Winter’s Bone
Friday June 18, 2010 – Regular Springfield run begins at Campbell 16 theater located at 4005 South Ave Springfield, MO 65807. Call 800-FANDANGO
Thursday June 17, 2010 – Springfield Advanced Screening by Wehrenberg Theaters
Friday June 11, 2010 – National roll-out of the film begins with openings in LA and NYC
Friday May 14, 2010 – Springfield Premiere, Special screening for the benefit of MFAS and Community Foundation of the Ozarks
Wednesday April 14, 2010 – Missouri Premiere, Opening Night Feature at the Kansas City Film Festival
Official Movie Website – on Facebook
IMBD Listing – Winter’s Bone (2010)
Movie Info: Drama, rated R: for some drug material, language and violent content
Release date: June 11, 2010, Limited
Running time: 100 minutes
Distributed by: Roadside Attractions
Official Movie Trailer, available only on NY Times website upon release April 28th
REVIEWS are available at the bottom of this page
Synopsis:
17 year-old Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) sets out to track down her father, who put their house up for his bail bond and then disappeared. If she fails, Ree and her family will be turned out into the Ozark woods. Challenging her outlaw kin’s code of silence and risking her life, Ree hacks through the lies, evasions and threats offered up by her relatives and begins to piece together the truth.
Based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell, WINTER’S BONE is directed by Debra Granik (DOWN TO THE BONE) and adapted for the screen by Granik and Anne Rosellini. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Kevin Breznahan, Dale Dickey, Garret Dillahunt, Sheryl Lee and Tate Taylor.
WINTER’S BONE is an official selection of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival’s Dramatic Competition.
Cast:
Jennifer Lawrence – Picked for NY Times Top 50 up-and-coming talent Great story!
John Hawkes
Lauren Sweetser
Kevin Breznahan
Isaiah Stone
Shelley Waggener
Ashlee Thompson
William White
Casey MacLaren
Valerie Richards
Creative and Crew:
Director(s): Debra Granik
Producer(s):
Writer(s): Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini
A Collection of 7 Trailers from the Film
Lead Characters
JENNIFER LAWRENCE (REE)
Jennifer was named one of the New York Times “50 People to Watch” in 2010 was most recently seen in Guillermo Arriaga’s directorial debut THE BURNING PLAIN, opposite Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger. The film premiered at the 65th Venice Film Festival where Jennifer won the ‘Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actress or Actor.’ She recently wrapped production on THE BEAVER, directed by and starring Jodie Foster, alongside Mel Gibson and Anton Yelchin. Other film credits include the lead role in Lori Petty’s POKER HOUSE opposite Selma Blair and Bokeem Woodbine, for which she was awarded the prize of ‘Outstanding Performance in the Narrative Competition’ at the 2008 Los Angeles Film Festival. She also starred in Jason Freeland’s GARDEN PARTY opposite Vinessa Shaw as well as roles in DRILLBIT TAYLOR and WAVERLY HILLS.
On television, Jennifer was last seen in the third season of the TBS series The Bill Engvall Show. Her television credits include roles on Cold Case, Medium, Not Another High School Show and Monk.
Born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Jennifer began acting in film and television at the age of 14. Read more about her story in the NY Times interview as part of their NY Times Nifty 50 up-and-coming talent
JOHN HAWKES (TEARDROP)
John Hawkes starred in the acclaimed ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW, which was awarded the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival as well as the Camera d’Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
Other feature credits include, Ridley Scott’s AMERICAN GANGSTER, Michael Mann’s MIAMI VICE, S.DARKO, A SLIPPING DOWN LIFE with Guy Pearce, the psychological thriller IDENTITY alongside John Cusack and Ray Liotta, PLAYING GOD, THE PERFECT STORM, FROM DUSK ‘TILL DAWN and HARDBALL.
John also starred and co-produced the independent film BUTTLEMAN for which he received a Breakout Performance Award at the 2004 Sedona Film Festival and a Special Jury Prize at the 2003 Deep Ellum Film Festival.
On the small screen John will next be seen on the hit television series Lost. John’s television credits include the role of “Sol Star” in the critically acclaimed HBO series Deadwood as well as playing Danny McBride’s brother on the hit HBO series Eastbound & Down.
