| PRODUCTION
NOTES
TAKING
THE ROAD
"Road
to Perdition" is a title with a twofold meaning. In literal
terms, Perdition is the name of the town to which Michael Sullivan
and his only surviving son, Michael Sullivan, Jr., are headed. But
Perdition is also a euphemism for Hell, and in that regard, the
road is one Michael Sullivan prays he can keep his son from traveling.
Tom
Hanks, who stars as Michael Sullivan, offers, "The message
from Michael the father to Michael the son is that you get to choose
the road you’re on in this life, but don’t choose what
I have chosen…the road I’ve been on all my life. Somewhere
in my past, I made the choice to go in a certain direction, and
it leads right to perdition."
Director/producer
Sam Mendes agrees, observing, "Michael Sullivan considers himself
to have been put on the road to hell. Now he is in a battle for
the soul of his son. Can a man who has led a bad life achieve redemption
through his child? That is one of the central questions asked by
the movie."
The
first step on the movie "Road to Perdition" was taken
by producer Dean Zanuck when he received the graphic novel, written
by Max Allan Collins, as part of a pitch. Having never even seen
a graphic novel, let alone read one, he began flipping through it
and was hooked. "I just loved it," he recalls. "The
father and son story had a powerful emotional impact on me, and
the illustrations by Richard Piers Rayner provided a great visual
of the period. That, combined with the action in the piece, made
it very appealing. When I finished it, I said to my wife, ‘I
think something special is going to happen with this.’"
The
younger Zanuck immediately sent the book to his father, producer
Richard D. Zanuck, who was on location in Morocco. Richard Zanuck
picks up the story with, "I read it and was instantly attracted
to it. It had wonderful action and colorful characters, and it just
had all the elements of being a very entertaining, provocative picture.
But it was the relationship between the father and son that develops
through the course of the story that really got me. I called Dean
and asked him to send a copy over to Steven Spielberg at DreamWorks.
To my amazement, two days later the phone rang in my humble little
room in Morocco and it was Steven. He said, ‘I love this. Let’s
do it,’ and that’s how it happened."
The
father and son relationship that had struck a chord with the father
and son producers would eventually be fleshed out even more in the
screenplay by David Self. Richard Zanuck says, "Everyone responded
very strongly and very positively to the script. The graphic novel
was told in pictures and images, but the screenplay evolved into
a much deeper, more complex story. It delves more into the personal
side of this father and son and has more heart…more human emotions."
One
of those who responded positively was director Sam Mendes, who chose
"Road to Perdition" as his follow-up to his Oscar®-winning
film directorial debut "American Beauty." The Zanucks
knew Mendes was perfect to helm "Road to Perdition" from
their very first meeting with him. "The way he spoke about
the story and his plans for the film, we felt the movie elevating
before our very eyes," Dean Zanuck states. "He had an
extraordinary grasp of the material."
Mendes
offers that there were several elements that attracted him to the
project, beginning with the script. "David Self had made some
clever additions to the graphic novel, but it remained an incredibly
simple, powerful story. At its heart, there was the father/son relationship,
but it was also a serious gangster movie set in what I consider
to be the last mythic American landscape—the 1930s, the Depression
era, when there was still space to lose yourself in the vastness
of America…when there were mystical golden cities rising up,
like Chicago. So there was this amazingly varied and enormous canvas
on which to tell the story. And, as a narrative, it had a very clear
linear drive. It didn’t stop; it moved relentlessly forward,
and it had this fascinating central character who is morally ambivalent.
As an audience, we don’t know if this is somebody who—without
wanting to be too simplistic—is a good man or a bad man from
the beginning of the story to the end."
FATHERS
AND SONS
The
central character of "Road to Perdition" is Michael Sullivan,
played by two-time Academy Award® winner Tom Hanks. Hanks had
learned of the project early on when Steven Spielberg gave him the
graphic novel even before there was a screenplay, telling him it
was a great read. Hanks agreed and asked to see a script when it
was done.
