Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, and Pierre Bismuth after winning the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay
Eternal Sunshine is a success in all quarters, having obtained financial success and artistic success.
The Hollywood Reporter declared the movie a marketing success for Focus Features, out-grossing Charlie Kaufman's two previous films, Adaptation and Being John Malkovich, which earned about $22 million each during their entire run in theatres. In addition to earning an Oscar, Eternal Sunshine has also been named #24 on a list of Top 101 Screenplays as voted by members of the Writers Guild of America.
Synopsis and History
On the phone with Michel, artist Pierre Bismuth, Michel's friend, came up with the concept of mind erasure. Michel took the concept to Charlie Kaufman, and they bounced the story back and forth, to and fro, this and that, while Gondry directed Human Nature, and Kaufman scripted three dozen films. Each of these men would win several awards for their work, including the BAFTA award and an Oscar.
Michel notes, "[I]t's again very geometrical. It's about a guy [named Joel Barish] who wants to erase his girlfriend [Clementine Kruczynski] from his memory. You get to see their relationship erased scene by scene, and then in the middle of the process, he changes his mind and decides to save her. So he takes her out of the memories she belongs in, and puts her in memories she doesn't belong in, to try and hide her. It's very symmetrical, but very romantic as well."
The film's title is from Alexander Pope's "Eloisa to Abelard." Filming began January 6, 2003 in New York City, and finished April 2.
Box office totals
WORLDWIDE TOTAL: (Jan 23, 2005): $67,931,839
AMERICAN TOTAL (July 25, 2004): $34,400,301
OVERSEAS TOTAL (Jan 23, 2005): $33,531,358
Courtesy boxofficemojo.com
DVD
The DVD is out in America, the UK, and many other places. Most versions contain Michel's Light & Day music video for the Polyphonic Spree, as well as audio commentary, featurette, a conversation with Jim Carrey and Michel, deleted scenes, and a Lacuna commercial. Sunshine is also now available in HD-DVD.
The soundtrack - featuring a score by Jon Brion - is on Hollywood Records.
The film was distributed by USA Films in America, financed by Universal/Focus Features with a rumored total budget of $35 million (for marketing and production). The film was produced by Anonymous Content, Blue Ruin, and This is That Productions.
Links
Official sites: www.eternalsunshine.com, www.lacunainc.com
Trailers: focusfeatures.com and movies.yahoo.com
A detailed page on the film page - including press - is at Being Charlie Kaufman.
BCK also has drafts of the script.
See also: Admiring Kate ·· Jim Carrey Online
Cast and Crew
Director ·· Michel Gondry
Screenwriter ·· Charlie Kaufman
Producer ·· Steve Golin
Production Co ·· Anonymous Content
Cinematographer ·· Ellen Kuras
Jim Carrey ·· Joel Barish
Kate Winslet ·· Clementine Kruczynski
Kirsten Dunst ·· Mary (Office Receptionist)
Tom Wilkinson ·· Dr. Mierzwiak
Mark Ruffalo ·· Stan (Lab Technician)
Elijah Wood ·· Patrick (Lab Technician)
Complete Cast and Crew listings are here at IMDB.com.
Etc.
"Michel Gondry is like this underground swell happening," Jim Carrey said. "And you love to be part of him bursting out, 'cause he's going to be a really important filmmaker for a long time." -Jim Carrey at the Tuesday, March 9, premiere.
From Being Charlie Kaufman, an interview with Kristian, the Extras Casting Associate for Eternal Sunshine. Her remarks on Michel:
"I worked directly with the Assistant Directors and would be on set quite a bit.
"I was there for all the Montauk shooting sequences which included all the beach sequences and the train stuff that takes place early in the film..
"We had used quite a bit of local (Hampton) people for the extras when we were shooting up there. Everyday the 2nd Asst. Director and I would discuss what sort of background extras they wanted for the scene that shot the next day.. Michel was a great director and interesting man. Everything he did was unorthodox. There were days where he would shoot film without letting the actors know.. he would just shot random footage. He just had the ability to really take advantage of the strange script and run with it. There was a day when Michel had found out that New York, once a year when the carnival was in town, was forced to walk the Elephants down 34th st instead of being able to transfer them in cages. So when they were done shooting for the day, he ran over to 34th st. and shot a dream sequence of Jim and Kate chasing the elephants.. it was completely unplanned.
"He was absolutely brilliant."