Born and raised in rural Minnesota, John moved to Austin, Texas, where he began his career as an actor and musician. He co-founded the Big State Productions Theatre Company and appeared in the group’s original play, “In the West,” at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
John currently lives in Los Angeles where he writes, records and performs music with his band, King Straggler. He will next be seen in the upcoming releases SMALL TOWN SATURDAY NIGHT opposite Chris Pine and the upcoming EVERYTHING WILL HAPPEN BEFORE YOU DIE.
DALE DICKEY (MERAB)
Dale Dickey has been in over a dozen feature films including Clint Eastwood’s CHANGELING, THE PLEDGE directed by Sean Penn, DOMINO directed by Tony Scott and A PERFECT GETAWAY directed by David Twohy. She has worked on a long string of independent films including THE YELLOW WALLPAPER, LEAVING BARSTOW, TRAILER PARK OF TERROR, TAKE, NICHTS ALS GESPENSTER, and OUR VERY OWN. She is familiar to television audiences for her recurring role as ‘Patty, the daytime hooker’ on My Name is Earl, and has also recurred on Breaking Bad (as ‘the skank’ Mrs. Spooge), Sordid Lives (opposite Olivia Newton-John) and as ‘Opal McHone’ in Christy (with Tyne Daly). Dale has had numerous guest star roles including: Bones, Life, The Closer, Cold Case, ugly Betty, ER, Gilmore Girls, Numbers, CSI, Frasier, City of Angels and The X-Files.
A veteran of the stage, she began her career in New York City. Her work on Broadway includes “The Merchant of Venice” with Dustin Hoffman (directed by Sir Peter Hall) and extensive work with the Signature Theatre Company, Playwrights Horizons, and Manhattan Punch Line’s Improv Theatre. Regional theatre credits include 3 seasons developing new works for the stage at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center in CT., “Appalachian Strings” (Denver Center Theatre), “To Kill a Mockingbird” (PaperMill Playhouse), “Steel Magnolias” (Chicago’s Royal George Theatre), “Brilliant Traces” (Hartford TheatreWorks), and starring roles in “A Streetcar named Desire”, “The Rainmaker” and “Our Country’s Good” (all with the Clarence Brown Theatre). Dale now resides in Los Angeles, where she continues her work on the stage, and has won two L.A. Ovation Awards for her work in Del Shores’ “The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife (with Beth Grant), and “Southern Baptist Sissies (with Leslie Jordan). She was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee.
LAUREN SWEETSER (GAIL)
Lauren Sweetser was born on February 11th, 1988 to William and Kelly Sweetser. Lauren hails from Fayetteville, Arkansas and has always had a passion for the arts. At age three she began dancing and continued that all the way through college. She began theatre at Fayetteville High School and eventually decided to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. While in Springfield she also studied with the Creative Actor’s Workshop, a professional film acting class. Lauren has spent the last three summers in Los Angeles pursuing her acting career and taking part in various internships and industry jobs. Upon graduating in May of 2010, Lauren plans to make a permanent move to Los Angeles.
TATE TAYLOR (MIKE SATTERFIELD)
Tate Taylor has been acting, writing and directing in Los Angeles for over a decade. A native of Mississippi, Tate’s Television credits include: Six Feet Under, Queer as Folk, The Drew Carey Show, Charmed and I Spy. Tate also appeared in the feature film ROMEY AND MICHELLE’S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION. Tate originated the role of “TJ” in Del Shores critically acclaimed play, “Southern Baptist Sissies.” Tate can currently be seen starring opposite Olivia Newton John in Del Shores television series Sordid Lives.
Tate’s writing and directing credits include the multi award winning short film CHICKEN PARTY. Tate wrote and directed his first feature film PRETTY UGLY PEOPLE in 2007 which went on to play at thirty-five festivals, winning top honors at eight and was theatrically released in 2009 by Osiris Entertainment.
In addition, Tate has acquired film rights to the New York Times bestselling novel “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett (Penguin Publishing) which Tate adapted into a screenplay. He plans to direct the feature in May 2010. Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan of 1492 Films have joined to produce the film with Brunson Green of Harbinger Pictures.
GARRET DILLAHUNT (SHERIFF BASKIN)
Born in California and raised in Washington State, Garret studied Journalism at the University of Washington and went on to earn his MFA at New York University’s renowned graduate acting program.
