- Message in a Bottle (film)
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Message in a Bottle
Theatrical release posterDirected by Luis Mandoki Produced by Kevin Costner
Denise Di Novi
Jim WilsonWritten by Novel:
Nicholas Sparks
Screenplay:
Gerald Di PegoStarring Kevin Costner
Robin Wright Penn
Paul NewmanMusic by Gabriel Yared Cinematography Caleb Deschanel Editing by Steven Weisberg Studio Tig Productions
Di Novi Pictures
Bel Air EntertainmentDistributed by Warner Bros. Release date(s) February 12, 1999 Running time 131 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $80 million[1] Box office $118,880,016[1] Message in a Bottle is a 1999 American romantic drama film directed by Luis Mandoki. Based on a novel with the same name by Nicholas Sparks, the film stars Kevin Costner, Robin Wright Penn, and Paul Newman. Message in a Bottle was filmed in Maine, Chicago, and Wilmington, North Carolina in the United States.
Contents
Plot
Theresa Osborne works for The Chicago Tribune as a researcher (she is a former reporter). On a trip to Cape Cod, she finds a mysterious, intriguing love letter in a bottle in the sand, addressed from Garret to Catherine. She is fascinated by it and comes into possession of two more letters by the same person, eventually tracking down the man who wrote them, Garret Blake. He has refurbished a boat called Happenstence with his wife before her death and he lives quietly on the outer banks of North Carolina with his father, Dodge.
Theresa and Garret become better acquainted, but she does not reveal her knowledge of the love letters. Along with the literal distance between them — they live hundreds of miles apart—there is another problem: Garret cannot quite forgive Catherine for dying and leaving him.
Theresa's career flourishes as the romantic tale of the "messages in a bottle" is told in print, without naming names. Garret makes a trip to Chicago to visit Theresa and her young son. Their new love grows, until one day Garret finds his letters in a drawer in Theresa's apartment. Garret angrily goes home by himself.
A year later, Dodge tracks down Theresa. He informs her that his son Garret has died at sea in a storm while attempting to rescue someone else. A bottle with a message inside was found on his boat. Theresa realizes that it was written a night before Garrett's last sailing. In it, he apologizes to Catherine and says that in Theresa he has found a new love, a love he must fight for.
Production
The producers originally planned to film on Tangier Island, Virginia, but some members of the town council objected to the drinking, cursing and sex in the movie and demanded script revisions in exchange for shooting permission. Warner Bros. then tried Martha's Vineyard near Chilmark, Massachusetts, but the Chilmark Conservation Commission turned down a request to build a temporary 3,000-square-foot (280 m2) house on stilts in the dunes near Chilmark Pond.[citation needed]
Although the Chicago Tribune gave permission for its name and image to be used, the actual newspaper office where Theresa works, according to the film's official Web site, was built inside a Los Angeles warehouse.[citation needed]
Cast
- Kevin Costner - Garret Blake
- Robin Wright Penn - Theresa Osborne
- Paul Newman - Dodge Blake
- John Savage - Johnny Land
- Illeana Douglas - Lina Paul
- Robbie Coltrane - Charlie Toschi
- Jesse James - Jason Osborne
- Bethel Leslie - Marta Land
- Tom Aldredge - Hank Land
- Hayden Panettiere - girl on a sinking boat
- SY Irian, SY Arapaho - Concordia yawls
Reception
Critical response
The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 31% based on 35 reviews.[2] Costner's performance in the film earned him a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Actor (also for For Love of the Game).
Box office
Message in a Bottle opened at #1 the Valentine Day's weekend of 1999 with an estimated $16.7 million. It grossed $52.8 million domestically with an additional $66 million overseas to a total of $118.8 million worldwide[1]
Music
Irish music group Clannad wrote the song "What Will I Do" for the movie. Singer Richard Marx also composed the song "One More Time", sung by Laura Pausini, that played during the credits.
References
External links
- Message in a Bottle
- Message in a Bottle at the Internet Movie Database
- Message in a Bottle at AllRovi
- Message in a Bottle at Rotten Tomatoes
Films directed by Luis Mandoki 1980s Gaby: A True Story (1987)1990s White Palace (1990) · Born Yesterday (1993) · When a Man Loves a Woman (1994) · Message in a Bottle (1999)2000s AuthorNovels The Notebook (1996) · Message in a Bottle (1998) · A Walk to Remember (1999) · The Rescue (2000) · A Bend in the Road (2001) · Nights in Rodanthe (2002) · The Guardian (2003) · The Wedding (2003) · True Believer (2005) · At First Sight (2006) · Dear John (2006) · The Choice (2007) · The Lucky One (2008) · The Last Song (2009) · Safe Haven (2010) · The Best of Me (2011)Non-fiction Wokini: A Lakota Journey to Happiness and Self-Understanding (1990) · Three Weeks With My Brother (2004)Film adaptations Message in a Bottle (1999) · A Walk to Remember (2002) · The Notebook (2004) · Nights in Rodanthe (2008) · Dear John (2010) · The Last Song (2010) · The Lucky One (2012)Website: www.nicholassparks.comCategories:- American films
- English-language films
- 1999 films
- 1990s romance films
- American romantic drama films
- Films based on novels
- Films based on romance novels
- Films set in Chicago, Illinois
- Films set in North Carolina
- Films shot in North Carolina
- Films shot in Maine
- Films shot in California
- Films shot anamorphically
- Films directed by Luis Mandoki
- Warner Bros. films
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