Town & Country (film)
| Town & Country | |
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| Directed by | Peter Chelsom |
| Written by | Michael Laughlin Buck Henry |
| Starring | Warren Beatty Diane Keaton Goldie Hawn Garry Shandling Andie MacDowell Jenna Elfman Nastassja Kinski Charlton Heston |
| Editing by | Claire Simpson |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
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| Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $90 million |
| Box office | $10,372,291[1] |
Town & Country is a 2001 film starring Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn and Garry Shandling and directed by Peter Chelsom. It is a romantic comedy in which Beatty plays New York City architect Porter Stoddard, with Keaton as his wife and Hawn and Shandling as their best friends. It holds the distinction of being one of the biggest box office flops in American film history.[2] This is Beatty and Keaton's second film since 1981's Reds. As well, this is Beatty's third film with Hawn since 1971's $ and 1975's Shampoo.
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Cast [edit]
- Warren Beatty as Porter Stoddard
- Diane Keaton as Ellie Stoddard
- Goldie Hawn as Mona Morris
- Garry Shandling as Griffin Morris
- Andie MacDowell as Eugenie Claiborne
- Nastassja Kinski as Alex
- Jenna Elfman as Auburn
- Charlton Heston as Mr. Claiborne
- Josh Hartnett as Tom Stoddard
Production history [edit]
Production costs [edit]
The production costs of the film totaled an estimated USD $90 million,[3] not including distribution and marketing expenses. The total worldwide box office came to $10,365,000.[3] Considering that typically half of the gross box-office receipts go to the exhibitors and half to the filmmakers, Town & Country lost the studio at least $100 million, and probably much more if costs for distribution and marketing are considered, which average around $35–50 million for a studio picture such as this. The studio, having already spent in excess of $90 million, backed a very limited distribution and marketing campaign in the $15–20 million range, bringing the total cost to $105–110 million.
1998–1999 [edit]
The production itself began on June 8, 1998 on a budget of $44 million, including $5 million up front for Warren Beatty. Filming was originally supposed to wrap by the fall of 1998 for a summer or fall 1999 release. Various problems occurred during filming, however, including Beatty's meticulous demand for many takes. Also, the script was still being developed, as writers were not satisfied with the ending originally written by Michael Laughlin. Various other screenwriters were brought in, including Paul Attanasio and Gary Ross. By April 1999, production was still going, but Garry Shandling had to leave to do another film (What Planet Are You From?) as did Diane Keaton (Hanging Up). It would take a full year before they could gather the cast back together to film the new pages written by Buck Henry.
2000 reshoots [edit]
Reshoots began on April 10, 2000, and wrapped by late April/early May 2000. More money was spent since the other cast members had to be paid their full salaries again.
Release and reception [edit]
The film finally made it into theaters on April 27, 2001, nearly three years after filming began. It received generally negative reviews and was called "boorish" and "obtuse" by one reviewer.[4] Critic Nathan Rabin described it as "the rare movie that can't seem to decide whether it wants to be Freddy Got Fingered or Hannah and Her Sisters."[5] It holds a generally poor 13% rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.[4] An article from The Hollywood Reporter lists Town & Country as the fifth-largest box office bomb of the 2000s.[6] Due to the film's poor reviews and dismal reception by audiences, most of the cast were not seen in major motion pictures for some time. For instance, it is Beatty's last film appearance to date. The only members of the cast that came out unscathed from the film were Diane Keaton, who went on to star in the box-office smash hit Something's Gotta Give and maintained a successful career thereafter appearing in films to this date; Jenna Elfman went onto further film roles and television sitcoms; and Goldie Hawn made one more hit film (The Banger Sisters) before taking a break from films.
Conversely, Josh Hartnett, who had a minor role, actually reached his peak after the film's release, with roles in Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down and 40 Days and 40 Nights; the film was one of Charlton Heston's last minor roles; and the director, Peter Chelsom, went onto bigger successes with Serendipity, Shall We Dance? and Hannah Montana: The Movie, and while the films received mixed reviews from critics, all became box office hits.
Awards [edit]
- Golden Raspberry Awards
- Worst Director – Peter Chelsom (Nominated)
- Worst Supporting Actor – Charlton Heston (also for Cats & Dogs and Planet of the Apes) (Won)
- Worst Supporting Actress – Goldie Hawn (Nominated)
References [edit]
- ^ "Town & Country (2001)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
- ^ Movie Budget Records from TheNumbers.com
- ^ a b Box Office & Business from the Internet Movie Database
- ^ a b Town & Country at Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ http://www.avclub.com/articles/my-year-of-flops-case-file-84-town-country,10283/
- ^ KIlday, Fernandez, & Kit (20 November 2009), "Top 10 Movie Flops of the Decade", The Hollywood Reporter (Hollywood, California)
Further reading [edit]
- Parish, James Robert (2006). Fiasco — A History of Hollywood’s Iconic Flops. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 359 pages. ISBN 978-0-471-69159-4.
External links [edit]
- Town & Country at the Internet Movie Database
- Town & Country at Rotten Tomatoes
- Town & Country at Metacritic
- Town & Country at Box Office Mojo
- "Stumbling Toward a Theater Near You", a 2001 article from The New York Times on the making of Town & Country.
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