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Home , Coffee and Cigarettes, Dead Man, Jim Jarmusch, Night on Earth, Only Lovers Left Alive, Stranger Than Paradise

Only lovers left alive

A FILM BY Director’s Statement

is an blood to survive. But they now live in the unconventional love story between a man world of the 21st century where biting the and a woman, Adam and Eve. (My script was neck of a stranger would be reckless and partially inspired by the last book published regressive -- for survival, they must be certain by Mark Twain: The Diaries of Adam and Eve the blood that sustains them is pure and free -- though no direct reference to the book of disease or contamination. And, almost is made other than the character’s names.) like shadows, they have learned long ago to Synopsis These two lovers are archetypal outsiders, deftly avoid the attention of any authorities. classic bohemians, extremely intelligent and Set against the romantic desolation of Detroit and Tangier, sophisticated -- yet still in full possession of For our fi lm, the vampire is a resonant an underground musician, deeply depressed by the direction of their animal instincts. They have traveled the metaphor -- a way to frame the deeper world and experienced many remarkable intentions of the story. This is a love story, human activities, reunites with his resilient and enigmatic lover. things, always inhabiting the shadowed but also the story of two exceptional margins of society. And, like their own love outsiders who, given their unusual Their love story has already endured several centuries at least, story, their particular perspective on human circumstances, have a vast overview of history spans centuries -- because they human and natural history, including but their debauched idyll is soon disrupted by her wild and happen to be vampires. stunning achievements and tragic and brutal uncontrollable younger sister. failures. Adam and Eve are themselves But this is not your usual vampire story. metaphors for the present state of human Set in the very distinct cities of Detroit and life -- they are fragile and endangered, Can these wise but fragile outsiders continue to survive as the Tangier, and taking place almost entirely susceptible to natural forces, and to the modern world collapses around them? at night, Adam and Eve must have human shortsighted behavior of those in power. cHaracTErS

aVa maRlowe Ava is Eve’s younger “sister”. She is extremely Marlowe is an older man, but striking; his pale, and appears “related” to Eve. She is eyes assured, but cautious. He is thin and at least a decade younger, with a petulant, wears a trimmed beard and an odd mixture of mischievous face. She is big trouble. clothing representing both the late Sixteenth and late Twentieth centuries. He is in fact She wears very trendy and somewhat the great poet and playwright, Christopher revealing clothing including a very short Marlowe, having evidently been turned into a polka-dot dress and platform shoes. She vampire at his present age some three and a is from the UK but has been living in Los half centuries ago. Angeles prior to appearing at Adam’s house and has picked up some almost “Valley-girl” Marlowe is wise and extremely loyal, but also attributes, which Adam fi nds very annoying. opinionated and volatile. In his surly way he clearly adores Eve and Adam. Marlowe has Ava acts childlike as a way to manipulate lived a bohemian existence in Tangiers for a others, especially Eve. Ava did something very very long time, where he owns a bar/café, and bad in the past (in in 1926) implicating has a devoted and longtime Moroccan lover, human imagination when he is in doubt. adam Adam and Eve, which neither have forgotten, a male. It is revealed that Marlowe continues She also possesses the uncanny ability to Adam is pale and thin and appears to be in his and which Adam will never forgive. to write, and is secretly the author of much of determine the age of any object with a brief early or mid 30’s, but with an ageless, almost the works the world erroneously attributes to touch of her delicate fi ngertips. preserved quality. He possesses a strong Shakespeare. personality with tendencies towards a moody and brooding, -like disposition. Eve is graceful, luminous and impeccably dressed. She wears boots and Adam’s clothes are a time-warp from the mid hats, and vintage white denim jackets with ‘60s rock’n’roll style, with dark, messy matching slim jeans. Her hair is pale blonde, hair (ala Sid Barrett). In contradiction, his her skin nearly translucent white, and her lips delicate white hands may cradle a renaissance often colored deep red with lipstick. lute across his lap, or a vintage electric guitar: he surrounds himself with stringed Several thousand years older than Adam, instruments as well as a wealth of vintage Eve possesses an exuberant appreciation electronics and recording equipment. for eternal consciousness. She believes their immortality is a great gift not to be Though particularly highly perceptive of sound squandered and that life, though precarious and music, Adam’s interest and knowledge in and fragile, is too far precious to be wasted. the arts, science, literature, history, medicine and mathematics is expansive even for someone of his age -- at least several hundred years old. While he is a true believer in the gifts of human expression, Adam feels that the greatest tragedy is humanity’s lack of a true appreciation for the imagination and its many manifestations, as well as its inability to apply and develop some of mankind’s most innovative discoveries. eVe Slightly older than Adam, Eve appears to be in her late 30’s or early 40’s but, like Adam, there is something ageless about her. They both appear as eccentric outsiders, from another place, time, or even planet. She is the irreplaceable yin to Adam’s yang, bringing his mood up when he grows weary or depressed, and restoring his faith in the JiM JarMUScH

international cinema.

