Original subtitles

Hi, this is Burr steers, and welcome to the director's commentary for CharIie St. CIoud.

This is our opening scene, this sailing race,

and the main inspiration for the sailing race, or what l used as a model,

was Carroll Ballard's movie Wind, which is the ultimate sailing movie.

The problem we encountered with our sailing scene

was that we had no wind, which is problematic for a sailing race.

So, we had to manufacture all the dynamics of a competitive sailing race

through editing, and tricks like towing the boats

and other stuff and justjumping around

and keeping the audience as disoriented as possible.

It was about a week sitting out here on this incredibly flat water,

hoping for a breeze.

He's doing it again!

Come on, Sam!

Everybody learned how to sail.

The actors were all paired, except for Zac and Charlie Tahan.

Tess, Amanda Crew, here, is paired with a real sailor.

The girl in the boat with her is a competitive sailor.

And Amanda learned how to sail for this, as well, as did all the other actors.

Got out there, and were fairly accomplished by the time we shot this.

Come on, Sam!

Red is a key color in the movie.

lt's the Red Sox, it's the color for the boy when he comes back,

or, actually, just our dead color.

And the boat that we establish here that they're sailing is the SpIendid SpIinter,

which was a nickname for Ted Williams.

And the younger brother in the movie is a Red sox fanatic,

so we thought that would be fitting.

And there we have Charlie, or Zac, doing his back flip,

which he improvised on the day of the sailing race and got in one take.

That's real spit that he's putting in Charlie's hair, which Charlie didn't appreciate.

Sexy pose.

CongratuIations, boys.

-Thank you. -Thanks.

One of the weird things for me here was the movie was initially set on the East Coast,

and you have these tony yacht clubs there, old money yacht clubs.

but on the West Coast, in Washington state, where this is based, or in Vancouver,

you don't really have that.

So, l was trying to create that feeling, that this was a town

with train tracks through the middle of it.

There's a good side and a bad side, and Charlie was from the working-class side,

and these kids were the entitled, privileged, private school kids,

which explains the pink Izod Lacoste shirt.

Cannons going off, sunset cannons,

which signal it's time to get back in if you're out there sailing.

And the boys watching all the boats taking off

and going off on adventures across the world.

Don't worry, that's going to be us one day.

That shot from behind, of the two boys, that's not actually Charlie Tahan.

He got a horrible stomach flu, and so that's his stand-in

getting his head mauled by Zac.

I'm just saying,

I couId work for a year, fiII the coffers, and then go to Stanford.

You said yourseIf it was too expensive, even with the aid, Mom.

I didn't say it was too expensive. I said it was expensive.

Mom, I don't want you having to work doubIe shifts at the hospitaI.

Here, in this scene with Kim, unfortunately we had a malfunction with the film,

and we had to re-shoot all of Kim's coverage in this scene,

which we did the very next day.

She was incredibly great about matching what she'd done the day before.

One of the things l took out of this was, here l had...

lnitially, l was establishing that Charlie had a bad habit of turning his wheels left

before he would make a left-handed turn.

And l realized that Kim had been in the movie Widow for a Year,

or Door Under the FIoor, the John Irving book

in which it's actually how the kids die as well.

They turn their wheel left before they're supposed to,

and they get rear-ended.

so, I had to edit it a bit.

Sammy!

-Put me down, SuIIivan! -Sammy's on a rampage.

-Don't make me hurt you, Green! -Come on, what do you got?

You see Amanda in the background.

David Franco with Zac.

l didn't realize before that they had the exact same coloring,

so I tried in color timing to darken Mr. Franco a bit.

but the idea was, Franco is going off to war.

He's going off to serve in the military,

which is what Charlie St. Cloud would have had to do were he not a good sailor

and had gotten a scholarship.

He would have ended up in the same position that Franco was in,

going off to make his living in the military.

You're Iate.

Yeah, I couIdn't find my gIove.

You're Iate, Sam. Do you want to make Majors next season?

-Yeah, I'm gonna try. -Yeah? You're gonna try?

Yes, definiteIy, yes!

'Cause I don't want to waste my time here with you.

-Yes! Yes! Yeah! -Yeah?

Okay. Then I'II make a deaI with you.

I'II practice with you for one hour every day,

right after I get off work, up untiI I Ieave for Stanford.

I'II meet you at sunset cannons every day.

This is a tough scene just because you're setting up the deal for the movie.

And these kinds of scenes,

you can really hear the typewriter clicking away in the background.

So, to get the actors to make it as conversational as possible

is always a difficult thing to do,

and still emphasize the information,

so that everybody knows exactly what the deal is.

Put your hand out, paIms up.

You see these wide seams?

That's the correct way to hoId a basebaII.

I didn't know I was gonna get to go to basebaII camp this summer.

That's because rich kids go to camp, Sammy.

Do you have a trust fund you're not teIIing me about?

Here again, I was trying to hit the idea of the class system in the town,

and that Charlie's ability has given him

the opportunity to get a scholarship and break out of it.

You are on Sam duty.

-Mom, I have pIans. -Make sure he gets in bed at a decent hour.

-Mom... -I'II bring you donuts for breakfast.

This is one of the four towns we were using in the Vancouver area.

The movie was initially set in Massachusetts, in Marblehead,

but we ended up shooting in Vancouver,

and l reset it for the San Juan lslands in Washington state,

because Vancouver looks very similar.

