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Dear John Full Production Notes
Tagline: What would you do with a letter that changed everything?
John Tyree (Channing Tatum) is a handsome, soft-spoken Special Forces soldier visiting his father in South Carolina while on leave. Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried) is a beautiful, idealistic college student from a wealthy Southern family, home for spring break. John and Savannah are from different worlds, but through a chance encounter at the beach, the two meet and are immediately attracted to each other.
Their meeting turns into a whirlwind two-week courtship, and their feelings quickly deepen into an all-consuming, passionate love. Each finds in the other something they'd never known they were missing. When John is forced to return to his deployment and Savannah heads back to college, the couple promises to write one another. Through a continuous stream of letters, their love continues to blossom and a deeply romantic love story unfolds.
As time passes, John and Savannah are only able to see one another sporadically. John's deployment overseas is extended, and Savannah's life back home continues on. As the world becomes a more complicated place, Savannah is constantly worried about John's safety, and John is torn between his dedication to his work and his desire for a life at home with Savannah. Against steadily increasing tension between their desires and their responsibilities, the couple struggles to keep their commitment firm. But when unexpected tragedy strikes back home, John's return provokes an emotional confrontation, and the couple is forced to discover whether their love can truly survive.
About The Production
The screen version of Dear John found its “spark” when producer Marty Bowen was given the manuscript of bestselling author Nicholas Sparks' novel before it was even published. “I found myself completely touched by it,” says Bowen. “Sparks has a way of writing that allows you to get lost in this world, these characters, and the beautiful Carolina environment he paints. And there were certain twists in the story that I just wasn't expecting.
“When I finished the book,” Bowen says, “my biggest concern was I just didn't feel like there was anybody actor-wise who'd really be able to pull off this `perfect guy.' Part masculine soldier, willing to do whatever he has to do for his country, and then also this softer somebody who can fall in love with a girl completely and possibly be heartbroken by the experience.”
Then Bowen thought of Channing Tatum. “I had seen Channing in several films, including A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints and Step Up,” he says. “In thinking about it, I was amazed to see he had both of these characteristics. I thought, `If Channing would want me to develop this, then it would be a project that would really excite me.' We gave the book to his representatives and Channing loved it. It was perfect for him.” The film had found its dear John.
With Tatum on board, Bowen and producing partner Wyck Godfrey (the duo also shepherded the blockbuster Twilight film franchise to the big screen) knew they'd found their next project. As the book Dear John became another in an incredible string of publishing hits for Sparks, the film began to gain momentum and take shape.
The producers turned to screenwriter Jamie Linden to adapt the novel for the big screen. They'd admired Linden's We Are Marshall and thought he'd bring great perspective to the adaptation. Interestingly, however, Linden actually initially passed on the project, not having had the experience of (and not being entirely comfortable with) writing a love story. “But I kept thinking about it,” Linden says, “and couldn't get it out of my head.” The film is by and large a romance, but what ultimately captivated Linden and became the way into the story for him was the relationship between John and his father, Mr. Tyree. Linden thought of a different way to handle the climactic father/son scene from the book, and that made him want to tackle the entire screenplay.
The producers agreed. Here was an opportunity to share an engaging, truthful story filled with emotional and physical obstacles – a story framed by one family’s crusade to overcome great adversity. “What struck us about John is that he’s a real-life hero,” says Shamberg. “He went on a courageous journey and risked everything, along with his wife Aileen, to do what was best for their children.”
The Crowley family’s story would be perfectly at home at Double Feature Films, Shamberg and Sher’s production company. A number of successful films inspired by real life subjects adorn the company’s notable filmography including Erin Brockovich, Freedom Writers and World Trade Center.
“The best true stories read like fiction and Geeta’s book was definitely no exception,“ notes Sher. “You think, ‘Nobody would buy this if it wasn’t true or, as with our film, inspired by true events.’”
Though the Crowley family had already grown comfortable relating their story to Anand, there was some initial hesitation when Hollywood came calling.
“My dad was a cop and my mom was a waitress,” says John Crowley. “I didn’t grow up in the Hollywood scene so I was a little skeptical at first. But the producers had done some wonderful films and have some very unique experiences in producing films inspired by real life stories so that made us more comfortable. And also Harrison was involved from day one which made the project all the more attractive.”
With the Crowleys on board, a collaborative effort to bring the story to the screen was about to begin. Turning this family’s journey and The Cure into a two-hour feature presented a delicate balancing act. The timeline of events, which encompassed several years, had to be condensed and yet the story still needed to engage audiences in the arduous, groundbreaking scientific process that saved the Crowley children. The task would indeed be both challenging and rewarding. The producers met with Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Robert Nelson Jacobs and quickly realized they had found the right person to adapt the story.
“He had written Chocolat,” notes Santos Shamberg. “He’s a very sensitive writer. The process of turning Geeta’s book and the Crowleys’ story into a movie would be quite a long process. Robert came up with a good script within a year, which is very lucky.”
“There are several things that moved me creatively and emotionally to tell this story,” says Jacobs. “I was very drawn in by this family. They deal with adversity with a lot of grace and humor. I think that’s an important story to tell.”
Jacobs found Anand’s book to be an invaluable resource and the journalist/author to be “extremely generous with sharing her research.” But Jacobs also immersed himself in his own extensive research of the family.
Though the film’s main emphasis was to capture the family’s extraordinary journey to overcome the odds, Jacobs also felt it important to reinforce that this was a family in a day-to-day routine.
As Jacobs perceives, “The triumph of this family would only be magnified by also showing the chinks in the armor, the same vulnerabilities and frailties and flaws that any other family has. All parents need to make decisions about what’s in the best interest of their kids. For the Crowleys these were literally life and death decisions.”
Compressing the story’s timeline of events included assessing how to best represent the numerous people who assisted John in his development of the drug that would save his children. “There were many people who helped John along the way, from scientists to business men. And there were a number of doctors for whom John raised money,” explains Jacobs. “We composited all of these people into one character – Dr. Robert Stonehill. John is very ‘straight ahead,’ and Dr. Stonehill marches to the beat of his own drum. I realized that putting the two of them together would make sparks fly. It would create a lot of dramatic tension.”
