The Invisible (CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!)

deedee · 06 May 07 :: 02:16

yey im sohappy i got it.. for all of u who didnt see i won: a polo, sweater, dickies pants, backpack and fake money from the movie.. all screen used by chris. once i have the items* bout 3 weeks* ill post pictures for u guys to see:D:D total canadian it came up to $125.. stupid shipping:P

deedee · 06 May 07 :: 02:17

haha and just a question teehee how come under my name it says cute lil horn dog.. just outa curiousity.. im still fairly new here and im a lil weee confuzed.><:doh:

TheCentralScrutinizer · 06 May 07 :: 07:46

It's the posting rank you're at right now, the second one. Chris often plays cute lil' horndogs so we made it a rank. All the ranks have something to do with something he's done. When you hit 50 posts, you'll be a "Fangirl".

domesticelefant · 06 May 07 :: 14:06

Congrats on winning the stuff, deedee.

Well, I looked for the clip on the homepage, and it doesn't seem to be there somehow, so I think I am going to have to record it again. As for now, I can only give you the clip from the October 06 Interview, which is here. Give me a few minutes to record and upload the other one, please.

domesticelefant · 06 May 07 :: 20:20

Okay, here's the other file. Sorry that it's only a wav file. I tried to convert it into mp3, but the converting program somehow doesn't work anymore, so I had to upload the wav file. I hope it works anyway.

Click me!

TheCentralScrutinizer · 06 May 07 :: 20:36

Guys the link in the above post is Chris saying without qualification that Pete killed himself. He did not say he "attempted to" or they edited it to leave it open, did he? And he also tried to be generous and not reveal that Goyer completely changed the ending from the Swedish film.

In that movie, Pete dies. And when Annie gets to the hospital, she doesn't save Nick by crawling in his bed and talking him back alive. His spirit asks her to pull the plug on his life support. And the last shot is his hand on hers, helping her do so. He chooses to die. It's pretty poetic. But not something Disney thought American audiences could handle. Especially young audiences. Sadly, they appear to have been right. Witness how many kids on IMDb are pissed because Annie died instead of surviving and hooking up with Nick.

The link above that to the October interview has Chris again trying to be diplomatic about the fact that some of his best stuff was cut from the movie. Kinda makes me sad listening to that now, after seeing the film. Knowing now what got cut.

Deb

domesticelefant · 06 May 07 :: 20:42

Why did Disney have to make this movie a Children's movie? I tend to believe they wasted a lot of good work that way.
Do you think there is a chance that the cut scenes are going to be on the DVD maybe?

TheCentralScrutinizer · 07 May 07 :: 20:00

Wanna know who to blame for all the problems with TI? By all accounts, this woman is repsonsible. She re-wrote Mick Davis's script so extensively that it bears little resemblance to the movie everyone signed on for...

Invisible Woman:
The Invisible's Christine Roum

By Danny Munso

After years of television work and polishing jobs, Christine Roum hooked up with her friend, Blade: Trinity writer-director David Goyer, for a remake of one of their favorite films. Here, she discusses her process with Goyer, writing a love story in the context of a thriller, and about the near-death experience that brought her and Goyer closer to the project.

David Goyer is no stranger to screenwriting, having penned such big screen fare as Batman Begins, all three films in the Blade franchise, and Dark City. But as he transitions into a full-time director, he was looking for a writer he could count on to adapt the Swedish thriller Den Osynlige (The Invisible) for American audiences. Turns out he didn't have to look too far.

Goyer happened to be friends with writer-producer Bently Tittle, whom he worked with on the short-lived Fox TV show FreakyLinks. Tittle suggested Goyer work with Tittle's wife, writer Christine Roum, who had worked on Law & Order, among other things. The two clicked and set out to bring the story of a teenager caught in a place between life and death who must solve his own murder before he fades from this world completely. Roum sat down with CS Weekly to discuss the project and why she chose to adapt a film she loved so much.

How did you come to work on The Invisible?

My husband is friends with David Goyer. They were surfing one day and David was talking about this project and he was currently looking for a writer. My husband recommended me. David and I talked about it and realized it was a good match.

Did you see the original film or read the book as part of your preparation?