But we couldn't find one town that worked,

so we put together four towns and ended up with something really unique.

-Stop! -Jeez! What the...

-What are you doing? -What are you doing? You're on Sam duty!

No one babysat me when I was 1 1 , Sam.

Look, it's the 7th-inning stretch.

Can you pIease just get me to Tommy's by the bottom of the 8th?

No. It's not exactIy on the way, Sam.

Sweet ride.

This is a tough scene. There's a lot of misdirection in this scene,

'cause people who have read the book, they know what's coming.

You just don't want them to know when it's coming.

One of the things also I was trying to cultivate here

was the relationship between the brothers, that prickly sibling relationship.

And that flash of the lights, which not everybody catches,

is the universal sign for "cops up ahead".

Sammy! Cheer up.

Come on, Sammy. Sammy, baby.

And here we have Zac's very bad Christopher Walken imitation,

which he would use to crack Charlie Tahan up

when Charlie was feeling glum. so, he did it in this scene.

I'm gonna see you aII the time.

-That's what Dad said. -Yeah, but I'm not Dad.

I'm not gonna ditch you, Sam. I'm not gonna ditch you.

Cheer up, man.

Not an option. You got one second to cheer up.

Here, Zac was really using his relationship with his younger brother in this scene,

who, I guess, he pummels, or did pummel on a regular basis before he outgrew him.

but they really would go at it. I'm talking about the actors.

We were driving around all night long shooting this scene,

getting the coverage for it.

by the end, both of them were black and blue.

Come on.

Now here we have the tires turning.

So, when's it going to happen? Pop!

And then there's a moment of right-before.

And then everything is smashed to bits.

Here, the idea was to make you think you're looking at a starry sky,

then you come up and realize you're looking at the shattered glass.

Mom's gonna kiII us!

Don't worry, I'II take the bIame.

And here the brothers are in the in-between.

I was trying to make it ambiguous,

where you would think that they were close to the accident.

And also my thinking was that if you were,

if they were ghosts, if their spirits had just left their bodies,

they'd be disoriented and near the site.

And then Ray Liotta brings Zac back.

My word.

We establish the St. Jude medal.

-WeIcome back. -Where was I?

-It's okay. -Where was I?

-You've just got to reIax. -Where's Sam?

-Everything's okay, but you gotta stay stiII. -Where's Sam?

You got to stay stiII. Okay?

-Everything's okay. -Sam?

Hey, Sam?

-Sam! Sam? -You've got to rest.

Come on, come on.

Sam! Sam!

This is a tough scene, approaching this,

'cause showing a dead child

is an incredibly difficult thing to watch,

a difficult thing to overcome throughout the course of a movie.

So, how to do it as gently as possible, but still have the impact?

so, there was no bIood, we turned the boy's face away

and showed his lifeless body,

and then of course the Red Sox cap next to the car.

...accept our prayers on behaIf of the souI of thy servant departed

and grant him an entrance into the Iand of Iight and joy,

and the feIIowship of thy saints, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Most mercifuI Father,

who has been pIeased to take unto thyseIf the souI of this thy servant,

grant to us, who are stiII in our piIgrimage

-and who waIk as yet by faith... -Charlie.

...in gIory everIasting...

Here, I was pulling from Don"t Look Now,

and the red, too, was a lot of Don't Look Now,

but sort of glimpsing things from the side.

There's a red mac in Don't Look Now, the Nicolas Roeg movie,

that every time they see it, they know or sense the presence of their dead child,

and that's what I was weaving throughout the movie.

And so, I was very specific about the use of red.

As soon as we pass through this bit of woods...

These are all real woods in Vancouver.

Here, l use the flashback of the accident.

I wanted to get the sense of someone...

And here, also just establish someone experiencing post-traumatic stress,

and the idea that it's all escalating in his head and that he's cracking up.

He's having some kind of a breakdown.

so that when we see sam here,

we don't know if he's hallucinating or if he's actually seeing a ghost of his brother.

I wanted to keep both of those possibilities alive.

You're Iate.

I thought we had a deaI.

We do.

This is a set that was built by an incredible production designer, Ida Random.

And the difficulty here was, the actual glade that it was based on

looked less realistic than the set,

but it still didn't feel natural.

No breeze, no anything going on.

So, in certain ways, we had to overcompensate

and add sounds.

Here, we're pulling up to get a look at the geography of the story,

get a sense of the town

and the scope of their lives.

Here, we pull back into Sam's gravestone five years later.

This section of the movie, l wanted to give a very different tone, this act.

And so, l started it off with a song that my editor actually found,

Pad McKinley, just to make sure it didn't get

glum and bogged down.

I mean, it is a sad story, the guy's lost his brother

and he's removed himself to this hermit's existence, working at the graveyard.

so, these music choices were to combat that.

He's going after the geese, which were initially Canadian geese,

which we would have had if we had shot in Massachusetts,

but because we were shooting in Canada, the Canadian geese were protected.

And so, we ended up having to use domestic geese,

the idea being that they were domestic geese

that had gotten out and gone feral.

Canadian geese are a menace,

on the East Coast, as far as bringing all sorts of diseases

and just ripping grass apart and stuff.

You aII right, boss man?

Right. So them geese are back,

and they've done nasty things to my grass again.

And they've crapped over every headstone in the whoIe pIace.

That one's the Ieader. Him.

