Name	Big Fish
Caption	Theatrical release poster
Director	Tim Burton
Producer	Dan JinksBruce CohenRichard D. Zanuck
Screenplay	John August
Novel	Daniel Wallace
Starring	Ewan McGregorAlbert FinneyBilly CrudupJessica LangeAlison LohmanSteve BuscemiDanny DeVitoHelena Bonham CarterHailey Anne Nelson
Music	Danny Elfman
Cinematography	Philippe Rousselot
Editing	Chris Lebenzon
Studio	Jinks/Cohen CompanyThe Zanuck CompanyTim Burton Productions
Distributor	Columbia Pictures
Released
Runtime	125 minutes
Country
Language	English
Budget	$70 million
Gross	$122,919,055

Big Fish is a 2003 American fantasy comedy-drama film based on the 1998 by Daniel Wallace. The film was directed by Tim Burton and stars Albert Finney, Ewan McGregor, Billy Crudup, and Jessica Lange. Finney plays Edward Bloom, a former traveling salesman from the Southern United States with a gift for storytelling, now confined to his deathbed. Bloom's estranged son, a journalist played by Crudup, attempts to mend their relationship as his dying father relates tall tales of his eventful life as a young adult, played by Ewan McGregor.

Screenwriter John August read a manuscript of the novel six months before it was published and convinced Columbia Pictures to acquire the rights. August began adapting the novel while producers negotiated with Steven Spielberg who planned to direct after finishing Minority Report (2002). Spielberg considered Jack Nicholson for the role of Edward Bloom, but eventually dropped the project to focus on Catch Me If You Can (2002). Tim Burton and Richard D. Zanuck took over after completing Planet of the Apes (2001) and brought Albert Finney and Ewan McGregor on board.

The film's theme of reconciliation between a dying father and his son had special significance for Burton, as his father had died in 2000 and his mother in 2002, a month before he signed on to direct. Big Fish was shot on location in Alabama in a series of fairy tale vignettes evoking the tone of a Southern Gothic fantasy. The film received award nominations in multiple film categories, including four Golden Globe nominations, seven nominations from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, two Saturn Award nominations, and an Oscar and a Grammy Award nomination for Danny Elfman's original score.

Plot

At his son's wedding party, Edward Bloom (Albert Finney) tells the same tale he's told many times over the years: on the day Will (Billy Crudup) was born, he was out catching an enormous uncatchable fish, using his wedding ring as bait. Will is annoyed, explaining to his wife Joséphine (Marion Cotillard) that because his father never told the straight truth about anything, he felt unable to trust him. He is troubled to think that he might have a similarly difficult relationship with his future children. Will's relationship with his father becomes so strained that they do not talk for three years. But when his father's health starts to fail, Will and the now pregnant Joséphine return to Alabama. On the plane, Will recalls his father's tale of how he braved a swamp as a child, and met a witch who showed him his death in her glass eye. With this knowledge, Edward knew there were no odds he could not face.

Edward continues telling tall tales, claiming he spent three years confined to a bed as a child because his body was growing too fast. He became a successful sports player, but found the town of Ashton too small for his ambition, and set off with the misunderstood giant Karl (Matthew McGrory). Edward discovers the hidden town of Spectre, where everyone is friendly to the point of comfortably walking around barefoot. Edward leaves because he does not want to settle anywhere yet, but promises to a young girl named Jenny (Hailey Anne Nelson) that he will return. Karl and Edward begin working at a circus: Edward works without pay, as he has been promised by the ringmaster Amos Calloway (Danny DeVito) that each month he will learn something new about a girl he fell in love with (at first sight). Three years later, having only learned trivia about her, Edward discovers Amos is a werewolf. In return for his refusal to harm him in his monstrous state, Amos tells Edward the girl's name is Sandra Templeton (Alison Lohman) and she studies at Auburn University.

Edward learns Sandra is engaged to Don Price, who is also from Ashton. Sandra makes Edward promise not to fight Don. Don beats Edward up when he learns about his feelings for her, but this only disgusts Sandra into ending their engagement and falling for Edward. Edward later reveals that Don died from a heart attack on the toilet bowl at a young age. During his recovery, Edward is conscripted by the army and sent to the Far East. He parachutes into a theater entertaining troops, steals important documents, and convinces Siamese twin dancers Ping and Jing to help him get back to the United States, where he will make them stars. He is unable to contact anyone on his journey home, and the military declares him dead. This limits Edward's job options when he does return home, so he becomes a traveling salesman. Meeting the poet Norther Winslow from Spectre again, he unwittingly helps him rob a bank, which is already bankrupt. Edward suggests Winslow work at Wall Street, and Winslow thanks Edward for his advice by sending him $10,000, which he uses to buy a dream house.

