Something’s Gotta Give movie storyline. Academy Award winners Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton and Frances McDormand star with Keanu Reeves and Amanda Peet in a sophisticated romantic comedy Something’s Gotta Give, from writer / director Nancy Meyers (What Women Want, The Parent Trap), which proves that in matters of the heart, you can expect the unexpected.
Harry Sanborn (Jack Nicholson) is a perennial bachelor who only dates women under the age of 30. On what was to have been a romantic weekend with his latest infatuation, Marin (Amanda Peet), at her mother’s Hamptons beach house, Harry develops chest pains. Marin’s mother Erica Barry (Diane Keaton), a successful, divorced playwright, reluctantly agrees to help nurse him back to health.
Once they are alone together, Harry is surprised to find himself drawn to Erica for all the right reasons. And despite her initial protestations about Harry, Erica finds herself rediscovering love. Romantic complications arise when Erica is also pursued by Harry’s charming 30-something doctor, Julian Mercer (Keanu Reeves). Once recovered, Harry returns home and goes back to his old ways.
Something’s Gotta Give is a 2003 American romantic comedy film written, produced and directed by Nancy Meyers. It stars Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton as a successful 60-something and 50-something, who find love for each other in later life, despite being complete opposites. Keanu Reeves and Amanda Peet co-star, with Frances McDormand, Paul Michael Glaser, Jon Favreau, and KaDee Strickland playing key supporting roles.
The film received generally favorable reviews from critics, and was a box office hit following its North American release, eventually grossing over $266 million mostly from its international run.[1] For her performance Keaton earned a Golden Globe, a Satellite Award, as well as an Academy Award nomination and a SAG Award nomination for Best Actress, among other recognitions. Nicholson also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. This was Nicholson and Keaton’s second film together since 1981’s Reds.
About the Production
Throughout her remarkable—and remarkably successful—two decade long career as a screenwriter and, now, director, Nancy Meyers has insightfully dissected the contemporary struggles between men and women. In an era when movies often sacrifice credible relationships in favor of technological wizardry, Meyers’ films remain focused on how human beings relate to each other in love and family. Something’s Gotta Give continues this tradition and expands on it.
“Pretty much everything I’ve written has paralleled something in my own life,” notes the filmmaker. “I must confess that I’m a little fascinated with the older-man-younger-woman scenario. “The other thing that interested me,” Meyers continues, “was in a way the opposite of all that: Falling in love and emotionally opening up later in life. I just think that people falling in love late in life is as real and powerful as it is when they’re 25.”
Nancy Meyers combined both those interests and, in addition, decided to explore the younger-man-older-woman relationship.” Dealing with love between men and women beyond middle age wasn’t a concern,” Meyers states. “There’s a universality to what happens between Harry and Erica. Love is love, and it doesn’t matter at what age it happens, except maybe it hurts more, the older you get.”
As Meyers conceived her story – even before the actual writing process – she decided upon the actors deemed perfect to essay the roles of Harry Sanborn and Erica Barry, respectively the uncommitted playboy and successful, divorced playwright, both of whom embark on an emotional adventure unlike any they imagined. The two actors she envisioned were Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton.
Meyers had not yet worked with Nicholson, a genuine motion picture icon whose career seems to be going even stronger now than when he first became a star more than 30 years ago. But she already had a long history with Keaton, who had starred in several films Meyers co-wrote, including Baby Boom, Father of the Bride and Father of the Bride II.
Keaton recalls the first time she read Meyers’ work, the script for Baby Boom. “I loved it. I mean, what’s not to love?” she says. “There was some fantastic writing in it. Her writing was always like ‘coming home’ in a way for me”
“Nancy fought to cast me in Baby Boom,” Keaton continues, ” and this aspect of her personality is something amazing. It’s like a dog with a bone, babe. If she wants to make it happen, it happens. And that’s the way it is. Nancy is not only a great writer, she’s a ‘balls to the floor’ producer. I’m not kidding. You don’t come any stronger. She knows what she wants.”
After Meyers had worked out the first act, “I pitched it to Jack even though I only had a general view of what would happen next,” she recalls. “I went up to his house in L.A., and he seemed very interested. Jack liked the subject matter, and he was encouraging, so I went on writing in hopes that he would like the final result. Diane also expressed interest in reading the script when it was completed. It took me about 10 months to write it, and about four or five months into the process I called Jack and Diane and said, ‘It’ll take about another five months, but I think we may have something here.’”
Keaton has her own humorous memories of the process. “Nancy called me up about two-and-a-half years ago and says, ‘Okay, let’s have lunch.’ So we have lunch, and she tells me that she’s going to write this movie about a middle-aged romance, and she wants me to star with Jack Nicholson. And I’m saying ‘Yeah, right, Nancy.’ Then the next step is … Nancy saying, ‘Well, now I’m gonna start writing it.’
Uh-huh, OK, Nancy, great. That’s wonderful. ‘Okay, now I wrote it.’ Great, Nancy, that’s wonderful. ‘Okay, now I gave it to the studio and they want to do it.’ Every step of the way, Nancy is like the little train that could. She’s unbelievable like that. I’ve never met a woman like her. And she wrote a great script.”
Something’s Gotta Give (2003)
Directed by: Nancy Meyers
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, Keanu Reeves, Amanda Peet, Frances McDormand, Jon Favreau, Paul Michael Glaser, Rachel Ticotin, Peter Spears, KaDee Strickland
Screenplay by: Nancy Meyers
Production Design by: Jon Hutman
Cinematography by: Michael Ballhaus
Film Editing by: Joe Hutshing
Costume Design by: Suzanne McCabe
Set Decoration by: Beth A. Rubino
Music by: Hans Zimmer
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual content, brief nudity and strong language.
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: December 12, 2003
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