they’re telling a story that’s moving forward in the present, everything they do is also serving to tell you the detailed story of their marriage in the past. I love the way they tell both of those stories at once-one hopeful, one ruminative-and that’s enormous credit to the two of them and also, obviously, to Nancy’s filmmaking.”
With her core cast intact, Meyers reflected on the chemistry that was evident between Streep and Baldwin as they performed opposite one another. “They play extremely well off each other; each is very responsive to what the other one does,” she notes. “There’s a bit of an ongoing one-upmanship between Jane and Jake, and Alec and Meryl kept that volley going through the entire shoot.”
Streep cites her leading men as a primary reason she wanted to film It’s Complicated. About Martin and Baldwin, she reflects: “They’re both so wildly and inventively funny. I just love them both. Everyone that’s cast in this film is perfectly chosen. The men don’t shy away from the feelings of the story. They’re not just willing to be funny. They’re willing to reveal themselves, which is not always that easy. Steve has a very graceful presence. He’s who he is, with no cover on it. He’s more than a match for the ex-husband. Jake is more of a bull moose. He storms into the picture, sees what he wants and goes after it. Alec is irresistible in this part. His drive to make things feel right is really the engine of this film.”
Playing Jane and Jake’s elder daughter’s fiancé, Harley, is actor John Krasinski. Harley accidentally finds out about Jane and Jake’s affair and keeps stumbling upon them throughout the movie. Says Meyers, “John had a very tiny part in The Holiday, and I just went nuts for him. I absolutely loved working with him, so when I wrote the part of Harley, I was hoping I could entice John to do it. Harley is caught in the middle, knowing much more than he wants to about Jane and Jake’s affair. The pressure not to spill the beans is almost too enormous for him. John’s playing of that tension is extremely funny.”
Says Krasinski, who was as eager to work with his former director again: “Nancy finds the humor and the heart in a lot of situations and makes them comedic. There’s something sweet about having an affair with your ex-husband. There’s always that feeling of wondering whether or not the flame has totally gone out, or whether some love still remains.”
For the role of Jake’s trophy wife, Agness-who is keen to have a child with him-Meyers chose actress Lake Bell, who recently displayed her comic talents in What Happens in Vegas. “She is really good,” Meyers says. “I read a lot of young women for this part, and once I read her, I stopped looking. She’s smart and sophisticated, and her comic timing is very sly. Lake’s Agness sneaks up on you.”
Bell explains Jake and Agness’ current situation. “Their sexual relationship starts deteriorating, mainly because Agness would like to have a child,” the performer says. “She starts taking hormones to improve her fertility, but it also makes her crazier. Their sexual relationship goes off the rails, and that was the main reason they were together in the first place. Once that’s gone, Jake starts to question why he is with Agness and asks himself, `What the hell did I leave behind?’”
Meyers also stopped looking at actresses after she read Zoe Kazan for the role of Gabby, Jake and Jane’s middle child. Kazan enjoyed success after her performance as Leonardo DiCaprio’s office fling in Revolutionary Road and in the cast of the acclaimed 2008 Broadway revival of Chekhov’s The Seagull. “Zoe was the first of the kids that I cast,” says Meyers. “I read her early in the process, and knew I needed to look no further. She was the character I envisioned.”
Kazan originally auditioned for Meyers on video from New York. Meyers liked what she saw, and brought Kazan to L.A. to meet. Kazan remembers it as being one of the best auditions of her young career. “The minute I read the script, I thought, `I know who this character is,’” she explains. “When they brought me to L.A. to meet Nancy, I thought that went well, and then they called me on my cell phone only a minute or two after I’d left to tell me I had the part.” From that point on, Meyers used Kazan to play Gabby in readings and screen tests for the actors up for the roles of her siblings.
Hunter Parrish of Showtime’s hit series Weeds was cast as Gabby’s younger brother, Jane and Jake’s son, Luke. Says Parrish, “I love working with writer/director combos,” he says. “Instead of having two people trying to fit their ideas together, it’s all in one. Nancy has such an amazing vision and a detailed concept of what she wants. When she writes it, she feels it, and you know she already has the visual image in her mind.”
“I kept asking Hunter if I could adopt him,” laughs Meyers. “He’s a charming kid with a very naturalistic approach to acting. I especially like that for this film because the three adult leads are very powerful, very forceful. He’s got his own way; you give him a close-up, and you’re just glued to him. He’s very naturally sympathetic.”
