Cake Eaters Is a Light-Hearted, Bittersweet Story About Two Families Coming to Terms with Love in the Face of Loss
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Classification: TBA Christine Granger/Publicity Running Time: 95 Minutes Mobile: 021 274 4322 NZ Release date: December 3rd [email protected] Cast Information: Georgia Kaminski............................................................................................................ Kristen Stewart Beagle Kimbrough........................................................................................................... Aaron Stanford Easy Kimbrough.................................................................................................................... Bruce Dern Marg Kaminski .............................................................................................................. Elizabeth Ashley Guy Kimbrough ...................................................................................................................Jayce Bartok Stephanie ............................................................................................................................. Miriam Shor Violet ...................................................................................................................................Talia Balsam Judd ................................................................................................................................ Jesse L. Martin Ceci Kimbrough…………………………………………………………………………………….Melissa Leo Filmmaker Information: Production Companies..........................................................................................................57th & Irving The 7th Floor Director................................................................................................................ Mary Stuart Masterson Producers.......................................................................................................................... Jesse Scolaro Allen Bain Darren Goldberg Elisa Pugliese Mary Stuart Masterson Executive Producers ..........................................................................................................Patrick Morris Carol Morris Screenplay ..........................................................................................................................Jayce Bartok Casting ................................................................................................................................ Billy Hopkins Suzanne Crowley Kerry Barden Paul Schnee Editors ................................................................................................................................Joe Landauer Colleen Sharp Cinematographer ........................................................................................................... Pete Masterson Production Designer.............................................................................................................. David Stein Sound Design....................................................................................................................Lew Goldstein Music Composition............................................................................................................ Duncan Sheik Page 1 of 11 Logline: The Cake Eaters is a light-hearted, bittersweet story about two families coming to terms with love in the face of loss. Short Synopsis: Mary Stuart Masterson's directorial debut is a romantic drama set in a small town where the intimate secrets and tensions of two families force them to come to terms with life, love and death. Written by Jayce Bartok, the dynamic ensemble cast features Kristen Stewart, Aaron Stanford, Bruce Dern, Elizabeth Ashley and Melissa Leo. Original music composition by Tony Award Winner Duncan Sheik. Full Length Synopsis: The Cake Eaters is a quirky, small town, ensemble drama that explores the lives of two interconnected families coming to terms with love in the face of loss. Living in rural America, The Kimbrough family is a normally odd bunch; Easy, the patriarch, owns a butcher shop and finds himself grieving over the loss of his wife, Ceci, while hiding a secret ongoing relationship for years; Beagle, his youngest son who was left to care for his ailing mother, works in the local high school cafeteria by day but has a burning passion inside that manifests itself through painting; and the eldest son, Guy, has been away from the family for years while pursuing his musical aspirations in the big city until the day he learns of his mother’s passing and that he’s missed the funeral. Upon Guy’s return home, the complex nature of each character unravels; Beagle’s pent up emotions connect with Georgia Kaminski, a terminally ill teenage girl wanting to experience love before it’s too late; Easy’s long time affair with Marg, Georgia’s eccentric grandmother, is exposed to the Kimbrough family; and Guy discovers that, in his absence, his high school sweetheart, Stephanie, has moved on and started a family of her own. Through it all, The Kimbroughs and Kaminski’s manage to establish a new beginning in the face of their greatest fears; life, death and family... Page 2 of 11 Mary Stuart Masterson / Director’s Statement: When I was on the phone with Bruce Dern for the first time as he was agreeing to play the role of “Easy”, he said to me, “Masterson, don’t be afraid of the word ‘sweet’ when you make this movie.” He was 100% right. When I first read the script for Jayce Bartok’s The Cake Eaters I was struck by its simplicity and sweetness. Oddly, the world of this movie is untouched by the techno-centric modern world. Rather than fight it, I chose to embrace it on every level. The simplicity of the story meant that the success of the film would depend on the integrity of the actors’ performances. I am in awe when in the presence of great actors. The feeling is like one feels at the edge of a cliff. No one knows whether or not they are going to be able to do it – to fly – but they jump into the void anyway and on their own faith, or faith in the ideas of the story, or faith in the character they are playing, or faith given to them by their director they fly… or not. There’s no other way to do it well. On The Cake Eaters I was blessed with an amazing group of actors including Kristen Stewart, Aaron Stanford, Bruce Dern, Elizabeth Ashley, Jayce Bartok, Miriam Shor, Talia Balsam, Jesse L. Martin and Melissa Leo, among many others, whose scrupulous attention to detail and truth was matched only by their willingness to jump. And they flew. Everything about the look of the film was a blissful collaboration with my brother and DP, Peter C.B. Masterson, and my Production Designer, David Stein. I referenced Normal Rockwell for the color palette and, to some extent, the formal composition of some shots, but the rest was a world unto itself. Working with my brother was a creative high in my career. David Stein commented that when Pete and I got on a roll solving a problem we would cease to speak in an English he couldn’t understand. He called it “twin speak”. By the end of the shoot, he was fluent. The simplicity to the overall aesthetic is a deceptively delicate animal. When it came time to edit the film, we had way too much story for such a simple film. It was a very complicated road to find the simplest gesture in the film. I cannot say enough about my collaborators and Editors Joe Landauer and Colleen Sharp, and how their two different and invaluable perspectives helped me solve the puzzle. Similarly, the score needed to support the story but never sit on top of it or over embellish. Our Composer, Duncan Sheik, found, as I did, that there is a complex paradox to the central theme between Beagle and Georgia that isn’t obvious on the sweet surface. Usually, when young lovers get together there’s the implied “happily ever after”. Not in this case. The impermanence which underlies each of the three love stories is what makes them so vital. The themes of love and loss in The Cake Eaters are a refreshingly sweet alternative to what our cynical world usually serves up. At its core, The Cake Eaters is a story about risking love in the face of loss. Everyone in the story is either grieving a recent loss or anticipating an impending one. Everyone wishes for something they can’t have. But a young girl named “Georgia”, played magnificently by Kristen Stewart, who has the most to lose in the story, manages to show every character that it’s better to love and lose than to never love at all. Page 3 of 11 Cast Biographies: Kristen Stewart / “Georgia Kaminski” Kristen Stewart was introduced to worldwide audiences with her outstanding performance alongside Jodie Foster in Panic Room. Her film, Twilight, was one of the biggest films of 2008 and New Moon Is set be be even bigger. Stewart starred in Screen Gems The Messengers directed by The Pang Brothers, in Warner Independent’s In the Land of Women, alongside Meg Ryan and Adam Brody for writer/director Jonathan Kasden, and in Paramount Vantage’s Into The Wild for director Sean Penn. Recently, Stewart was in the independent film The Yellow Handkerchief alongside William Hurt and Maria Bello and What Just Happened alongside Robert De Niro and Sean Penn for director Barry Levinson. Stewart’s additional film credits include Zathura, Speak, Fierce People, Catch That Kid, Undertow, Cold Creek Manor, and The Safety of Objects. Stewart resides in Los Angeles. Aaron Stanford / “Beagle Kimbrough” An actor who consistently brings intensity and intelligence to his work, Aaron Stanford is poised to become one of the foremost talents of his generation. Aaron received critical acclaim for his feature