Hanks
comments that one of the things that initially intrigued him about
the story was its unpredictability. "I thought this would be
the kind of genre movie that would be very familiar to me, but three
pages into it, I didn’t know where I was or what was going
to happen next. I remember thinking that here is this movie that
should be predictable but is utterly unpredictable. That, coupled
with the realities of what it was going to take to make this period
piece, I wondered who they could get to do it justice. It turned
out to be Sam Mendes. Chatting with him, I knew we would be in the
hands of someone who could tell the story the way it needed to be
told."
Mendes
has no less admiration for the actor, noting, "How can you
not admire Tom Hanks? He's an amazing actor, but what’s even
better than having a great actor is having a great actor who’s
never before done what the part is asking of him. Michael Sullivan
is a very dark, very mysterious man, and not at all accessible to
the audience, at least initially. He is someone who carries with
him a sense of guilt and regret for the life he has led, but this
regret is never stated; it is just felt and seen. What Tom is able
to convey in silence is extraordinary, but then, that would be my
definition of a great screen actor."
Though
Michael Sullivan is something of an enigma to the audience, Hanks’
insight into his character began before he ever stepped into the
role. "While I was reading this, I actually thought of the
verse from The Bible that says, ‘he who sows the wind shall
reap the whirlwind,’ and that’s what happens to Sullivan.
He’s married, the father of two, and has one of the bigger
houses in town…and it’s been paid for with fear, intimidation,
violence and blood. Now he’s in the midst of something he should
have known was coming, but somehow he was able to block out the
reality of his world and believe it would have no consequences,
and, of course, finally it does. At the moment we’re dropped
into the story, it is literally the last day of that false perspective."
That
being said, Hanks is clear that, despite any illusions Sullivan
might have held, "I think he very much understands the times
in which he lives and how he ended up doing what he does for a living:
working for Mr. Rooney, the man who saved his life, probably before
he was even conscious that his life needed saving. Therein lies
the examination of our fathers, which is no small part of this story.
Mr. Rooney is a father figure to Sullivan. Sullivan wants to emulate
him, while at the same time, he fears him. Young Michael, Jr. feels
the same about his father. This movie is about that moment when
the truth is revealed, when you see the flaw in the man you considered
to be your father. How do you deal with it? Is it the shattering
of your world, or the beginning of a new understanding of the failures
we as human beings all have? Does it draw you closer to the man
you viewed as the reason you’re in the world, or does it drive
you away from that person who is responsible for who you are? It’s
fascinating stuff."
The
father and son aspect of the story was also compelling to the man
who portrays Mr. John Rooney, Oscar®-winning screen legend Paul
Newman. However, as the patriarch of the family, Newman’s perspective
was that of a father whose loyalties are tested by his surrogate
son, Michael Sullivan, and his real son, Connor Rooney. "Rooney’s
son Connor is a bad guy, and his ‘adopted’ son Michael
is kind of a good bad guy. Rooney is forced to protect one at the
expense of the other, so it’s an intriguing conflict,"
he offers.
Newman
also appreciated the arc of his character. "He goes through
an interesting progression in the film. He starts out robust and
powerful and full of vinegar, and becomes a man beaten down by tragedy.
It’s a marvelous part."
Not
surprisingly, Paul Newman was the filmmakers’ unanimous choice
for the role of Mr. Rooney. Richard Zanuck confirms, "We all
agreed there was only one actor who could play Rooney. There was
no second choice." The producer, whose professional history
with Newman includes such films as "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance
Kid," "The Sting" and "The Verdict," goes
on to say, "Particularly at this stage of his career, Paul
is very careful about the roles he chooses, so we were so thrilled
that he loved this role. He really is a pro’s pro. He makes
it look easy, but he works very hard. He puts a lot of thought and
preparation into everything he does."