Garret is currently in Ontario starring in Ryan Redford’s directing debut OLIVER SHERMAN playing the title role opposite Molly Parker and Donal Logue – Paul Stephens and Eric Jordan producing. He can be seen co-starring in THE ROAD starring Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron. He recently added another villainous role to his resume in Wes Craven’s LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. Dillahunt also co-starred in the Coen Brothers Oscar-winning drama NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Paramount Classics) opposite Tommy Lee Jones. Additionally Garret was seen in Warner Brothers’ THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORT opposite Brad Pitt in which he portrayed Ed Miller, a James gang member.
Garret is probably best known for his work on the critically acclaimed HBO series Deadwood, where he portrayed two characters–the assassin Jack McCall and the complex and deadly Francis Wolcott. He also portrayed Jesus Christ in the controversial NBC series Book of Daniel a few years ago. Last season Garret starred as the Terminator in the Fox Broadcasting series Terminator: The Sara Connor Chronicles. He also co-starred in last year’s HBO series John from Cincinnati from producer David Milch (Deadwood). He has also had recurring roles on ER, USA Network’s The 4400 and most recently F/X’s Damages. Previously, Dillahunt garnered attention from the controversial Sundance Grand Jury prize-winning THE BELIEVER and the Oscar-nominated short BY COURIER.
Garret has appeared on television in Lie to Me, Law & Order SVU and Criminal Minds. He has performed extensively on and off Broadway, and at such respected theater companies as Steppenwolf, ACT San Francisco, Seattle Rep, Huntington Stage, Williamstown, and the Berkshire Theater Festival.
Garret resides in both Los Angeles and New York and is married to actress Michelle Hurd.
SHERYL LEE (APRIL)
Sheryl Lee came onto the scene as Laura Palmer, the doomed homecoming queen on the cult TV series Twin Peaks. Born April 27, 1967 in Germany, Lee grew up in Boulder, Colorado, spending much of her youth studying dance before knee injuries ended her hope of becoming a dancer. She began acting in school plays, graduated from Fairview High School, and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena, California. Lee also spent time at the North Carolina School of Arts, the National Conservatory Theater in Denver, and Colorado University before pursuing stage work in Seattle, Washington.
Lee worked with Twin Peaks mastermind David Lynch again on the film WILD AT HEART and resurrected her character Laura Palmer one last time for Lynch’s prequel TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME. Lee has gone on to have a long and adventurous career since then.
Lee has appeared in over a dozen feature films including Wesley Strick’s HITCHED, Roger Young’s KISS THE SKY and John Carpenter’s VAMPIRES. She has had recurring TV roles on hit TV series like Dirty Sexy Money and One Tree Hill. Lee has also appeared as a guest star on the TV shows CSI: NY and Without a Trace.
THE FILMMAKERS
DEBRA GRANIK (Director)
Debra Granik attended the Graduate Film Program at NYU where she won awards for her short film, SNAKE FEED. She attended both the Writer’s and Director’s Lab at the Sundance Institute where she developed Snake Feed into a feature film script. Debra premiered her first feature film, DOWN TO THE BONE at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 where she won the Best Director Award. Down to the Bone went on to screen at film festivals worldwide and won the International Critics Prize at the Vienna Film Festival, among others. In 2009, she directed Winter’s Bone in the Missouri Ozarks.
ANNE ROSELLINI (Producer)
Anne Rosellini comes from a background of festival programming and acquisitions. She founded and directed the 1 Reel Film Festival in Seattle in 1996 and programmed for the Seattle International Film Festival and Women in Cinema Film Festival. Anne also worked for Arab Film Distribution before joining Atom Films as an Acquisitions Executive in 1999. In 2001 she moved to NYC to jump the fence. Anne produced Debra Granik’s award-winning first feature film, DOWN TO THE BONE and co-wrote and produced WINTER’S BONE.
ALIX MADIGAN-YORKIN (Producer)
Alix Madigan-Yorkin recently served in various producing capacities on the cult comedy SMILEY FACE, directed by Gregg Araki and starring Anna Faris, MARRIED LIFE, directed by Ira Sachs and starring Patricia Clarkson, Chris Cooper, Pierce Brosnan, and Rachel McAdams, and CLEANER, directed by Renny Harlin and starring Samuel L. Jackson and Ed Harris.
She executive produced Neil LaBute’s YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, which was released domestically by Gramercy Pictures in August 1998. The film starred Ben Stiller, Natassja Kinski, Amy Brenneman, and Jason Patric. She also produced SUNDAY, which was released by Lions Gate Pictures in August 1997. The film starred David Suchet and Lisa Harrow and was directed by Jonathan Nossiter. SUNDAY won The Grand Jury Prize for best dramatic feature and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award in the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. It also won the Critics Prize and The Grand Jury Prize in The Deauville Festival for American Independent Film in 1997.