Ford (who both stars and serves as executive producer on the film) saw Dr. Stonehill as an intriguing opportunity both in storytelling and as an actor. “He’s a composite of people who played different parts in the Crowleys’ story but, for me, he’s also a composite of things I’ve observed in my research. He represents aspects of a scientist, and also aspects of a loner, an iconoclast,” explains Ford. “And his relationship with John Crowley is an interesting kind of relationship for me as an actor. Their relationship is sometimes contentious, not at all smooth, but there are also moments of co-joined purpose. It’s a complicated dynamic.”
“It’s two men with a mission; one to save his family, the other to prove he’s right,” elaborates Shamberg. “Two men against the system; I don’t think you can go wrong when you have underdogs fighting for something right. And, given the current health care debate, the public seems particularly primed to root for characters who take control of important issues, such as this one, that affect the fate of their loved ones.”
It is important to understand ‘orphan drugs’ to understand how the work of these two characters progresses. The Orphan Drug Act of 1983 was passed to encourage the development of drugs that have a small market due to their treatment of ‘orphan diseases’ (defined in the U.S. as a disease that (a) affects less than 200,000 persons in the U.S. or (b) affects more than 200,000 persons in the U.S. but for which there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing and making available in the U.S. a drug for such disease or condition will be recovered from sales in the U.S. of such drug*). Under this law, companies that develop an ‘orphan drug’ may sell it without competition for 7 years (there are also tax incentives).
Pompe Disease is an ‘orphan disease’ and the drug that John Crowley and Dr. Stonehill develop through the course of this story falls under this ‘orphan drug’ status. The market potential for an ‘orphan drug’ can be enormous because of the general high cost of these drugs per patient (individual yearly treatment can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a year), which insurance often covers. This explains how John and Dr. Stonehill are able to raise venture capital and ultimately sell out to a larger pharmaceutical company.
To build Stonehill’s character while authenticating the science in the script overall, Ford and Jacobs turned to experts in the field for help and credibility. “I’ve been gratified by the willingness of the science community to help us work out ways to get the story more correct on a scientific level,” says Ford. “In particular, to work out a way of representing the scientific process which is largely practiced in the head.”
Finding ways to give physical form to this cerebral process was necessary to tell the story, yet the scientific dialogue was important both for accuracy and as a window into Stonehill’s character. “When you see Harrison explaining the science, it’s really the subtext that’s important - you see a scientist who is passionate about what he’s doing,” says Jacobs. It was crucial for Ford and Jacobs to really understand the nuances of the science to then simplify the process for the audience’s understanding.
One scientist who was instrumental in this research was Dr. Hung Do who worked with John Crowley from very early on and continues to work with him to this day. The filmmakers spent a considerable amount of time with Do, who consulted on the film from story development through production. He also shed light on what it was that John Crowley brought to the table for the scientific community that upped the level of motivation for a notoriously stoic (albeit by definition) group of individuals. “He made it about much more than research,” says Do. “This was his kids’ lives. That really brought it to a whole other level for us scientists.”
For all of the factual research and timeline compression, the emotional component and spirit of the family was indeed the foundation of this script. Jacobs worked tirelessly to build a screenplay that conveyed both the physical and spiritual journey for all involved.
“You have to give real credit to Bob Jacobs,” says Shamberg. “He took the essence of what was poured into each juncture over years and years, and made it dramatic by compressing timelines and combining characters.”
Years of success as a screenwriter and positive feedback from the filmmakers did little, however, to ease Jacobs’ nerves once it came time to deliver the script to the Crowleys for their read.
“This film is really the first that I’ve written that’s inspired by a true story and a real family,” says Jacobs. “It was important to honor the spirit of that family. So it meant a lot to me when the Crowleys read the script and said ‘Yeah, you had to fictionalize in places, and you had to change the timeline, but we feel like you’ve captured the spirit of our family.’ That was probably the nicest compliment that I’ve ever received as a screenwriter.”
Finding An Inspired Director
It was 2006 and the coming of age film Starter For Ten, by a young director named Tom Vaughan, was creating a lot of buzz. Shamberg, Sher and Santos Shamberg went to a screening in Los Angeles. “Tom demonstrated a perfect sense of tone, subtlety and emotion, as opposed to sentimentality. And a wonderful sense of humor,” recalls Sher.
A meeting with Vaughan was set at Double Feature Films. With Robert Nelson Jacobs’ script recently receiving the stamp of approval, the producers gave Vaughan a draft of Extraordinary Measures to read.
“When I read the script I immediately had great confidence in the power of the story,” says Vaughan. He was struck by the messages of faith and hope, exemplified through the Crowley family’s own unfaltering fortitude when it appeared all the choices had run out. “The story really gripped me from beginning to end. And it kept surprising me. It had twists and turns that I didn’t see coming, and that’s refreshing.”
Ford’s attachment as Dr. Stonehill was also a draw for Vaughan. “It seemed such a perfect fit for him. It felt like something I hadn’t seen him do before. I knew he’d be great in the role.”
Santos Shamberg notes that a certain familial connection to the scientific field may have also drawn Vaughan to the material – “His dad is a scientist so, from a very early age, Tom has had a real understanding of what it means to spend one’s life researching.”
Vaughan’s approach to the material was directly in line with the rest of the team’s vision. “The trick with a movie like this is to make it as entertaining as possible, but not to make it so emotionally unbelievable that you throw the feelings in people’s faces,” says Shamberg. “We knew Tom could achieve that. He’s just really good at that type of filmmaking.”
Casting A Family Unit
With Ford set to play Dr. Stonehill, finding the right actor to play John Crowley was essential. “With a dramatic film like this, the balance of the cast is very, very important,” explains Vaughan. “The characters of John Crowley and Dr. Stonehill are very different but have to come together to achieve their common goal. It was important to find someone who could go head to head with Harrison on screen.”
The filmmakers had admired Brendan Fraser’s dramatic work in such films as Gods and Monsters and Crash. They knew he had the stature to play John Crowley so they sent him the script.
