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Revolutionary Road

Revolutionary Road (film) is a movie based on the novel of the same name by Richard Yates and on the script of Justin Haythe . Sam Mendes is directing for the first time the two Titanic (film) - stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. DreamWorks is producing the film and the Paramount Pictures has the distributing rights.

Plot

Frank and April Wheeler are young married couple living in a suburb in Connecticut and having 2 children. They believe to be superior to they suburban environment, but then they realize that that they like all the other couples living in the suburb. And April suggests to go to Paris in order to live a life both really deserve to live. April says you need the backbone to live the life you really want to live.

Production notes

The movie was directed by Sam Mendes, the husband of Kate Winslet and an Oscar-winning director for American beauty. The producers of the film are Scott Rudin, who was previously working with Kate Winslet on The Reader before he left the production over a dispute about the release date and has had his name taken off the credit list.

The film’s producers are John N. Hart, Scott Rudin, Sam Mendes and Bobby Cohen; and the executive producers are Marion Rosenberg, David M. Thompson and Henry Fernaine.

The music is provided by the acclaimed composer Thomas Newman who was working on films like American Beauty, Road to Perdition or Wall-E.

Production Designer Kristi Zea is responsible for the "iconic, nostalgic images of quaint Americana", although she says that was "absolutely the antithesis of what we wanted to do." Kristi Zea chose for the set of this film furnishings that "that middle-class America would be buying at that time." The choice of the house was even more difficult, Zea found "the perky little white house," near Darien, Connecticut, this house was actually larger than the typical ones in the 50's, because period houses would have been too small to shoot inside.

Reviews

"News in the Film" writes that Frank and April Wheeler are portrayed as a married couple living a "perfect live" in an idyllic neighbourhood. The film shows romantic pictures from the beginning of their romance how they were dancing and looking into each others eyes. April dreams of becoming an actress but soon realizes that she won't succeed in her career. She returns home to lead her unsatisfying role as a housewife though feeling a "hopeless emptiness". Frank is commuting every day to do an unsatisfying job where he has an affair with the secretary. They see an escape from this situation in a move to Paris, where Frank already has been before. But this plan fails when Frank accepts and promotion and decides to continue his job.

Synopsis

The film has received generally positive reviews from critics. As of January 26, 2009, it holds a 68% rating from critics on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 143 reviews, with the consensus being "Brilliantly acted and emotionally powerful, Revolutionary Road is a handsome adaptation of Richard Yates' celebrated novel." Metacritic lists it with a 69 out of 100, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 37 reviews.

Box Office

Revolutionary Road had a wide release on January 23, 2009 at 1,058 theaters. In its opening day the movie grossed $8,124,000 at the domestic box office and a total of $10,582,354 at the box office worldwide. In its opening weekend the film grossed estimated $5,3 million at the domestic box office and a domestic total of $11,9 million. According to its opening weekend domestic gross, Revolutionary Road is ranking number 12. As of January 25, 2009 it grossed $14,325,354 worldwide. As of February 7, 2009, the film grossed $17,068,049 at the domestic box office and $43,112,027 at the box office worldwide.

Interview with Leonardo DiCaprio

When asked about the difference between his role as husband, father and office worker Frank Wheeler to his former role e.g in Aviator he said that this role was rather unusual for him because films are rarther rarely made about "the monotony of everyday existance". He adds that being a fan of Yates' novel, it was Kate Winslet who was interested in the making of the film adaption of the novel. About his character he says that he likes that Frank Wheeler "unheroic" and "slightly cowardly" and that he is "willing to be just a product of his environment". His preparation for the role included watching of several documentaries about the 1950's and the origin of suburbs. He describes the gender roles of this time as reduced to breadwinners and breadbakers and that the film becomes more about the couple's attempt to remain happy in their relationship. He adds that the film is not meant to be a romance and that he and Kate Winslet avoided films that show them in romantic roles since Titanic on purpose. He says the film is about "the disintegration of a relationship, and two people that are meant to be apart".

Leonardo DiCaprio said in an interview with CNN that it was Kate Winslet who convinced her husband Sam Mendes to direct the film adaptation of Richard Yates' novel after she read the script by Justin Haythe. Afterwards she inquired whether DiCaprio would like to join the cast. He was eager to work with her on the film because as he says "knowing Kate for such a long period of time, I knew that we could take advantage of our friendship and our relationship on a personal level for those scenes". Nevertheless both were reluctant to make films similar to the romantic indication of Titanic because "we just knew it would be a fundamental mistake to try to repeat any of those themes."

He says the film is about "the disintegration of a relationship, and two people that are meant to be apart". "So much of what happens between Frank and April in this film is what's left unsaid. I actually found it a real joy to do those fight scenes because finally, these people were letting each other have it." "There's rarely a movie nowadays about people and their normal struggles to find happiness in their life, and that's what this movie is about."

Rev Road Awards

The coming BAFTA awards award several nominations for Revolutionary Road: Kate Winslet in the category "Leading Role", as "Best Film", "Adopted Screenplay", "Production Design", "Costume Design".

The movie received nominations for the Oscar in the following categories: Achievement in Art Direction, Achievement in Costume Design and Michael Shannon for Best Supporting Actor.

Oscar-nomenee Michael Shannon says that he didn't felt that on the set of the movie, there were no stars, but "(...) a group of people united by a passion for the material and wanting to honor the book". He said that actors Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio could only make such a good performance as a couple, because they developed a friendship since their work on Titanic. For him it is more important to prepare for the moment when he walks on the set than being concerned about the movie stars he is working with.