The third and final of the Adler siblings cast was Caitlin Fitzgerald in the role of Jane and Jake’s eldest daughter, Lauren. Tall, blonde and patrician, Fitzgerald is a newcomer who, like Kazan and Parrish, is believable as the product of a Streep and Baldwin union. “There’s a purity to her,” says Meyers. “She could easily slip into any Jane Austen movie in a second. She has a very timeless quality. I needed the two girls to be very different, even though they’re sisters. She’s the one who’s spent the most time with her parents before the divorce, and she’s the most affected by it, because she’s known them longest as a couple. Lauren’s the one who’s careful and cautious and protective of her mother.”
Fitzgerald enjoyed the role reversal. “My character is very maternal in the film,” she says. “And certainly very maternal towards Meryl’s character. During the divorce, Lauren was the one who took care of her younger siblings and comforted her mother. I feel like a very old soul in this movie.”
Brooklyn to Santa Barbara
Although the majority of It’s Complicated is set in Santa Barbara, California, three-quarters of the filming, including nearly all of the interiors, took place in New York City. Principal photography began February 18, 2009, in Brooklyn at Broadway Stages, where the scenes that take place at Jane’s house were shot. The opulent, full-scale set depicted the warm, inviting Santa Barbara style. There was even a huge expanse of lawn that was part of the set, surrounded by an artfully executed trompe l’oeil backdrop of native greenery. Lunch breaks often found crew members sprawled out on the fake lawn, picnicking under the lights of the sound stage.
During the early days of filming, it was up to director of photography John Toll to develop the look that would dovetail with and enhance the work of production designer Jon Hutman (on his fourth collaboration with Meyers) and costume designer Sonia Grande. Meyers knew Toll could offer the style of camerawork she wanted.
Meyers reflects on her reasoning for selecting the two-time Oscar winner as her DP: “I once read an interview with a cinematographer who said, `Faces are my landscapes.’ That comment reminds me so much of John’s philosophy. When you have someone like Meryl in your movie, you see her character’s story through her eyes. You live the journey with her, and John’s meticulous attention to detail takes the audience on that journey. His lighting is so delicate and so painterly. I was blessed to have that kind of an eye on every frame of our movie. John also has a home in Santa Barbara, so there was no need to explain the look of Jane’s world to him; he lives it. Since 70 percent of the movie takes place in and around Jane’s house, it was important to find someone who could translate that. John surpassed all my expectations in doing so.”
Streep found her director of photography’s work “absolutely beautiful. I’m so grateful to John for not only making the frame lovely, but for making the people glow with warmth. He captures the sense of home-longing for home, breaking up homes and building homes-that’s at the center of this film. He did an amazing job.”
Several other key locations were used during the first portion of filming in New York. For the Village Bakery that Jane owns, Hutman and Meyers came up with the food shop of their dreams. It was all built inside the Picnic House, a large, studio-sized structure in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, and it included counter space, an eating area, offices and even a huge store loaded with baked goods, fresh fruit and gourmet items. Any foodie stumbling into the place could have been forgiven for thinking he or she had just entered a tempting gourmet shop.
“We should have probably left everything intact after we wrapped the film, and let all of Brooklyn come shop here,” suggests Meyers. For the scenes that took place in the bakery’s kitchen and refrigeration area, the facilities at Sarabeth’s Bakery in the Chelsea Market were used. Adam’s Santa Barbara architecture office was filmed in a commercial loft building in New York’s Chelsea district. Hutman dressed it to create an aesthetic that was distinctly West Coast in feeling.
All of Martin’s scenes had to be completed during the first two months of filming, as he was soon to embark on a concert tour to promote “The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo,” his recently released CD of banjo tunes. Martin’s banjo was his constant companion on the set, and he frequently treated cast and crew to impromptu concerts during downtime.
In April 2009, the company set down roots in Los Angeles. Much of its time there was spent filming scenes that take place outside Jane’s house: in the front yard, the backyard, the garden and the driveway. The house that was used as home base was a gorgeous adobe ranch house located in Thousand Oaks, about 45 minutes north of L.A. Originally designed and built in the late 1920s, it had formerly been home to a number of celebrities, including W.C. Fields.
“It had a wonderful, old-California feel to it,” says Meyers. “I lived in a house that was almost identical to it for many years. If I’d searched forever, I couldn’t have found a house that duplicated my own house more. It was definitely the environment I’d imagined Jane would live in.” Sweetening the deal was the fact that the house was surrounded by many acres of land, allowing for a base camp of trailers, generators and catering facilities that could be kept completely out of the camera’s range.