Fraser saw Extraordinary Measures as a unique opportunity: “I’ve made a lot of different kinds of movies, but I think this one stands apart from other work I’ve seen come my way. Sometimes in life the answer is ‘no’ and sometimes it’s the right answer, the answer you have to live with. But John Crowley actually said, ‘No is not acceptable. I’m going to find a way to turn no into a maybe, and then maybe into a yes.’ If he was going to go down, he was going to go down swinging. Those are the ear markings of a true hero.”
Harrison, Tom, and Brendan got together and had a work session. As Sher recalls there was “instant chemistry.”
A big thumbs up to the casting choice of Brendan came from John Crowley, himself (who has a small cameo in the film, ironically portraying one of the businessmen to whom Crowley and Stonehill pitch for funding). “Brendan is terrific. He’s capable of playing such a range of emotions, going from a serious businessman and entrepreneur, to being a dad, to being a husband. He’s uniquely suited to the role.”
Fraser felt honored to have the opportunity to bring John Crowley to the screen. He was also thrilled by the opportunity to work with Harrison Ford. “He’s the actor I was inspired by, like so many legions of actors were. He was the individual who singularly inspired me to say ‘I want to be on screen,’” Fraser beams. “You need someone in the back of your mind to call a role model; someone you would hope to one day emulate in the type of choices you make. For me, it was primarily Harrison. He’s a great guy and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with him. I feel I’m better for it because I’ve learned a lot of things from him along the way.”
Ford found Fraser to have the perfect attributes for the role of John Crowley. “Brendan brings understanding and great capacity to the telling of this story. We’re very lucky to have him.”
Though the film is largely driven by John Crowley and Dr. Stonehill, Aileen Crowley is in many ways the third hero of the story. “Aileen Crowley said ‘I will take care of the children and give them a normal life, while you go out and start the company. That will be our deal together,’” explains Shamberg. “She acts every day like a normal mother but under the surface she’s very tough.”
Vaughan knew the casting of this role was crucial: “It’s a tough role. There is a version of this story where Aileen and the domestic side get sidelined since the two men on their mission is more prominent. I needed to make sure I had an actress who was powerful enough and had the chops to show all aspects of the domestic side of the story, including all the subtleties and the humor which are very important.”
They found the perfect actress to play Aileen in Keri Russell. “Keri was the first person we met,” says Sher. “We weren’t casting the part yet, but she had read the script and was really moved by it. We loved her. We couldn’t get our meeting with Keri out of our minds. We finally just said to her ‘We know we met you first and we weren’t even going through our process yet but we really want you.’”
“The first time I read the script, it was incredibly emotional,” recalls Russell. “To want something is one thing, but to go after it and create it, it’s incredible. Every parent knows that no matter if your kid has a cold or the flu, or in this case a very rare disease, you want to do something for them. The fact that these parents acted on that instinct to this extent is extremely moving.”
Aileen was thrilled with the casting choice. “How could I not be? She’s beautiful, so sweet and nice. She spent an afternoon just hanging out with the kids, getting to know them. She didn’t have to do that.”
“It’s a movie that asks a lot of the actors,” says Vaughan. “It requires them to run through a whole range of acting abilities and skills and it all has to be grounded in truth and reality.” Vaughan is quick to praise his cast’s professionalism, dedication, and range of emotional depth. ”It was critical to choose the right people for these multilayered roles. If you don’t have the right people in your movie, then it’s very hard to direct them to give the right performance. And we got really lucky with Brendan, Harrison and Keri – and the children are phenomenal.”
The casting director saw approximately 800 kids before they landed on Meredith Droeger for Megan Crowley (the Crowleys’ daughter). They saw hundreds more for John Jr. and Patrick (the other two Crowley children), for which they cast Sam M. Hall and Diego Velazquez respectively.
John Crowley found Meredith Droeger especially convincing. “Megan has an incredibly dry wit and sarcastic sense of humor. Meredith captures that perfectly well. She also convincingly conveys Megan’s strength and determination.”
The Crowleys On Set
The Crowley family flew to Portland during production for a set visit. “It was very important to all of us making this film that the Crowleys be a part of this experience,” says Sher.
Vaughan recalls that he had early apprehension in meeting the film’s subjects: “I was slightly wary because we’re telling an ‘inspired by’ story; our film is not a documentary. But the Crowleys were very good about understanding all of that. They are a remarkable family, and remarkable people to spend time with.”
Their presence on set also allowed Vaughan to witness the family’s dynamic first hand and infuse the film with that energy. “There’s lots of banter within the family and I think there’s a danger if I hadn’t met them, and got to know them on some level, that I might have been too precious and delicate in my approach to the material. So knowing them made my approach to the film very robust. The film has passion and lots of drama, and that comes directly from the Crowley family.”
The Production Lands in the Pacific Northwest
It was December 2008 when Tom Vaughan arrived in Portland to sub-freezing temperatures and a record breaking 18.9 inches of snow, one of the worst snowstorms in Portland’s history. He was meeting executive producer Nan Morales for a 2-day scout. Nan had recently shot in Oregon and thought the Pacific Northwest could work out perfectly for Extraordinary Measures. And, since the film was inspired by the Crowleys’ story, the filmmakers had the freedom to place the film geographically to their liking (the Crowleys actually hail from New Jersey). Tom and the producers saw the area’s potential almost instantly.
“I think it was the scope,” says Morales. “There are so many layers to Portland – suburbia to high rises. You can stand in a building and see the city, and then beyond that you’ll see a river, and beyond that you’ll see Mt. Hood. Oregon has many different looks: beaches, mountains, and desert areas.”
A geographic location with varying looks was required as the story takes place across a number of states. In the film, the family lives in Portland, but John travels to Nebraska and Chicago, and the family eventually ends up in Seattle.
Vaughan and Production Designer Derek Hill needed to differentiate between the locations for geographic accuracy but also to reflect the different stages of John Crowley’s journey.