Mendes
agrees, "Paul was always honing his performance. He would come
in having spent hours in his trailer going over the tiniest little
pivotal moments, which is really amazing when you think about it.
I mean, considering the career he’s had, to care that much
and not leave anything to chance, was inspiring to everyone. Everybody
respects him to such a great degree, and it was just incredible
for all of us to have Paul Newman on the set."
While
Michael Sullivan’s father figure is played by the iconic Paul
Newman, his son, Michael Sullivan, Jr., is played by newcomer Tyler
Hoechlin. Hoechlin won the plum role over a field of more than 2,000
young actors, who were screened by casting director Debra Zane in
open calls held in cities across the United States.
Dean
Zanuck recalls, "We were looking at tape after tape and no
one was hitting the mark. Then Sam called me into his office and
said, ‘Dean, I want to show you something. I think we’ve
found our kid.’"
Mendes
says, "It’s what you hope for—that you will turn
on a tape and within two seconds know this is the one. Then you
just pray that when you actually meet the actor, he’s everything
you hoped he would be. The moment Tyler walked in the room, it was
clear he had something special, and I defy anyone not to notice
it the minute he appears on the screen. He’s a very skilled
young actor with a wisdom in his eyes that belies his years."
Only
13 years old when he landed the role of Michael Sullivan, Jr., Hoechlin
showed remarkable insight into his character and his relationship
with his father, offering, "Michael loves his dad dearly and
desperately wants to be close to him. He tries—he keeps going
after it—but he doesn’t really get anything back. Then
suddenly they’re the only two left, and they begin to develop
a stronger relationship as his dad starts to realize that Michael
is all he has now and how much he’s been missing. I think the
journey is of a father and son getting to know each other, and also
finding out who they themselves are."
Though
he could understand the character, Hoechlin could barely grasp it
when Mendes informed him that he had gotten the part. "It didn’t
really sink in for about two weeks until I was leaving for location,"
he remembers. "Finally it hit me, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m
going to work with Tom Hanks and Paul Newman and Jude Law.’
It was almost beyond comprehension."
Dean
Zanuck found it interesting to note that, together with those three
actors whom Hoechlin so greatly admires, the young actor was an
important facet of a cast that mirrors the generational aspects
of the story. "We had four generations of great actors, starting
with the iconic Paul Newman; then Tom Hanks, who is arguably the
biggest actor of today; to Jude Law, who is a fast-rising star;
and finally Tyler Hoechlin, a newcomer who amazed us all."
Jude
Law plays the role of Maguire, a press photographer who moonlights
as a hit man. Maguire is the only main male character in the piece
who is not directly linked to the father/son theme, but it was nevertheless
one of the main selling points for the actor, as he felt it set
the film apart from the traditional gangster genre. "It’s
not a typical gangster movie; it’s about a father and son finding
each other in the most adverse of situations. It’s about parents
and children, betrayal and honesty, and people and emotions and
relationships, which we’ve all experienced. These are the epic
qualities of life, which for me are what all great films are about,"
Law says.
Although
Law is somewhat younger than Maguire was originally described in
the script, Sam Mendes had no doubt that he would be right for the
role. "Jude was up to the task, no question. He is an utterly
fearless actor. He has no concerns about playing someone quite unlike
himself, and here he was a silent, gentle assassin, a man of the
shadows, and all the more frightening for it," the director
asserts.
"I
was looking for a part like this, a character role that was far
from anything I’d ever done, and this was definitely it,"
Law remarks. "Maguire is a crime scene photographer, specializing
in capturing dead bodies at murder scenes, and he’s also become
a very successful paid assassin."
Law
also saw an interesting correlation between the fundamental accoutrements
of Maguire’s double life. "I think every time you see
Maguire load and point his camera, it has the dual symbolism of
a gun because, to Maguire, the taking of the photo after the act
of murder is more important, really. The actual murder is sort of
by-the-by; he’d never let a living body get in the way of a
good photo."