Do the best you can with the grass.

This is Augustus Prew. This was actually, initially, a much older character.

But when Zac was cast as the lead,

all the other actors I wanted to be his contemporaries.

I couldn't imagine him being the head guy at the graveyard

and having these older guys work for him.

So, l came up with the idea that it should be an immigrant, initially a Russian immigrant.

but then I saw Augustus' audition reel

and ended up, with Augustus' help, rewriting it for an English character.

You just ended up staying here.

And this time, Cindy has arranged a IittIe friend to meet you.

And here we see Amanda Crew again,

the character is Tess, visiting her father's grave

and discovering that it hasn't been cared for.

I caIIed the sprinkIer guy, and he said he couIdn't come tiII next week.

So I was Iike, "AII right, cooI. Come next week."

But more important, aII right, Iisten to me about this.

Cindy's got this mate over staying, and she is a waitress at the Red Dog Inn.

CharIie? The Red Dog Inn.

You know about the Red Dog Inn, don't you?

The Red Dog, when we were on the East Coast, was initially the black Dog lnn,

which is what I grew up knowing about, and the lore about the black Dog.

but I think there's probably some issues with using that name,

and so very cleverly changed it to the Red Dog.

-Good. I'II get right on that. -Yeah, that'II be great,

getting fIowers.

So, this scene was about her coming back to the town that she grew up in,

after being away at college for four years,

and running into the former golden boy of the town,

the boy that she had a crush on,

and her reverting back to the gawky teenager that she was.

Hey! Hey!

Hey, buddy.

Hey, can you read signs? No rubbing!

If I was going to rub one out, I wouIdn't do it in a graveyard, St. CIoud.

PeopIe are aIways tracing these headstones.

Here he's running into the ghost of his best friend from high school,

who's gone off to war and hasn't survived,

and the idea was, there but for the grace of his sailing ability go Charlie.

And this was a scene that a lot got cut out of

because there was a lot about the mother in this scene

and about the mother basically having given up on him

because he hadn't gotten back into the swing of things.

but we found that nobody wanted to believe

that Kim basinger could be a mean mother,

so we had to remove all of it.

The intention was just to show how isolated he was,

that finally even his mother had written him off and gotten on with her life.

I'm gIad you weren't, CharIie.

Yeah. I'm gIad you weren't.

You see the red flowers, which is our signal that death is about,

and the omnipresent geese hovering around behind him.

Got to face it sometime.

AII right. I'II say hi to Sammy for you.

He's not there.

I don't get it.

This is a scene that we went back and forth on, whether to keep it or not.

-He's weird. -He's misunderstood.

ln the end, it was decided that

these girls really represented a large part of the audience,

and so it was how they'd be seeing the Charlie character.

-You're funny. -$97.50.

And also to get across the point

that he has really removed himself from life for the last five years.

Yeah. Yeah, sure.

I Iove saiIing.

CooI.

WeII, maybe I can take you out sometime, too.

Yeah!

-Enjoy your toy pIane, CharIie. -It's not for me.

It's for the geese.

So, what do you wear on a saiIing date?

I wouIdn't put too much thought into it,

seeing as he hasn't been saiIing in five years.

He's closing himself back into his prison.

He checks his sunset chart, which runs his life,

and heads off to rendezvous with his brother.

The red glove.

Man, you got it!

-Great, Iet's go hit the Iake. -No. Not tiII after practice.

Back up, back up. Get out of here.

-PIease? Can we just go now? -What's our deaI, Sam?

We practice every day at sunset cannons...

And here we pound the deal back into the script,

just to make sure everybody is absolutely getting it.

These two worked on baseball every day

and really got good at it.

Charlie Tahan

wasn't an athlete beforehand, but really learned how to play.

He worked with a coach every day.

Zac is actually a really talented baseball player,

but a perfectionist, and was just working to get his form down.

We had to teach Charlie all sorts of different pitches.

Here, also, there was an issue, since I'd reset it for Washington state,

do l change the Red Sox to the Mariners?

But, one, l wanted red, and, two, the Mariners aren't as iconic.

You know SuIIy. I think he was good with it.

I think he reaIIy missed Green.

I think I'd miss you.

A IittIe bit.

Here, we start up with the brother wondering about how long he's allowed to stay

in this limbo, in the in-between, between life and death.

AII right, you ready?

And here come the dreaded geese.

It's about to get bIoody.

It's a real plane.

These are not, however, real geese. They're all put in there.

And this is a filthy lake that l made them dive into several times

because l am sadistic.

Zac re-emerges, and magic hour is over, it is later,

and there is nobody there.

You get a sense of how alone he is,

but also the sense that maybe it was all happening in his brain.

lt was all a hallucination.

The SpIendid SpIinter again, not having moved.

Excuse me.

You aII right? I'm sorry.

In similar versions of the script that I read, and also in the book,

Florio is a ghost at this point, and I played with that idea.

-You're the paramedic. -I'm the paramedic.

FIorio Ferrente. It's so good to see you.

but in the end, I thought, he's a guy who knows he's on borrowed time

and he's basically just broken out of the hospital

for a last walk around his town.

So, what...

What have you been up to the past five years?

Are you in Iove? You married?

No. It hasn't happened yet.

No?

You're sick.

Yeah. I got the big C.

-I'm sorry. -Nah, don't be.

I have no regrets. I...

