THE LEADING LADIES
"It was the same with Rosamund Pike and Embeth Davidtz," Gregory Hoblit says of his two leading ladies. "They were roles that you don't know quite what to do with. At one point, there were some pretty big names being bandied about. The role of Jennifer Crawford, for example, is small, but it's a dramatic moment that no one will forget."
Hoblit had previously worked with Embeth Davidtz on Fallen, starring Denzel Washington, and was eager to repeat the experience. When he and casting director Deborah Aquila came up with the idea to call Davidtz at the same time, Hoblit saw it as another positive omen.
"Embeth has this fragile, butterfly quality to her," he says. "While she is very strong underneath, she has a delicate demeanor and wonderful, emotional eyes, never mind the fact that she's very talented. I didn't expect her to say 'yes,' because the role is so small, but her response was immediate. It was gratifying. Bingo! We couldn't have made a more perfect choice."
One of the most difficult aspects of the film was introducing a woman who is cheating on her husband, while at the same time, getting the audience to feel for her and care about the adulterous couple.
"Embeth's quiet grace helped in that regard," says screenwriter Glenn Gers. "She only has two scenes to become sympathetic and then the audience needs to care about her for the rest of the story. That's not easy."
"Jennifer Crawford exists in a stone-cold marriage," Hoblit says, defending Davidtz's character. "She's married to a sociopath, a brilliant but bloodless guy, who is an emotional abuser who shuts her off and belittles her. But this is the back story that we only discover as the movie moves forward. There is only one moment between Jennifer and her husband to convey all the dynamics of their relationship. The audience has to empathize with her and understand that this is not a person who is out having trysts in hotel rooms for fun."
"I don't believe for a minute that Jennifer married Ted for money," says Gers. "She thought he would treat her well and she truly loved his strength. She wasn't betraying him, she was changing, and he couldn't stand that. This is not a woman who enjoys her immoral act, she's simply afraid to leave her husband."
"The one scene between Crawford and Jennifer took a while to write," Gers continues, "because we had to make it shorter and shorter, strangely enough. People who have been together a long time have less to say, but each sentence has to have more weight, and Tony and Embeth knew exactly what to do with the scene."
"She's very beaten down," says Embeth Davidtz about her character, "but I loved the fact that Jennifer is trying to make her way back into the world and takes matters into her own hands in a way."
The actress was delighted to work opposite Hopkins, but the role she thought would be a walk in the park turned out to have unusual challenges. "Of course it was challenging to act opposite Anthony Hopkins, trying to match him line for line," says Davidtz. "Because his delivery is insanely good. And acting with Billy Burke was great fun – I don't know where he's been hiding all these years. But the real work was lying in bed, pretending to be in a coma day after day. I thought it was going to be fabulous and easy, but I found it much harder than I expected."
On the other side of the female spectrum is Nikki Gardner, played by British actress Rosamund Pike. The polar opposite of Jennifer Crawford, Nikki is intimidated by no one.
"Nikki is a siren," says Gers. "She tempts Willy. She is the personification of the job that he has wanted all his life and she seduces him away from the Crawford case towards a really attractive alternative, but he has to decide if he can pay the price."
"I don't think Willy has ever met anyone as narcissistic as he is," says Ryan Gosling about Pike's character. "There's something attractive about that initially, and they recognize a familiar ambitious quality in one another. I wouldn't categorize Willy and Nikki as a love story; it's more that they're challenged by one another. They're both alpha and the struggle to be on top is what's more interesting than the two people in the relationship."
"Nikki is not used to being disarmed by people," agrees Rosamund Pike. "Willy is not what she expected. He intrigues her and frustrates her at the same time."
Rosamund Pike first came to Gregory Hoblit's attention when he saw a trailer for Pride and Prejudice. The actress happened to be in Los Angeles on a promotional tour for the film while making rounds at the major studios at the same time. The filmmakers were thrilled when she was able to find time in her hectic schedule to meet with them, and as soon as she left the room, Hoblit began a tireless campaign to convince production executives that although a Brit, Pike was the perfect choice for the role of the ambitious career woman, Nikki Gardner.
"Rosamund was a find," says producer Chuck Weinstock. "She has that cool blond perfection that Grace Kelly had, which served us well when her character had to be seductive and aloof. Nikki represents temptation in all its forms, romantic and professional. She's the carnal expression of Willy's ambition. But the role was harder than that, because Nikki also warms up, and exposes a weakness or two. Rosamund did a wonderful job of straddling those two ends of her character."
Surprisingly, Pike found the role somewhat disconcerting. "I actually found it difficult because Nikki is someone I don't personally agree with ethically, politically, or even stylistically. She's one of those incredibly driven women who have chosen a career at the expense of family, relationships, a love life and anything outside her job, which is admirable in its way, but I can't relate to her."
"Nikki goes out on a limb for Willy," Pike continues. "She's let him get under her skin and goes head to head with her boss for him and humiliates herself in the process."
"I did try to humanize her a bit," the actress admits, "to show a glimmer of the kind of woman she used to be. I went a bit against the script to try to soften her, but when I did, Greg would ask me to drive the moment forward and give it more power and I'd think to myself, 'well, that's the sympathetic side gone again,'" she laughs.
More Production Notes:
THE ORIGINS OF FRACTURE CRAFTING THE SCRIPT THE MALE LEADS SUPPORTING CAST ACHIEVING VERISIMILITUDE FILMING FRACTURE