In mid-April, the company spent a brief three days filming exteriors in Santa Barbara and Montecito, just before the devastating brush fires that took a heavy toll on the area. In addition to scenes filmed in the residential areas of Montecito, there were shots taken in front of numerous downtown landmarks, including the County Courthouse and the historic El Paseo section. Then everyone returned to Los Angeles for completion of the scenes at Jane’s house and for the filming at Pacific Palisades’ Bel-Air Bay Club. The club served as the setting for one of the film’s comic high points: the scene in which John Krasinski, as Lauren’s fiancé, Harley, realizes that Jane and Jake are conducting an affair.
In early May, the California portion of filming was completed and the company returned to the Broadway Stages in Brooklyn to complete principal photography. For the New York section of the story, in which the Adler family comes to the city for Luke’s graduation, shoots took place at St. John’s University in Queens and on Park Avenue in midtown. For the hotel where the Adlers stay, the fictional Park Regent, several different locations contributed to the aggregate. The exterior was a Trump-owned residence building on Park Avenue and 59th Street; the lobby and Jane’s hotel room were in the Essex House; and the hotel bar where the sparks fly between Jane and Jake was the interior of Del Posto restaurant on 10th Avenue. Several other locations, including Jake’s room, Jake and Agness’ Santa Barbara bedroom, as well as the fertility clinic, were shot on Brooklyn stages.
Production Design: Reflecting the Light
Production designer Hutman and his crew spent months on a massive stage at the Broadway Stages studios in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, constructing the set that would serve as the inside of Jane’s home. Meyers is always meticulously involved in creating the look of her films, and this was one of her favorite parts of the preproduction period. The process began early as she assembled representative photos that struck her as appropriate. She shared these with Hutman and costume designer Sonia Grande to pique their creativity and eventually arrived at an organic, integrated style. The long back-and-forth process between Meyers and longtime collaborator Hutman was fruitful.
“I sent the design photos to Jon,” Meyers explains, “and he sent images back to me as well. I think the way people live tells you a lot about them, so I’m very particular about what’s sitting on a table. I’ll walk around the set, saying, `Would she really be reading this book?’ Jon’s so incredibly collaborative. We went back and forth a lot, and he kept the doors open to all the other departments. He’s tireless, and my ideas keep evolving, so Jon’s a good person for me to work with because he never shuts down.”
“Nancy, perhaps more than any director I’ve worked with, comes to the table with a clear and specific vision of the world in which the story takes place,” says Hutman. “This strong visual concept becomes the foundation upon which we begin to scout locations, design sets and create the look of the film. The good news is that Nancy speaks this language of color, shape and texture. She’s very clear about what she wants, and I love our collaboration.”
In the case of It’s Complicated, Meyers felt early on that it was important to have the color orange play a prominent part in the color scheme, “because it seems to be the dominant color you see in Santa Barbara,” she explains. “All of those red-tile roofs that create a rich, orange glow against the sky. I wanted that feeling to continue into Jane’s house. I wanted a lot of earth colors to bring the outside in, because so much of the film takes place inside the house. I wanted to keep Southern California alive…even when we were indoors.”
Hutman helped Meyers create a visual elegance that spreads into the other senses, so that audiences can almost feel the tactile surfaces of Jane’s kitchen, smell the herbs in her garden and taste the fabulous pastries of her bakery. “We wanted to give the audience the experience of what it would be like to live in this part of Southern California,” says Hutman. “Santa Barbara is such a beautiful place, and we tried to capture many of the qualities that make it special. For an audience to feel what it’s like in Santa Barbara is to help them identify with these characters.”
The process of creating these scenic environments is a long and intense one, but ultimately rewarding for both Hutman and Meyers. “I could just do the house the way I want it and there are directors who would just show up and shoot it,” Hutman says. “But to Nancy, the house is very much a character in her movie, and my job is not done until I have given her what she wants. If we do our job right, we come out at the end with something that’s much more interesting for the audience to discover.”
Food Design: California Cuisine
Food plays a major role in the film and some form of it appears in most of the major sequences. Throughout the production, culinary consultant SUSAN SPUNGEN was behind the scenes in a special studio kitchen turning out dish after dish. The founding editorial director for entertaining and food at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Spungen launched the company’s first all-food title, “Everyday Food,” and most recently served as consultant on Meryl Streep’s last blockbuster, Julie & Julia. Instead of the classic, old-style French haute cuisine she had to make on that film, she produced simpler but equally appealing fare for It’s Complicated.