Alix started working in the film industry as an assistant to Alan J. Pakula. She has also held various positions at Avenue Pictures, Skouras Pictures and Propaganda Films. She currently is Head of Production for Anonymous Content.
KATE DEAN (Co-Producer)
Kate Dean began her career producing two of three features directed by Ramin Bahrani, hailed by Roger Ebert as “the best new American director.” She has since worked with Muskat Filmed Productions (ALL THE REAL GIRLS), Big Beach (LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE), and most recently Anonymous Content (BABEL, ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND). A maverick of the micro-budget, each film has been more critically acclaimed than the last. She is currently line producing Max WInkler’s first feature starring Uma Thurman.
MICHAEL McDONOUGH (Cinematographer)
Scottish born Cinematographer Michael McDonough, studied art at The Glasgow School of Art and The Royal College of Art in London, developing an interest in film during a Prix de Rome scholarship, receiving a Master’s from NYU’s film program.
DOWN TO THE BONE (which won the Dramatic Directing Award at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival) and WINTER’S BONE, were collaborations with director Debra Granik. NEW YORK I LOVE YOU with Allen Hughes, Randy Balsmeyer and Shunji Iwai, QUID PRO QUO and RAVENOUS with Carlos Brooks and BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE with Michael Moore (winning the 2003 Academy Award for Best Documentary). He recently finished THE MORTICIAN (in 3D) directed by Gareth Roberts.
MARK WHITE (Production Designer)
Mark began his career as a Toy Designer after earning a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art. He shifted gears to Theatre Design and then ultimately transitioned into film starting as Set Designer on TWENTY-NINE PALMS and as Art Director on BOILER ROOM. As Production Designer, Mark’s credits include: WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER, THE BAXTER, THE TEN, TULLY and the Comedy Central series Stella. Mark’s DOWN TO THE BONE realized the 2005 Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize for actress Vera Farmiga along with the directing award while TRANSAMERICA starring Felicity Huffman was nominated for an Academy Award. His most recent project is Comedy Central’s original series Michael and Michael Have Issues.
DICKON HINCHLIFFE (Composer)
Dickon is a founder member of the British band Tindersticks, in which he wrote songs and played violin, guitar and keyboards. His orchestral arrangements became a distinguishing feature of the band’s recordings. From 1993 to 2005 Tindersticks released six critically acclaimed studio albums – the first of which was Melody Maker’s Album of the Year – two live albums and two soundtrack albums on Island Records and Beggars Banquet. They toured internationally and have a following throughout the world.
Dickon began scoring films with the acclaimed French director Claire Denis when she approached Tindersticks to write the scores to her films NENETTE ET BONI and TROUBLE EVERY DAY that starred Vincent Gallo and Beatrice Dalle. This was followed by VENDREDI SOIR which was Dickon’s first solo film score and attracted the attention of the American film maker Ira Sachs who asked him to compose the music for FORTY SHADES OF BLUE. The film won the Grand Jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005. Later that year he wrote a very different kind of score and a song for the British feature film KEEPING MUM, a black comedy directed by Niall Johnson, featuring Maggie Smith, Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott-Thomas and Patrick Swayze. This was followed by another film with Ira Sachs that he recorded in New York – the period drama MARRIED LIFE, which starred Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper and Rachel McAdams.
His next film was the Golden Globe nominated romantic drama LAST CHANCE HARVEY directed by Joel Hopkins starring Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. This was closely followed by the New York based, ‘surreal’ drama COLD SOULS that premiered in competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. The film stars Paul Giamatti, Emily Watson and Dina Korzun and was directed by Sophie Barthes. He then scored the highly acclaimed RED RIDING – 1980, directed by James Marsh (MAN ON WIRE). It is the second of the RED RIDING trilogy based on the novels of David Peace.
Dickon has had compositions featured in major television series like The Sopranos, The Brotherhood, and The Sins and the in the feature films INTIMACY, SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES and most recently MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY.
MARIDETH SISCO (Featured Vocalist, Music and Production Consultant)
Based in the Ozark region depicted in WINTER’S BONE, Sisco is a veteran journalist, teacher, musician, student of folklore and creator of Elder Mountain Press, a venue for publishing stories relevant to Ozarks culture and history. In addition to serving as music and all-around Ozark consultant to the production, Sisco also sings several musical numbers in the film, one of which she performs on-screen. She is currently collaborating with other musicians featured in WINTER’S BONE on a soundtrack album which will be released this summer in conjunction with the film’s theatrical opening.