“Part of the challenge visually was to demarcate the different stages and to take an approach that would help tell the story with clarity,” explains Vaughan. “We worked very hard, for example, to show the physical differences between John Crowley’s home in Portland and Stonehill’s world in Nebraska. John walks out on his good job in the downtown Portland area, and the next thing you know he’s driving up a deserted road in the middle of Nebraska and arriving at Stonehill’s house. He’s just thrown his whole life off track and bet it on this guy. Portland is a warm domestic place at the start of the movie and the colors and design had to reflect that. And then Nebraska is a very alien place for John’s character. The scenes in Nebraska emphasize the state’s flatness and that there’s a lot of space and far less people so you get a sense of John’s alienation.”
Set Decorator Denise Pizzini, who collaborated closely with Hill to carry out Tom’s vision, recalls how dressing the different Crowley homes required visually showing their changing economic status but also their consistent commitment to remain a grounded family. “We show them upgrade a little but we maintain the same warm family feel to each space. We didn’t want it to feel like overnight they got all this money and they went out and bought a bunch of fabulous stuff. So we used a lot of the same furniture to dress these various sets. And there were always toys all over the place.”
When John and Aileen Crowley visited the sets, they were in awe of the similarity of the houses and neighborhoods chosen for filming to the places they actually lived in during their journey. From a Wilshire Park Craftsman-style home, to an exquisite home with a breathtaking valley view in Lake Oswego, to a contemporary beach house on the gorgeous, sprawling and rugged Oregon coast in Manzanita Beach. They felt the film was right on the money.
Oregon and the surrounding Pacific Northwest offered many locations that were a perfect fit. One of the biggest draws of the area was the 177-acre Nike World Campus in Beaverton. It served as Zymagen Pharmaceutical, theoretically located in Seattle. The Nike campus proved to be a perfect choice and had never before been shot. The production team worked hard to transform Nike’s unique campus into an alternative reality that was cold and sterile. Pizzini reveals the reasoning behind this, “It was important for the space to look impersonal and formal to make John and Dr. Stonehill feel uncomfortable and out of place. The offices and labs were made to look very monochromatic with cold, hard surfaces to the point where we even painted anything bronze to look more silver-gray. Anything to take the softness away. And we also tied in the exterior of Nike which is very angular and geometric.”
The brand new Columbian office building in Vancouver, WA was dressed and shot as the interior of the Zymagen offices. In addition to serving as a key interior location, the Columbian proved a significant resource for Pizzini. She recalls, “When you are representing big offices, you need multiples of many things, especially furniture. We ended up renting the furniture, including cubicles, from the Columbian to use in another location. It was a great help.”
In addition to office furniture, the production required a large amount of lab and medical equipment. Pizzini shipped this equipment in from manufacturers and vendors from all over the country. Everything had to be as authentic as possible. Judging by the response from actual researchers and doctors present on set, it appears the production succeeded in hitting that mark. “Dr. Hung Do and others just couldn’t believe it. They said ‘We can actually start doing experiments here!’” notes Pizzini.
Another key location was the Oregon Health and Science University, which is a center for Pompe treatment. Not only were OHSU doctors consultants on the film, but patients and their families were also consulted and asked to be part of scenes shooting in the hospital. Pivotal scenes were shot in OHSU’s corridors and on the Skyway that connects OHSU with the VA Hospital. During filming, the hospitals remained fully operational. OHSU even provided a perfect spot for a visit by Governor Ted Kulongoski. He welcomed the Extraordinary Measures production to Oregon and held a press conference for local media.
A Family Changed Forever
It was winter of 1998 and John and Aileen Crowley were growing concerned that their baby daughter Megan wasn’t crawling. At the recommendation of their pediatrician, they took her to a neurologist. Within a month of that appointment, the Crowleys’ life changed forever. At fifteen months old, John and Aileen’s daughter Megan was diagnosed with Pompe Disease, a very rare genetic disorder which causes a deficiency in the enzyme that breaks down glycogen. The build up of glycogen causes muscle weakness throughout the body, affecting the skeletal muscles, diaphragm, nervous system, liver, and heart. Pompe Disease is a “cousin” disease of muscular dystrophies and a number of other neuromuscular diseases such as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. “The [Doctors] told us it was a serious disease,” recalls John. “They told us it was a fatal disease.”
For John and his wife Aileen, it seemed like nothing could get worse. Then they received the call a few months later, after Megan’s diagnosis, informing them that their newborn son, Patrick, had also been afflicted with the deadly disease. John relates, “Within a couple of months, we learned we had two kids who probably wouldn’t live to be two – it was heartbreaking” (they would later learn that the life expectancy for the hybrid infantile/juvenile genetic form of Pompe that Megan and Patrick have is ‘up to 9 years’).
The family was told there was little that could be done. There was no cure and the pace of scientific research on Pompe Disease had been slow, too slow for the Crowley family. Pompe was an orphan disease which means, since it’s rare, pharmaceutical and biotech companies don’t have as much financial incentive to devote resources to finding a drug to cure it. The Crowleys started to research Pompe but felt constantly out of the loop while navigating the medical landscape, and they were running out of time.
And Megan and Patrick were progressively getting sicker. Day-to-day life was a struggle, living with Pompe. As their muscles weakened, swallowing, chewing and breathing grew more and more difficult and they were soon put on ventilators. They also couldn’t walk .
A turning point came to John during one of Megan’s hospital stays. Megan was profoundly sick; her heart had stopped three times in six weeks. John had almost given up hope. The defining moment came when Megan’s eyes locked on John and Aileen. John recalls that, though she could not speak or smile, her little eyes spoke for her - “They told us she didn’t want to quit. She wanted to fight. And from that moment on, we would too.”
John and Aileen started their own business to develop treatment against Pompe. Though John had limited experience in the medical world, he allied himself with numerous scientists and doctors. Now John was faced with an incredible trade-off. His race to develop treatment to save his children required an enormous amount of time – time he could no longer devote to his stable, secure, well paying corporate job (which provided his family with vital health insurance) and precious time he could otherwise spend with his children. His new mission would also mean a lot of traveling, which would put a strain on his marriage. But John put all that aside and leaped. “I think I did my job, as a dad. I did what I had to do,” says John.