I saw the original film. Then I read one of Mick's (Davis, the writer of the original Swedish version) original drafts, but mostly I went back to the original film. I didn't read the book until the movie was shooting. We didn't go back to the book at all, but it was really illuminating to read the book while we were in the middle of that process. I don't know if it would have impacted what we did, but it was interesting to see how the film had evolved from the book and where we were taking some of those ideas.

What was in the book that you weren't expecting?

I didn't know that the back story of Annie (Annelise in the book, played by Margarita Levieva) had her in a neo-Nazi group. All of the plot points are the same, but it was interesting what the author was trying to accomplish in the book with the social comment of these kids verging on being sociopathic. In the book, Annie was really almost beyond redemption. It was much more of a social commentary, which I found interesting.

What was the writing process like? How much was David involved in that?

David had a really strong vision for the film. We both loved the Swedish film. It was one of those situations where you see a really beautiful foreign film that you love and really impacted you. Then you hear they're remaking it and you say, "No! Why? They're going to ruin it!" So, we wanted to be so careful to do the right things with The Invisible because it's a situation where a Swedish audience responded to it, and we responded to it. There's something very common in that movie that we all react to, and we would have hated to lose the integrity of that. That being said, we are different audiences. You've heard the term "Swedish reserve." The emotional landscape in a lot of Swedish films is more stark, more reserved. There's a volcano underneath and you know it's there, but the exterior is very reserved. Speaking only for myself and coming from this culture, Americans tend to let the lava flow kind of steadily. It's just a different emotional expression.

What about that emotional landscape excited you?

When I pitched my take to David and to the producers, I talked a lot about Annie's character. I found her so challenging, which makes the Swedish film really interesting. At the same time, I felt that she made me so angry and that she seemed irredeemable. In the Swedish film, she goes to jail, but our version has a very different ending. There was something new I wanted to bring to her because I felt like we got a lot of her closed-off, antisocial character. We sensed a redeemable person in there, but I wanted to go to a place that was one step further with these characters. I wanted to really feel their emotional connection in a deeper way, because they start out in such opposite places. I kind of wanted to explore what it feels like to come together on some level and have a sense of hope and redemption at the end. It could be argued that's a very American point of view.

How difficult was it to write a love story in the context of a thriller?

That was very challenging. You're talking about two people who hate each other, and you have to lead them to a place where they really love one another. The gift of The Invisible is that they both get to experience each other's world in private. He's invisible and he gets to be with her in moments where you would never be with someone. He gets to see her real self. Then she is motivated to explore him and discover who he is. So, those interior moments really allowed us to have a love story where the two people aren't really in the room together. It was a very strange, interesting kind of balance.

Why do you think the material spoke to you so much on a personal level?

The Swedish film was made in 2002, so these are both post-9/11 films, and I don't need to tell you how much polarity we're seeing in the world. And I feel that if I was that age, watching what's been happening, I don't think there's a lot of movies that allow younger people to experience that depth of emotion. To really face hard things like deep, deep hatred, and then to find our commonality -- to find something that redeems us all and makes us want to continue wanting to put one foot in front of the other.

I told you David was very close with us, and I think one of the reasons he was attracted to having me write the screenplay is that he went through a really difficult journey with my husband and I -- a very near-death fight. We crossed the boundary into that other realm for several years and David was by our side through the whole thing like a brother. So, he knew we had explored that terrain and that I had to think a lot about death in the past four years. I found that death is not scary. I found that ghosts are not scary and that the in-between world is a transcendent world. I didn't want to be shy to express that in The Invisible. David really held my feet to the fire about expressing emotion, especially at the ending of our movie. There was no Swedish reserve.

If you don't mind me asking, what was the event that brought you all together?

My husband was diagnosed, at 39 years old, with a very rare form of kidney cancer. It took his father's life at age 38, so it was a bit of death sentence. He was really, really sick. He had five surgeries, and we had many people telling me to get my affairs in order. At this time, our son was barely two years old. He's completely fine now. I found a clinical trial at the National Institute of Heath, which was studying this exact form of cancer. They tried some new things with him in terms of radiation and he is completely clean. David was fearless. We had many friends and family members who were so close and wonderful to us, but David sat with me in the waiting room during the worst surgeries. He's a fearless guy emotionally and spiritually, and I didn't know that about him. And I think that's what attracted him to this movie and why he felt that together we could approach this movie with a sense of authentic emotion. So, hopefully we did something good here.

