Safety Not Guaranteed
Short description
Three employees of a Seattle magazine come across a classified ad placed by a man looking for someone to accompany him on a trip back in time. The notice is oddly specific: payment comes only after the return, weapons must be brought along, and safety is not assured. A writer named Jeff takes on the story with an intern, Darius, and another colleague in tow. Darius answers the ad and begins preparing for the journey with Kenneth, the man behind it, and grows close to him as she tries to work out whether he genuinely believes he can travel through time or is simply seeking attention.
Safety Not Guaranteed was released in 2012 and runs 86 minutes. It is a comedy with romantic and science-fiction elements, made in the United States by Duplass Brothers Productions and Big Beach, and produced by Peter Saraf, Marc Turtletaub and Colin Trevorrow. Derek Connolly wrote the screenplay. Aubrey Plaza plays Darius, Mark Duplass plays Kenneth, and Jake Johnson appears as Jeff, with Karan Soni, Jenica Bergere and Kristen Bell among a credited cast of 25.
The film was Colin Trevorrow's first feature as director, preceding Jurassic World, The Book of Henry, Battle at Big Rock and Jurassic World Dominion. Its worldwide box office came to about 4 million dollars. Audiences rate it 6.8 out of 10 on TMDB across more than 1,600 votes, while the critics' rating stands higher at 7.5 out of 10 from 155 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- The original advertisement on which the film is based first appeared in Backwoods Home magazine in 1997. It was written at the last minute before publication by magazine employee John Silveyra, who is credited in the film as a time travel consultant and also played a cameo role. The advertisement later appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (1992-2014) in the "Headlines" segment and eventually became an internet meme before being turned into a screenplay.
- The role of Darius was written specifically for Aubrey Plaza because screenwriter Derek Connolly wanted to work with her. Director Colin Trevorrow also envisioned a character named Jeff, with Jake Johnson in mind for the role.
- Darius was given a male African American name as a connection to a backstory about her family that was not included in the final version. During the dinner scene with her father, there was also a third actor—a young Black man—who had to be removed during post-production because, without the backstory, his presence in the scene made no sense.
- Some scenes were improvised. For example, when Jeff advises Arnau to raise his collar and wear sunglasses, because they make him look like a jet pilot.
- When Kenneth and Darius are at the camp, and Darius asks what musical instrument Kenneth has, he replies that it’s a zither. The instrument they are using is a cimbalom. Although they belong to the same category, these instruments are different. Calling a cimbalom a zither is like calling a violin a cello.
- When Kenneth picks up Darius on the beach and makes a wide turn on the van through the sand, tire tracks are visible, which apparently remained from their last rehearsal of this scene.
- When Darius reverses to pick up Kenneth during the robbery, it is obvious that footage of the van moving forward was used, but played in reverse. This is noticeable by the fact that smoke is drawn into the exhaust pipe rather than coming out of it.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
