Return to Me
Short description
Bob Rueland, a Chicago architect, is grieving the death of his wife Elizabeth in a car accident. His friend Charlie pushes him into a series of blind dates, and at one of them, in a small Irish-Italian restaurant, Bob finds himself drawn not to his arranged companion but to Grace, a waitress. Grace has recently recovered from a heart transplant and is starting over, encouraged by her grandfather Marty, who would like to see her settled. A relationship develops between Bob and Grace, but neither knows that the heart Grace received came from Elizabeth. That fact hangs over their happiness.
The film was directed by Bonnie Hunt, who wrote the screenplay with Don Lake and also appears as Megan Dayton. It was Hunt's second turn in the director's chair, following her 1996 debut. David Duchovny and Minnie Driver lead the cast, with Carroll O'Connor as Marty, Robert Loggia as Angelo Pardipillo and Jim Belushi as Joe Dayton among the twenty-seven credited performers.
Released in April 2000, the film runs 116 minutes. Made for around 24 million dollars, it took in roughly 37 million worldwide, a modest return. On IMDb it holds 7 out of 10 from about 25,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.7 from a much smaller base of 489. A critics' rating of 6.9 from 100 reviews puts it close to the audience scores on both platforms.
What's left behind the scenes
- The role of Joe Dayton was originally offered to Jon Favreau. He didn't want to play a supporting character and declined, after which James Belushi agreed to take on the role.
- George Clooney suggested the script for this film to David Duchovny. They happened to be on the same plane once, sitting opposite each other across the aisle. George Clooney said he wouldn't be able to play the role himself, but he liked the script.
- The mailbox in the zoo was a prop, but a member of the film crew had to be stationed next to it so that zoo visitors wouldn't put letters in it.
- O'Reilly's restaurant (a real establishment in Chicago called “Double Anchors”) is actually located on a corner. For the film, a mock-up of a building was constructed to its left. In the scene where Grace is on the balcony talking on the phone with a character played by Bonnie Hunt, you can notice how the sidewalk in front of the restaurant curves as if around a street corner. The orange brick building on the left is a prop, built on a neighboring street for filming.
- Bonnie Hunt's (the film's director) brother works as a therapist in a hospital, and he arranged filming on hospital grounds with the administration.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
