MMAARRRRIIEEDD LLIIFFEE East Coast Publicity West Coast Publicity Distributor Donna Daniels PR Block Korenbrot Sony Pictures Classics Donna Daniels Melody Korenbrot Carmelo Pirrone Lauren Schwartz Leila Guenancia 1375 Broadway, Suite 403 110 S. Fairfax Ave, #310 550 Madison Ave New York, NY 10018 Los Angeles, CA 90036 New York, NY 10022 212-869-7233 tel 323-634-7001 tel 212-833-8833 tel 212-869-7114 fax 323-634-7030 fax 212-833-8844 fax MARRIED LIFE A strong blend of suspense, star-crossed romance, and wry comedy of manners, Married Life is an unconventional human drama about the irresistible power and utter madness of love. Harry (Chris Cooper) decides he must kill his wife Pat (Patricia Clarkson) because he loves her too much to let her suffer when he leaves her. Harry and his much-younger girlfriend Kay (Rachel McAdams) are head over heels in love, but his best friend Richard (Pierce Brosnan) wants to win Kay for himself. As Harry implements his awkward plans for murdering his wife, the other characters are occupied with their own deceptions. Like Harry, they are overwhelmed by their passions. but still struggle to avoid hurting others. Married Life is an uncommonly adult film that surprises and confounds expectations. While it plays with mystery and intrigue, its ultimate concern is: “What is married life?” In its sly way, Married Life poses perceptive questions about the seasonal discontents and unforeseen joys of all long-term relationships. 2 ABOUT THE PRODUCTION Writer/director Ira Sachs (Forty Shades of Blue, Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner, 2005) is an ardent film buff, with a particular love for 1940s and 1950s movies, particularly ones starring Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. “What I like about those movies is that the dramas can be so extreme and outrageous and yet they deal with people’s personal lives in ways that communicate powerfully with audiences,” says Sachs. “I wanted to do a film that would talk frankly and directly about the complexities and intricacies of marriage and intimate life—and I thought that in today’s film context, a movie like this could be a fresh way to do so.” Looking for a story to adapt, Sachs pored over stacks of little-known mystery and pulp novels, until he came upon John Bingham’s Five Roundabouts to Heaven. “It was exactly what I was looking for—a really great story about being married,” he says. “I thought this story could be a very intriguing vehicle for me to explore what it’s like to share a bed with someone, over a long period of time.” When Sachs began working with his co-writer, Oren Moverman, they agreed that the film should have a playful tone. “I tried to signal that right away, in the credit sequence,” says Sachs. “The credits give a sense that there is whimsy in the very serious things to follow. I wanted the audience to understand that they don’t need to take every action too literally. Now that doesn’t deny the serious nature of what happens between these characters, and I certainly don’t want to undercut the effect of going through these experiences with them, I just don’t want the audience to over-think the story.” “Every time I describe the film in a one-sentence line—people smile,” Sachs continues. “And there’s a reason for that. It’s over-the-top. A gentle, middle-aged man who falls in love decides to kill his wife because divorce would cause her too much pain. You could maybe find it hard to understand the decision our protagonist, Harry (Chris Cooper) makes, but that’s looking at the story too literally. It’s really more of a metaphor. I find Harry very familiar—all too many people have difficulty choosing themselves over their marriage. All the same, he’s not an easy character to make sympathetic, and I needed someone to play him that the audience would always empathize and identify with. And Chris Cooper makes a very good Everyman.” 3 Harry’s assumption that his wife Pat (Patricia Clarkson) can’t live without him is based on a complete misunderstanding of who she is. “There’s immense narcissism to his actions,” says Sachs. “He considers himself of such importance that he thinks Pat would be better off dead than without him—and he’s totally wrong. He’s lost and he doesn’t know his way out, but instead of choosing an honest way, he chooses a dishonest one and that leads him into a lot of trouble. But as it turns out, Harry turns out to not be a particularly good murderer, which is part of the humor of the film.” “I think Harry’s big flaw is that he expects too much,” says Cooper. “When Kay comes to meet Harry and Richard at the restaurant, it caps what Harry wants all the time. In Noel Coward’s words, he’s looking for that ‘first, fine careless rapture.’ I think he had it with his wife, but it didn’t last, and now Harry is carried away by his curious need for something more. He could be going through what we all call a mid-life crisis.” “Harry starts out in the film like a young man in love,” says Sachs. “He’s like a kid in a candy store. And then things get more serious for him because adult life is not like that adolescent joy from first love—there are too many complications that spring from all the history that’s come before.” Sachs sees Harry’s friend Richard (Pierce Brosnan) as the most fun character in the film. “He’s intelligent, he’s charming, he has a wicked, dry sense of humor,” says Sachs, “he gives pleasure to everyone around him. And Pierce Brosnan brings lightness and a mischievous energy to Richard, while also showing you his vulnerability. He makes him a cad you hopefully will come to love.” Richard is involved in what might be seen as the biggest betrayal in the film—trying to seduce and steal away Kay (Rachel McAdams), the love of Harry’s life and the woman he sees as his sole hope for happiness. “I’m not going to try to defend what Richard does,” says Sachs, “but this story is about how people pursue their desires, and each of these characters pursues them with great passion. And that’s not necessarily when people are the most kind to everyone around them. And to be honest, haven’t we all done things for ourselves at some point, rather than for the people we love?” 4 “Richard really is intoxicated by Kay,” says Brosnan, “but at the same time it’s his best friend, so there’s a little tug of guilt in his heart. But he doesn’t have any burden of conscience, that’s the mantra of Richard. He talks about the burden of conscience, but basically he wants Kay. Also, Harry and Pat are Richard’s only true friends—they really know him. And if Harry goes off with Kay, and breaks up his marriage, Richard loses everything.” For the role of Kay, Sachs needed an actress who would leave no doubt about her ability to enchant Harry and Richard. “The whole drama turns on Kay,” says Sachs. “She’s the star in the middle of the universe between these two men. When Kay walks into the Cloud Room restaurant in the opening of the movie, you needed to have someone with whom these two men could believably fall in love with. Obviously Rachel McAdams has the loveliness, but more importantly, she has a mystery—and that’s what holds your interest. She’s very touching and sympathetic, but at the same time, she holds things back. There’s always something going on just under the surface.” Kay is a character who has suffered an incredible amount of loss—her father died when she was young, and she recently lost both her mother and her husband. “She’s spent a lot of time with herself, and I think she’s lost touch with reality a little bit,” says McAdams. “I think she’s drawn to Harry because they’re both a little bit broken, and need mending—and they comfort each other.” “Kay sees Harry as someone who can give her a home, security and love” says Sachs, “and that means economic security, strength, consistency, and a kind of paternal comfort. It’s a feeling of paternal love that she has transformed into a romantic love for Harry. I think that at the start of the film she believes that she has met the man of her life. Unfortunately, she then meets a man who might be even better. I think things would have been good for her and Harry, but when she meets Richard, it suddenly seems the world could not only be safe, but big.” “When Richard comes along,” says McAdams, “Kay starts to feel the wind in her hair and the leather seats in his car. He brings her out of her shell.” Harry’s wife, Pat (Patricia Clarkson), is also someone who’s trying to find her way in life. “She doesn’t know what she wants,” says Sachs. “She’s in great conflict. She’s someone who has come to the point in her life where she feels the need for a little more, but she can’t make a decision.” “Pat has lived a rather conventional life,” says Clarkson, “but she isn’t conventional 5 herself.