The other thing that we were playing with in this scene was the idea

that Florio is really a father figure,

and it really is his last opportunity

to make sure that his son is gonna maximize his life.

How many peopIe can say that to Saint Peter when they reach the pearIy gates?

You were a compIete fIatIine.

Nothing.

And then...

One of the things also, l think, that works,

as far as the idea that there is a father-son relationship here,

is that these two actors have the exact same eyes, the exact same blue,

which in anamorphic was really striking.

WeII, if there is one, I haven't figured it out yet.

Yeah, weII...

I don't think it's gonna come to you working in a graveyard.

You're a young man.

You shouId be out in the worId Iiving your Iife.

Don't squander this gift you've been given.

And here we go,

Zac's first glimpse

of Tess' boat.

which has the initiaIs "Cs" on it, for "CarroII saiIs",

but l think in his mind, he's thinking "Charlie St. Cloud",

and is he actually seeing this?

One of Quincy's own,

she wiII seek to become the youngest...

This woman is an actual reporter, who you catch a fleeting glimpse of.

Everybody's excited. This is a first for the town.

Amanda Crew, the actress here,

actually learned how to sail that 50-foot boat.

If you look closely, you can see the bruises on her legs,

which were the price she paid for learning how.

No, whether I win this race or not, Iet's hope that I do, right, Tink?

I mean, Coach?

No, but whether I win it or not,

it wiII not be because I didn't have a great boat.

Thank you so much, guys.

-That girI is gonna saiI around the worId? -Yeah.

-Is that the girI? She's hot! -She's aII right.

"AII right"? Is there a swimsuit shot anywhere in there?

What are you gonna do with a swimsuit shot?

Everything.

-Come on. -You want it?

Give me the magazine. Sam, you're gonna wreck it.

This was a fun scene to shoot

because Charlie Tahan enjoyed torturing Zac and teasing him.

WeII done, CharIie. Mature.

You onIy Ieft me with the cover page.

These are always tough scenes to get to work exactly,

to get the camera move off of the expression on his face

and convey exactly what he's thinking.

CharIie!

I cannot beIieve that you're here! HeIIo!

Here's Augustus falling into his Monty Python.

No, not our anniversary, because we're not going out,

but me and Cindy's.

-I wouIdn't miss your anniversary, man. -I know you wouIdn't

-and it means a Iot. What's that? -Nothing.

-You aII right? -Yeah.

What are you doing? Doing a bit of drawing?

Very nice. Come on inside. It's gonna be weII fun, mate.

This song is a vestigial choice from

when the character was going to be Russian.

And l was having him do Ra Ra Rasputin, the boney M classic,

which apparently no one else had ever heard of,

but then went with an English actor.

It didn't really make any sense, but it didn't need to.

The one I toId you about.

-Hi. Hey. -Cindy said you wouIdn't show.

OnIy because we never see you out at night, CharIie.

Ever since the werewoIf bite, I tend to onIy come out during fuII moons.

-The moon isn't fuII. -Then I guess it's your Iucky night.

Let's hear it for Cindy!

-Hey. -How's the weather Iooking, Coach?

Look. Low-pressure system coming down from AIaska.

See how tight those isobars are on the back of the depression?

-Not good. -That means more wind.

Too much wind. This test run can wait.

Donal Logue, who's playing Tink here, actually was the one who figured out

exactly how to communicate that a big storm was coming.

Donal is very smart, and he was able to master all the weather reports

and convey it in a way that even l could understand.

-Hey, why are you so interested in that Ioon? -I'm not.

One of the things that got lost in the movie

was the idea that Tink actually has feelings for Tess

and there's jealousy as he sees her pining for Charlie.

CharIie was unbeatabIe on the water,

even got himseIf a saiIing schoIarship and everything.

One of the hardest things to cast was to cast Connors.

The actor, Matthew ward, is from Edmonton.

It was very hard to get what you would find in America,

where you could get that snotty, preppy, rich kid.

Matthew is a private school kid

and really did affect that sense of being entitled.

And he looks good in pink, which not many people can pull off.

-Your boy just saved you from a beating. -No, you're probabIy right.

I'm sorry, man. How is everything? How's GoIdman Sachs?

The great thing about doing a fight with these guys is,

Matthew and Zac are both dancers,

so you could choreograph anything you wanted to.

The stuntmen came in, and they could make it look real,

and do it again, and again, and again.

but, of course, that's the last thing the character wanted to do at this point.

We see him in the first act

and we see him being baited by the Connors character,

but he doesn't rise to the bait

because he knows, he's confident in how good he is.

And here, at this point in his life, he's susceptible to it.

And he's not happy with himself for having punched him,

having been goaded into it.

Hey!

The glory days flashback is something that I'd used in 17 again, as well,

with Matthew Perry, who was playing a part with Zac in 17 again.

I used it again here,

of him just reliving, in his mind, his golden moment.

You didn't seem so harmIess up at Maddie's.

Yeah, that. I can expIain that.

-Yeah? -Yeah.

Connors is a dick.

Yeah. AIways has been.

-You don't remember me, do you? -Yeah. Yeah, I do.

-You do? -I do.

I aIready repIanted aII the fIowers

-by your father's grave. -No!

High schooI.

This is one of those scenes where neither one wants to be the one

that says, "I remember you from high school, and I've thought about you."

They don't want to be the loser who's been obsessed,

or give that away.

