IN THE PRESS: Channing Tatum’s ‘Dear John’ Featured in Local Charleston Newspaper
November 23, 2008 · Print This Article | Email This Article
As I recently mentioned, Channing Tatum’s upcoming 2009 romantic drama ‘Dear John‘ was going to be featured in today’s The Post and Courier, which is the local paper in Charleston, South Carolina where the movie is currently filming. I was able to find the article and in it we learn more about the film and its award-winning director Lasse Hallstrom.
You can CLICK HERE or on the image on the right to read a scan of the article from the Arts and Travel section or you can also read the entire article below. Enjoy!
Director Returns to Area
Hallstrom midway into Lowcountry shooting
By Bill Thompson (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Sunday, November 23, 2008
The temper of a movie set, whether it is palpably tense or comradely and collaborative, generally percolates from the top down. Which is to say, the director typically sets the tone.
On a clear fall day, the cast and crew of “Dear John” are shooting scenes inside the Gaillard Municipal Auditorium, whose second-floor lobby is doubling as an airport security checkpoint, complete with “gates.”
Lasse Hallstrom is orchestrating the set-ups with calm, soft-spoken deliberation.
Everyone is focused, not least stars Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried, who play the lovers of the piece. But the atmosphere is relaxed, confident, unhurried. Credit Hallstrom, at least in part. He knows what he wants, and people are more than happy to give it to him.
Hallstrom & Co. are just past the halfway point of their 10-week Lowcountry filming schedule. It is going well.
Adapted by screenwriter Jamie Linden (”We Are Marshall”) from the novel by Nicholas Sparks, “Dear John” is right up the director’s alley.
Twice nominated for an Oscar, Hallstrom boasts diverse credits with such pictures as “My Life as a Dog” (1987), “Once Around” (1991, his American feature debut), “The Cider House Rules” (1999), “Chocolat” (2000) and “The Hoax” (2007).
He also helped give the careers of Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio and Juliette Lewis a boost with “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” (1993), a quirky, decidedly unsentimental movie about an unconventional American family. And just in case you were wondering, long before 2008’s musical “Mamma Mia!” celebrated the Swedish pop group, it was Hallstrom who made “ABBA: the Movie” (1977).
Welcome back
“Dear John” marks his return to the Lowcountry, having filmed “Something to Talk About” in the area in 1995. He was attracted to the Sparks’ novel by several of its narrative features.
“It was a romantic epic, and I’d never done a film of this kind of scope,” Hallstrom says. “I was drawn to the storytelling, which spans large amounts of time. I want to try to make it as real as possible.”
Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Hallstrom directed his first short films at age 10, in 1956, including a three-minute documentary and a 10-minute thriller called “The Ghost Thief.” He has accumulated an extensive resume over the years as a director, screenwriter, producer, editor and director of photography.
Though he is perhaps best known for quality literary adaptations — “The Shipping News” was a rare misfire — Hallstrom says translating novels into film holds no special appeal for him. It’s character and story that matter, not the source.
“No, not really. I can only say that this (derived from books) is what some of my films have in common.”
With notable exceptions, his movies are marked by their warmth, and a steady gaze into the human heart. While Sparks’ novels have tended to be more overtly sentimental, Hallstrom strives to find a balance, leavening sentiment with humor, and pulling back from the precipice of schmaltz.
“I had read some of his (Sparks) work, and had seen ‘The Notebook,’ ” says Hallstrom, who lives with his wife, actress Lena Olin, in New York. “That was what I needed to begin. I am always interested in strong sentiment that borders on sentimentality. But I try to stay on the right side of sentimentality. There is a difference. Sentimentality is pushing it too far. You want to achieve honesty, and your approach (to the material) must be real.
“I want to explore the irrationality of human behaviors. And I want people to recognize those moments. If you have that interest, and an interest in being real, the less the chance your drama will (be) seen as apart from reality.”
Love, with grit
“Dear John” is a romantic drama centering on a young soldier who falls in love with a college student while home on leave and later tries to sustain the relationship through a series of letters mailed overseas. Tatum (”G.I. Joe,” “Stop Loss”) and Seyfried (”Mean Girls,” “Mamma Mia!”) have the leads.
Added in recent weeks to the cast was Richard Jenkins, a versatile character actor who earned a long-overdue leading role in Thomas McCarthy’s “The Visitor.”
As to why, after his success as co-writer of “My Life as a Dog,” Hallstrom seldom has penned the scripts for his films, he says, chuckling, “I’ve just been caught up in directing,” although he does have two scripts currently in development.
For “Dear John,” Hallstrom and producer Marty Bowen entrusted script duties to the 29-year-old Linden, who says he was not overly concerned with fealty to Sparks’ novel.
“Sparks taps into something that clearly works, and that people clearly respond to,” Linden says.
“For me, it was about taking what he taps into and trying to broaden it. My pitch was that I wanted to do a movie that would not appeal to just one (audience) quadrant,” he says. “This guy Channing plays is a war hero. He’s going into combat. The movie can appeal to someone like me, a young guy who’s lived through 9/11 and knows people who have to leave their girlfriends and go overseas. And people like me who have father issues or child issues. There’s that father-son dynamic about ‘Dear John’ that makes it two love stories in one. It’s not just the romance. It’s also about a guy coming to terms with who his dad really is.”
Post-’Dog’ days
Hallstrom, who garnered extensive experience in Swedish TV, did not immediately venture to Hollywood after the triumph of “My Life as a Dog,” which debuted in the States two years after its 1985 European release.
He directed two Swedish children’s films, “The Children of Bullerby Village” (1986) and its sequel “More About the Children of Bullerby Village” (1987), both adapted from the works of Astrid Lindgren (author of the popular “Pippi Longstocking” books) before tackling “Once Around” in Boston.
His career often has been about veering in new directions.
Most recently, Hallstrom threw audiences and critics something of a curveball with 2007’s “The Hoax,” a gripping, mordantly funny take on the story of Clifford Irving’s infamous, early ’70s faux autobiography of Howard Hughes. The movie had a style and a kind of bite not always associated with a Hallstrom picture.
“Yes, I have done various sorts of films,” he says, clearly pleased with the movie, “but ‘The Hoax’ was an entirely different thing for me. You hope to do something different than you’ve done before.”
‘Dear John‘ is set to hit theaters some time next fall. As always, fans should stay tuned to Channing Tatum Unwrapped for all of the latest news on the film.
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