SYNOPSIS
Dans sa recherche d'une femme, Will (Hugh Grant), un riche londonien irresponsable sans enfant et âgé d'une trentaine d'années, s'invente un fils imaginaire et commence à suivre des réunions pour parents monoparentals.
Suite à l'une de ses liaisons, il rencontre Marcus, un étrange garçon de 12 ans avec des difficultés d'intégration à l'école.
Graduellement, Will et Marcus deviennent des amis et, comme Will apprend à Marcus à être un mec "cool", Marcus lui rend la pareille en aidant Will à finalement à devenir adulte!
SECRETS DE TOURNAGE
Excellent souvenir pour Nicholas Hoult
Pour Nicholas Hoult, jouer le rôle de Marcus constituait la matérialisation d'un rêve. L'enfant était si curieux de tout et de tous, que sa mère, qui le chaperonnait pendant le tournage, devait littéralement le tirer hors du plateau à la fin de chaque journée. Lors de son dernier jour de travail, Nicholas a fondu en larmes, bouleversé que le rêve prenne fin.
Lucide sur sa collaboration avec Hugh Grant, l'enfant raconte : "Hugh m'a aidé énormément en m'apportant des idées ou en m'apprenant chaque jour quelque chose de nouveau. Au début, je crois que j'étais un peu raide, mais il m'a aidé à devenir plus naturel."
Changement de look pour Hugh Grant
En plus d'une nouvelle coupe de cheveux, la transformation de Hugh Grant a été complète grâce au travail de la chef costumière Joanna Johnston qui a emprunté une garde-robe aux meilleurs designers à la mode.
Un rôle qui a séduit Hugh Grant
Le personnage de Will permit à Hugh Grant d'élargir sa palette et de s'éloigner un peu plus des rôles de jeunes premiers romantiques qui l'ont rendu célèbre. Plusieurs éléments rendaient par ailleurs le rôle séduisant aux yeux du comédien : "C'est une histoire forte qui me permettait de sortir un peu du moule. C'est une histoire drôle, mais toutes les bonnes comédies sont fondées sur des éléments de tristesse. Il y a pas mal de choses tristes dans le film, notamment la vie du gamin - et la comédie marche d'autant mieux sur cette toile de fond."
QUOTES
Will: The thing is, a person's life is like a TV show. I was the star of The Will Show. And The Will Show wasn't an ensemble drama. Guests came and went, but I was the regular. It came down to me and me alone. If Marcus' mum couldn't manage her own show, if her ratings were falling, it was sad, but that was her problem. Ultimately, the whole single mum plotline was a bit complicated for me.
Christine: You will end up childless and alone.
Will: Well, fingers crossed, yeah.
Will: This crying in the morning thing, this depression, let's get that fixed.
Will: I want to go out with her, OK. I'd like her to be my girlfriend, here I said it.
Marcus: How brilliant!
Will: I was in some strange territory. Was I frightened? I was petrified.
Will: I am an island. I am bloody Ibiza!
Will: I'd be the worst possible Godfather. I'd probably drop her on her head at her christening. I'd forget all her birthdays until she was 18. Then I'd take her out and get her drunk. And, let's face it, quite possibly try and shag her.
Will: Once you open your door to one person anyone can come in.
[Regarding the first SPAT meeting]
Will: I'll tell you one thing. Men are bastards. After about ten minutes I wanted to cut my *own* penis off with a kitchen knife.
[Fiona is crying]
Fiona: Will, am I a bad mother?
Will: No. No, you're not a bad mother. You're just a barking lunatic.
[Fiona is crying]
Fiona: I mean, he's a special - very, very special boy and he's got a special soul, and I've wounded it.
Will: Oh, please, just shut up. You're wounding my soul.
Christine: Oh, no... it's just I thought you had hidden depths.
Will: No, no, you've always had that wrong about me. I really am this shallow.
Will: In my opinion, all men are islands. And what's more, now's the time to be one. This is an island age.
Fiona: He's expressing himself!
