You Can Count on Me
Short description
Sammy is a single mother living in a small town in upstate New York, where she works at a bank and raises her eight-year-old son, Rudy. Her settled routine is disrupted when her younger brother Terry, whom she has seen little of for some time, comes back to town and moves in with her. Terry is charming but unreliable, drifting between jobs and prone to impulsive decisions, and his way of life clashes with Sammy's disciplined, churchgoing habits. He and Rudy take to each other quickly, and Sammy begins to question the narrow shape her life has taken, even as her brother's irresponsibility keeps testing her patience.
You Can Count on Me is the 2000 feature debut of writer-director Kenneth Lonergan, who also wrote the screenplay. Laura Linney plays Sammy and Mark Ruffalo plays Terry, with Matthew Broderick, Jon Tenney, Rory Culkin and J. Smith-Cameron in supporting roles. Lonergan went on to direct Margaret and Manchester by the Sea, making this the first of the three films he has directed.
The film earned a critics' rating of 8.1 out of 10 from 105 reviews, while audiences rate it 6.9 out of 10 on TMDB across 367 votes, a gap that suggests reviewers responded to it more strongly than the general viewing public. It took in about 11 million dollars worldwide, a modest return for a drama of its scale.
What's left behind the scenes
- Matthew Broderick, a close friend of director and screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan, was the first actor to book a role in the film. He went to the director's house, read the part of Brian in the script, and asked if he had a chance to audition for it. Kenneth Lonergan replied that he didn't need to worry and the role was already his.
- The role in the film was Rory Culkin’s first serious acting job. The director was very impressed with his acting talent, but faced difficulties when he had to make the boy laugh or smile in front of the camera. In several cases, as a last resort, he had to enlist the help of Mark Ruffalo, who tickled him slightly out of camera view.
- The pool scene with Terry and Rudy was filmed in a real pool hall where the crew often relaxed after work.
- The scene where Rudy walks home from school in heavy rain was filmed with the help of the local fire department, which sprayed water through a hose from the highest ladder. The small role of the bank secretary was played by Kenneth Lonergan’s wife, Genie Smith-Cameron. The director himself played Pastor Ron, to whom Laura Linney's character turns for advice.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