A collection
of Maguire’s favorite photographs are seen on the walls of
his seedy apartment, and Mendes reveals that some are actual police
stills from the 1930s. "We used photographs taken of crime
scenes during that period, and despite their goriness, they are
strangely beautiful and very powerful. They gave Jude an enormous
sense that these people really did exist."
One
character in "Road to Perdition" actually did exist in
real life, the powerful mobster Frank Nitti, played by Stanley Tucci.
"Frank Nitti was Al Capone’s right-hand man, who, they
say, for all intents and purposes, ran the organization," Tucci
comments. "Both Rooney and Sullivan come to him for help, leaving
Nitti torn between the two and having to figure out exactly what
to do."
Mendes
says, "When I read the character of Nitti, I immediately thought
of Stanley Tucci. I had always wanted to work with him and hoped
I’d be fortunate enough to get him for this, and I was thrilled
when he said he’d do it."
Both
Maguire and Nitti are brought into the story through the actions
of Connor Rooney, played by British actor Daniel Craig. "The
real key to Connor is his relationship with his father," Craig
observes. "Connor was brought up to be a violent man. He’s
his father’s son, yet he has always had to play second fiddle
to Michael Sullivan who is his father’s favorite, even though
he’s not his real son. So there’s a lot churned up inside
Connor and it fuels what he does. Maybe he’s not justified
in his actions, but it’s the path he chooses. And once he gets
going, there’s a domino effect and nothing and nobody can stop
it."
Sam
Mendes agrees, "Connor is the person who sets the story in
motion. I wanted a relative unknown to play him so the audience
wouldn’t know from the first moment that he was going to be
a central player. I felt if this character were to work, he would
almost have to creep up on the audience. Danny is dark, brooding
and hugely charismatic, but there is also a great vulnerability
there. I knew when I met him that he was the right man for the job."
Connor
Rooney’s resentment towards Michael Sullivan is tied to the
fates of Sullivan’s wife, Annie, and youngest son, Peter. The
only woman in the main cast of "Road to Perdition," Jennifer
Jason Leigh plays Annie, who, the actress notes, "had to make
a definite impression in a short amount of time. It seemed like
a real challenge because, with very little dialogue, we need to
learn about this marriage and get a feeling of what their family
life was like. Annie loves her husband very much. She doesn’t
ask him too much about his work—you didn’t back then—but
she’s seen him come home enough times with blood on his shirt
to know there is stuff going down that makes her worried for her
kids. She has a good life and is grateful for it, but it’s
a life tinged with fear."
Mendes,
who had directed Leigh in the revival of the musical "Cabaret,"
says, "I had hoped to have an opportunity to work with her
on film as well, and I happened to bump into her at a screening
and asked her to play the part. I thought, ‘I should be so
lucky,’ and I was, because she said ‘yes.’"
Liam
Aiken, who plays Peter Sullivan, is the youngest member of the cast,
but hardly the least experienced. Richard Zanuck notes, "He’s
a real professional at a very young age. He’s just a remarkable
young man…very impressive."
Mendes
adds, "He is very intelligent and has a great sense of humor.
He listens very carefully and responds to what the other actors
are giving him, which is a sign of a born actor, in my opinion.
What was really interesting about both Liam and Tyler Hoechlin is
that they came in for two weeks of rehearsals with Tom Hanks, Paul
Newman, Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh…and didn’t bat
an eyelid. They were there every day with the ‘heavy hitters,’
patiently watching and listening to every scene being rehearsed,
so they were part of the fabric of the movie from a very early stage."
