Mozart and the Whale

Mozart and the Whale
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Petter Næss
Produced by	Danny Dimbort Manfred D. Heid Frank DeMartini
Written by	Ronald Bass
Starring	Josh Hartnett Radha Mitchell
Music by	Deborah Lurie
Cinematography	Svein Krøvel
Editing by	Lisa Zeno Churgin Miklos Wright
Studio	Nu Image
Distributed by	Millennium Films
Release date(s)	April 14, 2006 (2006-04-14)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$12 million
Box office	$84,447

Mozart and the Whale (released as Crazy in Love^[1] in some parts of Europe^[2]) is a 2005 romantic comedy-drama film starring Josh Hartnett and Radha Mitchell, and directed by Petter Næss.

Plot

The film tells the story of two people with Asperger syndrome (a form of autism). Donald (Josh Hartnett) runs a small self-help group for people on the autism spectrum who are more affected by their autism than he is. Isabelle (Radha Mitchell) is referred to the group by her therapist. Mozart and the Whale is a fictional account, using characters loosely based on the real-life relationship of Jerry Newport and Mary Meinel (now Mary Newport).

Cast

• Josh Hartnett as Donald Morton
• Radha Mitchell as Isabelle Sorenson
• Erica Leerhsen as Bronwin
• Gary Cole as Wallace
• Allen Evangelista as Skeets
• Sheila Kelley as Janice
• John Carroll Lynch as Gregory

Production

The screenplay was written by Ron Bass, who also wrote Rain Man, a film about an individual with autism. Bass is said to have been inspired by a 1995 article in the Los Angeles Times.

The film was previously a DreamWorks vehicle and was to have been directed by Steven Spielberg with Robin Williams and Tea Leoni as stars. But other work commitments meant that Spielberg could not film it in the available time slots. North By Northwest ^[3] picked up the film finishing it for its release in 2005.

Parts of this film were shot on the campus of Gonzaga University, and Cat Tales, a large-cat preserve in Spokane, Washington.^[4]

Distribution

The film struggled to find a theatrical distributor in the USA. The major reason for this was a lack of public support by prominent cast members who did not like the final version. The studio tried to distribute it in the USA in April 2004 but it did not go farther than a month in Spokane, Washington, where the film was made. The film is available on DVD in a number of countries and became available in the USA in that form on December 12, 2006.

Reception

The film has been lauded by many in the autism community for its realistic portrayal of life on the autism spectrum.^[5] It has also been criticized for perpetuating the common and incorrect media stereotype that people on the autism spectrum typically have savant skills.^[6] Due to its positive portrayal of Asperger syndrome and other autism spectrum conditions, this movie has been frequently screened at autism conferences and support group meetings for those on the spectrum.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ http://www.premiere.fr/film/Crazy-in-love
2. ^ http://www.absolutecover.net/images/jaquettes/625/crazy-in-love.jpg
3. ^ http://www.nxnw.net
4. ^ http://www.cattales.org/
5. ^ GroovyDruid (2006-04-18). "MOZART AND THE WHALE movie review". Wrongplanet.net. http://www.wrongplanet.net/article326.html. Retrieved 2008-09-05. 
6. ^ Draaisma D (2009). "Stereotypes of autism". Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 364 (1522): 1475–80. doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.0324. PMC 2677582. PMID 19528033. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=2677582. 

External links

• Mozart and the Whale at the Internet Movie Database
• Mozart and the Whale at AllRovi
• Mozart and the Whale at Box Office Mojo
• Mozart and the Whale at Rotten Tomatoes
• Mozart and the Whale at Metacritic
• Variety review
• Interview with producer Robert Lawrence on the national, weekly public radio series, The Infinite Mind
• Mozart and the Whale Review at WrongPlanet.net, an online resource and community for people with Asperger syndrome and autism