听 Will Ferrell put on his straight face for Stranger Than Fiction playing a taxman in an existential crisis. It's a "gently amusing" comedy drama from director Marc Forster lauded for a bold plot device (Ferrell's character hears his life being narrated by Emma Thompson) but at the same time, was deemed too fluffy. It was a bit of a lightweight at the box office too, only just about turning a profit.
Mysterious Stranger
Actors In Search Of A Story hears Ferrell chat about making the transition from broad comedy to a more subtle turn as Harold Crick. Forster says it was his "soulful" quality that made him perfect for the part - something that comes across even when he's acting the fool. The rest of the cast talk about getting their heads around this unusual script, although Dustin Hoffman seems more concerned with how many lines he has. "The part was 17 sentences longer than the part he gave me in Finding Neverland,&quto; the legend observes. "I've calculated that when I'm 84, I'll have the lead role in one of his films."
Young screenwriter Zach Helm explains his journey to nailing the story in Words On A Page. He says he deliberately set out to achieve a "70s style" of comedy that was character-based and which also allowed him to "play with form". It was producer Lindsay Doran who fell in love with the idea and worked with Helm to streamline a mass of crazy ideas into the story of Crick's self-imposed isolation. "The best comedy," she says, "always has a deep pain underneath."
Fiction Becomes Reality
Forster emphasises the collaborative nature of filmmaking in Building The Team. In particular, his cinematographer, production designer and assistant director reflect on the challenges of having to express the mathematically precise nature of Crick's inner world. There's an even deeper exploration of that process in The Evolution Of A GUI. That stands for Graphic User Interface, or in laymen's terms, the funky diagrams and blurb that appear on the screen as Crick goes about his daily business. It was an intricate process to get these flourishes right because as Forster notes, "Very quickly, it can come across as cheesy." More specifically, he was worried that the GUI would distract from the heart of the story.
Behind-the-scenes cameras follow cast and crew On Location In Chicago in another featurette. Again, there's discussion about the "cleanness" and precise architecture of the city that speaks to Crick's meticulous nature. A few minutes of general behind-the-scenes footage is showcased separately with music from the film.
Perhaps the highlight of the extras menu is the deleted scenes section. It's not made up of the usual bland cutaways, but two very funny improvised skits featuring comedienne Kristin Chenoweth. She plays vacuous TV interviewer Darlene Sunshine who first chats to Thompson's dour novelist Karen about her latest opus. "It's about interconnectivity, the looming certainty of death and men's fashion accessories," explains Karen. "Oh. Cufflinks!" responds Sunshine... She then cosies up to another author who she consistently mistakes for Willie Nelson (in fact it's the film's GUI designer Kevin Tod Haug).
It's a shame that Forster and his illustrious cast don't give a commentary for the film, but the featurettes do offer a fairly detailed portrait of intention - Harold Crick fans might even appreciate the absence of clutter.
EXTRA FEATURES
Stranger Than Fiction DVD is released on Monday 2nd April 2007.