-And you won the Commodores' Cup. -Yeah.

You got a big saiIing schoIarship to Stanford, right?

I deferred.

For a whiIe.

The other thing here is, too, even though she's been away to college,

it is a small town and she knows what happened,

the accident, and what happened with him.

-It's good catching up. -Yeah.

FIukes!

-FIukes? -FIukes. Like a whaIe taiI.

-Can I show you something? -Yeah.

The reason Zac seems like he knows what he's talking about when he does this,

is he actually did master all of these concepts.

This wouId compIeteIy change your boat.

There's no drag.

so, his cockiness about it here is actually real,

as he is explaining it to her.

But everyone toId me structuraI stabiIity was more important.

-That doesn't appIy here. -Why?

Because this eIiminates direct stress on the keeI.

That's basic! Are you serious?

Sorry.

-Anyways... -Is that my boat?

Yeah.

-You drew my boat. -Yeah.

Good Iuck with the race,

-and be carefuI out there. -Thank you.

This lighthouse doesn't actually exist

because unlike, especially, the East Coast of America,

they don't really have lighthouses in Canada.

l think there are three in Vancouver, but they don't use them

because you have to hire people to look after lighthouses.

so we had to invent that, we had to build that.

That's what I like to hear. Where are you?

I was just passing Whidbey IsIand, heading into Puget Sound.

Okay, good girI. Keep going southeast.

That storm's roIIing in, Iooking reaIIy hairy.

so here's Amanda, who had never sailed before,

actually handling this 50-foot racing yacht.

This is, l think, Tommy Hilfiger's racing yacht,

which had been in the America's Cup competitions.

And here she's tacking. She actually almost capsizes.

Come on.

This is what you were made for.

And you see how far up she goes,

and right at the last second

about 10 burly guys came running out from the cabin below to right the ship.

The first Ieg is an aII-out 8,000-miIe sprint to Cape Town.

I wouId kiII that. You wouId never catch me.

-SIider? -No, I don't feeI Iike retrieving baIIs today.

One of the things that was trimmed

were all these scenes between the brothers,

because they are character scenes,

and while they were all good on their own,

within the context of the movie, they didn't move the plot along.

So, it was one of the things that we realized as we were watching the movie,

we had to pare them down.

Initially, in each scene, Zac was teaching his younger brother a new pitch,

leading up to a slider,

which is the most difficult pitch for a kid to... For anyone to master.

And so in this, Zac goads him.

So scared.

Come on, Sam. FaIIing asIeep here.

And, lo and behold, Charlie throws a ball that slides.

And this is our highbrow comedic moment,

which makes everyone cross their legs as they watch it.

-Let the Mud Games begin! -Let the Mud Games begin!

The idea behind this scene,

besides just an opportunity to have them skimboard,

was to distract the audience from the fact that

Tess is out there on her boat in the storm.

So you've stored that information, but you're not thinking about it.

Zac did all of his own stunts here,

except for standing on his head,

which l'm sure he could've done, but we didn't have him do, for insurance.

Right there.

And here we come up the next day.

Hey, guys.

And Zac's battling the hated geese.

This isn't a game.

Get out of here! Get out of here!

God, what the heII are you doing?

-Hi. -Hi.

I'm sorry about the noise. I apoIogize.

And here, again, it was a lot of misdirection,

so that you're not thinking he's running into her at her father's grave.

She's a ghost.

No, I'm fine. I just hit some rough weather Iast night.

And you see the red flowers behind her.

What?

No, it's fine. I just need some sIeep. I'm fine.

I couId cIean it up for you and see if it needs a stitch.

It's pretty... It's kind of gross.

I'm right down the hiII.

-A IittIe sting now. -Is it fataI?

DefiniteIy.

AII done.

You don't need stitches.

-Not a stitch? -No.

One of the complicated things in this, too, is if it's a ghost,

the rules of ghosts, which since The Sixth Sense

everybody is very conscious of.

lt didn't used to be the case.

I mean, it's an odd thing to think that if there are ghosts that there would be rules,

because that would seem to break every rule.

but if he is imagining it, if he's just cracked, then anything really goes,

which is one of the reasons I wanted that to be something

that we kept alive throughout the movie.

Because if it was one or the other, it really diminishes the possibilities.

Come on, I can do this.

Gorgeous Vancouver scenery.

but this shimmery lake,

which has this unreal quality to it, it's just almost glowing,

was because there was an old copper mine in that area.

The water was still incredibly polluted from the mining,

and so it had this almost metallic shine to it.

And you see all the logs washed up on the beaches behind

because of the constant lumber,

timber business going on.

Beer or wine?

-Surprise me. -Okay.

AII right, I wiII.

WeII, you have to make her pizza.

-Okay. -What? Pizza's deIicious.

-I'm not arguing. I think pizza is deIicious. -Good.

Remember me teIIing you that I kissed Jenny York?

Yeah.

WeII, I Iied.

Hey.

BeIieve me, you're not missing much.

This is one of those scenes where you realize

that Sam, the younger brother, is stuck.

AbsoIute fanatic.

That whiIe Charlie, Zac's character, is getting older,

the younger brother will never have any more life experience.

That his only experience is what he had before the crash,

and then their games of catch.

FootbaII. That's my sport.

-Come on. -Oh, pIease!

-No way. -Yes!

You didn't strike me as one of those chicks

-who Iikes neckIess 'roid-heads. -WeII, I do.

