Hope Floats
Short description
Birdee Pruitt appears to have a comfortable life until a television talk show exposes that her husband is involved with her closest friend. Humiliated in front of the cameras, she takes her young daughter, Bernice, and returns to her mother's home in the small Texas town of Smithville to start over. There she faces former classmates who take pleasure in her misfortune, her mother whom she barely knows, and a daughter who misses her father. An old friend, Justin Matisse, offers steady support, and through him Birdee begins to rebuild.
Forest Whitaker directed Hope Floats, his third feature after Strapped and Waiting to Exhale and before First Daughter. Steven Rogers wrote the screenplay, Lynda Obst produced, and Sandra Bullock starred as Birdee, with Harry Connick Jr. as Justin, Gena Rowlands as Ramona, Mae Whitman as Bernice, Michael Paré as Bill and Cameron Finley as Travis. Bullock also produced through Fortis Films alongside 20th Century Fox.
The film was released on May 29, 1998, runs 114 minutes, and mixes comedy, drama and romance. Made for about 30 million dollars, it earned roughly 81 million worldwide, a solid return. On IMDb it holds 6.1 out of 10 from around 33,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.4 from over 500. A critics' rating of 5 out of 10 across 32 reviews places critical opinion below the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- In the scene where Bill, played by Michael Pare, drives away, leaving Mae Whitman's character in tears, the protagonist was supposed to stay behind to look after the daughter. However, Whitman's performance touched Sandra Bullock so deeply that she walked over to Whitman, picked her up in her arms, and carried her into the house, remaining in character the entire time. This is the take that was included in the film.
- According to director Forest Whitaker, the original script was set in Arkansas, but he changed it to a small town in Texas.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
