Love & Mercy
Short description
Love & Mercy tells the story of Brian Wilson, the songwriter behind the Beach Boys, across two periods of his life. In the 1960s, Paul Dano plays the young musician as he steps back from touring to concentrate on writing and recording, while his mental state becomes increasingly fragile. Two decades later, John Cusack plays an older Wilson living under the control of Dr. Eugene Landy, a therapist played by Paul Giamatti who isolates him and dictates the terms of his daily life. Wilson's relationship with Melinda Ledbetter, portrayed by Elizabeth Banks, becomes a turning point.
Bill Pohlad directed the film, his first narrative feature as director, from a screenplay by Oren Moverman and Michael A. Lerner. The cast of 53 credited actors includes Jake Abel as Mike Love and Kenny Wormald as Dennis Wilson. Made for a budget of 10 million dollars, the film took about 29 million dollars worldwide.
On TMDB it holds a rating of 7.1 out of 10 from 787 votes. Pohlad returned to directing with Dreamin' Wild in 2023.
What's left behind the scenes
- While preparing for the role of Brian Wilson, Paul Dano consumed 4,500 calories a day and gained nearly 16 kg.
- 'Love and Mercy' is the title of a song written by Brian Wilson. It opens his solo album Brian Wilson, released in July 1988.
- In the film, Paul Dano sometimes sings himself and other times simply lipsyncs to Brian Wilson's original recordings.
- The period in the 1970s that Brian Wilson spent in bed was not shown in the film.
- During filming, Paul Dano and John Cusack did not speak to each other. This was done at the request of the director, who wanted the actors to immerse themselves in their roles without the possibility of subconsciously imitating their partner.
- The real Brian Wilson admitted after watching the film that he experienced a kind of dissociative disorder. While watching, he occasionally mistook actor Paul Giamatti for the real psychotherapist Eugene Landy.
- The Wilson brothers mention the song "Girl" (1965) from The Beatles' album Rubber Soul.
- The studio scenes were filmed live without rehearsals using handheld 16mm cameras. Paul Dano, who had once played guitar in a band himself, took on the role of director and actively told everyone how and what to play, even though actual musicians were filming in the studio. All these scenes were pure improvisation, with the exception of Wilson's lines, which were taken from session recordings.
- The line delivered by Paul Dano's character, "Do you think we could bring a horse in here?" is taken verbatim from a session recording by The Beach Boys. Brian Wilson had planned to bring a horse into the studio to photograph it for an album cover.
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