Danny Munso graduated from film school in 2004 and can currently be found on his computer working on one of his many half-written screenplays. Or, more likely, he's on the Internet checking the scores of his beloved Bay Area sports teams.

SOURCE: Creative Screenwriting Newsletter

domesticelefant · 08 May 07 :: 18:02

Well, what's to say here ... never collaborate with your friend's wives! LOL

deedee · 19 May 07 :: 05:27

http://www.myspace.com/theinvisiblemovie im not sure if u guys have seent his yet but it has a ton of info on the site and video clips from the movie so spoiler alert.. it has the track listings for the soundtrack as well as videos from some of the bands contest winners its pretty cool:D

deedee · 19 May 07 :: 05:33

OMGGG LOOK WHAT I FOUND........ omg deb u were right bout the money.. look on the site what they have MAJOR SPOILER SO DONT SCROLL DOWN

Last edited by deedee (19 May 07 :: 05:33)

TheCentralScrutinizer · 19 May 07 :: 06:35

Yep. So you will have a prop that's part of a deleted scene.

TeeJay · 29 May 07 :: 23:02

WARNING!
The following contains HEAVY SPOILERS for The Invisible!

"You're broken."

That's what Nick says to Annie, but I guess you could say that about Pete too. About pretty much any of these characters. But first let me talk about the movie itself. Not as good as the trailer promised, but I already knew that before I watched it. Can't say I hated it, can't say I loved it. Disregarding the fact that Chris was in it for a moment, it was an okay movie. The fact that Chris was in it made it even more enjoyable. Okay, well, I guess this isn't a movie that's supposed to be enjoyable, but you know what I mean if you've seen it.

What I loved most about it was the intensity, the whole murky, gloomy, depressing darkness of it. All these characters were so sadly lost in their own way, each and every one of them. Nick seems like he has the perfect life, but deep down he is just as miserable as Annie and Pete because he feels like his mother doesn't understand him at all. No one seems to get him or care much about what he's really thinking.

Annie is such a tragic character. She's been through a lot of shit in her life, how can you not turn cold, petty criminal with a living situation like that, a life without love? How can you not hate life and despise everyone around you? But deep down, she knew that wasn't who she wanted to be. Tough to break through that facade, once you've built it up.

Then we have our broody, deeply saddened but cowardly Pete. Pete who is the wimp, who can't stand up for anyone (least of all himself), who will always show the white feather at the first sign of danger. Pete, who is too scared of everything and will try to save his own ass first. Until it's too late and he only sees one way out--and chooses to be coward about that too.

And Nick's mother is also sort of a tragic character, when you look at it. She already lost a husband and clung on for dear life to at least make her son's life work out like she had envisioned it. And in the course of that she didn't pay attention to what he really wanted. I guess she tried to regain control of her life by trying to control her son's. And she managed to estrange her own son to a point where neither really knows the other anymore.

The saddest thing is that none of them really planned for any of this to happen. You start with one impulsive, little lie, and it blows up in your face and before you know it, spins out of control. That's basically what drives the whole movie. And what makes it so tragic when you think about it. I felt deeply for each and every one of these characters, no matter that they did these despicable things.

Visually, the whole bleak atmosphere is underlined by the blue/gray tone that seems to dominate the cinematography, the dark and rainy locales we find these characters in. I can only really remember one scene where there was open laughter, and that came from Chris/Pete, of all people. This is not a movie you walk out of with a smile on your face. Quite the opposite.

It's an intense ride, and not in a very good way.

Now, let me talk a little more about Chris and his role in this movie. We already knew a ton of his scenes were cut. And I can now see myself how that is disappointing, not only for him. Chris said in an interview that he tried to envision what happened to the character when you didn't see him on screen, and that is one of my main complaints as a Chris fan (I don't know if others will feel the same way). Because I sat there a few times when the plot was focussing on Annie and Nick and thought: So, what's going on with Pete right now? Where does he fit into all this? Especially at the end. I was kinda missing a scene with Nick and Pete where they talk. Not necessarily make up again, but just confront what happened (do I detect fan fiction potential?). From a director's point of view I can see how that would have been too much, but from a Dorquette point of view, I wanted closure.