Times did get tough for the Crowley family. John received a vote of confidence from his strongest ally - Aileen. “I had a lot of confidence in John,” she remembers. “I knew he had done the research and homework, we just needed to give him our full support.”
Eventually, John’s business developed a drug that showed promising, positive results. John quickly pushed for Megan and Patrick to begin the treatment in clinical trials. However, hospital review boards were not ethically comfortable with John being both a parent to the patients and executive of the company developing the drug. John made the decision easy for the boards. He resigned from his own company.
With this, the clinical study initiated and Megan and Patrick started receiving the life saving treatment. John was even able to push the button himself to begin the infusion on Megan, while Aileen pushed the button to start Patrick’s.
John recalls that he hadn’t seen his children smile in two years, an affect of Pompe’s Disease. “After the first couple of months [of treatment], we started to notice Megan was smiling again. So this was the first sign to me that there was some hope.” At the children’s twelve week review, the Crowley’s continued to see extraordinary results. John remembers looking at his daughter and telling her, “’This means your heart is getting better. You’re going to live to be an old lady.’” It was a moment filled with joy and exhaustion. “And then she looked at me – kinda gave me a thumbs up- then threw her arms around me,” laments John.
“People always say, ‘How can you do it?’ and I respond ‘How can you not?’” comments Aileen. “I think most people in this position would do anything they possibly could for their kids.”
The number of people with Pompe Disease worldwide is estimated to be somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000*. In 2006, the FDA approved the enzyme replacement therapy treatment that John Crowley worked so tirelessly to see to clinical trial. Patients who are given this treatment at birth can see their lives prolonged and their quality of life significantly improved. Today, John Crowley is head of a new biopharmaceutical company called Amicus Therapeutics which is developing drugs for multiple rare genetic diseases.
As of Fall 2009, Megan is twelve years old and Patrick is eleven. They continue to fight the battle against Pompe Disease one day at a time.
“In the book, [that scene between father and son] had been done in a very straightforward manner, where they're very open about their feelings,” says Linden. Instead, he came up with the idea of furthering the story's use of letter writing by having John write a letter to his father; he then reads the letter to his father in their most emotional encounter. “I really wanted to see that scene get put on film,” Linden says. “So to get that done, I had to do the entire movie.” Linden's participation in the film was a go.
“Dear John is a love story between John and Savannah,” Linden continues, “but it's also a love story between John and his dad. In that respect, I think it's got some depth, scope, and character that make it resonate.”
Dear Director...
With a screenplay in place, the project took another great leap forward when the producers were able to sign veteran helmer Lasse Hallström to direct. Hallström's celebrated films are known for their rich look and feel as well as their characters' pervasive embrace of life's wonders, surprises and disappointments. Dear John's John and Savannah share some of the characteristics and resilience of such Hallström characters as the boy Ingemar (Anton Glanzelius) in Hallström's first international success, My Life as a Dog; Gilbert (Johnny Depp) in What's Eating Gilbert Grape; Homer (Tobey Maguire) in The Cider House Rules; and Vianne (Juliette Binoche) in Chocolat - all films that skirt easy sentimentality while still bringing great emotion to the screen.
Says Bowen, “If you have a script that has a strong emotional arc and you want the film to be powerful and moving, yet not fall into the world of melodrama, then there's one director you want to get: Lasse Hallström. He's uniquely untroubled with the notion of trying to make things overly intellectualized, overly self-important, or overly melodramatic. Being in touch with emotions and being able to deliver that in an honest fashion - as opposed to trying to arc it for film - are what make him really, really special.”
Describing what attracted him to the project, Hallström says, “Mostly my interest in Dear John was in the people, the story of these two kids who fall in love.” He also says it was “to be able to tell an epic love story on a grand canvas, to portray the scope of it all.
“I'm always interested in character-driven stories,” Hallström continues. “I'm interested in strong emotion and interested in trying to stay away from sentimentality, but I do like strong sentiment. It's a fine line, and I love to walk that line and see if I can handle it. I want to root it in reality and have it stay as real and as honest as I possibly can.”
The entire cast sings Hallstrom's praises. Channing Tatum describes how he was “thrilled when Lasse came in and loved the script. He's so sensitive and gentle in this brilliant way.” “He's so focused,” says Amanda Seyfried. “He listens to and sees everything that happens. And he's European,” she laughs. “There's something about those Swedish people.” Richard Jenkins says, “Lasse wants to explore and find things that are not obviously there. He's a generous man who collaborates and is interested in performances that are really alive and real. That's what you always hope for when you begin a project.”
“The main reason I wanted to work on this film,” says Henry Thomas, “was because Lasse Hallström was involved in it. In my experience, when you work with big directors the mood is generally heightened, but this set was very relaxed.”
And Hallström's collaborative spirit extended through every level of the production. For co-producer/writer Linden, Hallström was the “perfect person for this type of story because he has such naturally good instincts. He went through the script removing every moment he was afraid would veer into overt sentimentality. He wanted to allow the characters to speak in their silence and not talk about every little thing that happens.”
Production designer Kara Lindstrom admires how “Lasse's curiosity created an extra layer of meaning to the whole filmmaking process, which is the basis for real collaboration. Of course he wanted good sets, but the important thing, for me, is that he wanted to know why they were appropriate or why I thought they would work. Once you start discussing at this level, work becomes a real pleasure.” A faded sign in the Eastern European streetscape that reads “Chocolat” and the Swedish flag flying among others over the Afghan base camp are Lindstrom's homages to the director.
Dear John...
When thinking about his acting career, Channing Tatum hadn't pictured himself starring in many romantic films. “When you're growing up, you imagine yourself running around shooting and jumping from buildings,” he says. “There aren't that many amazing love stories seen through the guy's point of view, so I thought this was a really interesting opportunity.
“Nicholas Sparks' work is very beautiful,” Tatum continues, “but this story also had an edge to it that some of the other books didn't have. I figured it would be a lot of fun to do something a little softer, a little more quiet - just sitting and acting for once,” he laughs.
