Ruby Sparks

Ruby Sparks
Poster
Directed by	Jonathan Dayton Valerie Faris
Written by	Zoe Kazan
Produced by	Albert Berger Bart Lipton Ron Yerxa
Starring	Paul Dano Zoe Kazan Antonio Banderas Annette Bening Steve Coogan Elliott Gould Chris Messina
Cinematography	Matthew Libatique
Edited by	Pamela Martin
Music by	Nick Urata
Production companies	Bona Fide Productions Fox Searchlight Pictures
Distributed by	Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release date	25 July 2012 (2012-07-25) (Limited release)
Running time	104 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$6,467,587

Ruby Sparks is a 2012 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris and written by Zoe Kazan. It stars Paul Dano as a struggling novelist whose fictional character, Ruby Sparks, played by Kazan, comes to life.

Plot

Calvin Weir-Fields (Paul Dano) is a young novelist, struggling to recreate the early success of his first novel, but unable to commit to any of his ideas. His therapist, Dr. Rosenthal (Elliott Gould), gives him a writing assignment: to write a page about someone who likes his dog, Scotty. Calvin has a dream in which he meets an attractive young woman, who draws a picture of Scotty and says she likes him. Calvin wakes and is inspired to write about her. In therapy he admits he is falling in love with the character he is writing, and tells the therapist all about Ruby Sparks (Zoe Kazan).

Calvin's brother Harry (Chris Messina) and sister-in-law Susie (Toni Trucks) come to visit, and find several articles of women's clothing around the house. The next day, Calvin is stunned to find Ruby in his kitchen, as an actual living person. Thinking he is going crazy, he calls Harry, who does not believe him and advises him to meet with someone else to take his mind off things. Ruby is confused by his behavior and insists on coming along, and leaves her to shop while he meets Mabel (Alia Shawkat), a fan of his book. Ruby finds them, and Calvin discovers that others can actually see Ruby, discovering that she is a real person, not a figment of his imagination. Ruby fights with Calvin, thinking he is cheating on her but he explains how he feels overwhelmed and they make up.

Calvin introduces Ruby to Harry, and Harry believes there must a be logical explanation, but Calvin proves that his writing directly affects Ruby. Harry is amazed that Calvin has manifested a woman with his mind, and has the power to change her. Calvin says he loves Ruby and asks Harry not to tell anyone of Ruby's origins. Harry warns him that women are mysterious creatures, and that things may change. Calvin says he wrote her and he knows her, and he will never write about Ruby again. Months later, Calvin reluctantly takes Ruby to meet his free-spirited mother Gertrude (Annette Bening) and boyfriend Mort (Antonio Banderas). While Ruby and his family enjoy themselves, Calvin spends the weekend reading by himself, growing jealous of the time Ruby is spending with other people and Ruby's happy spirit begins to dampen at Calvin's increased gloominess.

Back at Calvin's house, Calvin complains to Ruby that her singing is disturbing his reading. Upset, she runs upstairs crying. Ruby tells Calvin how lonely she is and suggests they start spending less time together. Calvin is miserable without her and, out of desperation, writes that Ruby is also miserable without him. Ruby returns to Calvin's house full-time, but becomes incredibly clingy toward him, afraid to leave his side for even a second. Calvin tires of this and writes that Ruby is instead "filled with effervescent joy," at which point she becomes constantly happy.

After talking with Harry about what he has been doing, Calvin intends to write Ruby back to her normal self but the wording he uses leaves Ruby confused and slightly manic-depressive. Gloomy again, Ruby fights with Calvin once more. He attempts to cheer her up, and takes her along to a party hosted by author Langdon Tharp (Steve Coogan). At the party, Calvin leaves Ruby and talks with people about his still-unfinished manuscript. He also runs into his ex-girlfriend Lila (Deborah Ann Woll), and they have a heated argument in which Lila accuses Calvin of only seeing her in an idealized way. Langdon sees Ruby alone and flirts with her, convincing her to strip to her underwear and join him in the pool. Calvin finds Ruby about to join Langdon for a swim and they leave.

At home, Calvin and Ruby fight, with Ruby accusing Calvin of controlling of her. As she prepares to leave Calvin, he reveals that she is a product of his imagination, and that he is capable of making her do anything he writes. He demonstrates this to her making her perform various actions. Eventually Calvin stops, his head bent in anguish over his typewriter; while Ruby, exhausted, runs into his bedroom and locks the door.

Calvin writes a final page, which states that Ruby is no longer his creation, subject to his will, and she is free. He leaves the manuscript outside, with a note. The next morning, Calvin finds that the note is gone along with Ruby and he breaks down sobbing. Harry suggests he write a new book about his experiences with Ruby. The novel, The Girlfriend is a success. While walking Scotty in the park Calvin sees Ruby, who has no recollection of him. She is reading his book, which she says her friend described as pretentious. Calvin reveals himself as the book's author, and she asks to start over, and they sit and talk. She asks him not to tell her how the story ends.