Still unimpressed by his father's stories, Will demands to know the truth, but Edward explains that that is who he is: a storyteller. Will finds Spectre, and meets an older Jenny (Helena Bonham Carter), who explains that Edward rescued the town from bankruptcy by buying it at an auction and rebuilding it with financial help from many of his previous acquaintances. When Will returns home, he is informed his father had a stroke and is at the hospital. He goes to visit him there and finds him only partly conscious, and unable to speak at length. Since Edward can no longer tell stories, he asks Will to tell him the story of how it all ends: escaping from the hospital, they go to the river where everyone in Edward's life appears to bid him goodbye. Will carries his father into the river where he becomes what he always had been, a very big fish. Edward then passes away, knowing his son finally understands his love of storytelling. At the funeral, Will sees many of his father's more unusual friends, including Amos, Karl, Ping and Jing, and Norther Winslow. Will realizes that his father's stories were true, only exaggerated, making Karl a giant (he is, in fact, 7'6") and making Ping and Jing conjoined when they are merely twins. When his own son is born, Will passes on his father's stories, remarking that his father became his stories, allowing him to live forever.

Cast

Albert Finney as the oldest Edward Bloom.

*Ewan McGregor as a younger Edward.

*Perry Waltson plays Edward as a child.

Jessica Lange as Sandra K. Bloom: Edward's wife.

*Alison Lohman as the younger Sandra, née Templeton.

Billy Crudup as William Bloom.

Marion Cotillard as Joséphine Bloom.

Helena Bonham Carter as Jennifer Hill (Jenny). Bonham Carter also plays an elderly Witch who gives a young Bloom a vision of his future death.

*Hailey Anne Nelson plays Jenny as an eight year old when Edward first meets her.

Robert Guillaume as Dr. Bennett: The family doctor.

Matthew McGrory as Karl the Giant.

Danny DeVito as Amos Calloway: A circus ringmaster.

Steve Buscemi as Norther Winslow: A poet from Ashton who supposedly went missing, having never left the idyllic town of Spectre.

Ada Tai and Arlene Tai as Ping and Jing: Siamese twins who perform as singers for soldiers in Korea.

David Denman as Don Price: A boy from Ashton who was always overshadowed by Edward's achievements.

Loudon Wainwright III as Beamen: The mayor of Spectre, and Jenny's father.

Missi Pyle as Mildred: Beamen's wife.

Miley Cyrus as 8-year-old Ruthie. Credited as Destiny Cyrus.

Daniel Wallace as Economics Teacher

Deep Roy as Mr. Soggybottom, the circus clown and Amos' Attorney.

Production

Development

About six months before it was published, screenwriter John August read a manuscript of (1998) by author Daniel Wallace. August read the unpublished novel following the death of his father. In September 1998, August convinced Columbia Pictures to acquire the film rights on his behalf. August worked hard to make the episodic book into a cohesive screenplay, deciding on several narrators for the script. after completing Minority Report (2002).

Spielberg courted Jack Nicholson for the role of Edward Bloom Sr. and towards this end, had August compose two additional drafts for Nicholson's part. August recalls: "There was this thought that there wasn't enough for Jack Nicholson to do in the movie so we built new sequences. Pieces got moved around, but it wasn't a lot of new stuff being created. It ended up being a really good intellectual exercise in my explaining and defending and reanalyzing pieces of the story." and DreamWorks also backed out of the film. "Once Steven decided he wasn't going to do it, we put the script back to the way it was," recalls Jinks. "Steven even said, 'I think I made a mistake with a couple of things I asked you guys to try.'" August took his favorite elements from the previous drafts, coming up with what he called "a best-of Big Fish script. "By the time we approached Tim Burton, the script was in the best shape it had ever been." He signed to direct in April 2002, which prompted Richard D. Zanuck, who worked with Burton on Planet of the Apes, to join Big Fish as a producer. Zanuck also had a difficult relationship with his own father, Darryl F. Zanuck, who once fired him as head of production at 20th Century Fox. The same dual casting applied to the role of Bloom's wife, Sandra, who would be played by Jessica Lange and Alison Lohman. Burton's girlfriend, Helena Bonham Carter, was also cast in two roles. Her prosthetic makeup for The Witch took five hours to apply. "I was pregnant throughout filming, so it was weird being a pregnant witch," the actress reflected. "I had morning sickness, so all those fumes and the make-up and the rubber...it was hideous."