CIRCA
1931
The
ensemble of talent in front of the camera was matched by the award-winning
creative team assembled to work behind the camera, beginning with
the man Sam Mendes calls "my central working relationship,"
cinematographer Conrad Hall, who also lensed "American Beauty"
for the director. "I can’t even describe how attached
I’ve become to him and how immensely grateful I am to him,"
Mendes continues. "In the midst of the chaos and the siege
mentality that happens on a movie set, when Conrad puts his eye
to the eyepiece of the camera, magic begins to happen. If you ask
him how he knows where to point the camera, he’ll tell you,
‘I point it at the story,’ but it’s more than that:
his artistry with light adds a dimension to the story that you could
not have imagined. There is no such thing as an unimportant shot
for him, and so he can drive you mad spending longer than you ever
expected to light. But when you’re in the screening room, you
thank God every day for Conrad Hall."
Collaborating
for the first time with the director were production designer Dennis
Gassner, costume designer Albert Wolsky, and editor Jill Bilcock.
"These are all very special people—incredibly gifted and
at the top of their profession," Mendes says. "It was
like having an entire engine room of ideas and creative energy behind
me."
"Road
to Perdition" is set in 1931 when the country was in the grip
of the Great Depression, prohibition was still the law of the land,
and gangsters like Al Capone were at the height of their power.
Long before the cameras rolled, research was the order of the day
for everyone involved in the production. "The challenges of
a period movie are obvious," Mendes comments. "Everything
must be discussed in detail before you begin, because everything
has to be made or re-created. It was also important to me that the
movie pay witness to the time, rather than announce it. I wanted
the audience to feel that they were looking through a window into
this world, and I wanted to put a lie to some of the perceived notions
about gangsters. You will see no double-breasted pin-stripe suits,
no spats, and only one machine gun, and that has a very specific
and unusual presence in the movie."
In
at least one instance, the research resulted in a major thematic
element of the movie. Mendes reveals, "In planning the wake
held at the beginning of the movie, we discovered they sometimes
kept corpses on ice to stop the body from decomposing, and as the
ice melts, the water would drip into buckets. The linking of water
with death then became a recurring image in the film. It speaks
of the mutability of water and links it to the uncontrollability
of fate. These are things that humans can’t control. In other
words, the dam might burst at any moment. All that came out of a
tiny piece of research."
Research
was especially important for the movie’s design teams. Costume
designer Albert Wolsky soon learned that re-creating the wardrobe
of the times was made all the more challenging by the fact that
its chief distinction was its lack of distinction. "It’s
not the hotsy totsy of the roaring ‘20s and it’s not the
very slinky style of the mid-to-late ‘30s. It’s a very
difficult period; it slips away from you in seconds," he remarks.
As
part of his research, Wolsky set out to find real clothing of the
period, which was in itself problematic. He and his team looked
throughout the United States and even Europe, but found that very
little remained of the actual clothing. "It was the Depression;
nobody kept those clothes," Wolsky explains. "There was
no reason to; they were just worn out clothes with nothing to commend
them."
What
articles of clothing they did manage to obtain served as patterns
for some of the principal costumes. Using the actual clothing was
impossible due to its delicate condition, as well as the need for
multiples of each costume. "It’s not like today. People
then wore the same thing over and over. And in this movie in particular,
once Michael Sullivan and his son are on the road, the changes are
minimal—it’s just the same suit, the same hat, the same
coat…getting more and more worn," Wolsky states. "It
means making more copies than you would usually need for normal
wear and tear, and because we were shooting out of sequence, you
can’t use the same costume from day to day. It doesn’t
work that way."
The
scarcity of authentic clothing and the demand for so many multiples
meant the costumes would have to be manufactured from scratch, which
led to another problem: Modern fabrics are much more lightweight
so today’s suits, for example, fall differently on the body
than those of the early ‘30s. "Without the right fabric,
you lose the period," Wolsky contends. "We tested the
current fabrics and there was just no way to fake it. The weight
dramatically affects the way the clothes move."
The
only choice was to have the fabric specially woven in the correct
weight for the period costumes. After some trial and error, Wolsky
tracked down a weaver in upstate New York named Rabbit Goody, owner
of Thistle Hill Weavers, who did what the costume designer says
was "wonderful work" in weaving the enormous amount of
fabric needed for the production. The new fabric then had to be
aged and dyed to complete the effect.