Come on, hairier, the better.

Yeah. More wine?

Yes, pIease.

And here you'll notice she has a subtle limp.

Are you moving?

And what she noticed on his table, but we don't show you a shot of, was

she sees the magazine with her in it and realizes that he's gotten it.

but one of the things I did was, with the people who aren't actually there,

one, I never went to their point of view, and two,

l never did over-the-shoulders for them when I was doing coverage.

-Did he? -No.

He tried out for the TripIe-A team in Pawtucket.

That was the Iast we saw of him.

Can I have that sketch someday?

It's yours now.

Thanks.

So, I haven't shown you my route.

You're Iimping.

Yeah, I toId you,

I got tossed around pretty good on my Iast saiI.

So I'm starting in Boston,

and then I'm going to make my way south

towards BraziI.

And then I'm going to go...

The race l referenced for her,

or modeled her race on, was the Velux race.

And there are women in their early 20s who do do that race.

lt's a round-the-world solo race. lntense.

I don't know.

No, I... CharIie...

I Ieave in a week.

I know.

I think I shouId go.

-Can I waIk you? -No.

-Come on, Iet me waIk you. -No, CharIie.

Timing,

it reaIIy is everything.

I'm sorry.

l had a whole bit in here about fireflies, as well, that there are fireflies outside,

and then discovered that there are no fireflies

on the other side of the Mississippi River.

so, I had to nix that idea.

but I did get this great shot of him running into the dark, holding this lantern,

which I actually think I prefer. It's so simple.

Just into the darkness.

The other idea I played with was the idea that he's asleep in his cabin,

and he's just gone for this

walk on the astral plane, then runs into her spirit.

I found you.

I think people had a problem with the idea that they were making out in a graveyard.

but they're not actually there, I mean, in hindsight.

Maybe spirits commingling, but that's about it.

And to do it in a way where it is ambiguous.

What are these?

Burn marks.

It's where the paramedic shocked me.

-They're beautifuI. -HardIy.

Hey.

They saved your Iife.

They're beautifuI.

This doesn't change anything.

Goose is a very brilliant fowl actor.

My ongoing geese runner.

Here he finds the note.

And we saw him sketching

in his draughtsman shack before.

And so, did she do it, or did he?

I knew you'd find me!

It was freezing cold as we shot this.

They're all trying not to shiver as they sail on the boat.

but they're actually sailing it. And again, they both really learned how to sail.

It's choppy.

Whoa, hey!

Thank you.

This is the first time he's been sailing since his brother died,

and this is about him coming back alive, her bringing him back alive.

Sorry. It's been a whiIe.

It won't happen again.

This is our mock lighthouse again.

"trust your heart if the seas catch fire

"and Iive by Iove..."

It's always tough with these. I mean, this is all green screen behind them.

One of the things we had in our advantage is shooting in anamorphic,

where the backgrounds would be kind of blurred anyway.

And it gives it kind of

a surreal effect.

It's E.E. Cummings.

It was my dad's favorite.

I Iike it a Iot.

I don't understand it at aII.

It's about taking chances.

SaiIing around the worId.

I wish you couId come with me.

It's a soIo race.

So you couId be part of my support team.

-I couId see you for a coupIe days. -I can't.

Why? Come on, you don't have any hoIidays?

I just can't.

You just can't.

I just can't.

-Oh, shit. -What?

Nothing. I Ieft something at work.

-What? WeII, hoId on, I'II come with you. -No. I won't be Iong.

I'II meet you at the cottage.

Sam. Sam!

Stop!

Sam, stop!

You're Iate.

I tried to do everything, as much as l could, in camera

as far as effects, not having any ghost effects.

but here, as he's forgetting him,

having him small in the frame, in the distance.

I feeI myseIf start to disappear.

Be nothing.

There's nothing to be scared of, Sam.

-Do you want me to go? -No.

Then why did you bring her?

And the trick here was, did she see sam?

CharIie...

Did Sam disappear before she got there?

Or could she not see him?

Sam and I made a deaI.

CharIie, you don't have to expIain anything to me.

-No, we made a... We made a pact... -You don't.

...that every day at sunset I wouId meet him here.

CharIie.

I can't Iose Sam, Tess.

I can't Iose Sam.

Let's go.

-No. -Let's go.

The more I'm in your worId, the Iess I can be in his.

CharIie, at some point we aII have to Iet go.

I can't Iose Sam, Tess.

Goodbye, Tess.

Good Iuck with the race.

Again, trying to tell as much of the story through the camera,

and what's in focus, what's not.

ActuaIIy, I did.

I can't come to Cape Town because

every evening I pIay catch with my dead brother

in the graveyard.

But I'II be here when you get back, Tess.

This is Charlie really wondering whether he's...

I don't think he knows at this point whether he sees ghosts or if he's insane.

Here's the brilliant bobbo.

You.

And here the trick is, the dog isn't reacting to her.

It could seem like it's reacting to her,

but in hindsight, you realize that the dog just takes off because the dog can't see her.

Hello?

Charlie?

l never can tell if your machine has picked up.

It's your mom.

I just really miss you.

Give me a call sometime, okay?

I love you.

Charlie looking for his hangover coffee

and coming up empty.

You aII right, boss man?

You Iook dirty, mate. What happened to you?

PIease say you got Iaid at Ieast.

Is that a no, is it? Oh, weII.