Burton personalized the film with several cameos. While filming in Alabama, the crew tracked down Billy Redden, one of the original banjo-players from Deliverance (1972). Redden was working as a part-owner of a restaurant in Clayton, Georgia, and he agreed to reprise his role in the Spectre vignette. As Edward Bloom first enters the town, Redden can be seen on a porch plucking a few notes from "Dueling Banjos". Burton was pleased with the result: "If you're watching the film and don't recognise the solitary, enigmatic figure on the porch, that's fine. But if you do - well, it just makes me so happy to see him and I think other people will feel the same way." Original Big Fish author Daniel Wallace makes a brief appearance as Sandra's economics teacher in the "Courtship of Sandra Templeton" scene.

Filming

created special dresses for identical twins Ada and Arlene Tai, who played the role of Ping and Jing. One set of dresses created the effect of fused twins on camera, while another set enhanced the added CGI of conjoined twins. Principal photography for Big Fish in Alabama lasted from until the first week of April. and is estimated to have generated as much as $25 million for the local economy.

Burton filmed all the dramatic hospital scenes and most of those involving Finney first, before moving on to the McGregor section of Bloom's life. Despite the delays due to weather, Burton was able to deliver the film on budget and on schedule. Scenes with Karl the Giant were commissioned using forced perspective filmmaking.

Music

The Big Fish soundtrack was composed by regular Burton collaborator Danny Elfman. Guitarist Mike McCready stated, "We were so blown away by the movie...Eddie and I were standing around talking about it afterwards and were teary-eyed. We were so emotionally charged and moved by the imagination and humanity that we felt because of the movie."}} The reconciliation of the father-son relationship between Edward and William is the key theme in Big Fish. Novelist Daniel Wallace's interest in the theme of the father-son relationship began with his own family. Wallace found the "charming" character of Edward Bloom similar to his father, who used charm to keep his distance from other people. In the film, Will believes Edward has never been honest with him because Edward creates extravagant myths about his past to hide himself, using storytelling as an avoidance mechanism. Edward's stories are filled with fairy tale characters (a witch, mermaid, giant, and werewolf) and places (the circus, small towns, the mythological city of Spectre), all of which are classic images and archetypes. The quest motif propels both Edward's story and Will's attempt to get to the bottom of it. Wallace explains: "The father's quest is to be a big fish in a big pond, and the son's quest is to see through his tall tales." Will's description of his relationship with Edward closely resembled August's own relationship with his father.

Reception

Release

Columbia Pictures planned to wide release Big Fish in the United States on November 26, 2003 before pushing it back to December 10 for a limited release. The film premiered on December 4, 2003 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan. The domestic wide release in the U.S. came on January 9, 2004, with the film appearing in 2,406 theaters and earning $13.81 million in its opening weekend. The film eventually grossed $66.81 million in U.S. totals and $56.11 million in foreign countries, with a total of $122.92 million worldwide.

The Region 1 DVD was released on April 27, 2004, and Region 2 was released on June 7. The DVD features a Burton audio commentary track, seven featurettes and a trivia quiz. A special edition was released on November 1, 2005, with a 24-page hardback book entitled Fairy Tale for a Grown Up. The film was released on Blu-ray Disc on March 20, 2007.

Awards

Big Fish received the most nominations at the 61st Golden Globe Awards without a single win, including Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy), Best Supporting Actor (Finney), Best Original Score and Best Original Song (Eddie Vedder's "Man of the Hour").

At the 57th British Academy Film Awards, the film received seven nominations from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, including Best Film, Best Direction (Tim Burton), Best Adapted Screenplay (John August), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Albert Finney), Best Production Design (Dennis Gassner), Best Visual Effects (Kevin Scott Mack, Seth Maury, Lindsay MacGowan, Paddy Eason) as well as Best Makeup & Hair (Jean Ann Black and Paul LeBlanc).

Finney received another nomination for Best Actor at the 30th Saturn Awards, where the film was nominated for Best Fantasy Film.

At the 76th Academy Awards, Danny Elfman was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Music Score. In 2005, Elfman received a nomination at the 47th Grammy Awards for the Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture.

Critical analysis

Based on 210 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, 77% of the critics enjoyed Big Fish with an average score of 7.2/10. The film was more balanced with Rotten Tomatoes "Top Critics" poll, receiving a 64% approval rating with a 6.5/10 score. By comparison Metacritic calculated an average score of 57/100, based on 43 reviews.

