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Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino, cast as Dwight’s ex-wife Ruth – who is also music teacher to both Learner children – states, “I was haunted by the script, which I found to be so suspenseful and exciting; I think audiences will watch this movie with bated breath, waiting to see what’s going to happen next. “My character’s ex-husband, Dwight, goes through an intense self-excoriation. Consumed by his guilt, he’s trying to figure out how to become a man again because he's really sort of lost his sense of manhood. Ruth and Dwight had a knock-down, drag-out kind of marriage, and the divorce was equally explosive. Their son Lucas was and is caught in the middle.” Schwartz sees the character of Ruth as “essential for the story and for the audience, which Mira understood. Ruth is very strong and has an optimism about life going on, which is a very important outlet in the story.” Sorvino elaborates, “My character is now a music teacher at an elementary school, but she used to be a jazz singer. So I saw her as finding fulfillment and real pride in bringing music into the lives of children. Ruth almost communicates better with children than with adults. She encourages Emma, to help her cope with what has happened.” George knew that the characters of the children were as central to the story as those of their parents. He relates, “I wanted to see how the children’s lives were affected. Reservation Road is a story about family, and the children are the catalysts for many of the actions in it. Lucas is pivotal in terms of the accident and in terms of motivating Dwight at every point; Emma is the surviving child in the Learner family, and how she copes and how her parents now relate to her is dramatic as well.” Elle Fanning, who previously etched a notable on-screen portrayal of a child coping with family tragedy in The Door in the Floor, sees her on-screen family in the new film as “trying to get back on their feet again, and trying to heal. I learned a lot from Joaquin and Jennifer; I would get into my mood and my character and do it as real as possible. Terry always knew exactly what he wanted, but he would let you put your word into it too.” Eddie Alderson, who makes his screen debut as Lucas, adds, “Terry would do a camera rehearsal and then talk with the actors. It’s really cool working with him. “Lucas is already in a tough situation because of the fighting going on between Dwight and Ruth. Then, Dwight should have turned around and gone back after the accident. But I feel in that situation, a lot of people would get scared and not know what to do.” Sorvino, the only adult actor who has scenes with both of those young actors, found herself “blown away by Elle and Eddie’s humility and their normalcy. They’re sweet kids, but they also worked so hard on their characters.” Connelly adds, “I was a child actress myself, though not yet at Elle’s age; she has been working basically since she was a baby – and she’s great, so energetic and enthusiastic. She watches carefully, takes everything in, and – considering the subject matter of our movie – has a good time.” I ndeed, when not working on the set, the younger actors could be found spending time with the crew hotel, or shooting pool in and around Connecticut locations, where filming took place in the fall of 2006 – just after some of the state’s new tax breaks for film productions had been instituted. While Schwartz had set his story in the state’s northwestern passage, the production established Stamford as their base because of its proximity to New York City, where actors, technicians, and craftsmen could be tapped for roles in front of and behind the camera. Further, George set the backdrop of the film as being the state’s Fairfield County, in the southwestern part of “The Constitution State.” He points out, “There are people in Connecticut living in some of the most comfortable, affluent settings in the world. But I wanted to explore what would happen in a somewhat more rural Connecticut, to a family in this situation. So the settings we had in Stamford and Greenwich epitomized a dichotomy.” Some of the locations chosen for the film included Greenwich Academy, a secondary school dating back to 1837, which stood in as the small New England college where Ethan teaches; Cove Island Park, on Long Island Sound, where the outdoor concert was staged (with the help of the chamber orchestra from Central Middle School in Greenwich) and where Ethan and Grace sprinkle their son’s ashes after his funeral; the Long Ridge Church, a Christian chapel where the funeral sequence unfolds; and the tony Shippan Point neighborhood, where the Learner residence was found along a tree-lined street. Another key location was the Lake Compounce amusement park (established in 1846, and now the nation’s oldest continuously operating family entertainment park), in Bristol.