doWn By lAW (1986) Jarmusch’s “neo-beat- noir-comedy” was a further exploration of America from the outside-in and marked the beginning of a long collaboration between European Film Awards, 1996 Jarmusch and esteemed Dutch director of photography, Robby Müller. , 1997 Filmography 107 minutes, color and black & white In 1987 Jarmusch was the recipient of a German DAAD fellowship and spent half FeaTURe Films ghosT dog: The WAy of The sAMurAi, a year living and writing in Berlin. There he 1999 conceived the initial idea for his next fi lm, PerMAnenT vAcATion, 1980 116 minutes, color MysTery TrAin (1989), a kind of “minimalist’s 80 minutes, color Cesar Nomination, Best Foreign Film, 1999 version of the Canterbury Tales” in which an The Josef von Sternberg Prize, Mannheim, W. Independent Spirit Award Nomination, Best Englishman, an Italian woman and a Japanese , 1980 Picture, 2000 couple each make pilgrimages to Memphis, International Critics Prize, Figueira da Foz, Tennessee. Portugal, 1982 , 2003 96 minutes, black & white With (1991) Jarmusch , 1984 Offi cial Selection, Venice International Film Jim Jarmusch has long been considered turned his attention to moments often 90 minutes, black & white Festival, 2003 a seminal fi gure in American independent overlooked in cinema -- the taxi journey Camera D’Or, , 1984 Offi cial Selection, Toronto International Film cinema. His fi lms are often noted for their between places -- and shot entirely on , Locarno International Film Festival, 2003 transcendent minimalism and upturning of location inside moving taxicabs in New York, Festival, 1984 Offi cial Selection, Tribeca Film Festival, 2003 traditional genres such as the , Los Angeles, Paris, and Helsinki, with Best Picture, National Society of Film Critics Offi cial Selection, Moscow Film Festival, 2004 western, crime-fi lm, and detective story. world-renowned actors from each city. Award, 1984 Independent Spirit Award Nomination, Best Best Foreign Film, Japan, 1986 Supporting Female (), 2005 Born in Akron, Ohio, Jarmusch attended Jarmusch reinterpreted conventional where he studied genres with (1995) and ghosT doWn By lAW, 1986 , 2005 literature and poetry with renowned New dog: The WAy of The sAMurAi (1999) 106 minutes, black & white 106 minutes, color York School poets and David and emerged with a “psychedelic western” Amanda Award for Best Foreign Film, Grand Prix, Cannes International Film Shapiro. But it was a semester abroad in Paris and a hip-hop gangster samurai fi lm which Norway, 1987 Festival, 2005 frequenting the Cinémathèque Française that have since developed incredibly strong cult Bodil Award for Non-European Film, Audience Award, Cambridge Film Festival ignited Jarmusch’s passion for fi lmmaking. followings. Denmark, 1987 2005 Upon his return to the US, Jarmusch enrolled Best Actor, , Italy, 1987 Best Foreign Film Award, Cesky Lev 2006 in the esteemed fi lmmaking program at New In 2003 Jarmusch completed and released Best Actor, Roberto Benigni, Denmark, 1987 Czech Lion, Best Foreign Language Film, York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. the critically acclaimed coffee And Best Foreign Film, Israel, 1987 2006 There he assisted Hollywood legend Nicholas cigAreTTes, a series of comic vignettes Best Supporting Actor Award (Jeffrey Ray and wrote and directed his fi rst fi lm, shot over the course of two decades, with MysTery TrAin, 1989 Wright), San Diego Film Critics Society, 2006 PerMAnenT vAcATion (1980). an extremely eclectic group of extraordinary 110 minutes, color Independent Spirit Award Nomination, Best actors and musicians portraying an equally Prize for Highest Artistic Achievement, Supporting Male (), 2006 Set in downtown Manhattan, PerMAnenT eclectic collection of oddballs. Cannes Film Festival, 1989 vAcATion captured a moment in the cultural , 2009 history of then-decaying New York, and Broken floWers (2005) and The liMiTs nighT on eArTh, 1991 116min, color the attention of audiences and critics alike, of conTrol (2009) each tell the story of 128 minutes, color Offi cial Selection, Karlovy Vary Film Festival, winning the Josef von Sternberg Prize in two very different lone men. The former Grand Award, Best Feature Film, Houston 2009 Manheim, Germany in 1980. an aging “Don Juan” on a search through Intl. Film Festival, 1992 Offi cial Selection, San Sebastian Film Festival, “Generica” for the writer of an anonymous Best Cinematography, Independent Spirit 2009 Jarmusch followed with sTrAnger ThAn letter informing him he has a son, and the Awards, 1993 Offi cial Selection, London International Film PArAdise (1984), a journey through the latter a hit-man making his way through Spain Festival, 2009 American landscape taken by a young to meet his mark. Broken floWers went deAd MAn, 1995 Hungarian woman, her American cousin on to win the Grand Prix in Cannes in 2005. 121 minutes, black & white and his friend. The fi lm gained international Best Cinematography, New York Film Critics acclaim and went on to win the Camera d’Or sHoRT Films Circle Awards, 1996 at the Cannes International Film Festival, Five Continents Award, inT. TrAiler. nighT., 2002 solidifying Jarmusch’s place in the world of Principal CAST

