The Nines

The Nines (stylized as The NIN9S) is a 2007 science fantasy film written and directed by John August and starring Ryan Reynolds, Hope Davis, Melissa McCarthy, and Elle Fanning. The film debuted at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, and made $63,165 in the U.S. box office through October 11, 2007.

Narrative structure

The film is broken into three chapters centred around three men (all played by Ryan Reynolds) who try to uncover the secret about strange happenings in their, at times overlapping, lives.

"Chapt9r On9: The Prison9r"

Gary is a troubled actor who is wearing a green bracelet on his wrist, under house arrest living in another person's house because he burned down his own. The owner of the house is described as a TV writer away on work. While living in the house he is befriended by both a P.R. 'handler', Margaret, and the single mom next door, Sarah, who may or may not be interested in him romantically. Over the course of his house arrest, Gary becomes convinced that he is being haunted by the number nine, including finding a note saying "Look for the nines" in his handwriting. He encounters many occurrences of the number nine, while playing backgammon he rolls nines, while reading newspaper advertisements he becomes obsessed with finding nines. Asking Sarah about the number 9 worries her and she cryptically tells him "I can get you out of here". He also sees different versions of himself around the house, which unsettles him, causing him to break out of his house arrest barrier, which in turn causes a blip in reality.

Ryan Reynolds

Ryan Rodney Reynolds (born October 23, 1976) is a Canadian actor and producer. He portrayed Michael Bergen on the ABC sitcom Two Guys and a Girl (1998–2001), Billy Simpson in the YTV Canadian teen soap opera Hillside (1991–93), as well as Marvel Comics characters Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity (2004) and Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and Deadpool (2016).

Reynolds has starred in films such as National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002), The Amityville Horror (2005), Definitely, Maybe (2008), The Proposal (2009), Buried (2010), The Change-Up (2011), Safe House (2012), The Voices (2014), Mississippi Grind (2015), and Woman in Gold (2015). He also portrayed the Hal Jordan version of the DC Comics superhero Green Lantern in the film of the same name (2011).

He has made cameos in popular films such as Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004), Ted (2012), and A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014).

Early life

Ryan Rodney Reynolds was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. His father, James Chester "Jim" Reynolds (1941–2015), was a food wholesaler, and his mother, Tammy, is a retail salesperson. He is of Irish ancestry and was raised as a Roman Catholic. The youngest of four brothers, he graduated from Kitsilano Secondary School in Vancouver in 1994. He attended Kwantlen Polytechnic University, also in Vancouver, until dropping out. Two of his elder brothers work as police officers in British Columbia, one of whom is a Royal Canadian Mounted Police member.

Melissa McCarthy

Melissa Ann McCarthy (born August 26, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, fashion designer, and producer. McCarthy first gained recognition for her role as Sookie St. James on the television series Gilmore Girls (2000–2007). On the ABC sitcom Samantha Who? (2007–2009), she portrayed Dena. McCarthy was then cast as Molly Flynn on the CBS sitcom Mike & Molly, a role that earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, as well as two award nominations during subsequent seasons. McCarthy has also been nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her work as host on Saturday Night Live three years consecutively.

McCarthy achieved major success and fame for her breakthrough film role as Megan Price in the 2011 comedy hit Bridesmaids, which garnered her numerous award nominations including an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, a BAFTA nomination and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In 2013, she co-starred in the comedy films Identity Thief and The Heat. She has also appeared in the films The Nines, The Back-up Plan, Life as We Know It, This Is 40 and The Hangover Part III. In 2014, McCarthy starred in the comedy Tammy and the comedy-drama film St. Vincent. In 2015, she headlined the action comedy Spy, for which she received Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical nomination. In 2016, McCarthy is set to star in comedy films The Boss and Ghostbusters.

Hope Davis

Hope Davis (born March 23, 1964) is an American actress. She has starred in more than 20 feature films, including Flatliners (1990), Next Stop Wonderland (1998), Arlington Road (1999), Mumford (1999), About Schmidt (2002), American Splendor (2003), Proof (2005), Infamous (2006), The Lodger (2009) and Real Steel (2011). For her role in the original Broadway production of God of Carnage in 2009, she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play. She has also received two Emmy Award nominations, for her 2009 role in the TV series In Treatment and the 2010 TV movie The Special Relationship.

Personal life

Davis, second of three children, was born in Englewood, New Jersey, the daughter of Joan, a librarian (at one time, for the elementary section of Elisabeth Morrow School), and William Davis, an engineer. Davis has described her mother as a "great storyteller" who would take Davis and her siblings to museums or to "something cultural" every Sunday after church. Davis was raised in Tenafly, New Jersey and graduated in 1982 from Tenafly High School. She was a childhood friend of Mira Sorvino, with whom she wrote and acted in backyard plays.

John August

John August (born August 4, 1970) is an American screenwriter and film director.

He writes and maintains the popular screenwriting blog johnaugust.com, and develops screenwriter-targeted software.

He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, voting in the Writers branch.

Early life

August was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado. He earned a degree in journalism from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa and an MFA in film from The Peter Stark Producing Program at the University of Southern California. He lives in Los Angeles.

Career

August's debut film was 1999's critically acclaimed Go, for which he also served as co-producer and second unit director.

In 1998, August acquired the film rights to Daniel Wallace's Big Fish. His adaptation became the 2003 Tim Burton film of the same name and earned August a 2003 BAFTA Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Since 2003, August has written the screenplay for several Tim Burton films, including Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (an adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic children's book), and Frankenweenie. August also shared story credit with Seth Grahame-Smith on Burton's Dark Shadows.