And, Jesus Christ, must Chris have had a hard time up there in Vancouver! He already talked about that he pretty much shut himself off from the real world, and I can also see how he "needed" to in order to give us that gloomy, broody character, but I just wanna hug him to bits for that, you know? (CHRISNEEDSAHUG!) That's what I call dedication. Here we are again with the balls-to-the-wall. The grim, sullen intensity that surrounds Pete is all there, almost thick enough to grab off the screen. I could totally see why Pete wanted to off himself. Didn't even find it that shocking, but that probably has to do with the fact that I was spoiled about that before I watched the movie. (And, yes, Doree, I forgive you.)

What else can I say than: Chris, you did an amazing job. You have my full admiration--once again.

And last but not least... About what Chris told us when we interviewed him in October, that he killed his best friend, well... not really. Sure, he indirectly does (or not), but it's not like he pulled the trigger or something. Still, these are things you shouldn't be saying before the movie has opened.

Not sure what I typed up just now makes a whole lot of sense, but I wanted to get that out after just having finished watching the movie for the first time. Now, when can I get a good quality DVD?

And now here's something to ponder for those who know what I'm talking about: Where those nicotine gums real?

-TeeJay

TeeJay · 29 May 07 :: 23:14

Okay, guys, I just read what you all wrote in this thread and also finally listened to what Chris said at FX about it. And, see? I naturally assumed Pete survived. Why? I don't know. Guess I thought his dad found him in time and got him to the hospital and they managed to revive him. Maybe too much of a believer in happy endings?

And it also makes me really sad that they had to botch up a film that could have been great only to make it PG-13 instead of R. It's average now, no more than that. And I'm sure it could have been way more.

How difficult was it to write a love story in the context of a thriller?

Now, wait a minute. Where was there a love story? If there was anything that was missing in this movie, it was a love story. They mean what went on between Nick and Annie, the kind of transformation she went through at the end? Not a love story in my eyes. And a love story was the last thing that his movie needed, if you ask me.

-TeeJay

TheCentralScrutinizer · 29 May 07 :: 23:38

All the 14-year-old girls on IMDb think it was a love story, T. Go check out some of the inanity and dreck over there. "Why did Annie have to die? She should've hooked up with Nick, it was sooooo obvious that he fell in love with her, blah, blah, blah."

And Pete dies, damnit! I have never and will never believe otherwise. He died in the original novel, he died in the Swedish film. CHRIS said Pete killed himself. But Disney ROBBED him of the one thing that would almost redeem him. He needed to PAY for what he did. And he did more than what we saw onscreen --- he stole Nick's money too. If you don't allow Pete to make that choice and in the process help Nick save himself, what the frig is the point?

And don't forget, Nick chooses to die too in the original. And he gets Annie to help him with that. Leaving her alone to face the consequences of her actions --- which she now understands the gravity of and will have to shoulder for the rest of her life.

Much better film, if you ask me.

Deb

TeeJay · 29 May 07 :: 23:45

Sisterdebmac wrote:

And Pete dies, damnit! I have never and will never believe otherwise. He died in the original novel, he died in the Swedish film. CHRIS said Pete killed himself. But Disney ROBBED him of the one thing that would almost redeem him. He needed to PAY for what he did. And he did more than what we saw onscreen --- he stole Nick's money too. If you don't allow Pete to make that choice and in the process help Nick save himself, what the frig is the point?

So I guess the point we're making here is they should have made it much clearer that Pete died for it to make sense. I'm not saying he shouldn't die, I was just saying that I naturally assumed he made it, simply because they didn't make it crystal clear that he succeeded in killing himself. And I do actually agree, it would have made a much better point to have him die for real.

Now I'm just kinda sad that all that went wrong with this movie had to go wrong. I was really looking forward to this at one time, but so many things happened to this movie that in the end it's just a dirty speck on my (and most other people's) radar. And we pretty much know that Chris feels the same way, right? It shouldn't be that way, not when you put so much effort into something that costs a sh...load of money.

-TeeJay

TheCentralScrutinizer · 29 May 07 :: 23:55

Exactly. BTW, can I link your review on the IMDb thread? I think it's really good and makes some very nice points about what's actually good about the movie. It's totally dead over there right now. They need something new to discuss.

OhGnarly · 30 May 07 :: 00:22

Glad you got to see the movie!

I totally agree about not being able to hate it or love it. Although for me, if Chris hadn't been in it, I probably wouldn't have given it much thought afterwards. It didn't move me or anything, not like Alpha Dog did. Though I'm not sure if it was really supposed to be a film that left that sort of impression on you.