Q + A with Debra Granik, director of WINTER’S BONE
1. What drew you to want to adapt WINTER’S BONE and direct it as a film?
I read WINTER’S BONE in one sitting. I had not done that with any book in a long time. I wanted to see how this girl, Ree, was going to survive. It felt like an old fashioned type of tale, with a character I couldn’t help but root for, and with an atmosphere my mind was actively trying to conjure. It also felt fresh in that I do not often get a chance to imagine life like Ree’s, whose circumstances lie outside the confines of my own.
2. How did you work with the Author, Daniel Woodrell, in the making of this movie?
To launch this project, Anne Rosellini, the producer, and I met with Daniel Woodrell in his home base in Southern Missouri and embarked on our first scout with him. We looked at creeks, caves, and homes of all kinds. We photographed yards, roads, and woods. Katie Woodrell, Daniel’s wife, arranged for us to meet singers, storytellers, folklorists, and all manner of scholars and practitioners steeped in Ozark culture–past and present. Also, we had an informative and heartbreaking discussion with the sheriff about what the meth problem has been like over the last two decades. After this visit, we were very enthused. We had also learned that to move forward we would need a guide, a local person who could carefully and respectfully introduce us to a community that might, over time, be persuaded to work with us.
3. Tell us about working with Jennifer Lawrence.
Jen took this role into her heart and worked very hard to enter Ree’s world. She used what she’s got from her Kentucky roots–family that could help her with hunting, wood chopping, and other skills she wanted to have for the shoot. And to my ear, she already had a beautiful way of pronouncing American English that seemed right for Ree. Though the script had some very foreign phrases for us, Jen was familiar with some of them, having heard similar phrasing growing up. When she arrived in Missouri before the shoot, she worked closely with the life models and the family on whose property we shot the film. She learned how to operate the equipment, learned all the dog’s names, and bonded with their children. In her role, she plays an older sister to a boy and a girl. Jen developed her own way of working with the kids. She made things real for them. She could also improvise and rehearse with them to put them at ease. Jen is very invested in working with her fellow actors and crew, which means she is always learning, absorbing, and challenging herself. I feel very lucky that we had the chance to make this film together.
4. How do you see Ree as a character?
Ree is focused on her commitment to see her brother and sister through their childhoods. She is willing to fight to keep her family from falling apart. I see her as a lioness trying to protect her pride. She is also a teenager who experiences helpless feelings when adults around her make deadly choices, and are drawn down into a way of life that destroys them. She can’t do much to get her dad out of the meth world or help her uncle with his chemical dependency and nihilism, yet she still cares about them. That is wrenching for any young person. The only thing left for her is to try to be different.
Like many a movie hero, Ree must struggle. We don’t get to see much of her teenage side. We never really get to see her have a good time with her friend Gail or flirt with boys. Throughout the story she is single-minded in what she needs to do. The search for her father is all-consuming. There is a deadline. In this heightened context, we see that Ree does not take “no” for an answer. In matters of justice, I love characters who don’t take no. I want to know how they get that resolve. We may not know what fuels Ree, but we want to witness a girl who shows this much strength of character. Heroes are often terse and aloof, and I guess that’s what keeps one thinking–”hmm, why does she go on, why doesn’t she give up? Where does this kind of determination come from?”
5. How did you come to know these characters and what did you to try to create a realistic, natural feeling environment in which to tell this story?
We started by doing a search for a family living in a setting close to the one described in the book. We knew we had to find a family who would let us see their house, their clothes, their objects, their dinner, who would let us see them hunt, take care of their animals, and fix day-to-day problems as they arose. We ultimately found this family and neighbors who were willing to answer our questions and show us their day to day lives.
In order to create the feeling of a natural environment, we shot entirely on location on a real family’s property. The costume department exchanged garments with local people who were willing to trade new Carharts for well-used ones. Real life is frayed, frugal, dusted with soot from stoves, heavy dust from the hardscrabble surface of the earth in these Southern Missouri counties. We had to work with these potent forces of the environment. Also, by casting many roles with people from the area, we had people correcting dialect and watching our backs in general, making sure we didn’t go down any misguided paths.