Will: No, he's not! He's expressing YOU!
Will: I find the key is to think of a day as units of time, each unit consisting of no more than thirty minutes. Full hours can be a little bit intimidating and most activities take about half an hour. Taking a bath: one unit, watching countdown: one unit, web-based research: two units, exercising: three units, having my hair carefully disheveled: four units. It's amazing how the day fills up, and I often wonder, to be absolutely honest, if I'd ever have time for a job; how do people cram them in?
Will: It was terrible! Terrible! But driving really fast behind the ambulance was fantastic!
Will: Me, I didn't mean anything. About anything, to anyone. And I knew that guaranteed me a long, depression-free life.
[Will is in the supermarket His father's song begins to play]
Will: Oh no! November the sodding 19th... Six weeks before bloody Christmas and they were already playing that song.
[singing "Killing me Softly"]
Will: And there I was killing them softly with my song. Or rather being killed. And not so softly either.
Will: My life is made up of units of time. Buying CDs - two units. Eating lunch - three units. Exercising - two units. All in all, I had a very full life. It's just that it didn't mean anything.
Will: [voiceover] She couldn't stay at my place, and she didn't have a DVD, or satellite, or cable, so we were always stuck watching some crap made for t.v. movie about a kid with leukemia. I had to end it.
Will: [voiceover] Having been Will the Good Guy, I didn't relish going back to my usual role of Will the Unreliable, Emotionally Stunted Asshole.
Marcus: I'll come if you take my mom, too. She hasn't got any money, so either we'll have to go somewhere cheap, or you'll have to treat us.
Will: Well, listen, don't beat about the bush, Marcus.
Marcus: Why should I? We're poor, you're rich, you pay. You can bring your little boy if you like. I don't mind.
Will: That's really big of you.
Will: It's a CD, Marcus, by Mystikal. They're cool. You'll like them
Fiona: What kind of music is Mystikal?
Will: It's sort of, um, world music ...
Marcus: [reads a song title] "Shake Ya Ass."
Will: ...Slash rap-type thing.
Will: [thinking] Every man is an island. I stand by that. But clearly some men are island CHAINS. Underneath, they are connected...
Marcus: [thinking] I used to think two was not enough. But now things are great; there are loads of people... I don't know what Will was so pissed about. I don't think couples are the future. The way I see it now, we both got back-up now. It's like that thing John Bon Jovi said: 'No man is an island.'
Will: [to himself] No, Marcus, I do not want to come over for Christmas. I do not want to spend Christmas with Ms. Granola Suicide and her spawn.
Will: [voiceover] There. She was gone. There was no more to say.
BOX OFFICE :
Box-office France |
|
Semaine du |
Entrées |
Cumul |
13 au 19 Novembre 2002 |
274 846 |
274 846 |
20 au 26 Novembre 2002 |
151 586 |
426 432 |
27 Novembre au 3 Décembre 2002 |
85 003 |
511 435 |
Box-office démarrage Paris |
|
Mercredi |
Entrées |
|
13 Novembre 2002 |
12 357 |
|
20 Novembre 2002 |
5 132 |
|
27 Novembre 2002 |
2 702 |
|
4 Décembre 2002 |
1 231 |
|
Box-office Paris |
|
Semaine du |
Entrées |
Cumul |
13 au 19 Novembre 2002 |
90 278 |
90 278 |
20 au 26 Novembre 2002 |
47 334 |
137 612 |
27 Novembre au 3 Décembre 2002 |
25 069 |
162 681 |
Box-office USA |
|
week-end du |
recette ($) |
Cumul ($) |
17 au 19 Mai 2002 |
8 400 000 |
8 400 000 |
24 au 26 Mai 2002 |
10 000 000 |
21 900 000 |
31 Mai au 2 Juin 2002 |
4 100 000 |
27 800 000 |
7 au 9 Juin 2002 |
2 653 520 |
32 448 670 |
Credits : Imdb, Allociné & Cinemovies.
Chris Weitz