A James Gray Film Joaquin Phoenix And Gwyneth Paltrow PRODUCTION NOTES For images: www.publicity.roadshow.com.au 1 TWO LOVERS Following a suicide attempt, a troubled young man moves back into his parents’ Brooklyn apartment and two women enter his life—a beautiful but volatile neighbor trapped in a toxic affair and the lovely daughter of his father's new business partner. Synopsis TWO LOVERS is a classical romantic drama set in the insular world of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. It tells the story of Leonard (JOAQUIN PHOENIX), an attractive but troubled young man who moves back into his childhood home following a suicide attempt. While recovering under the watchful eye of his worried but ultimately uncomprehending parents (ISABELLA ROSSELLINI and MONI MONOSHOV), he encounters two women in quick succession: There’s Michelle (GWYNETH PALTROW), a mysterious and beautiful neighbor— exotic and out-of-place in Leonard’s staid Brighton Beach neighborhood. But he soon discovers that she too is deeply troubled. Meanwhile, his parents try to set him up with Sandra (VINESSA SHAW), the lovely and caring daughter of the suburban businessman who’s buying out the family drycleaning business. At first resistant to her appeal (and to his family’s pressure), Leonard gradually discovers hidden depths in Sandra. A potential romance with Sandra is complicated, however, when Michelle, her life spiraling out of control, enlists Leonard’s help in dealing with the destructive affair she's carrying on with another man. Then, as Michelle seems poised to fall for Leonard and Leonard’s family pressures him into committing to Sandra, Leonard is forced to make an impossible decision—between the impetuousness of desire and the comfort of love--or risk falling back into the darkness that nearly killed him. 2 * * * 2929 PRODUCTIONS and WILD BUNCH present A TEMPESTA FILMS PRODUCTION A JAMES GRAY FILM JOAQUIN PHOENIX GWYNETH PALTROW TWO LOVERS VINESSA SHAW ISABELLA ROSSELLINI ELIAS KOTEAS CASTING BY DOUGLAS AIBEL COSTUME DESIGNER MICHAEL CLANCY MUSIC SUPERVISOR DANA SANO EDITOR JOHN AXELRAD PRODUCTION DESIGNER HAPPY MASSEE DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY JOAQUIN BACA-ASAY CO-PRODUCERS MIKE UPTON COUPER SAMUELSON EXECUTIVE PRODUCER AGNES MENTRE EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS TODD WAGNER MARK CUBAN MARC BUTAN PRODUCED BY DONNA GIGLIOTTI JAMES GRAY ANTHONY KATAGAS WRITTEN BY JAMES GRAY & RICHARD MENELLO DIRECTED BY JAMES GRAY * * * ABOUT THE PRODUCTION Two Lovers marks a shift in direction for writer-director James Gray, whose last three features were the critically acclaimed dramatic crime thrillers, Little Odessa, The Yards and We Own The Night. It also marks the Gray’s third collaboration with two-time Oscar nominee JOAQUIN PHOENIX and his third consecutive film to be nominated for Cannes’ prestigious Palme d’Or. According to Gray, the inspiration for Two Lovers came from a number of sources including Dostoevsky’s novella, “White Nights,” about a man who enters into a platonic friendship with a woman he meets on the streets and develops an obsession with her. “I found the novella very moving,” says Gray. “It’s the story of a person who is clearly suffering from a type of manic disorder. But what it’s really about is how he deals with love.” Gray found intriguing the way the concept of love is handled from this perspective. “It’s often very difficult to treat love with a kind of seriousness. It’s usually treated in a 3 romantic comedy format because the state of being in love is, in itself, almost preposterous. Often we are really in love with a fantasy or an obsession.” From there he began writing a script “about love, about something more personal to me.” Several months later Gray had the first draft of Two Lovers, a modern romantic drama set in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn—a familiar setting in Gray’s films. But this intense love story about a troubled young man caught between two women marked a definite shift from the dark crime thrillers of the filmmaker’s past—though it also references Gray’s ongoing interest in the degree to which one’s social context and intrinsic nature determine one’s destiny. Gray wrote the leading role of Leonard for Phoenix, who had starred in The Yards and We Own the Night. “Joaquin feels like a brother to me and that’s a very rare thing,” Gray says of their friendship. “I’m very close with him. We talk about what it is we want to explore in people. Joaquin has an unbelievable eye for human behavior and a really great understanding of what people are about and what motivates them. Frankly he likes the same things that I like, so of course I would always want to work with him.” Two