6. What were some of the challenges given the subject matter?
There are challenges inherent in working far from home. First, ways of communicating differ. It is not always possible to roll into a new place and use film crew jargon. It’s easy to make faux pas. There are different protocols, different ways of asking and answering. We needed a liaison, and the community needed an advocate, so we did not inadvertently overlook certain issues or antagonize people. We needed help on every front that city people need when thrust into a rural setting.
Mountain regions have a history of outsiders representing them monolithically. The term hillbilly is often used against hill culture, and usually doesn’t allow for much nuance. References to bootlegging and feuds come up pretty fast after the term hillbilly. The questions that pressed on us while researching this story and scouting for it centered around certain indelible stereotypes: what is a hillbilly, versus a person who lives in mountain country? What is the significance of debris in a yard? What is the reason, and what assumptions do we make about the person living in the house of that yard? We had to get to know that person. If the viewer doesn’t meet that person and only sees the yard, we perpetuate an image of a landscape that looks “trashy”. Now, a yard filled with objects is photographically rich–endless depth of field, great colors and textures, memorable. But what about the tidy yard down the road? If we don’t show both, have we just re-presented the region as a place with junky yards? These are the questions that we had to confront. Knowing the soul behind the yard helped a great deal. This is just one family, trying to make a go of it.
You can’t go to an area with such an intense history and lore and not lock horns with symbols, cliches, stereotypes, and sensitivities. And it’s an ongoing challenge to navigate to some form of storytelling that chips away at the stereotypes and adds some new details to what’s gone before.
WINTER’S BONE depicts different aspects of Ree’s life, not just her survival skills, or her resolve, but very disturbing parts of her life as well. Like children in many other settings, Ree witnesses adults in her life who struggle with addiction. In any life with limited resources, the prevalence of destructive substances like meth, and what that does to families, the general climate of violence, deceit and callousness, is painful to discuss, and even harder to include in a movie. From moonshine to marijuana to meth, marginal economies can easily run over a culture and wear it down, violently corrupt it. Who wants to take this on? But add to the challenge that moonshine and meth are gasoline on the bonfire of cliches depicting mountain culture. Thirty-five years after Deliverance, even a banjo can still be a loaded symbol. But through our trips down to Southern Missouri, banjos kept popping up in the most lyrical and alluring ways. Ultimately the banjo found its way into the film, offering notes of hope and perseverance. I came to think of it as a fresh start for that image.
7. WINTER’S BONE and Down to the Bone (Sundance 2004) both have women characters who struggle in very difficult circumstances in the central roles. Is this a coincidence or are you drawn to this?
I am drawn to looking at characters who have to solve the puzzle of how to make their lives work. Often that involves a lot of hard choices. I am very attracted to comedy as well. Not broad style comedy, but the kind that takes note of the absurdities of life. I like to see a character navigate this with lyrical, good-humored resilience. What wows me are people who soldier on within difficult circumstances. I want to see how they are going to do it. Someone once told me that in some lives a person appears to make great strides, reach heights, and in other lives it takes an equal amount of resolve and effort to move a centimeter. The cycle of effort, obstacles, trying again…these are the lives that I want to document and portray.
8. Why did you choose to shoot this film on the RED camera?
I deliberated long and hard with my long-time collaborators, Anne Rosellini (co-writer and producer) and Michael McDonough, (director of photography), trying to choose what camera to use for this film. The details of the Ozark landscape called out for a beautiful, high-resolution instrument of photography, which is not easily managed on a small budget.
The RED camera has been doing the Can-Can on the side lines of indie filmmaking for a couple of years now, singing from the margins, “Yes we can, can, can!” Sure, she’s still a little no-frills. Michael was challenged by having no lookup table, but he’s such a freakin’ good DP that I knew he could go without it. RED can act kind of funny on set, she’s been known to get a hot flash, but mostly she was a workhorse. She and Al Pierce, the operator, really got it on. She didn’t lose a 0 or a 1 after four weeks of shooting and trazillions of 1s and 0s in the can.
To me the RED is the democratic breakthrough we’ve needed on the camera front for years, like Final Cut Pro was when it broke out and changed access to editing forever. FCP in my mind stood for editing access For the Common People, and RED could be Really Execute Dreams or Rogue Encouragement Daily.