Shades
of browns, blacks and dark greens comprised the dominant color palette
for the costumes. Wolsky says, "I knew from Sam’s description
that it wasn’t about individual details, it was about color
and silhouettes. I also felt that it was impossible to show the
Depression in cheerful, bright colors, so I tried to pull back as
much color as I could."
That
approach fit in perfectly with what Conrad Hall was trying to achieve
through the camera. "The film shouldn’t be colorful, so
I tried to make it as monochromatic as I could. It’s not exactly
film noir, more of a soft noir, if you will—soft shadows rather
than harsh ones," the cinematographer says. "I especially
loved all the costumes with the hats. I could burn a light down
and keep the face totally shaded."
Stage
lights notwithstanding, makeup artist Daniel Streipeke’s first
edict to the cast was to stay out of the sun so they would have
that Midwest-in-the-winter look, as opposed to California suntans.
For Tom Hanks, Streipeke says, "We wanted to take some of the
vulnerability out of his face. He needed to look like a powerful,
tough guy, without being too clichéd about it."
The
greatest transformation was reserved for Jude Law, whose good looks
are obscured by Maguire’s seedy countenance. "We gave
Jude a sallow skin tone and beat up hands, which would come from
being in a darkroom with his hands in photo fluids all the time,"
Streipeke describes. "We also lowered the gum line in his mouth
and rotted his teeth, which works for the ferret-like character
he plays."
Law
also allowed hair stylist Kathryn Blondell to thin his hair. "It’s
very painstaking work and the initial cut took two days," Blondell
relates. "I went section by section and hair by hair, cutting
them out with very tiny scissors. I needed jeweler’s glasses
to do it."
"You
can flesh out a character so much with those subtleties, which became
very relevant to portraying Maguire because he says so little,"
Law notes. "He has to make a visual impression—not so
obvious that he couldn’t disappear into a crowd, but if you
were to look closer, you’d see something a little off-center
and slightly twisted."
The
personalities and lives of the different characters were also reflected
in the production design. "The design is all character-oriented,"
production designer Dennis Gassner affirms. "What Sam and I
tried to do was come up with a variety of settings that support
the mood of the characters, as well as the story."
Gassner
points out that the Sullivan home is in cool blue tones, to reflect
the wintry atmosphere that exists both outside and inside the house.
By comparison, the color scheme of the Rooney house is much warmer
because, the designer points out, "although he is a gangster,
he has a certain warmth and charm. He is also old money, so he has
a classic sense of style."
Filming
on "Road to Perdition" took place entirely on location
in Chicago, Illinois and the surrounding towns. "I wanted to
shoot on location and, in Chicago, what you see on screen is what’s
actually there. It still exists," Mendes says.
The
fact that it has existed for the better part of a century meant
that Gassner and his team had to go in and turn the clock back 70
years. "Doing a period film is basically undoing what’s
been done to a piece of art and then restyling it properly to fit
the time," the designer observes.
One
area that needed little redressing was the Pullman area on the outskirts
of Chicago, which is named for Henry Pullman who built the town
for those building his Pullman trains. "The Pullman area has
remained virtually untouched by the passage of time, so it became
a location cornerstone for our film," Gassner says. Among the
shooting sites found in the Pullman area was the historic Florence
Hotel, which was used for both interiors and exteriors, as well
as a warehouse and an alleyway that became the settings for two
pivotal confrontations.
The
Illinois State Film Commission provided the filmmakers with another
location mainstay when they helped the production team convert the
Armory in Chicago into a soundstage, where the interiors of the
Sullivan house and Rooney mansion were constructed. The exterior
of the Sullivan home was found in the town of Barrington, Illinois,
while the small community of West Dundee doubled for Rock Island,
the town where the Sullivans and Rooneys live and where Michael
Sullivan and his son begin their journey.