Thanks, babes.

Can I have your attention?

Bobbo!

JuIie, can you get Bobbo?

JuIie!

JuIie?

We've got a boat missing out of Quincy Harbor.

Whose boat?

It's the Querencia. Tess CarroII's boat.

Here's Charlie and Tess putting together the fact that she didn't come back

from her sailing trip three days earlier, that she's not actually there.

And the idea that ghosts or spirits are ripped out of life

and they don't even know that they're no longer alive.

And then Charlie coming back and seeing that the boat hasn't been touched,

and so he didn't go sailing,

and didn't, obviously, do anything else, because she wasn't there.

This graveyard that we used in Vancouver I think is used for every other movie.

And, in fact, as we are walking around, we'd find tombstones from movies

that had been there before.

l think Jennifer's Body had shot there before,

so you'd find these tombstones with very bizarre inscriptions on them.

Tess?

but it's, I think, about 200 years old,

and they weren't always sure where people were buried there

because when the lumber companies were running Vancouver,

there'd be indentured servants, scots and Irish, who wouId come over,

and couldn't afford burials,

and would just bury people there without markers.

And so, they wouldn't let you dig around and do a lot of fake headstones,

'cause they didn't know exactly what you'd be hitting.

I Iied to him. I...

I saiIed straight into the storm.

I remember... I remember I saw the oId Cape FIattery Iight.

Everyone sees the Iight.

No, you didn't...

I've seen that Iight, Tess.

CharIie, I'm getting coId. I'm scared.

I wanted you to find me.

That's why... That's why I came here, 'cause I wanted you to find me.

You were supposed to find me, because you're supposed to heIp me.

You were supposed to find me.

I cannot be dead. PIease, Charlie, find me.

Tess!

And there you see the red flowers again.

Every time we shot this scene, Zac would invariably have a tack or a splinter

stuck in his hand at the end of it that he'd be unaware of,

and someone would have to come and pull out with tweezers.

One of the odd things in Vancouver is that the medic is also the snacks person,

the crafts/snacks person.

For some reason, in Canada, that's the way it works.

The person who is making our snacks

is also the person who would have to deal with any on-set injuries,

and wear the same plastic gloves for either.

She's dead, that girI.

Tess.

She took a boat out in that storm.

She...

She never came back.

You stiII got me.

This is one of my favorite moments in the movie.

His younger brother tries to comfort him.

That's actually the saddest thing he could hear.

I know.

-Mr. St. CIoud? -I'm not on duty.

This is a personaI matter.

I'm CarIa Ferrente. FIorio was my husband.

I tried caIIing earIier. He...

He died Iast night.

FIorio wanted you to have his medaIIion.

Are you sure?

I'm sure. He said it was the answer for you.

To what?

"Why you?"

That's it?

That's it.

I've never seen one of these without a cross.

It's not Christ. It's Saint Jude.

Jude is the saint of aII Iost causes.

There's no such thing as a Iost cause.

Jude is also the saint for firemen and ambulance drivers.

God just doesn't show off.

There's got to be a reason God gave you a second chance.

You're not dead.

I just reaIIy hate geese, mate. I just hate them.

-They're dirty, they crap everywhere. -Where's Tink?

You fueIed up? Let's go.

What are you doing, man? Hey, hey!

Get your hands off my boat! In case you haven't heard,

the Coast Guard caIIed off the search.

WeII, then give me your keys. I'm taking your boat.

The heII you are.

-I know where she is, Tink. -Do you?

-I know where she is! -That's it, whack job!

Go back to your coffin before I...

I know where Tess is, Tink!

-And she's running out of time! -CharIie! Shut up!

CharIie! Go. Go back inside.

-He's not worth it. -She's running out of time!

Tink, we're going, aII right?

What are you doing?

Sorry about that.

The key's in the ignition, aII right? Go.

Go, go, go, go, go. Quick!

Go, go, go, go! Go!

Stop right now!

-I don't think he's gonna make it. -You son of a bitch!

He made it.

Stay down, stay down, stay down.

You frigging nutjob!

ReIax, reIax. CaIm down, aII right?

-CaIm down! -Where are you two taking my boat?

Cape FIattery.

That's 20 miIes from Tess' Iast known position.

But it's exactIy where she wouId have been if she saiIed straight into the storm, Tink!

She's about to saiI around the worId.

She wouId have wanted to test her boat in heavy weather.

You didn't even know her, St. CIoud. How couId you possibIy know...

This is a scene with a lot of hand-held, to give it energy

and the right feel for it.

but you don't want to become aware of it.

The DP, Enrique Chediak, is great at shooting hand-held.

Just Iisten to me, Tink.

She's aIive.

So that you don't feel like you just got off a roller coaster,

but still has the effect.

She's aIive, Tink.

Here we see the Washington coastline, which is pretty magnificent.

FIattery Light!

These rocks are amazing as you come out of Puget Sound,

and I'm getting seasick just looking at these waves.

And those are real seals.

The ocean was just teeming with bald eagles and seals

and all sorts of dolphins and things.

Let me grab the wheeI. Come on, I got it.

It's my boat. I know what to do. Come on.

Come on.

Keep your eyes open.

Get some rest.

This scene uses shots from the initial shoot,

when we were out on the water, and then stuff that we caught later in the studio.

And they're about six months apart,

which is always an interesting task, trying to mesh that.