The production filmed for a couple of days at a local grade school, Northeast Elementary in Stamford. Fanning needed little coaxing for the recital sequence filmed in the school’s small auditorium, since she is not only an accomplished actress but also an accomplished pianist. “I was so excited,” she reports. “I had played piano, but then I stopped. When this movie came along with my character playing piano, I started up again and now I want to keep doing it.” As take after take was filmed, Fanning earned applause from the assembled extras. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Reservation Road scenes were staged during the first full week of production, at the nearly 70-year-old Old Bluebird Garage in the village of Easton. George had found that this “gas station had the feel of rural America to it that I wanted to epitomize. We were actually driving to look at another gas station when we drove past this one. The minute I saw it, I thought ‘This is it.’ What with the station’s own existence wavering, it was the perfect location.” Location manager Thomas J. Whelan relays, “[Director of photography] John Lindley said, ‘This place offers us a lot.’ So both he and Terry wanted it, even though we’d been looking for off-the-beaten-path places that we could make into our gas station. “Terry also wanted to use it because there is a dangerous curve on that road. The inn next to the Bluebird has been run into by cars.” With all necessary precautions taken, the company spent four long nights filming the accident sequence. Schwartz, at the site, saw the actors “basically scraped raw, emotionally. At one point, I had to step away, because watching Joaquin and Jennifer affected me physically. “Reservation Road is ultimately a story about how you continue to love – your family, your world, life itself – after a tragedy. Everyone in the story faces up to the challenge.” George emphasizes, “We sought to make Reservation Road as a truthfully told story about the one of the most intense human dramas that any group of regular people could face. There is fulfillment at the end of the journey. That theme is what motivates me to make the movies I make.” No matter how each individual filmgoer responds to Reservation Road, George hopes that “audiences leave the cinema feeling that they’ve seen a complex and emotional thriller. I also hope that they feel that there is a basic morality which we all need to find within ourselves. When anger and fear boil up in someone, you've got to see beyond the monster opposite you, or the person who you think is the monster. “You have to be careful not to demonize anyone, no matter how horrendous the situation. Because doing that forces you into positions of aggression and anger that have repercussions for you down the line.”
About the Cast
Two-time Academy Award nominee JOAQUIN PHOENIX (Ethan Learner) first starred for his Reservation Road writer/director Terry George in the Academy Award-nominated Hotel Rwanda. For his performance as legendary singer/songwriter Johnny Cash in James Mangold’s Walk the Line, Mr. Phoenix was nominated for the Academy, BAFTA, and Screen Actors Guild Awards; and won the Golden Globe Award, among other honors. Mr. Phoenix was born in Puerto Rico. Living and working in California, began his acting career at the age of 8. As a boy, he made appearances on such hit television shows as Hill Street Blues, The Fall Guy, and Murder, She Wrote. He was a regular on the 1986 television series Morningstar/Eveningstar, and that same year starred in his first feature film, Harry Winer’s SpaceCamp. He next starred with his sister Summer in Rick Rosenthal’s Russkies, before being cast in Ron Howard’s smash hit Parenthood opposite Academy Award nominee Dianne Wiest. After an acting sabbatical of several years, Mr. Phoenix returned with a starring role opposite Nicole Kidman in Gus Van Sant’s To Die For. He then made his first movie with fellow Reservation Road actor Jennifer Connelly, Pat O’Connor’s Inventing the Abbotts. His subsequent movies have included Oliver Stone’s U Turn; Joseph Ruben’s Return to Paradise and David Dobkin’s Clay Pigeons (both of which starred Mr. Phoenix with Vince Vaughn); Joel Schumacher’s 8MM; M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs and The Village; Gregor Jordan’s Buffalo Soldiers; Aaron Blaise and Robert Walker’s Brother Bear (in voiceover); Jay Russell’s Ladder 49; and, James Gray’s We Own the Night. Mr. Phoenix’ performances in several 2000 film releases earned him both the National Board of Review and Critics’ Choice Awards for Best Supporting Actor; the three films were James Gray’s The Yards, Philip Kaufman’s Quills, and Ridley Scott’s Academy Award-winning Gladiator. The latter film earned him Academy, Golden Globe, and BAFTA Award nominations, among other honors.