“This was California-style, close-to-the-earth cooking,” says Spungen. “You could say it was a cross between my style and Jane’s. It was a nice change for me to be working with food that was much more contemporary. I made a lot of suggestions to Nancy, and she gave me a loose framework of what she was looking for. Sometimes it was as general as ultra-colorful salads. Those were some of my original suggestions, so it was clear from the start that we were both on the same track.”
An award-winning cookbook author, Spungen has spent nearly her entire adult life in kitchens and is fazed by little. My first day on the set was for the dinner-party scene with Meryl and her three friends. That required a lot of food, so we hit the ground running. I felt confident after that. We’d hit the right note, so from then on I used that as my benchmark.”
For one scene being shot over a three-day stretch, she had to turn out 57 photogenic, perfectly roasted chickens. “The ovens were horribly greasy after that,” she laughs. “I helped coach Meryl on that scene, where she had to very emphatically and symbolically chop the leg off a chicken. I had it all rigged so that the leg would come off easily-a breakaway chicken, if you will.”
For the bakery scenes, Spungen was in charge of procuring all the baked goods on display, acquired from various artisan bakeries across the city. “I was back there in the kitchen area making a lot of French toast. I might have been a bit overqualified for that part of the job,” she laughs.
Spanish Influence: The Film’s Costumes
While working with Hutman on the design of the sets, Meyers was also conferring with costume designer Sonia Grande on her performers’ outfits. She had seen Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which Grande had designed, and thought the clothes were fantastic. She asked Grande to fly in from Barcelona, and because Grande spoke very little English at the time, she brought along an interpreter. Despite the language gap, Meyers felt she was absolutely the right one for the job. Grande was never without her interpreter during the entire stretch of preproduction and filming, though her English improved markedly during her seven-month stay in the U.S.
“Sonia’s very inventive,” says Meyers. “She has a great sense of color. She gives sex appeal to people when they need it; she knows what to hide and what to show and she keeps her work grounded in reality. I have two daughters who are the same age as the girls in the movie, and Sonia absolutely captured the impromptu look of young women that age.”
As filmmakers speak an international language, the pair became fast collaborators. “I was very impressed when I read Nancy’s script,” says Grande. “The characters were well defined, and I was able to instantly visualize their clothing aesthetics. With today’s globalization, so much is influenced by American culture and fashion. I didn’t find it difficult to adapt to an American point of view for this comedy… even though it’s my first film for U.S. audiences.”
As did Hutman, Grande worked very closely with Meyers in designing the specific looks for each main character. “The idea was to make Jane look like the very contemporary, energetic woman that she is,” Grande explains. “She’s not old-fashioned or an ordinary housewife, and Nancy had a very clear definition of creating Jane as a cultured woman who’s sensitive to the world around her.”
“Naturally, Meryl contributed with this, too,” continues the designer. “It was fantastic to work with her on the costumes, because she told me she originally contemplated becoming a costume designer before she became an actress. She understands why you’re looking for a specific outfit, color or design, and she enjoys working with you on that. She made some very good suggestions.”
For the male leads, Grande worked in two distinct styles. For attorney Jake, she dressed Alec Baldwin in dark blue blazers that reflect his character’s conservative background. “Jake is one of those guys who does not like to be without a woman,” says Grande. “He demands a lot of attention. He’ll probably never mature.” As for Steve Martin’s architect, she notes: “Adam has a strong personal style. Most of the architects I have known have been very aware of color and structure in their style of dressing. They put a great deal of thought into it. They don’t want to dress like anybody else. It’s a more sensitive style than Jake’s. Nothing in his look stands out, but it’s all constructed in good taste.”
It’s Complicated (2009)
Directed by: Nancy Meyers
Starring: Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin, John Krasinski, Zoe Kazan, Lake Bell, Hunter Parrish, Pat Finn, Rita Wilson, Rita Wilson, Alexandra Wentworth, Zoe Kazan, Nora Dunn, Bruce Altman, Caitlin Fitzgerald
Screenplay by: Nancy Meyers
Production Design by: Jon Hutman
Cinematography by: John Toll
Film Editing by: Joe Hutshing, David Moritz
Costume Design by: Sonia Grande
Set Decoration by: Beth A. Rubino
Art Direction by: W. Steven Graham
Music by: Heitor Pereira, Hans Zimmer
MPAA Rating: R for some drug content and sexuality.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: December 25, 2009
Visits: 71