In speaking about why John develops such a deep, quick connection with Savannah once they meet, Tatum says, “For the first time, he found someone that made him open up. I've met people in my life that have made me happy all the time, and I think that's what Savannah is for him. They're the people you can't stop thinking about - you want to be around them all the time.”
Tatum did a lot of character preparation to take on his role. In exploring the film's characters and explaining why the taciturn John and vivacious Savannah are the way they are, Tatum points out that the defining differences between them are extensions of their different social and economic backgrounds. “Because his dad is [undiagnosed] autistic and anti-social, I don't think John learned a lot of social skills,” says Tatum. “He's always been a sort of loner. In a way, he joined the Army to get away from everything he knew growing up - maybe even to get away from his father. I had the unique opportunity to work on an earlier army movie, G.I. Joe, and I got to know many soldiers. So many of them are just normal guys. They have a sort of quietness about them - there's always some stillness in their eyes.” Tatum let his experiences with these soldiers inform his portrayal of John onscreen.
In addition to his military and character training, Tatum discovered a new love in his preparations for the role: surfing. John is surfing when the film opens, and Tatum wanted to do the surfing himself. “I'm from Florida,” he says, “but I've just never been a surfer. It was amazing to go out for the first time with Mark, my coach. He said, `There's not very much I can teach you other than just time - time in the water.' We would get up every day at five o'clock, be at the beach by five-thirty, and surf `til nine. It was freezing. It was a real treat, though, to just watch myself get better. There's no rhyme or reason, you just start to feel it out. I'm totally addicted. I've got two boards of my own now and went out on the weekends while shooting.”
For Hallström, who previously guided Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Tobey Maguire in early starring roles, Tatum brings to John “the qualities of being very smart and innovative and having a wonderful sense of humor and charm. He's able to capture a layer of improvisation that isn't in the script; his sense of humor is quite subtle.”
In the film, “Channing was allowed to show his chops as an actor,” Hallström continues. “He hasn't always had those kinds of parts where he could show his range, and he really has an amazing range.”
Dear Savannah...
Savannah is the female lead in the film, and, as mentioned by Tatum, her background is more privileged than John's. She attends college and has a loving family affluent enough to own an old plantation with a horse farm and a beach house. But she is also idealistic and unspoiled, someone who volunteers her time - she is, in fact, working to help build houses during her Spring Break.
It's a richly-drawn, complicated role, and finding the right Savannah was a challenge for the producers. In addition to being emotionally demanding, they needed to find an actress who could play both the young and, as the story moves to the present, a more mature Savannah. Ultimately, they found their Savannah in acclaimed young star Amanda Seyfried.
As Linden explains, “Given the story, we worked hard in the script process to make Savannah as likeable as possible. Amanda is perfect casting in that regard because there's nothing sanctimonious about her at all. Her instinct is to fight the melodramatic moments that could develop in her character, and that's the right instinct. “It needs to be emotional without being sentimental,” Linden adds, “and Amanda knew exactly how to do that.”
Describing her character, Seyfriend says, “Savannah's a good girl, a smart, open-minded young woman who doesn't take life too seriously. And she's a romantic, which is why she and John click so well. She falls in love pretty hard right away - it's a big deal.
“I don't think she's ever been in love before she meets this guy,” Seyfried continues, “and she immediately begins to feel like she completely knows him, which is really beautiful. Unfortunately, she has to then deal with the transition from seeing him every day for two weeks to not seeing him at all, feeling completely alone without him and dealing with the fact that he's a soldier in danger.”
Tatum echoes Seyfried's thoughts in describing their characters' attraction. “When John comes home and meets Savannah,” he says, “I think he found for the first time someone who made him open up. She's someone he can't stop thinking about and wants to be around all the time. Savannah's quirky, and lovable self signifies to John what he loves about the world but doesn't know all that much about. She is pure and good, and he's never felt so accepted.” Of working with his co-star, Tatum says, “I just think Amanda's amazing and beautiful and brilliant. She came in and performed the audition differently - her work almost threw me because she brought in a sense of irony and humor that no one else did.
“And she's nuts,” Tatum continues. “She's absolutely out of her mind, which I love,” he laughs. Of his lead actress, Hallström says, “Amanda did a really great job adding her personality to the character. Her unpredictability was also very rewarding. She just has a way of avoiding clichés and obvious choices.”
The filmmaker was thrilled with the performances of his romantic leads and their chemistry together. “It's been great to be able to work with fresh new actors,” says Hallström. “To work with Channing and Amanda is inspiring and” - he begins to laugh - “rejuvenating for an old man.”
Hallström also appreciated that the duo were open to improvisation, something he likes to explore when directing his films. “They enjoyed improvising a little bit throughout the material,” he says, “so we always tried to do an improvised version of each scene. There are bits and pieces of their own words, their own impulses in the moment that have ended up on screen. They're both really honest in their performances, and absolutely real.
“I really want to feel that actors are involved on all levels,” Hallström continues, “that they're free to share ideas and come up with ideas for the script and to improvise if they want to. Whatever it takes to keep a scene alive and fresh - that's my #1 rule.”
Producer Bowen says, “Sparks' characters are lovers, but they also seem to be friends. There's a real connection between Channing and Amanda, not only as actors but as people. They're so playful, and when the camera starts to roll that connection is quite touching and very real.”
“Channing and Amanda both have such a naturalism about them,” adds Linden. “Nothing ever feels forced with them, and they really like each other. Chemistry is such an organic thing. You can't intellectualize it - and they've got it. There's something about seeing them together that fits and feels right.”
Dear Mr. Tyree...
The secondary storyline in Dear John - but an incredibly affecting storyline - is that of John's relationship with his father, Mr. Tyree. Richard Jenkins plays -nominated performance in ThomasâMr. Tyree, fresh from his Academy Award McCarthy's The Visitor.
For his part, Jenkins sees his character as “a man who raised John by himself and truly loves his child, but doesn't know how to express it. He's a strange man, very quiet, not very communicative, not very social. And the relationship between father and son is strained to say the least.
“When Savannah enters their lives,” Jenkins continues, “it becomes something like a triangle. She teaches John about his father. As sometimes happens when someone from the outside seems to understand a family member better than other family members, Savannah begins to open John's eyes to the fact that his father is not doing anything on purpose, he's not being rude or dismissive. He just doesn't know how to communicate.”
