Taglines: A story of love lost and found.
Message in a Bottle movie storyline. Theresa Osborne, a former reporter, works as a researcher for the Chicago Tribune. On a trip to Cape Cod, she finds a mysterious, intriguing and typed love letter in a bottle in the sand, addressed to Catherine. She is fascinated by it and shows it to her colleagues. They print it in their newspaper without the knowledge of Theresa and get numerous responses.
One of the response contains an attached letter which was addressed to the same person and written in the same tone. Later, they receive another letter of the same kind from one of the readers which was not addressed to Catherine, but typed on the same notepad. Eventually, they track him down with the help of the typewriter and the notepad used. His name is Garrett Blake and he lives quietly on the Outer Banks of North Carolina near his father, Dodge.
Theresa goes to Outer banks to research it further but when she meets him, they each get attracted to other and start becoming better acquainted. She tries to tell him about the original purpose of her visit but fears that she might lose him and postpones it. Along with the literal distance between them — they live hundreds of miles apart — there is another problem: Garret cannot quite forgive Catherine for dying and leaving him.
Theresa’s career flourishes as the romantic “message in a bottle” tale is told in print, without naming names. Garret makes a trip to Chicago to visit Theresa and her young son. They seem very happy together for a day, but Garrett sees his letters, becomes furious and starts to leave. But when Theresa reveals that there are three letters of the same kind, he becomes intrigued as he only wrote two of them and comes back to see another letter.
The third letter, which was not addressed to Catherine, was actually written by Catherine; in that letter, she reveals her love, her knowledge of her impending death, and how she was content with her life with Garrett, however short it might be. Garrett leaves with the letter, leaving Theresa in tears.
Garrett moves on with his life and sets things straight with Catherine’s family, who had been fighting with Garrett for the artworks of Catherine. He finishes his own personalized boat with the help of Catherine’s brother and names it ‘Catherine’, and sends an invitation to Theresa to visit. When Theresa goes there, she witnesses the passionate speech of Garrett about his late wife Catherine and understands that he still is in love with his late wife, and leaves him telling that he is welcome to call her when he thinks he is ready to start a new life.
Message in a Bottle is a 1999 American romantic drama film directed by Luis Mandoki and based on Nicholas Sparks’ 1998 novel of the same name. It stars Kevin Costner, Robin Wright and Paul Newman, and was filmed in Maine, Chicago and Wilmington, North Carolina. The film was released on February 12, 1999 by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Message in a Bottle has grossed $52,880,016 in North America and $66,000,000 in other territories for a worldwide total of $118,880,016. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $18,852,976, finishing first at the box office, knocking off Payback from the top box office ($17,719,502).
The producers originally planned to film on Tangier Island, Virginia, but some members of the town council objected to the drinking, cursing and sex in the film and demanded script revisions in exchange for shooting permission, even though this turned out to be rated PG-13.
Warner Bros. then tried Martha’s Vineyard near Chilmark, Massachusetts, but the Chilmark Conservation Commission turned down a request to build a temporary 3,000-square-foot (280 m2) house on stilts in the dunes near Chilmark Pond. Beach scenes were filmed at Popham Beach in Phippsburg, Maine. The fog-bound harbor near the end is New Harbor, Maine. None of the coastal scenes are the Outer Banks (the setting of the novel), which has neither rocks, bluffs, nor tall pines; nor does the Outer Banks have the roughly 10 foot tides indicated by the docks shown throughout the beginning of the film. Carolina tides average about 5 feet.
Message in a Bottle (1999)
Directed by: Luis Mandoki
Starring: Kevin Costner, Robin Wright Penn, John Savage, Illeana Douglas, Robbie Coltrane, Paul Newman, Jesse James, Bethel Leslie, Viveka Davis, Jennifer Lamb, Hayden Panettiere
Screenplay by: Gerald Di Pego
Production Design by: Jeffrey Beecroft
Cinematography by: Caleb Deschanel
Film Editing by: Steven Weisberg
Costume Design by: Bernie Pollack
Set Decoration by: Dorree Cooper, Elaine O’Donnell, CC Perkinson
Art Direction by: Steve Saklad, Mark Zuelzke
Music by: Gabriel Yared
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for a scene of sexuality.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: February 12, 1999
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