Starting Over
Short description
Phil Potter is a journalist whose wife Jessica, a singer, leaves him to pursue her own career, and the divorce sends him into an emotional tailspin. He moves into his brother Mickey's home in Boston, where Mickey, a psychiatry professor, offers advice that includes visiting singles clubs. There Phil meets Marilyn, a slightly eccentric kindergarten teacher, and begins to imagine a new life with her. Jessica's reappearance complicates those plans and forces Phil to confront what he still feels for her.
The film is a romantic comedy directed by Alan J. Pakula, released in 1979 as the fifth of the eleven features listed in his filmography, arriving between Comes a Horseman and Sophie's Choice. James L. Brooks wrote the screenplay and produced alongside Pakula. Burt Reynolds plays Phil, with Jill Clayburgh as Marilyn, Candice Bergen as Jessica, and Charles Durning, Frances Sternhagen and Austin Pendleton in supporting roles. The production cost about 10 million dollars and took in roughly 36 million worldwide, a solid return for a relationship comedy of its era. Audience response has been moderate: on IMDb it holds 6.4 out of 10 from around 3,600 votes, and on TMDB it also sits at 6.4 from a much smaller base of 71 votes.
What's left behind the scenes
- Alan J. Pakula (1928-1998) did not want to cast Burt Reynolds (1936-2018) as Phil Potter, believing he was unsuitable for the role. He would have preferred someone like Al Pacino or Dustin Hoffman. However, Reynolds was so eager for the role that the director eventually agreed to audition him. After two screen tests, Reynolds was cast, and Pakula later greatly admired his performance.
- The episode involving Valium tablets (a medication with sedative, hypnotic, anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, muscle relaxant, and amnesic effects) depicts a situation that Burt Reynolds actually found himself in once.
- Filming took place, among other locations, in a residential building in New York. The residents were unhappy with this, as they were prohibited from entering or leaving their apartments while filming was taking place in the hallways.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