Rising
in sharp contrast to those rural communities is the city of Chicago,
which Mendes intended to be "a kind of Oz in the middle of
the movie," at least to young Michael Sullivan, who had never
before ventured out of his hometown. Filming took place on LaSalle
Street in downtown Chicago, where the buildings of the period are
juxtaposed with a few modern-day structures that would later be
removed digitally. Dozens of vintage cars were obtained by the production
to fill the street, along with hundreds of extras in period costumes
that Albert Wolsky had designed to be decidedly more upscale than
the small-town wardrobe seen earlier.
In
what appears to be a series of different towns, one of the film’s
key sequences is the string of bank robberies perpetrated by Michael
Sullivan. What was interesting was that Mendes had conceived of
the sequence as a continuous tracking movement from left to right.
Hall expounds, "Rather than as a montage, where shots fade
out and fade in, Sam wanted the bank robberies to move from one
directly into the other, without a cut in between."
The
problem with that plan was that the action in one of the locations
chosen for the robberies would only work shooting from right to
left, but not from left to right. Rather than switch the plan, Gassner
and his team switched the location, so to speak, by reversing every
telltale element—including all the street signs, license plates,
and even the steering wheels in the cars—to a mirror image.
With that done, Mendes and Hall could shoot from right to left and
flip the film to accomplish the desired left-to-right sequence.
For
the bank robbery scenes, young Tyler Hoechlin had to learn to drive,
and the then-13-year-old actor was only too happy to oblige. Stunt
coordinator and second unit director Doug Coleman, who served as
the driving instructor, says that the teenager did a wonderful job.
Nevertheless, Coleman had a set of controls installed in the back
seat for a stunt driver, just to be on the safe side.
The
journey of Michael Sullivan and his son takes place mainly during
the winter and, likewise, so did filming on "Road to Perdition."
The Midwest winter cold—which dropped to as low as minus-30
degrees—tested the endurance of the entire production team.
"Winter in the Midwest is a pretty bleak time," Tom Hanks
attests. "It was bitter cold, but I think that breeds a hardy
type of person. You have to be tough to get through winters back
there."
Though
the atmosphere was freezing, the weather didn’t always cooperate
in providing the blanket of snow needed for some scenes. Special
effects coordinator Allen Hall and his crew took over where Mother
Nature left off, fabricating several football fields’ worth
of fake snow to create the wintry landscape. The effects team was
also responsible for generating the drenching "rain" that
was all-too-real for the cast and crew.
"There
was an enormous amount of manufactured weather. We had snow, rain,
ice, sleet, you name it. And let me tell you, they don’t always
mix; they become a kind of awful mush," Mendes laughs. "There
were times I cursed the day I ever decided that the first 20 minutes
of the movie should take place in a snowscape. But," the director
adds, "there was a very deliberate reason for it. The reason
there is snow and ice in the opening of the story is it symbolizes
a frozen world…frozen in the emotional sense. It’s a paralyzed
family until the father and oldest son are thrown together by tragedy
and they begin to have the relationship they never had before. So
out of the bad comes good, and everything that was intended to be
set in ice at the beginning begins to thaw."
Dean
Zanuck reflects, "Michael Sullivan and his son start the movie
far apart from each other, but a terrible turn of events brings
them very much together. It’s an emotional journey as much
as a physical one that they go through."
"It’s
an exploration into a man’s relationship with his son, and
of how a fuller and more meaningful relationship is brought about
by tragedy. That is the crux of the story," Richard Zanuck
remarks.
"At
the center of the film is the relationship between a father and
a son, but there are actually two fathers and two sons," Mendes
adds. "One of the great ironies of the film is that, though
the two fathers love each other, in each having to protect his less
favored son, they are set on a course of mutual destruction."
Mendes
concludes, "That is the core of the story: two men protecting
their children. In the end, what can be more important than that?"
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