Fireflies in the Garden
Short description
Fireflies in the Garden is a drama about a family coming together for what should be a happy occasion, only for an unexpected tragedy to tear it apart. Michael, a writer, returns to his hometown for his mother Lisa's graduation, but a car accident claims her life, leaving his father Charles behind the wheel. The loss forces Michael to confront the difficult relationship he has long had with Charles and to revisit painful memories of his childhood. His sister and his aunt Jane are drawn into the same reckoning, and an old secret tied to a particular summer weighs on the family as they try to make sense of their shared past.
Dennis Lee wrote and directed the film, which was released in 2008 and runs 99 minutes. It was his first feature, and he assembled a cast that includes Ryan Reynolds as Michael, Willem Dafoe as Charles, Julia Roberts as Lisa, Emily Watson as Jane, Carrie-Anne Moss as Kelly and Hayden Panettiere as the younger Jane.
The production had a budget of 8 million USD and took in about 7 million USD worldwide, so it did not recover its costs at the box office. On IMDb it holds a critics' rating of 4.2/10 from 52 reviews, while on TMDB it sits at 6.2/10 from 235 votes, a wider gap than is typical and one that suggests audiences responded to the family drama more warmly than reviewers did.
What's left behind the scenes
- Julia Roberts plays the mother of Ryan Reynolds' character, although in real life Roberts is only nine years older than her on-screen son.
- Julia Roberts, who played the pregnant mother of the protagonist, was actually pregnant during filming.
- In the film, one of the main characters reads Robert Frost's poem "Fireflies in the Garden," which became the title of this film.
- For the director and screenwriter, Dennis Lee, the storyline of the film is largely autobiographical.
- The cinematographer for the film is Julia Roberts' husband, Daniel Moder.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
