We Bought a Zoo
Short description
Benjamin Mee, a widowed journalist who writes about adventure and extreme experiences, is raising two children on his own and struggling to move past the loss of his wife. He leaves his job and buys a rural property outside the city that comes with an unusual extra: a run-down zoo called Rosemoor Animal Park, home to dozens of animals looked after by head keeper Kelly Foster and her staff. His young daughter is delighted, while his teenage son is less so. With no experience, limited time and little money, Benjamin sets out to restore and reopen the zoo, helped by Kelly, his family and people from the local area. His brother Duncan doubts the whole plan will work.
The film is directed by Cameron Crowe, who wrote the screenplay with Aline Brosh McKenna. It is the seventh feature he directed, arriving between Elizabethtown (2005) and Aloha (2015). Matt Damon plays Benjamin, with Scarlett Johansson as Kelly, Thomas Haden Church as Duncan, Colin Ford and Maggie Elizabeth Jones as the children, and Angus Macfadyen among the cast.
Released in 2011, the family comedy-drama runs 124 minutes. Made for about 50 million dollars, it took in roughly 120 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7 out of 10 from 160,000 votes, with TMDB users slightly lower at 6.8 from about 3,000 votes; critics rated it 6.2 from 171 reviews, so audiences responded more warmly than reviewers did.
What's left behind the scenes
- The entire Mee family – father Benjamin and children Milo and Ella – appear in a cameo in the film. They are the first family in line of visitors when Matt Damon’s character climbs over the tree. The director Cameron Crowe’s children, eleven-year-old twins William James and Curtis Wilson at the time, can also be spotted among the audience at the zoo.
- Besides Scarlett Johansson, other candidates for the role of Kelly Foster were Amy Adams, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Rachel McAdams.
- The capuchin monkey Crystal already had extensive experience “working” in films. Before this, she “starred” in such films as “Night at the Museum” (2006), “The Hangover Part II” (2011), and “Zookeeper” (2011).
- The film is based on Benjamin Mee's memoirs published in February 2009, titled 'We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Broken-Down Zoo, and the 200 Animals That Changed a Family Forever.' The film rights to his book were purchased by 20th Century Fox almost immediately.
- In August 2006, Benjamin Mee and his family purchased the then-closed Dartmoor Zoo for 1.1 million British pounds. The zoo is located near the village of Sparkwell in Devon, Southwest England. Following a major reorganization and reconstruction, the zoo reopened to the public on July 7, 2007.
- In the real story, Benjamin Mee’s children were significantly younger than in the film. At the time of purchasing the zoo, his brother and sister were 6 and 4 years old, respectively.
- In agreement with Benjamin Mee himself, the zoo's location was moved from England to California. This was done to ensure the film's greater success with American audiences. The structure of the zoo and the layout of the main sections were preserved in the movie.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
