The Rewrite

Keith Michaels (Hugh Grant) is a divorced and depressed screenwriter whose only successful work was Paradise Misplaced, which won the Best Screenplay Award fifteen years ago. Unemployed and low on funds after a long period of unsuccessful pitching, he reluctantly takes up a job teaching screenwriting at Binghamton University in Upstate New York.

Keith happens upon many unfortunate situations on arrival; he accidentally angers fellow professor Mary Weldon (Allison Janney) with his deadpan sense of humor; he strikes up an intense relationship with student Karen Gabney (Bella Heathcote) which goes wrong soon after. Keith also does not believe in the concept of teaching and is scornful of his job, as exemplified by his selecting students for his class based on appearance and dismissing them for a month.

After being publicly challenged by a vengeful Karen about his competence, Keith starts to devote more time and effort to coaching his students and helping them discover their passion and improve their writing; he finds great potential in Clem Ronson (Steven Kaplan), a shy and awkward nerd, whose script quickly garners the interest of Keith’s agent, Elle. Keith also forms a friendship with mature student Holly Carpenter (Marisa Tomei), a single mother of two who is in a steady but unloving relationship. The two of them often disagree on their perspectives on life, where Keith believes that nothing will salvage his failing career or mend his relationship with his estranged son Alex, whereas Holly maintains an optimistic outlook on life and believes that with effort, talents can be developed and problems can be solved. Despite their differences, Keith finds enlightenment in Holly’s advice and makes the first move in contacting Alex.

However, Keith’s problems worsen when his outline for Paradise Misplaced II gets rejected and he faces expulsion from the school after his short-lived relationship with Karen is exposed. In frustration, Keith gets into an argument with Holly and decides to leave the school. As a last parting gesture, he accompanies Clem to Manhattan to meet with Hollywood film producers. Halfway through the meeting, Keith has an epiphany about how he has helped his students and, leaving a newly confident Clem to resume the meeting by himself, he heads back to Binghamton to save his job — which he manages to do with a sincere apology to Professor Weldon. In a revelation of his renewed priorities, Keith expresses admiration for Holly’s determination in life and they both confess their love for each other. He also declines Elle’s invitation to return to Hollywood, as he has decided to stay in Binghamton to teach and write a screenplay based on his experience there; and he tells Elle not to call during class hours.

Keith is welcomed back warmly by his students and apologizes to Karen. The film ends with Keith’s phone flashing with a voicemail from Alex.

• Hugh Grant as Keith Michaels
• Marisa Tomei as Holly Carpenter
• Bella Heathcote as Karen Gabney
• Allison Janney as Mary Weldon
• J. K. Simmons as Dr. Lerner
• Chris Elliott as Jim
• Aja Naomi King as Rosa
• Karen Pittman as Naomi Watkins
• Steven Kaplan as Clem Ronson
• Annie Q as Sara Liu
• Caroline Aaron as Ellen
• Olivia Luccardi as Chloe
• Jason Antoon as Greg Nathan
• Damaris Lewis as Maya
• Andrew Keenan-Bolger as Billy Frazier

The Rewrite is written and directed by Marc Lawrence. The project began development at Castle Rock Entertainment. In October 2012, actor Hugh Grant was cast in the film's starring role. His casting marked the fourth collaboration between Lawrence, Castle Rock, and Grant. Their previous films were Two Weeks Notice, Music and Lyrics, and Did You Hear About the Morgans?[3]

""I love Marc's stuff, and ['The Rewrite'] made me laugh," he said. "[I wasn't interested] in the sort of marketed, Hallmark, 'Valentine's Day' sense — I find that repugnant. Here, the romantic comedy part of it is only a small part; it's about this broken guy who mends himself."[4]

In November 2012, actor Marisa Tomei entered negotiations to star opposite Grant.[5] In the following March, Bella Heathcote joined the cast. Variety reported, "This film would give Heathcote some lighter material after breaking out in serious projects," referring to In Time and Not Fade Away.[6] Later in the month, Allison Janney, J. K. Simmons, and Chris Elliott joined the cast.[7]

Filming began in New York in April 2013.[8]

FilmNation Entertainment handled sales of The Rewrite's distribution in territories outside the United States.[9] The film premiered at a gala screening at the Shanghai International Film Festival on June 15, 2014.[10][11] Distributor Lionsgate scheduled the film to be released in theaters in the United Kingdom on October 8, 2014.[12]

• The Rewrite at IMDb
• The Rewrite at Rotten Tomatoes