Lovers tells the story of Leonard Kraditor, a young man caught between two women. When we first meet Phoenix’s character he has recently retreated back to his parents’ apartment in the insular community of Brighton Beach. Clearly troubled, he bears the emotional scars of a previous failed relationship. It was a role Gray was convinced the actor would embrace. “I see myself as very lucky,” he says. “Because this is my third movie with Joaquin I could write the character and be confident that he would play this role.” As the film unfolds, Leonard meets two opposing women, the first, Sandra, through his concerned parents and the second, Michelle, through a chance meeting in his apartment building. Gray admits that he wrote the role of Michelle, Leonard’s beautiful and volatile neighbor, for the Oscar-winning actress GWYNETH PALTROW. “Gwyneth’s definitely one of the most interesting and intelligent actors of her generation and the person I had in 4 mind for this role,” he says. “She’s very famous for her British roles and for big Elizabethan productions, so this film seemed very atypical for her. But I knew that she could pull this off.” Gray adds that Paltrow is also responsible for inspiring the director to explore a different genre. “In a weird way she also inspired my decision to write something about love. She had told me ‘we should do something together, but only if you make a movie without guns and a lot of guys yelling curse words,’” he laughs. “So in a way she really inspired the actual writing of the whole script and for me it was a way to get the other stuff, the ‘crime element’ out of my system.” Gray had already written the first draft of Two Lovers before he started shooting We Own The Night and it sat in his bottom drawer until after he wrapped production. It was about this time that he showed the script to the Oscar-winning producer DONNA GIGLIOTTI (Shakespeare in Love). Gray and Gigliotti had started work together on another film that had fallen apart, “which often happens with movies,” he says, “but during that time I discovered that Donna is incredibly bright as well as being a wonderful person and we have very similar tastes in cinema.” As the idea for Two Lovers took shape, Gray approached Gigliotti to produce the film. “I also knew I wanted a female presence working with me in the telling of this story,” he adds. “It’s a story that’s told through Leonard’s eyes and I didn’t want it to be a totally male-centric view of the world.” When Gray and Gigliotti first discussed the film, she recalls that he was initially cautious. “He indicated that he was hesitant to step immediately into another project. It was very soon after We Own The Night and he contemplated whether Two Lovers should be his next film. But Gigliotti encouraged him to make it. “It’s difficult to get films financed nowadays and many directors can go for years between films. I believe filmmakers should make as many films as possible. Here was a script James was passionate about with an incredible lead in the pivotal role and the budget was within reach. I didn’t want us to lose momentum.” 5 Gray decided to move forward with another draft and brought on the writer RICHARD MENELLO, who had worked with Gray as a creative consultant on We Own The Night. They re-worked the draft and within a few months the script was ready to send out to his leading actors. “Joaquin was the first person to read the script and he was aboard straight away,” says Gray. It had been some time since his brief chat with Paltrow about the possibility of them working together and in the end Gray sent the script to her over an email exchange about pasta sauces. Paltrow smiles when she is reminded of this anecdote. “I was in London at the time and James wrote me something about tomato sauce and then over one email exchange he said ‘I wrote a movie for you and I want you to read it,’” she says. Gray sent the script and Paltrow was immediately taken with this departure from his earlier work. “I thought it was so beautiful and at the same time profound. It’s sad, but for me it’s also hopeful.” Of her character, Paltrow says: “She’s caught in an obsessive loop, in a relationship with a married guy, but she can’t seem to let go of the obsession. But what she’s really hooked on is the fact she can’t have this person, which is something we all do in our lives, in different ways. When Leonard meets Michelle he develops a similar obsession with her and for me the film is about being able to see the bigger picture and break out of that obsessive compulsion.” With Phoenix and Paltrow attached, and Gray’s We Own the Night partners at 2929 Productions aboard to finance, the Gray rushed to cast the film in order to make his start date.