Taglines: A true story about the true love of the greatest pulp fiction writer of all time.
The Whole Wide World movie storyline. A touching and unusual love story, The Whole Wide World was based on a memoir by Novalyne Price Ellis, in which she recalled her brief romance with Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian and one of the finest and most prolific pulp writers of his day. In 1933, Novalyne Price (Renee Zellweger) is a pretty but shy Texas schoolteacher who would like to be a writer some day.
A friend offers to introduce her to Howard (Vincent D’Onofrio), who writes broad, bold yarns about superhuman heroes and damsels in distress and has little patience for writers of more pretentious fiction. Novalyne likes Howard and he seems to like her, but she finds him a hard man to deal with. He lives in the world of his stories, and he devotes as much time as possible to his bedridden mother, which leaves him little time to pursue a romance.
But when Howard discovers that another man has been courting Novalyne, he’s heartbroken — even if they didn’t have a conventional romance, he felt there was a special emotional bond between them, and he hates to see it thrown away. Renee Zellweger and Vincent D’Onofrio both deliver fine performances and are a believable (if unconventional) romantic couple; D’Onofrio also co-produced.
The Whole Wide World is a 1996 American film depicting the relationship between pulp fiction writer Robert E. Howard (Vincent D’Onofrio) and schoolteacher Novalyne Price Ellis (Renée Zellweger).
The film was adapted by Michael Scott Myers from Ellis’s memoirs, One Who Walked Alone and Day of the Stranger: Further Memories of Robert E. Howard. The film was directed by Dan Ireland. Original music was provided by Harry Gregson-Williams and his mentor Hans Zimmer. This was their first collaboration as mentor and protegé.
When auditioning for the film Jerry Maguire, Zellweger met director Cameron Crowe several times but had trouble convincing him that she could play “a 20-something woman” rather than a girl. This was solved by Zellweger’s agent sending Crowe a tape of The Whole Wide World.
The Whole Wide World (1996)
Directed by: Dan Ireland
Starring: Vincent D’Onofrio, Renée Zellweger, Ann Wedgeworth, Harve Presnell, Benjamin Mouton, Helen Cates, Leslie Buesing, Sandy Walper, Marion Eaton, Libby Villari, Antonia Bogdanovich
Screenplay by: Novalyne Price Ellis, Michael Scott Myers
Production Design by: John Frick
Cinematography by: Claudio Rocha
Film Editing by: Luis Colina
Costume Design by: Gail McMullen
Set Decoration by: Terri Wright
Music by: Harry Gregson-Williams
MPAA Rating: PG for a substantial amount of mild language and mature thematic elements.
Distributed by: Sony Pictures Classics
Release Date: September 8, 1996 (Toronto)
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