Tom Hiddleston is best-known , a native of Scotland, to filmgoers as the villain in Kenneth started making films with the English director Branagh’s , a role he reprised in the Derek Jarman in 1985, with Caravaggio. Marvel blockbuster hit The Avengers, which They made seven more films together, set numerous box office records, including the including The Last of England, The biggest opening weekend in North America, Garden, War Requiem, Wittgenstein tied the record for the fastest film to gross and Edward II (for which she was named $1 billion worldwide, and became the third Best Actress at Venice in 1991). She gained highest-grossing film of all time. international recognition in 1992 for her starring role in Orlando, directed by Sally Born in London, Hiddleston trained at the Potter. Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and rose to prominence through a number of theatre, Swinton has established ongoing filmmaking television and, more recently, major film relationships with Lynn Hershman-Leeson appearances. Recent roles include playing F. with whom she made Conceiving Ada, Scott Fitzgerald in ’s Midnight Teknolust and Strange Culture, In Paris, Freddie Page in Terence Davies’ John Maybury (Man 2 Man and Love is and Captain Nicholls the Devil), and Luca Guadagnino (The in ’s War Horse. Last year Protagonists, The Love Factory, and Hiddleston was nominated for a BAFTA for most recently the acclaimed I Am Love, which the Orange Wednesdays Rising Star Award she co-produced). and the Evening Standard Film Award as Best Actor for his role in Archipelago. Swinton has also appeared in ’s Hiddleston won the British Rising Star Award Adaptation; David Mackenzie’s Young at The Richard Attenborough Regional Film Adam; Mike Mills’ Thumbsucker and Awards, and Best Male Newcomer for his role Francis Lawrence’s Constantine; Béla Tarr’s in Thor at the 2012 Empire Awards. He was The Man from London, Andrew Adamson’s also named Glamour Magazine’s ‘Man of the two blockbusters The Chronicles of Year’ and ‘World’s Hottest Actor’ by Total Film Narnia tales; Erick Zonca’s Julia, which won magazine. her the Evening Standard’s Best Actress award, and Tony Gilroy’s Michael Clayton - for Hiddleston was most recently seen on our which Swinton received BAFTA and Academy screens portraying Prince Hal in Henry IV Awards for Best Supporting Actress in 2008. Parts 1&2 and the title role in , for Swinton starred in Lynne Ramsay’s We Need which he won Breakthrough Award To Talk About Kevin, which screened In at the 2013 South Bank Sky Arts Awards. Competition at Cannes 2011 and was received as a critical triumph. She followed up by This year Hiddleston will be seen in a cameo appearing in Wes Anderson’s Moonrise role in the new film by , and this Kingdom. In 2013, she appeared in David October he returns to his role as Loki in Thor: Bowie’s video for The Stars Are Out The Dark World, alongside an all-star Tonight, and her acclaimed performance cast including and Natalie art piece titled The Maybe at New York’s Portman. Museum of Modern Art. Swinton will next be seen in Jong-hoo Bong’s epic , Hiddleston’s latest project will see him portray Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem, and Wes the notoriously dynamic war photographer Anderson’s The Grand Hotel. Robert Capa in Paul Andrew Williams’ Close Enough. The film will detail Capa’s Only Lovers Left Alive continues Swinton’s commitment to defeating the forces of fascism body of work with director Jim Jarmusch, with whilst also focusing on his intense romance whom she made Broken Flowers and The with fellow photographer Gerda Taro, played Limits of Control. by Hayley Atwell. PrinciPal crEW