Actor/director/producer/writer MARK RUFFALO (Dwight Arno)’s performance opposite Academy Award nominee Laura Linney in Kenneth Lonergan’s You Can Count on Me earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination; the New Generation Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association; and Best Actor honors at the 2000 Montreal World Film Festival. He most recently was seen starring alongside Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey, Jr. in David Fincher’s critically acclaimed Zodiac. Among his other films as actor are Michel Gondry’s Academy Award-winning Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (also for Focus Features); Michael Mann’s Collateral; Isabel Coixet’s My Life Without 11 Me; Jane Campion’s In the Cut; Gary Winick’s 13 Going on 30; Mark Waters’ Just Like Heaven; Steven Zaillian’s All the King’s Men; Austin Chick’s xx/yy; John Woo’s Windtalkers; Rod Lurie’s The Last Castle; and Ang Lee’s Ride with the Devil. His upcoming films include Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret, Rian Johnson’s The Brothers Bloom, and Fernando Meirelles’ Blindness. Mr. Ruffalo co-wrote the screenplay for Michael Hacker’s independent feature The Destiny of Marty Fine, which was first runner-up at the Slamdance Film Festival; has directed several plays, including Timothy McNeil’s Margaret (at the Hudson Backstage Theatre in Los Angeles, in early 2001); and executive-produced John Curran’s independent feature We Don’t Live Here Anymore, in which he starred with Laura Dern, Peter Krause, and Naomi Watts. The Wisconsin native trained with Joanne Linville at the Stella Adler Conservatory before beginning his acting career on the stage. He gained entertainment industry attention starring in the off-Broadway production of This is Our Youth for playwright/director Kenneth Lonergan, for which Mr. Ruffalo won a Lucille Lortel Award for Best Actor. He has also been honored with Dramalogue and Theatre World Awards. More recently, he made his Broadway debut in Bartlett Sher’s revival of Clifford Odets’ Awake and Sing!, and received a Tony Award nomination.
Academy Award winner JENNIFER CONNELLY (Grace Learner) previously starred opposite fellow Reservation Road actor Joaquin Phoenix in Pat O’Connor’s Inventing the Abbotts. For her portrayal of Alicia Nash in Ron Howard’s Academy Award-winning A Beautiful Mind, Ms. Connelly was honored with the Academy Award, the Golden Globe Award, the BAFTA Award, the American Film Institute (AFI) Award, and the Critics’ Choice Award. She most recently starred in Edward Zwick’s Blood Diamond, opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou. Ms. Connelly is currently working on another film for Focus Features, voicing one of the main characters in Shane Acker’s animated epic 9. Her other film credits include Todd Field’s Little Children; Walter Salles’ Dark Water; Vadim Perelman’s House of Sand and Fog; Ang Lee’s The Hulk; and Ed Harris’ Pollock. Ms. Connelly was widely praised for her haunting portrayal of a drug addict in Darren Aronofsky’s critically acclaimed Requiem for a Dream. The role earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination. She is also well known for her roles in Keith Gordon’s Waking the Dead; John Singleton’s Higher Learning; Joe Johnston’s The Rocketeer; and Jim Henson’s Labyrinth. Her first film was Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America.