9. What was your reason for shooting in Missouri?
We never wavered from this dream. The story was so deeply set in Missouri that to try to simulate or recreate it would only weaken our confidence. For author Daniel Woodrell, his region is his muse. We needed to “stay close to the willows.” We needed the actors who played Ree’s relatives, etc. to be of this place. We wanted the accents to be “bread and buttered,” as Ree says. Early on, trying to be cooperative and good sports with production companies, we contemplated selecting a shooting location by shopping for the best tax incentive programs. Woodrell gave us his blessing to shoot in the craggy foothills of upstate NY, a region he felt could from certain angles resemble Ozark terrain. And while we did get interested in remote areas of Pennsylvania and other states, all ripe for great photography, Southern Missouri kept calling us. And ultimately the State of Missouri came through with a very decent incentive, which enabled us to film on the story’s home turf, and not forsake the very real help that a tax incentive program can offer.
Interview with Debra Granik – From Cinematical’s Sundance Primer on “Winter’s Bone”
Winter’s Bone will premiere in the US Dramatic Competition category at Sundance on Saturday January 23, 2010 and it stars Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Dale Dickey, Lauren Sweetser, Kevin Breznahan, Tate Taylor, Casey MacLaren, Cody Brown and Charlotte Lucas. Cinematical caught up with Granik to ask her some brief questions about the film and the festival life.
Cinematical: Give us the “dude on the street” description of your film.
Winters Bone director, Debra Granik
Cinematical: You don’t see many movies shot in the Missouri mountain region. What were some of the unique challenges you came across, and what is it about this story that makes it accessible to people who aren’t familiar with the region?
Debra Granik: Ree has got some of the daunting challenges that many young people have in remote areas, places where ways of making a living are scarce and marginal. She is a kid with a lot of responsibilities who witnesses the adults around her making dangerous and dead-end choices. Without many buffers, Ree has to navigate her survival in a place that is hardscrabble to its core. She has no map to follow except for loyalty to her family. The particulars of the region that are “foreign” are found in some of the language, eating wild game, learning to hunt and ride ATVs at a young age. These things were all unfamiliar in my existence. Yards may have an accumulation of objects and debris, and this may feel strange or reinforce certain assumptions, so perhaps the only thing a film can do is to try to show the life, the specific life attached to that yard. The author of the novel from which this film is based did not try to speak in broad strokes. He zoomed in and tried to focus on one girl, depicting in detail her moxie to survive.
Cinematical: Give us your one film festival rule …
Debra Granik: (in three parts) a. I like to take a moment to absorb and digest the miracle of documentaries getting finished. Especially a subject documented over time. Every doc that takes on a challenging subject, that is done well, and thoroughly, and then pieced together is a miracle to me. My rule is to toast that miracle several times in the company of other compadres. b. I jump up and down with glee and optimism when new actors are brought out onto the scene. c. I note with reverence anytime I see photography in a film that wows me.
For more on Debra Granik and Winter’s Bone, check out this video profile from the Sundance Film Festival:
CREW LIST, Local
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR – Sarah Kessinger (Wilson)
OFFICE ASSISTANT / EXTRAS CASTING – Sarah Johnson
SET PA – Bryan Manning
SET PA – Anthony White
SET PA – Sidney McGregor
SET PA – Bryce Young
SET INTERN – Darrell Claunch
SET INTERN – Jeremy Lowe
LEADMAN – Russ Dove
LEADMAN – Nate Webster
ART DEPARTMENT PA – Deanna Smith
CAMERA INTERN – Carissa Crain
CAMERA INTERN – David Fleming
CATERING – Steve Weyher
CATERING/CRAFTY – Tana Miller
CRAFTY – Ben Clutter
ELECTRIC – Greg Bahler
ADDITIONAL ELECTRIC – Axel Thiele
BEST BOY GRIP – Terry Zumalt
GRIP – Easton Theile
GRIP & ELECTRIC INTERN – David Newton
LOCATION LIASON – Richard Michael
KEY HAIR ARTIST – Marina Proctor
OFFICE INTERN – Jayson Wilkins
OFFICE INTERN – Brendan Baker Schmidt
OFFICE INTERN – Jared Billman
OFFICE INTERN – Bo Darde
OFFICE INTERN – Lindsey Paydon
OFFICE INTERN – Teresa Brown
OFFICE INTERN – Mike Blesse
OFFICE INTERN – Vanessa Fields
OFFICE INTERN – Ashley Hytti
BOOM OPERATOR – Michael Grinage
WARDROBE PA – Cassie Tweten
WAREROBE PA – Ryan Piotrowski
SpFX - Nathan Shelton
MovingPictures magazine interview with Debra Granik and Jennifer Lawrence on their experience shooting the film in the Ozark’s
Interview by Elliot V. Kotek
Videography by F.J.Productions
(from the 2010 Sundance Film Festival)
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- Winters Bone director, Debra Granik
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- Lauren Sweetser, Winter’s Bone (Missouri State 2010)
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- Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone, 2010
REVIEWS
A Saga In The Ozarks, Suited For The Screen from NPR
When filmmaker Debra Granik received a copy of Winter’s Bone, Daniel Woodrell’s 2006 novel about a broken family in the Ozarks, she knew immediately that she wanted to adapt it for the big screen.