Cast

• Paul Dano – Calvin Weir-Fields, a young novelist who struggles with writer's block having not written a full book since his first publication at 19.
• Zoe Kazan – Ruby Sparks, a woman who initially is a dream and inspires Paul Dano's character to write about her until she eventually manifests herself fully in his life.
• Annette Bening – Gertrude, Calvin's mother.
• Antonio Banderas – Mort, the carefree boyfriend of Calvin's mother. Banderas took on the role for the opportunity to work with Bening.
• Steve Coogan – Langdon Tharp, a novelist friend of Calvin who he first met when his first book was published.
• Elliott Gould – Dr. Rosenthal, Calvin's therapist who encourages Calvin to write a page about anything not caring if it was bad.
• Chris Messina – Calvin's brother Harry who he confides in about the true nature of Ruby.
• Deborah Ann Woll - Lila, Calvin's ex girlfriend who left him before the events of the film and has recently written her own book.
• Alia Shawkat - as Mabel, a fan of Calvin's who gives him her number at a book signing.

Production

Writing

The film was written by Zoe Kazan who plays the title character Ruby Sparks. Kazan was initially inspired by a discarded mannequin, and the myth of Pygmalion, quickly writing twenty pages, before putting the script aside for six months. She returned to the writing when she was clear on the central concept of comparing the idea of love to the actuality of it. During the writing Kazan thought of The Purple Rose of Cairo by Woody Allen and Groundhog Day, wanting to present a slanted version of our own reality. From early in the development she wrote the lead character Calvin with her then boyfriend Paul Dano in mind. On the feminist aspects of the story Kazan explains she wanted to explore the idea of "being gazed at but never seen" where a woman is not properly understood but in a way that wasn’t unkind or alienating for men. She rejects the description of Ruby Sparks as a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, calling it reductive and diminutive, whereas Ruby Sparks is about the danger idealizing a person, of reducing a person down to an idea of a person. Kazan thanks Warren Beatty for his indirect encouragement of Paul Dano to develop their own material, and Dano in turn suggested she write a project.

Development

Kazan shopped the script around and got the attention of Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa, the producers of Little Miss Sunshine, who sent it to directing couple Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who took it on as the first project since Little Miss Sunshine in 2006. Faris blame their delay between films not on the studio system but on their own need to be ready for the right project.

Location

Kazan talked about the importance of Los Angeles as the location for the film, comparing it to a character as much as a setting. She sees Los Angeles as a place where it is easy to feel alone and isolated and that fits in with the isolation of Calvin in the story. Directors Dayton and Faris said it was great to show Los Angeles itself, rather than pretending to be another place. Locations Filming took place around Silver Lake, Los Angeles and Loz Feliz areas. Other locations include Grauman's Egyptian Theatre, and the Hollywood Cemetery. The party hosted by Langdon Tharp is held in a Lloyd Wright designed house.

Reception

Critical response

The film received positive reviews from many critics. Based on 152 professional reviews, Ruby Sparks obtained a "Certified Fresh" seal on Rotten Tomatoes with an approval rating of 79% and an average score of 7.1/10.

Stephen Holden from the New York Times described it as- "“Ruby Sparks” doesn’t try to pretend to be more than it is: a sleek, beautifully written and acted romantic comedy that glides down to earth in a gently satisfying soft landing." Online film critic Chris Pandolfi from At A Theater Near You called it "an intelligent commentary on the creative process, insecurity, controlling behavior, idealism, and the fragility of the male ego. It’s all rather ingeniously combined into one of the most likeable films I’ve seen all year – a fantasy, a character study, and a cautionary tale all rolled into one."

Box office

As of October 14, 2012 the film has earned $2,523,828 at the North American box office, with an additional $2,073,624 internationally, for a worldwide total of $4,597,452.

Music

Score composed by Nick Urata from DeVotchKa.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Creation"
2.	"Writer's Block"
3.	"Inspiration!"
4.	"Ruby Sparks"
5.	"I Was Waiting for You"
6.	"I'll Go With You"
7.	"She's Real"
8.	"Ça Plane Pour Moi - Plastic Bertrand"
9.	"Une Fraction De Seconde - Holden"
10.	"He Loved You"
11.	"Quand Tu Es La (Game of Love) - Sylvie Vartan"
12.	"Psychedelic Train - Derrick Harriott"
13.	"Roll It Round - The Lions"
14.	"Miserable"
15.	"Inseparable"
16.	"You're A Genius"
17.	"The Past Released Her"
18.	"She Came to Me"
19.	"Can We Start Over"
20.	"Ruby Was Just Ruby"

External links

• Official website
• Ruby Sparks at IMDb
• Ruby Sparks at Rotten Tomatoes
• Ruby Sparks at Metacritic
• Ruby Sparks at Box Office Mojo