MIRA SORVINO (Ruth Wheldon) won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe Award, the Critics’ Choice Award, and the National Board of Review and New York 12 Film Critics Circle citations, among other honors, for her performance in Woody Allen’s Mighty Aphrodite. She was recently a Golden Globe Award nominee for her performance in Christian Duguay’s miniseries Human Trafficking; and had previously been nominated for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in Tim Fywell’s Norma Jean and Marilyn, which also earned her an Emmy Award nomination. Ms. Sorvino’s other features include Robert Redford’s Quiz Show; Spike Lee’s Summer of Sam; David Mirkin's Romy and Michele's High School Reunion; Clare Peploe’s The Triumph of Love; Whit Stillman’s Barcelona; Gary Winick’s Sweet Nothing; Ted Demme’s Beautiful Girls; Rob Weiss’ Amongst Friends, which she associate-produced; and Brooks Branch’s recently completed Multiple Sarcasms. Additionally, she produced Griffin Dunne’s acclaimed independent feature comedy [Lisa Picard is] Famous, which world-premiered at the 2000 Cannes International Film Festival; and associate-produced the documentary Freedom to Hate, tracing anti-Semitism in the former Soviet Union. Onstage, Ms. Sorvino has appeared in Joyce Carol Oates’ Greensleeves; in Best of Schools, as part of UBU Repertory’s Festival of New Plays; and off-Broadway in the Classic Stage Company’s adaptation of Naked, among other productions. She is the official ambassador for the worldwide human rights organization Amnesty International’s “Stop Violence Against Women” program. Her work with Amnesty was recognized at the Artivist Film Festival, which acknowledges socially conscious filmmakers, activist celebrities, and charitable organizations. In March of 2006, she was honored with Amnesty International's Artist of Conscience Award, which is given to those who have displayed strong philanthropic and humanist efforts. Through her work with Amnesty, she has lobbied Congress on such topics as human trafficking and the atrocities in Darfur, Sudan. Born and raised in New Jersey, Ms. Sorvino is the daughter of veteran actor Paul Sorvino. She attended to Harvard University, where she graduated magna cum laude in East Asian studies and received the Hoopes Prize for her thesis. She has also won the National Italian American Foundation’s Achievement Award.
ELLE FANNING (Emma Learner) is, at age 9, already a film and television veteran. At age 3, the Conyers, Georgia native appeared as the younger version of her older sister Dakota’s character in Jessie Nelson’s I Am Sam, opposite Sean Penn. The Fanning sisters again played the same character at different ages in Taken, the Emmy Award-winning epic SciFi Channel miniseries. Ms. Fanning’s subsequent films include Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Academy Award-nominated Babel, alongside Academy Award nominee Adriana Barraza; Tod Williams’ The Door in the Floor (also for Focus Features); Steve Carr’s Daddy Day Care; Wayne Wang’s Because of Winn-Dixie; Tony Scott’s Déjà Vu; and David Fincher’s just-wrapped The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. 13 She next stars in the lead role of Daniel Barnz’ independent feature Phoebe in Wonderland, with Patricia Clarkson, Felicity Huffman, and Bill Pullman; and in Andrei Konchalovsky’s musical fantasy Nutcracker – The Untold Story, with John Turturro and Nathan Lane. On television, Ms. Fanning has appeared in episodes of such popular shows as House, Law & Order: SVU, CSI: New York, CSI: Miami, Judging Amy, and Criminal Minds. She recently starred in her second SciFi Channel miniseries, The Lost Room.
EDDIE ALDERSON (Lucas Arno) is making his motion picture debut in Reservation Road, which is only his second professional acting assignment. The 13-year-old Pennsylvania native has been part of the cast of the daytime drama One Life to Live since 2001. For his portrayal of Matthew Buchanan, Mr. Alderson has received the Fan Club Best Younger Actor Award two years in a row. Since filming Reservation Road, he has shot a Verizon Fios infomercial in which he plays a principal role. He attends a performing arts school, and loves to play sports; he is a Yankees fan.
SEAN CURLEY (Josh Learner), age 12, makes his motion picture debut in Reservation Road. The New Jersey native was drawn to acting at age 5, after attending a workshop in the town of Red Bank. He landed a spot in the cast of the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast, and performed in the stage show for six months. This was followed by an 18-month stint in the Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof. Recently, he was invited by Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman to be part of the special benefit performance of their musical adaptation Zhivago, in London. Mr. Curley can currently be heard on the popular animated television series The Backyardigans, as the singing voice of the character Pablo.
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