| ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
Actor Chris O´Donnell, who also serves as executive producer on The Bachelor, was looking to develop a romantic comedy from a distinctly "male" point-of-view. After all, he understood the issues facing his character having confronted the perils of bachelorhood himself.
"This is the story about a guy who truly loves his bachelor lifestyle. After he meets and falls in love with the woman of his dreams, he is confronted for the first time with the idea that he may lose his freedom for the rest of his life," O´Donnell says, emphasizing, "and that scares the hell out of him. Even though you may love the woman you are going to marry, it is still a huge, daunting decision."
Director Gary Sinyor puts it more bluntly. "This film is about a guy who panics during his proposal and spends the rest of the film realizing that marriage is really about finding your soul mate and being ready to commit simultaneously."
Through dialogue, an advantage the silent film Seven Chances did not enjoy, Sinyor captures the vitality of this visual and character-driven piece with his offbeat sense of humor coupled with attention to performance and visual style. Producers Lloyd Segan, Bing Howenstein, and O´Donnell knew right away he was the man for the job when they first met.
"Gary was the dark horse candidate from a long list of Hollywood directors," says Segan. "He wasn´t afraid to explore the biting humor in an accessible way."
Continues Howenstein, "Gary integrated his British sensibilities of being charming, gregarious, and intelligent into every page of the script. We were all on the same page from the moment we met."
According to the producers, The Bachelor uniquely offers audiences the opportunity to see Chris O´Donnell as they never have before. "Up until now, Chris has been seen as the boy next door or the "Boy Wonder," The Bachelor takes him into a fully developed adult role where he gets to cleverly ask the age-old question "should I get married?," Howenstein said.
Segan adds, "The Bachelor is a refreshing story. Not many movies speak to men about romance. Guys will identify with Chris. He is incredibly funny in a way that´s easy to relate to. This is not a film about getting hitched, it´s about getting hitched to the right person."
The filmmakers knew how important it was to find the right person for Jimmie to pursue. When O´Donnell initially read the script, he couldn´t help but think of Renee Zellweger for the role of Anne. They met for coffee and hit it off. Her spontaneity and beauty confirmed his hunch, and she agreed to sign on.
Zellweger comments, "I´ve never done a comedy like this. After doing a few serious films, it was time to have some fun. I wanted to go to work and laugh. Besides, what could be more fun than dressing like a princess?"
Unfortunately, in order to dress up like a princess, her character must overcome the worst marriage proposal in the history of romantic comedies. "I laughed out loud when I read the proposal scene. I mean, how can you screw-up that badly? Jimmie Shannon manages to give the all-time worst proposal in the history of proposals. He puts his foot in his mouth and it reaches all the way down to his thigh," she asserts.
For Zellweger, the film pegs the "male mentality of marriage" with semi-honest abandon. "Men like Jimmy don´t want to get married. They don´t want to get stuck in the trap. But once one of them does, they want to lure their friends right along with them."
Also lured into the trap of The Bachelor were some of Hollywood´s most respected film personalities, including Hal Holbrook, Edward Asner, James Cromwell and Peter Ustinov.
"Everyday I would show up and there would be a new hero on the set," Zellweger says. "One day it was Ed, the next day it was Hal, then Peter was thrown into the mix. I was wondering who would be next? Then I learned about all the great cameos and I was afraid of who I would miss on one of my days off."
By tapping into the talents of such senior statesmen as Holbrook, Ustinov and Asner, the producers sought to "marry" two distinct generations of actors. One is shaped by their experiences gleaned by extreme dating in the `90s, the other is shaped by a refined and more tempered era of romance. That combination, along with the chemistry among the acting team brings a wholesome feel to this contemporary romantic tale.
"The romance genre gets overwhelmed by all this digital stuff and car crashes and explosions and planes landing on the Las Vegas strip," says Holbrook. "They don´t make movies about people any more and that discourages me. I really appreciated the way this script focused on characters. I knew right away that this was not going to be another film about eruptions and explosions. The only thing flying through the air in this film is the bride´s bouquet." |
