Set in Chicago, Wicker Park is a psychological drama about a young advertising executive (Josh Hartnett) and his obsessive search for a lost love. While trying to track down a woman (Diane Kruger) who mysteriously walked out of his life two years earlier, he’s also caught up in an affair with a mysterious young woman (Rose Byrne) who’s dating his best friend (Matthew Lillard).
So much for uncomplicated relationships. With its circuitous, surprise-filled script and sexy undercurrents, Wicker Park was a project that attracted top talent from the very beginning. In setting up the film, a remake of the acclaimed French movie L’Appartement by Gilles Mimouni, the producers needed a director who could handle a challenging screenplay with a stylish, clear, and exciting command of the medium. They found their auteur in Scotsman Paul McGuigan.
“For Wicker Park, we put an exciting cast in the hands of a very creative and talented director,” says producer Tom Rosenberg. “While we’ve retained many key elements from the first film, Paul brings a totally original vision to this one. Working from a fresh script, his unique style really energizes a plot charged with roller coaster twists and surprises.”
McGuigan says he was immediately attracted to the project when he read it. “I was very captivated by the script,” he says. “I had to go back and read it again to make sure I was picking it up. It’s a love story, but it’s told in a very non-linear way.”
With McGuigan at the helm, the filmmakers then concentrated on assembling a young, talented cast who could handle the film’s multi-layered characters and twisted situations. To play the film’s lead, the bewildered, bewitched Matthew, the filmmakers settled on Josh Hartnett. In addition to his status as one of Hollywood’s biggest heartthrobs, Hartnett has proved his acting mettle with earnest, subtle performances in films such as The Virgin Suicides and Black Hawk Down. Due to his starpower, Hartnett’s involvement also helped Wicker Park hit the fast track: after reading the script, he eagerly agreed to join the cast and the production truly started to pick up speed.
“In his previous films, Josh has demonstrated extraordinary charisma on screen,” says producer Gary Lucchesi. “In Wicker Park, he gets to play the part of a more dramatic, romantic hero than he’s done before, and he truly rises to the challenge. You can see Josh is really growing up in this film; his work continues to get more and more exciting.”
In discussing what attracted him to Wicker Park, Hartnett attributes a great deal of his interest to the opportunity to work with director Paul McGuigan. “I really liked Paul’s film Gangster No. 1 and I really wanted to work with him,” says Hartnett. He also liked the recurring motifs and themes in the film. “What appealed to me was its theme of passion,” he continues, “and the belief that love conquers all – I think that’s the sweetness about the film. It’s a story about the possibility of love finding a way in the most improbable circumstances.”
Hartnett found his character’s core dilemma intriguing and fun to explore. “There’s an ambiguity in the story that I like a lot,” he says. “I think it’s about a time in your life when you’re open to things and – bang – you find this girl and you fall in love with her. You think it’s a beautiful relationship and then, one day, she just disappears. You’re devastated. My character, Matthew, decides to just float and see where life takes him. Then, one day, he sees the love of his life again – or thinks he sees her – and he suddenly has a lot of choices to make.”
Another aspect of the script Hartnett found fascinating was its method of moving around in time to reveal the true story. “That’s what’s great about the movie,” says Hartnett, “the structure of it. It’s a semi-simple idea: boy finds girl, boy loses girl, boy thinks he finds her again and goes after her. But the way it’s told is really nice. When you really look at it, it’s a movie about being in love, and the kind of trouble you put yourself through to find that love again.”
Hartnett has nothing but praise for his co-stars; he enjoyed working with the cast and felttheir styles and efforts compliment one another very well. When asked about Diane Kruger, Hartnett says, “She’s great. She’s wonderful, a sweetheart. You know, she, Rose Byrne, Matthew Lillard, they’re all really great. We have a superb core cast. Both Diane and Rose are two of the best young actresses around. It’s been a joy to work with them.”
Hartnett’s experience with McGuigan also ended up being what he’d hoped for. “Paul’s a really good guy,” he says. “He’s very smart, but he’ll tell you he’s not good at anything because he’s Scottish, and I like that about him. He’s got a really good visual sense, too. And I like a director for whom it’s not ‘fill in the blank’ when they get to work. It’s ‘What are we going to do?’ It’s inventive the whole time.”