I'm curious, aside from Chris's part, how did you like the acting?

TheCentralScrutinizer · 30 May 07 :: 01:04

Hey Brenna! You made it to the East Coast, then? Woohoo!

I know you're asking TeeJay about the other acting, but I wanted to say that I thought the guy who played Marcus was excellent. And I liked the guy who played the cop, too. That was about it. I don't agree that Marcia Gay Harden was terrible as most everyone on IMDb says, I just thought her character was such a cold fish that I couldn't care about her. Whatshername who played Annie was pretty good too when you know that this was her first film. She'll only get better with time. I have no love for Chatwin. All he did was yell all the way through the movie. His work was a bit too one-note for me.

It's interesting that you would say TI didn't move you the way AD did. I've been thinking that same thing. I could've sworn it was going to be the other way around at this time last year. Shows how wrong one can be when the machinations of the studio system get hold of a film, huh?

Stupid Disney.

OhGnarly · 30 May 07 :: 01:36

Yep! We're heading through Tennessee and into Virginia tomorrow. We'll probably stay the night in Roanoke. We're rushing to meet some family up in Pennsylvania on Thursday.

I need to see the Invisible again to evaluate the other performances more accurately. I do remember thinking that the actor who played Marcus was good.

TeeJay · 30 May 07 :: 08:52

Sisterdebmac wrote:

It's interesting that you would say TI didn't move you the way AD did. I've been thinking that same thing. I could've sworn it was going to be the other way around at this time last year. Shows how wrong one can be when the machinations of the studio system get hold of a film, huh?

I feel the same way. I thought Alpha Dog would be interesting at the very least, but that TI would be a really cool film that all the big cinemas would be showing and that I would be really jazzed about. And for me it was the other way round as well. Which might have happened for a reason, though I don't really know what it is.

I meant to say this yesterday, but I forgot: I was really impressed by Margarita Levieva, I have to say. Of course keeping in mind it was her first big movie. Just like Deb, I didn't really dig Justin Chatwin. Someone said it felt like he was too aware of the camera most of the time. In retrospect, I agree with that. Maybe it was the fact that he had to pretend no one could see him all the time, I think he might have tried a little too hard to make it look natural. Marcia Gay Harden was okay, though I am way more impressed with her work in American Gun. She certainly didn't annoy me. The guy who played Marcus was, like Deb said, also quite good. Overall, the acting was okay, except maybe for Justin, who I think can do better.

I posted my review on the IMDb board myself, slightly modified. And I read some of the posts there. Deb, you were annoying people again, weren't you? Someone called you a studio plant. This was what? The nth time? You know, actually I agree with some people over there. In the US version of the movie, we simply don't know if Pete died. You can argue that he died in all the other versions of the story, probably even died in the scripted version of this one. But in the one they screened, it is just not clear whether he dies or not. And I was fooled into believing he didn't die myself.

-TeeJay

TheCentralScrutinizer · 30 May 07 :: 15:14

I've barely said a word there for weeks! And I certainly haven't defended the movie since I actually saw it. Who the hell is calling me a studio plant now? You know what? Maybe that's a compliment. Maybe people think that because I usually sound like I know what the frig I'm talking about, unlike most posters on IMDb.

TeeJay · 30 May 07 :: 15:51

Don't worry, this wasn't anything recent. I was just scanning through all the posts to find if there was anything Chris-related and that one struck me as something to chuckle over. It must be a compliment of sorts.

-TeeJay

TheCentralScrutinizer · 30 May 07 :: 17:30

Yeah, and it was probably this one jerk too, who was picking on me there for a while, calling me names. Or it could've been that post by greatgreyowl who followed me over from the Alpha Dog board and popped off. He's just a hater. Likes to stir up the stink for no reason at all.

domesticelefant · 30 May 07 :: 18:58

Right now it pisses me off that I will not be able to see the movie until the DVD comes out. I don't know why but somehow they are not showing it anymore near here. They were showing it in LB for like three days when I was busy with that convention, but when I got back home, the movie was gone. Grrr. But I am glad you liked Chris's performance, Tina. I am sure I will like it too. The good thing about the wait is that I will be watching it in English then (probably with subtitles, but still English. LOL). At least ONE good thing.

Chris Marquette Message Board

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