Granik and writer-producer Anne Rosellini had been looking for a strong female protagonist for a long time; they wanted someone “that we could just enjoy, and who we could recognize very readily as someone who would shine out on screen,” Granik tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross. “This was a very irresistible book to us, and the story was one that would adapt very well the way that Daniel had constructed it.”
Both Granik and Woodrell sat down to discuss the meth-fueled family drama, which won the 2010 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and which Fresh Air critic David Edelstein called “miraculous.”
KansasCity.com: ‘Winter’s Bone’ star Jennifer Lawrence draws on dark reserves for her dramatic roles
Lawrence has been getting rave reviews for “Winter’s Bone.” She even finds herself for the first time being recognized in public. A somewhat happier encounter took place at a studio where the actress’s path crossed that of director Steven Spielberg.
“He opened a door for me, then looks at me and says, ‘Aren’t you Jennifer Lawrence? Didn’t I just see you in “Winter’s Bone”?’ “I practically passed out. I talked with him for, like, 20 minutes. Then I got in my car and started crying because I didn’t know what else to do.
ALSO WATCH FOR …
•Cinnamon Schultz, the KC actress who pops up in theaters all over town, plays Victoria, married to Ree’s menacing Uncle Teardrop.
•Tate Taylor, the actor/writer/ director, plays Satterfield, the bail bondsman. Taylor’s next project is writing and directing “The Help,” based on the best-selling novel by his childhood friend Kathryn Stockett.
•Sheryl Lee plays April, the “other woman” in the life of Ree’s dad. Lee is best known for TV’s “Twin Peaks” — she was murdered homecoming queen Laura Palmer.
SFgate.com: Review: ‘Winter’s Bone’
With “Winter’s Bone,” Granik has morphed from a director worth watching to one who demands our undivided attention.
SF Examiner: ‘Winter’s Bone’ a small film with big power
Once you get into the alternative groove of her realist pacing, the film becomes an engrossing coming-of-age story, a distinctive place-on-the-map portrait, an observant look at clan mentalities and an example of how exquisite and satisfying small films can be.
The payoff scenes triumph. The less-than-pivotal material between the plot points — snippets of houseguest etiquette, a roomful of roots musicians, a lesson in firearm safety for the little ones — contains nuggets.
Film School Rejects: SXSW Review: Winter’s Bone
From a collection of shady, colorful characters outlining the fringes of the narrative to a quiet, brooding protagonist desperately seeking answers in an unremitting dark landscape and only uncovering further layers of corruption along the way, the film thoroughly mimics the conventions of the mystery noir genre that we typically associate with films that take place in large cities with dark alleyways. In a more subtle way than other recent subversions of the genre (Brick, for instance), Winter’s Bone attests that the resonant themes of darkness that permeate urban films noirs are in no way particular to that setting, and it is in this respect that the otherwise dead-serious tone of the film makes for an enjoyable movie experience.
eFilmCritic.com – Winter’s Bone at Boston Film Fest
The music on the soundtrack specifies Missouri, but that’s not what’s important; it’s the mournful single female voice and barely-there accompaniment that tells us what we need to know about the setting for “Winter’s Bone”: It’s chilly, there’s nothing fancy to be found, but there’s love and loyalty there too.
The Ozarks are an unusual location for a film noir, and Ree isn’t the typical hero, but Winter’s Bone feels like something from that genre anyway, with plenty of hints given in the form of “you should leave it alone and definitely not look here”, as well as a situation that exposes more and more rot the further Ree digs. For all that she’s aware of the amoral, outside-the-law code her family lives by, there’s an impulse other than self-preservation at work. She’s got to be her own knight-errant, and there are few shadows to disappear into (instead, the roadless woods become a sort of no-man’s land), but it’s a classic noir story.
Those put a fair demand on their stars, but young Jennifer Lawrence is up to it.