PRODUCER PRODUCTION DESIGNER maRCo BiTTneR RosseR doM heMingWAy (2013) inglourious BAsTerds (2009) kon Tiki (2012) v for vendeTTA (2005) A dAngerous MeThod (2011) hellBoy (2004) seXy BeAsT (1999) The lAsT eMPeror (1987) COSTUME DESIGNER Bina daiGeleR PRODUCER BiuTuful (2010) ReinHaRd BRUndiG The liMiTs of conTrol (2009) The congress (2013) che: PArT i & ii (2008) le hAvre (2011) volver (2006) WhAle rider (2002) All ABouT My MoTher (1999) deAd MAn (1995)

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY YoRiCK le saUX ArBiTrAge (2012) PoTiche (2010) Sed ut restisque C.B.E. is one of the cArlos (2010) iusam, offi cia de niatem fuga. Mus. UK’s most prominent character actors, Esecus por sumendi psandem ut modignam a consummate screen chameleon. In an i AM love (2009) eicabor errupta ssequias ut a endae qui international career spanning over thirty sWiMMing Pool (2002) quas doloreheni doloreped eium volorectet years, he has appeared in over a hundred volorem olupit, culparc hiciistio quiae vel il fi lms, as well as acclaimed theatre and estibusae eos et voluptam velendu cidelique television work. Twice-nominated for an essitata quasimusae laniendus volorio Academy Award, his best known roles ribere venimpe liqui aciur? Quis magniassit include Ridley Scott’s Alien, David Lynch’s explandit, nist re rerum cullupt uritaspid The elePhAnT MAn, Stephen Frears’ The quis dolupie necusa etur alit ea dolo quam hiT, James McTeigue’s v for vendeTTA and nobissunti offi c tenesto to doluptatem unte Steven Spielberg’s indiAnA Jones And iur apicia venis excepti quunt re vellore The kingdoM of The crysTAl skull, ea dolorem porerchil invent ea suntem and David Yates’ hArry PoTTer And The que offi cillatem labo. Volent perferuptas deAThly hAlloWs PArT 1 and 2. Hurt dolorro mos rem fuga. Itat lantorem quiam recently appeared as ‘Control’ in Tomas adit iunto dem rerum volesto blaut atia cus Alfredson’s acclaimed Tinker, TAilor, magnist, estrume dis suntemo lupienis estor soldier sPy, and will next be seen in Joon- autatiatis quam, sunt optiat iliquo et es quat ho Bong’s epic snoWPiercer. offi ctis qui od quosape ruptatet lis ut occae que voluptia in ne seribus ciendan dipsum, only lovers lefT Alive continues the to inullori soloreria nihiliti qui assusdame fi lmmaking relationship between Jim raesserae qui bea vitis con estiorati offi cid Jarmusch and Hurt, who also appeared in quibus. deAd MAn and The liMiTs of conTrol. Mus nem voloreici od quidele catur? Remolorum aut ligendiatur sinum fuga. Et exerspel in rectassi ut reius iur restiscipsus quam vellaud istotam inusciam reptur, nestes ped et quaeper rumquodit quis ea a dolo cus aut harchicat. inTeRnaTional PRess : CHaRles mCdonald [email protected] +44 (0) 7785 246 377 sales: HanwaY Films @ Cannes 2013 1sT FlooR, ResidenCe dU GRaY d’alBion 4 RUe de seRBes +33 (0) 4 93 38 61 09 / 13

HanwaY Films 24 HanwaY sT. london w1T 1UH Tel: +44 (0) 207 290 0750 [email protected] www.HanwaYFilms.Com