Wonder Boys (film)

After L.A. Confidential, Curtis Hanson was working on a screenplay of his own and reading other scripts with a keen interest for his next film.[6] Actress Elizabeth McGovern advised Hanson to work with screenwriter Steve Kloves. When he was given the writer's script for Wonder Boys and was told that Michael Douglas was interested in starring, he "fell in love with these characters – and they made me laugh."[6][7] Hanson also identified with Grady Tripp and the "thing building up inside him: frustration, hunger, yearning, et cetera."[6]

Kloves, best known for writing and directing The Fabulous Baker Boys, returned to the film business after a self-imposed seven-year retirement to adapt Michael Chabon's novel for the money and also because he identified with Grady.[8] He was originally going to direct the film as well but bowed out and Hanson came on board.[9] Kloves had never adapted a novel before but was encouraged by Chabon to make the material his own. Additional changes were made once Hanson came on board. For example, he felt that James Leer would be a fan of Douglas Sirk's films as opposed to Frank Capra as he is in the novel.[7]

Paramount was not interested in making a quirky, character-driven comedy-drama until Douglas agreed to work well below his usual large fee.[6] The actor gained 25 pounds for the film by eating pizza, subs and drinking a lot of beer.[10] One of the challenges for Hanson was to take a plot that, as he put it, "is meandering and, apparently, sort of aimless," and a character that "does things that even he doesn't really know why he's doing them," and try to create a "feeling of focus" to keep the audience interested.[6] Another challenge the director faced was working in actual locations in very cold weather that was constantly changing.[6]

Robert Downey Jr. was on probation during the winter of 1999 when Hanson considered him for a role in Wonder Boys.[11] Hanson was cautious because of the actor's drug history and concerned because it would be a tough film shot in sequence in Pittsburgh in the winter. Downey flew to Pittsburgh and had a long dinner conversation with Hanson where they addressed his problems. The actor demonstrated a commitment to the project and Hanson hired him. Reportedly, Downey acted professionally for the entire four-and-a-half month shoot, but after it ended, he returned to Los Angeles and violated his parole.[11]

In an interview with Marc Maron, actor Rob McElhenney stated that he was initially cast in a minor role as Holmes' love interest, but was informed by Hanson that he would be cut out of the film during post-production.[12]

Paramount suggested shooting Wonder Boys in Toronto or New York City but after reading the book, Hanson realized how important Pittsburgh was to the story, that it was a "wonder boy," much like the film's main protagonist Grady Tripp, "it's a city that had this glorious past of wealth and success that ended. And then it had to deal with figuring out what's next. What happens after triumph?"[13] Wonder Boys was filmed in Pittsburgh, including locations at Carnegie Mellon University, Chatham College, and Shady Side Academy. Other Pennsylvania locations included Beaver, Rochester, and Rostraver Township. Hanson felt that Pittsburgh was "right, emotionally and thematically" for the film.[9] The city was experiencing a mild winter during the film's shoot and they had to use a lot of artificial snow.[9]

Hanson contacted Dante Spinotti about working on the film in November 1998.[14] They had worked previously together on L.A. Confidential. Spinotti had six weeks of pre-production, which he used to perform a variety of tests and shoot a number of important background plates for several scenes that take place at night, in cars. He knew that these scenes included some very critical acting and suggested using the green screen process for greater control.[14] During pre-production, Hanson and Spinotti used the Kodak Pre View System to storyboard complicated sequences by altering digital still images in a way that simulated the imaging characteristics of camera films. Hanson suggested Spinotti see The Celebration for its technique of keeping the camera extremely close to the actors and carrying deep focus from one actor to the other. Spinotti suggested using a hand-held camera so that the film would not look static. On the first day of shooting, they incorporated some hand-held shots. Hanson liked the results and they used the technique extensively for the rest of the shoot.[14]

In its opening weekend, Wonder Boys opened at No. 7 in the US and Canadian box office and grossed a total of USD$5.8 million in 1,253 theaters. It went on to gross $19,393,557 there and $14,033,031 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $33,426,588. Based on a $55 million budget, the film was a box office bomb.[4]

The film received largely positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reports an 82% "Fresh" rating, based on 125 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The site's consensus states: "Michael Douglas and Tobey Maguire do wonders in this clever dark comedy."[16] On Metacritic, the film has a 73 out of 100 score, based on 36 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[17] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.[18]

Roger Ebert, film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times, praised Wonder Boys as "the most accurate movie about campus life that I can remember. It is accurate, not because it captures intellectual debate or campus politics, but because it knows two things: (1) Students come and go, but the faculty actually lives there, and (2) many faculty members stay stuck in graduate-student mode for decades".[19] Emanuel Levy of Variety wrote, "The movie's frivolous touches and eccentric details emphasize its dry, measured wit and the power of comedy to underscore serious ideas. Massively inventive, Wonder Boys is spiked with fresh, perverse humor that flows naturally from the straight-faced playing".[20] A.O. Scott from The New York Times wrote, "The problem is that everyone involved seems to have agreed that it was a great idea for a movie and pretty much left it at that".[21]

Theatrical re-release poster

In his review for Time, Richard Corliss wrote, "Wonder Boys reminds us of a distant age (the '70s) when bad movies were better: not stupid teen romps but sad, off-kilter studies of adults adrift. It is a rare current example of that endangered species, the honorable failure".[22] Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "C+" rating and Owen Gleiberman wrote, "Curtis Hanson may have wanted to make a movie that gleamed with humanity as much as L.A. Confidential burned with malevolence, but he's so intent on getting us to like his characters that he didn't give them enough juice."[23] Looking back in his Salon.com review, critic Andrew O'Hehir felt that Hanson, "and cinematographer Dante Spinotti capture both Pittsburgh (one of the most serendipitously beautiful American cities) and the netherworld of boho academia with brilliant precision. If you went to a liberal-arts college anywhere in the United States, then the way Grady's ramshackle house looks in the wake of Crabs' enormous all-night party should conjure up vivid sense-memories".[24]

Many critics blamed Paramount's initial ad campaign for the film not finding a mainstream audience. The Wall Street Journal's Joe Morgenstern praised Douglas' work in the film, but criticized the poster, which featured a headshot of Douglas: "a raffishly eccentric role, and he's never been so appealing. (Don't be put off by the movie's cryptic poster, which makes him look like Michael J. Pollard.)"[25] The Los Angeles Times' Kenneth Turan also slammed the poster: "The film's ad poster brings Elmer Fudd to mind."[25] Hanson said that the poster made Douglas look "like he was trying to be Robin Williams".[26] In an interview with Amy Taubin, Hanson said, "The very things that made Michael and I want to do the movie so badly were the reasons it was so tricky to market. Since films go out on so many screens at once, there's a need for instant appeal. But Wonder Boys isn't easily reducible to a single image or a catchy ad line".[27]

Hanson felt that the studio played it safe with the original ad campaign. They also released it a week after the Academy Award nominations were announced and the studio spent more money promoting the films of theirs that were nominated and not enough on Wonder Boys. The studio pulled the film out of theaters and quickly canceled the video release. Hanson and the film's producer Scott Rudin lobbied to have it re-released.[9] They designed a new campaign including posters and a trailer for the re-release that emphasized the ensemble cast.[28]