We couId make it back to Quincy by sunset.

What is it you do in the woods every night, man?

If I toId you, you wouIdn't...

-You wouIdn't beIieve me. -I wouId beIieve you.

You're my mate.

You know, she might not even be out there.

What's up, CharIie?

We going back? Or are we moving on?

I'm going to find Tess.

And so, he's made the decision to break his deal with his brother.

And we see the sun setting,

and little Sammy waiting for him.

CharIie?

Forgive me, Sam.

I Iove you, CharIie.

Again, trying to shoot as much in camera as possible

and use the available sunlight, the sunset,

as he's wandering, or crossing over

into the light.

And using the flares.

Sam?

Over there! Outer rocks! That way!

Again, we're actually out in the water on this and also in a tank.

And all of the stuff that looks like ocean is in the tank,

and all the stuff that looks too flat

was when we were actually out on the ocean.

because it's called the Pacific for a reason.

Very flat.

-I can see it. I can see the base! -I'm bringing her back.

-Bear right, mate! Bear right! -I got it, I got it, I got it.

-Get as cIose as you can! -Hey!

-Hey! -CharIie, what are you doing?

CharIie! CharIie, the water's Iike ice! Don't be an idiot, mate!

-PIease wait for the Coast Guard! -If we wait, it'II be too Iate.

You won't Iast Iong enough to save her, mate. PIease!

This is why I was given a second chance.

No! Wait! CharIie!

Zac trained for, l think, a month in the tank,

learning how to hold his breath and rely on divers with oxygen tanks

so that he wouldn't have to come back up.

He was cool as a cucumber as we shot all these things,

and really couldn't see more than a few inches in front of his face

when he was underwater.

Tess?

Tess.

Initially, when he first looks over there, l actually had Amanda Crew

in the yellow slicker.

So, you just get that subliminal suggestion that she's there.

And then he comes over, and it's empty.

Here, the thing was figuring out exactly the sound of his head hitting the rock,

wherein you would believe that his skull wasn't cracked,

but enough to disorient him.

And then l cut into the...

I had the idea of him going back into the in-between, the dark space,

to get Tess.

This is where he left his younger brother,

or last saw his younger brother after the accident.

And he let go of his younger brother there.

And the idea is that he finds Tess now, and he's not gonna let go, no matter what.

And she's, of course, wearing her red suit.

Makeup gave her that slightly bluish tint, gave her a hypothermic look.

Here we have the light, and we don't know what it is initially.

And then the helicopter sound comes in.

Sit tight.

Sit tight!

Never steaI another man's gin.

Water.

-Water. -Yeah, aII right.

WeIcome back. How you doing?

How is she?

Yeah, she's good, mate. Yeah, she's good. She's recovering.

Doctor said she had hypothermia.

And when you hugged her, your body warmth kept her aIive.

Look, weII done, mate. Proper hero.

So this old yacht that we used, we couldn't muck up at all.

so, the idea is that it's rundown, that it's been up on blocks for a while.

All of the stuff you see on the side of the boat

is visual effects that we had to add later,

because the owner of the yacht would not let us

attach anything or paint anything on that might muck up the side of his boat.

I heard you were back home.

Isn't this BemeIman's oId boat?

It's mine now.

They were gonna strip it for scrap, so I took it off their hands.

I aIways Ioved this boat.

I got the name "bemelmans" from bemelmans bar in New York.

Bemelmans, who did

the children's books, the cartoons.

ReaIIy?

And initially, it was going to be BemeImans Geese,

but that got nixed somewhere along the way, so l worked it in here.

It's that you saved my Iife, CharIie St. CIoud.

She's a bIue-water cruiser. Where you headed?

Everywhere.

As soon as she's sound, I'm gonna saiI around the worId.

WeII, good Iuck.

After we'd finished shooting this

was when all those kids were attempting to sail around the world and getting lost,

which initially we thought

would be a tie-in to the movie, but then realized would not be a positive tie-in,

as we didn't want to encourage kids to go sailing off.

It's you.

Me?

The way you make me feeI...

I don't know. I've been having these visions, or maybe dreams,

but they're more vivid than any dreams that I've ever had. And...

And you're in them.

And we're in them. And...

And this is when Charlie knows she remembers.

They're not dreams, Tess.

They're memories.

"trust your heart if the seas catch fire

"and Iive by Iove though the stars waIk backward"

How did you know that?

It's E.E. Cummings. It was your dad's favorite.

It's about taking chances.

Just take a chance, Tess.

-My Iegs are stiII a IittIe wobbIy. -No worries.

So, again, all of that stuff,

that taped "X" on the side of the boat, was put on there through visual effects.

I miss you.

I'm okay, CharIie.

I'd give anything for you to see me,

what I'd have become.

But no one ever gets to see what couId have been.

Sorry I had to break our deaI.

It was time.

I mean, it's beyond anything we ever imagined, CharIie.

I hurt as bad as the day you died.

You hurt because you're aIive.

We'II aIways be brothers.

Promise?

Every day?

Come rain or shine? Come heII or high water?

I promise.

And here we have the end scene of the movie,

he and Tess walking off together,

and into their future together.

That angel was a set piece.

All those monuments by the side of the woods

were built by our production designer.

Thanks very much for listening to the director's commentary,

and I hope you enjoyed the movie. Thanks very much. bye.

I'm gonna pretend I Iike that.