“What I found fascinating,” says Jenkins, “is that father and son once shared a common interest in coins that developed when John was a young boy. But then, as all boys grow out of things and move on to girls and sports, the father remained lost in this world of coins and their relationship grew more strained. The character really started to come alive for me when I saw the coins. That's when I really understood this guy's obsession. He's incredibly focused and with his coins he feels safe and in control. That's why he's like a magpie when he starts to really open up after Savannah expresses interest in his coin collection.”
In speaking about Mr. Tyree, Hallström says, “I thought the character that was on the page was interesting, but with Richard, he became even more interesting. He surprised me completely. He has a wonderful eye for detail, for observing human behavior. With no exception, Richard's always doing something interesting and especially real that makes the character come alive.”
Dear Tim and Allen...
Henry Thomas plays Tim, a friend of Savannah's family who takes a very active interest in keeping Savannah from harm. Thomas describes his character as “not being an easy person to pin down. He has a son with special needs and he's going through a divorce, about which he's not completely honest with people. But he's a really sincere guy and it's important to him that he deal with people in a very honest way.
“Living next door to Savannah at the beach house,” Thomas continues, “he knows her family, she knows his family. But there's also a connection between them that, as the story unfolds, you learn has a strong dynamic. His main objective, as he sees this romance blossoming between John and Savannah, is to make sure that this guy isn't going to take advantage of her. Then you come to see a different side of Tim's concern - he is actually in love with Savannah, and probably has been for a long time.”
“Tim is older in the film's script than he is in the Sparks novel,” notes Linden. “He watched Savannah grow up. We wanted our Tim to be a standup guy who's cared about Savannah and been protective of her throughout her life. So later, when he needs help and some protecting himself, he turns to this person he's been there for.
“To complicate things,” Linden continues, “John and Tim have this immediate, unspoken bond, because both John's father and Tim's son have autism.” The early friendship and subsequent rift between the two men add to the story's dramatic tension.
Hallström thoroughly enjoyed working with Thomas. “Henry is perfect casting for the part of Tim,” he says. “Real, and very quiet. He felt like a brother, or a cousin - I felt strangely familiar working with him, and I want to work with him again.”
Tatum also felt the similarity between Thomas and Hallström. “Henry Thomas might be the best surprise of this movie,” Tatum says. “He's such a brilliantly grounded, gentle person, kind of like Lasse. They have a caretaking quality. I think Lasse and he share a kindred spirit.”
When casting the role of Alan, Tim's young autistic son with whom Savannah shares a deep bond, the filmmakers decided to take an innovative path. Producer Bowen says, “Great filmmaking is about creating the guidelines from which you want the scene to work, and then hoping that something you never expected also happens. Lasse and I thought it would be a really interesting opportunity if we found a young man who was, in fact, autistic to play the role.” Then six-year-old autistic boy Braeden Reed was cast in the part.
“Braeden is amazing,” says Tatum. “He was an actor from `jump.' He knew what he was supposed to be doing and then he played with it. Every once in a while he would do something totally wild and spontaneous and beautiful - it was just magic. I wish I could be that free acting. I know how hard his parents have worked with him, and on set I got to talk to his dad, who's so proud of him.”
The casting agents found Braeden through Phil Blevins, executive director at Carolina Autism, a non-profit agency that provides services to people with autism in South Carolina and consults to groups nationwide. After discussing their goals with Blevins, they asked if he knew any boys who might be up to the challenge. “Braeden came to mind,” Blevins says. “We'd been working with him since he was two. After his diagnosis, his parents asked if we could help set up some programs to help maximize his potential, to get him involved with his family, with teachers, with the world. So after speaking to the director of his therapy, who seemed to think that he would do well with direction - she'd been working with him for four years on taking directions - I told the filmmakers, `I do know a boy that you might want to meet.'”
“During the audition process,” says Bowen, “we learned that Braeden's a naturally gifted actor. He knows his lines, but he also finds other interesting colors in the scene and keeps our actors on their toes, compelling them to react in a real way.”
Hallström, who has guided rich and beautiful performances from children throughout his career, says, “Braeden brought his own personality to the part - it was quite an experience. He was fearless and lacked that inhibition that many kids have in front of the camera. He was charming, always inventive and always unpredictable in a good way.”
The cast and crew found Braeden to be professional and enthusiastic. Amanda Seyfried and Henry Thomas were the two actors who worked most closely with the boy. Says Seyfried, “Braeden learns his lines, practices, and comes on set and performs them flawlessly. Then, if he's told to change things around, he'll decide what he's going to do. It's so liberating to be able to be so free and so open with whatever happens.”
Thomas says, “Braeden does spontaneous things that I'd incorporate into the scene. It provided an interesting way of working that I've never done before. It breathed a lot of life into the lines on the pages.”
Wish You Were Here...
Dear John was shot almost entirely within and around the beautiful and historic city of Charleston, South Carolina. The varied architecture and rich landscape provided settings for Savannah's beach house (Sullivan's Island), the pier where the lovers meet (Isle of Palms) and the beach where they argue (Folly Beach). The actual Bowens Wharf Restaurant, the site of their first date, and Mr. Tyree's house, where John grew up, are on James Island. Savannah writes and receives John's letters at the historic Randolph Hall at the College of Charleston (where scenes from The Notebook, Cold Mountain, and The Patriot were also filmed), and her parents' home and horse farm is the Cassina Point Plantation in Edisto.
“When we were looking for Savannah's parents' house,” says Bowen, “we wanted a place that gave the audience a sense of family history - not necessarily their wealth, but the fact they'd been on this place for generations. It was hard to find one that wasn't grand and didn't take your breath away, but we found a place that doesn't feel ostentatious…and still takes your breath away.”
