The Borrowers
Short description
The Borrowers are tiny people, only a few inches tall, who live hidden inside the homes of ordinary human families and quietly take small items they need. The Clock family shares a house with the Lenders, never seen and never meant to be noticed. When the will that gives the Lenders title to their home goes missing, the lawyer Ocious P. Potter seizes the chance to have the house demolished for new apartments. The Lenders must move out, and with them gone the Clocks lose both their hiding place and their source of borrowed supplies. The two families end up working together to recover the document and stop Potter.
Peter Hewitt directed the film, which came after his earlier features Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey and Tom and Huck and before Thunderpants and Garfield. John Kamps and Gavin Scott wrote the screenplay, and Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Rachel Talalay produced it for PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and Working Title Films. John Goodman plays Potter, with Jim Broadbent and Celia Imrie as Pod and Homily Clock, Flora Newbigin as Arrietty, Tom Felton as Peagreen and Mark Williams as the exterminator Jeff. Twenty-five performers are credited.
Made for about 29 million dollars, the film took in roughly 23 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 5.9 from over 23,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.1 from a much smaller number of votes. A critics' rating of 6.8 from 28 reviews places it somewhat above the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Steven Spielberg was the first to be approached to take on the project, but he refused because he didn't like the film's humor and because he was busy with his own project—working on the action-adventure film 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park' (1997). The project was then offered to Robert Zemeckis, but he also declined the offer due to what he considered crude humor.
- In the finale, Potter, played by John Goodman, was supposed to have his eyebrows and mustache plucked out, but the actor flatly refused to shave his eyebrows, as he was not sure they would grow back in time for the start of filming for the sitcom 'Roseanne' (1988-2018).
- When John Goodman was offered the lead role, he liked the script, but he felt a British actor would be a better fit for the part (and indeed, most of the cast were British). Director Peter Hewitt needed at least one recognizable American actor and managed to persuade Goodman to join. For the same reason, Bradley Pierce—known to the public for his work with Joe Johnston in the adventure comedy Jumanji (1995)—was cast in the role of Pete.
- The film features the same plastic Native American figure that Frank Oz used in the fantasy drama The Indian in the Cupboard (1995).
- Every car shown in the film, including the custom-made multi-passenger limousine, is a Morris Minor (a British economy family car).
- Director Peter Hewitt wanted the audience to remain unsure of where the filming took place (America or Great Britain). In reality, it was filmed in Great Britain, and the actors were predominantly British. Nevertheless, some characters had a distinctly American accent, yet there were no specific indications of the setting's location or time. Some details suggested the action took place in the USA, while others suggested Great Britain. The screen displays technologies and objects from various eras, as well as fictional uniforms and currency.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