McGuigan certainly liked working with Hartnett as well – the two will soon be together again for the film Lucky Number Slevin. “I was very interested in Josh because I’d seen his work,” says McGuigan. “We all know Josh is good looking, but more importantly he’s a very good actor and very serious about his craft. We talked a lot about the things that interested him, and he wanted to know everything about the film, all the way down to the music we used. He can challenge you and ask you the right questions rather than ask the questions actors think they’re supposed to ask. He’s a pleasure.”
For Matthew Lillard, fresh off his success in the big-budget Scooby-Doo comedy capers and horror films like Scream and Thirteen Ghosts, Wicker Park was a chance to take on a different kind of role. The coup of landing the part of Hartnett’s best friend, Luke, was a matter of good timing and the actor’s charm and talent.
“Coming off Scooby-Doo, Wicker Park was a great opportunity for me to flex another kind of acting muscle,” says Lillard. “The character of Shaggy is so big and high energy that the chance to work on a romantic thriller was incredibly appealing.” Lillard also found that Wicker Park provided the actor’s with another chance to do what’s appealing about acting in the first place. “It’s the great thing about our jobs,” he continues. “We get to go from one extreme to the other. We get to play in different worlds and use our imaginations in different ways.”
Lillard was also attracted to the fact that the film had such unique characters. “The love triangles throughout the entire film are so interesting,” he says. “It deals with obsession. It deals with passion. Also, for me to have a scene with a woman that’s not played for laughs is always a good thing. I’m usually seen with CGI dogs or people that have a knife. Luke is a straightforward, normal human being, and I like that.”
Lillard feels Luke is the film’s moral center. “Luke is the innocent in the film,” he says. “He’s passionately, madly in love with Alex and is best friends with Matthew, and he’s on the outside of all these obscure love triangles. Mostly I think Luke is an honest character, and a sort of semi-tragic character in the end.”
Director McGuigan feels Lillard really helped balance the film. “Matthew is so funny, but he’s also a great actor,” says McGuigan. “He brought a really nice, light touch to his part.
There are only four main characters in this movie, so it’s a very intimate film. You have a bit of relief from the drama with Matthew, and he walks a fine line in balancing out the film’s tone when he’s onscreen.”
Lillard enjoyed director McGuigan’s style and found his set a fruitful environment for trying new things. “The great thing about working with McGuigan,” he says, “is that he does long takes. You get into a rhythm and do long, ten-minute takes; that’s a luxury many actors aren’t afforded these days in film. Paul is one of the best directors I’ve ever worked with. He’s so great in terms of giving direction and being specific with his actors. I always work with the imagery that a film is like a ship, and you want a captain of the ship that will lead you into the storm and whom you’ll follow no matter what. Paul is that kind of director. He’s so gifted.”
Overall, Lillard feels the film will appeal to audiences who enjoy watching other people go through situations they themselves wouldn’t want to experience. “The tension in this movie comes from Josh’s character sacrificing everything in his life,” he says. “His livelihood, his fiancée – he sacrifices all that and walks off this precipice because he makes a choice to find his one true love again. The idea of a man sacrificing everything to find his one true love – it’s so brave, and people are drawn to that. And I think that’s kind of a secret fantasy of everyone’s, to have someone in their lives willing to do that for them.”
Wicker Park (2004)
Directed by: Paul McGuigan
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Matthew Lillard, Rose Byrne, Christopher Cousins, Diane Kruger, Jessica Paré, Vlasta Vrana, Isabel Dos Santos, Joanna Noyes, Stéfanie Buxton
Screenplay by: Brandon Boyce
Production Design by: Richard Bridgland
Cinematography by: Peter Sova
Film Editing by: Andrew Hulme
Costume Design by: Odette Gadoury
Set Decoration by: Suzanne Cloutier
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexuality and language.
Distributed by: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release Date: September 3, 2004
Visits: 265