According to Tecla Earnshaw (Cassina Point's current owner), the house was built in 1847 by Carolina Lafayette Seabrook (of an old Edisto family) and her husband James Hopkinson of Philadelphia (grandson of Francis Hopkinson, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence for the state of NJ and the reputed designer of the Betsy Ross flag). In its heyday the plantation raised the wildly popular sea-island cotton shipped to Europe. The family lived in the house until 1861 when Port Royal fell to the Federal Navy and Confederate General Robert E. Lee ordered area families to evacuate. Union troops occupied the island, leaving graffiti in the house's basement.
After the Civil War, the family regained possession of the house and, although it now lived a much-lowered economic status, kept it from deterioration. Electricity was installed in 1951. It remained in the family until 1987; its current owners, Tecla and Bill Earnshaw, who operated the house as a bed-and-breakfast for nine years, are only the third owners. They continue to restore the house.
“I love South Carolina,” says Channing Tatum. “I'm from the South, so I have an addiction with it. The food, the people, the lifestyle. It's just so charming. And the Southern fried chicken. The seafood. Barbeque. Jim and Nick's cheese muffins - they're amazing.”
Amanda Seyfried loved South Carolina as well. “The South is a whole different thing altogether,” she says. “It's got something - an energy. It's romantic. It's just so beautiful. It brings something to a film you can't get anywhere else in the world.”
The Charleston area provided logical locations for the scenes set in South Carolina, but a portion of Dear John takes place in foreign countries where soldier John serves. “We had to create not only Charleston locations, but Germany, Afghanistan, Africa, the Congo and Eastern Europe - all in Charleston,” says production designer Kara Lindstrom. “The biggest challenge was time and money. The eastern European café is an abandoned elementary school in downtown Charleston. The bombed-out Afghan village [where John is wounded] was shot at a partially demolished cement factory that looked like a bomb had actually hit it in Harleyville, SC, about an hour north of Charleston. We had two different African locations: a military installation on the Congo coast, which was built at Fort Moultrie, an historic site that played roles in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars (including the shelling of Fort Sumter), and a village complete with indigenous animals that was built along a piece of grassland at the cement factory up above the quarry.”
“You have to be very creative to create locations from around the world in a localized area,” says Bowen. “It took an incredibly talented production design team to be make audiences believe that they're looking at Africa and not a fort just outside of Charleston.”
Director of photography Terry Stacey was inspired by the locations. “When I first read the script,” Stacey says, “it felt like an old-fashioned classic like A Farewell To Arms, and that widescreen was the way to give the film an epic quality and capture the richness of the many different locations. We wanted to create the world of Charleston as a very lush landscape, using a lot of big moving crane and stationary shots that contrast with the more raggedy, handheld and harsher war scenes."
Military Authenticity...
John is member of the US Army's Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets, which describes itself on its website as “a unique, unconventional combat organization of highly trained and seasoned professionals.” The most versatile Special Operations soldiers in the world, they are an elite, multi-purpose force for high priority operational targets of strategic importance. Dear John military advisor Gavin McCulley served as a captain during two tours of duty in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, May 2001 - May 2008; he also plays Sparks, John's fellow soldier.
“Starting in pre-production,” he says, “I gave advice on scenarios and how this particular Special Forces team would be able to get to each intended location within the constructs of the story. From there I worked with the production design team, props, and wardrobe to ensure that everything was accurately portrayed. We were able to show how a Special Forces team operates independently and sometimes very differently from the regular Army. Nuances, such as the relationships between soldiers of different ranks and how team members interact, were given special consideration.”
McCulley and a group of Special Forces soldiers also worked with Channing Tatum and the other actors who played soldiers in his unit “on how to move with a weapon, how to indicate with each other, how to move shoulder to shoulder through a building.” McCulley particularly praises Tatum's dedication to authenticity. “Channing was out there with us and got right in there,” he says. “He's a hard-charger and brings a great level of intensity.”
McCulley recruited active duty Special Forces soldiers stationed at Fort Bragg, NC, to train the cast and play background roles in the film. “I called my friends from 7th Special Forces Group, where I was assigned, and asked if they wanted to be in the movie,” he says. “It was through them that we were able to get all the Special Forces specific gear, like the proper body armor, helmets, etc.”
Lt. Colonel Gregory W. Bishop, the film's liaison with the US Army, helped with script notes, coordinated Army equipment and troops, and provided technical support on the set as well. “Lasse and Channing were very dedicated to capturing the nuances of soldiering in this film,” says Bishop. “It was my job to help them get it right.”
Costume designer Dana Campbell says, “Everything's very accurate, from the patches and insignias to the tucking of pants into the boots. Because we start back in 2001, with the Special Forces we went through three different uniforms: BDUs (Battle Dress Uniform/green camouflage), DCUs (Desert Combat Uniform / desert cammo), ACUs (Advanced Combat Uniform/digital cammo).” She notes that the production was lucky to be able to “borrow uniforms from Army Wives, which shoots in Charleston.”
Though the film's soldiers are present day, the filmmakers were careful to keep the film specifically out of Iraq or Afghanistan - the film is not making a statement on current U.S. conflicts. “One of the things that appealed to all of us,” says Linden, “was that you could lift the characters and story line and put them into another generation. It could be a World War I or WWII movie. This isn't a political movie. It has nothing to do with the larger political environment that we're living in - that's why we wanted to keep John out of Iraq. By putting him in the Special Forces we could literally send him anywhere in the world, since the Special Forces go everywhere.”
Hallstrom was grateful for his experience in depicting the military aspects of the film. “I certainly learned so much about the military and have a much deeper respect for what they're doing,” he says. “Having spent a half year in their world as a visitor, I learned a lot and really respect the work they do and the guts it takes to do it.”
P.S...
Overall, Tatum says, “For me this movie is about John feeling and finding that it's possible to love. I don't know if he ever really felt love before, and to me this movie is just about the ability to open up and find love. And then to fight for it. And if you lose it, it's what you do afterwards that defines you.”
Seyfried says, “I hope audiences get completely lost in the story, and are just overwhelmed with how much people can love each other and what people will do for that.” “I'm very happy with the result of this movie,” says Hallstrom. “It's strong emotionally and it has an epic scope to it that I really love. It's everything that I love in going to a movie, and I'm proud of it.”
 Production notes provided by Sony ScreenGems. |
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