Observations modeled the film after Forrest Gump (1994). Peter Travers from Rolling Stone magazine praised Burton's direction, feeling it was a celebration of the art of storytelling and a touching father–son drama.

Mike Clark of USA Today commented that he was most fascinated by the casting choices. "Equally delightful is the Alison Lohman character's evolution into an older woman (Jessica Lange). It's a metamorphosis to equal any in screen history." Internet reviewer James Berardinelli found the fairy tale approach reminiscent of The Princess Bride (1987) and the films of Terry Gilliam. "Big Fish is a clever, smart fantasy that targets the child inside every adult," Berardinelli said, "without insulting the intelligence of either." Roger Ebert, unmoved in a negative review, wrote "there is no denying that Will has a point: The old man is a blowhard. There is a point at which his stories stop working as entertainment and segue into sadism." Richard Corliss of Time magazine was disappointed, finding the father-son reconciliation storyline to be over-dramatically cliché. "You recall The Boy Who Cried Wolf? Edward Bloom is the man who cried fish." Big Fish was placed at 85 on Slant Magazine's best films of the 2000s.

References

Further reading

External links

Big Fish at the Montgomery Advertiser

Category:2003 films Category:American films Category:English-language films Category:American comedy-drama films Category:American fantasy-comedy films Category:Columbia Pictures films Category:Films based on fantasy novels Category:Films directed by Tim Burton Category:Films set in Alabama Category:Films set in Paris Category:Films set in the 1940s Category:Films set in the 1960s Category:Films set in the 1970s Category:Films set in the 1980s Category:Films shot in Alabama Category:Werewolves in film and television

Name	Jesca Hoop
Background	solo_singer
Born	1976
Origin	California, United States
Instrument	Guitar, Vocals
Genre	ExperimentalFolkFolk rockKlezmer
Occupation	Musician
Associated acts	Tom Waits The Ditty Bops
Url	Official Site

Jesca Ada Hoop is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist from Northern California, who writes and performs in diverse musical styles, under the initial encouragement and guidance of her former employer, musician Tom Waits.

Biography

Hoop was born in Northern California to Mormon parents. She grew up singing traditional folk tunes in four part harmony. She broke away from her background, becoming a homesteader in the wilderness areas of Northern California and Wyoming. She also worked in the remote mountains of Arizona with a rehabilitation program for children.

As a nanny for Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan's three children, Hoop gained musical experience. Waits says, "Her music is like going swimming in a lake at night." The Los Angeles Times considered Hoop one of ten Southern California artists that are "new and notable in 2007."

Her contact with Tom Waits led to her initial exposure through Nic Harcourt at the Southern California radio station KCRW in 2003, with a six-minute demo recorded on a four track recorder. Since then, Hoop has shared the stage with many acts. In 2007 she toured with Polyphonic Spree and Matt Pond PA. In 2008 she toured with Elbow and Mark Knopfler, and then in 2009 toured with Greg Laswell, Elbow and Andrew Bird. Jesca headlined a tour of the UK and Ireland in February 2010, and France in March 2010. She is also headline her own tour of the UK in summer 2010, starting in Leeds on May 1.

Hoop announced in September 2008 that she would be releasing an album titled, Kismet Acoustic, in October 2008, featuring one new song and four acoustic versions of tracks from her debut CD.

In July 2009, Hoop announced that she had finished recording her second album, entitled Hunting My Dress, after moving to Manchester, England, on Guy Garvey's encouragement three months earlier. In September she posted the opening track to the record online and on November 30, 2009 the record became available in the UK and Ireland, with the US release in July 2010.

In June 2010, she contributed the song "Angel Mom" to the Enough Project and Downtown Records' Raise Hope for Congo compilation. Proceeds from the compilation fund efforts to make the protection and empowerment of Congo’s women a priority, as well as inspire individuals around the world to raise their voice for peace in Congo.

Discography

Silverscreen Demos (November 23, 2004)

Kismet (September 18, 2007)

Kismet Acoustic EP (October 24, 2008)

Hunting My Dress (November 30, 2009^UK)

References

External links

Official site

MySpace page

KCRW In-Studio Sessions: Dec. 2004, Sep. 2007, Nov. 2007

Category:American composers Category:American folk singers Category:American female singers Category:American singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Musicians from California Category:Writers from California Category:Living people Category:1976 births Category:American folk musicians Category:Experimental musicians Category:Klezmer musicians