Tagline: …is the person you can become.
The Upside of Anger movie storyline. Kevin Costner, Joan Allen, Erika Christensen, Evan Rachel Wood, Keri Russell and Alicia Witt headline a stellar ensemble cast in the critically acclaimed Sundance festival hit The Upside of Anger. Allen stars as the sharp-witted Terry Wolfmeyer, a suburban wife and mother who is left to raise her four headstrong daughters when her husband unexpectedly disappears. Things get even more hectic when Terry falls for her neighbor Denny (Kevin Costner), a once-great baseball star turned radio DJ, and her daughters are forced to juggle their mom’s romantic dilemmas as well as their own.
The Upside of Anger is a 2005 American romantic comedy and drama film written and directed by Mike Binder and set in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. It stars Joan Allen, Kevin Costner and Evan Rachel Wood. The film was produced by Jack Binder, Alex Gartner and Sammy Lee.
According to the closing credits and the special features section of the DVD, much of the film was shot at Ealing Studios, London. Part was filmed in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a wealthy suburb of Detroit. At one point in the film, Detroit’s 101 WRIF served as a backdrop for the movie.
Denny Davies, Costner’s character, is referenced to have retired from the Detroit Tigers several years earlier. Several still pictures of Costner from For Love of the Game, in which he played a Tigers pitcher named Billy Chapel, are used as posters in Davies’ radio studio.
About the Production
For a film with such a richly-layered storyline, The Upside of Anger had a relatively simple beginning. A very personal movie for writer/director Mike Binder, the script was inspired in large part by his own experiences growing up as a child with divorced parents and his desire to explore the impact that anger and emotion can have on a family.
“When I was a kid, my parents separated and my mother went through a tough time for a lot of years,” says Binder. “I thought that would be a great way to get to this point that I wanted to write about. I conceived the whole screenplay as a parable of sorts on misplaced anger, about the things in life that people often spend so much time being angry and upset about, only to later find out what they thought was right was actually wrong, or vice versa.”
The topic is a marked departure from Binder’s previous work, which includes more lighthearted looks at love and relationships in the comedy The Sex Monster and the HBO series “The Mind of the Married Man.” But with The Upside of Anger, Binder found it inspiring to explore new territory with his script and to approach his subject from a unique angle.
“When I first read the script, I thought it was fantastic – I can’t remember a script I’ve read that was so original, truthful, and funny,” says producer Alex Gartner, a former president of production for MGM/United Artists. “Mike brought a fresh voice to the kind of movie we are not seeing enough of anymore, and the response we got from actors was better than on any project I can remember being involved with.”
“This is one of the best scripts that Mike has ever written, and I think it really elevates his work to a new level,” says producer Jack Binder. “The amazing thing is that the quality of his writing was so good that it really drove the film to get made. It made a group of talented actors eager to work on the film and is the type of material that will really attract an audience.”
Gartner adds that one of the script’s greatest strengths was the way in which it does not cleanly fit into any predisposed genre category, instead blending elements of comedy, drama and family films.
Mike Binder’s personal investment in the script was furthered by his additional roles as director and supporting actor. “Mike brings the whole package. He’s a triple threat – a real actor’s director who can also write the hell out of a script,” says Gartner.
Continue Reading and View the Theatrical Trailer
The Upside of Anger (2005)
Directed by: Mike Binder
Starring: Joan Allen, Kevin Costner, Erika Christensen, Evan Rachel Wood, Keri Russell, Alicia Witt, Mike Binder, Dane Christensen, Danny Webb, Suzanne Bertish, Magdalena Manville
Screenplay by: Mike Binder
Production Design by: Chris Roope
Cinematography by: Richard Greatrex
Film Editing by: Steve Edwards, Robin Sales
Costume Design by: Deborah Lynn Scott
Set Decoration by: Neesh Ruben
Art Direction by: Tim Stevenson
Music by: Alexandre Desplat
MPAA Rating: R for language, sexual situations, brief comic violence, drug use.
Distributed by: New Line Cinema
Release Date: March 11, 2005
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