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Where The Heart Is Presskit

March 29, 2000

The Print Interview

Novalee Nation, 17 and very pregnant, has never been part of a real home. The closest thing to family for the hard-luck teen is her selfish, would-be musician boyfriend, Willy Jack, with whom she’s traveling from Tennessee to California in a rust bucket that used to be a Plymouth.

A bathroom stop en route, at an Oklahoma Wal-Mart, changes Novalee’s life forever. For when she leaves the store, she discovers that Willy Jack and the Plymouth are gone. Only her Polariod camera remains in the parking space.

Alone and broke, Novalee surreptitiously moves into the vast store, borrowing food and supplies from its shelves. When she gives birth on the floor – and her hideaway is revealed – Novalee and her "Wal-Mart Baby" become instant celebrities. More importantly, over the next few years, Novalee finally becomes part of an unconventional, makeshift family comprised of her wonderfully eccentric new friends.

Now, with the family she always wanted, Novalee is transformed from a homeless teen to a successful and strong woman. She has finally found a home in this small town where fate has dropped her.

WHERE THE HEART IS stars Natalie Portman as Novalee, Ashley Judd as Lexie, Novalee’s friend and surrogate big sister (who names her many kids after dessert snacks); Stockard Channing as Sister Husband, a mother figure who takes Novalee into her home; and Joan Cusack as Ruth Meyers, a no-nonsense Nashville agent who takes the no-good Willy Jack under her wing.

Co-starring are James Frain as Forney, the local librarian with whom Novalee discovers a passion for learning as well as the possibility of love, Dylan Bruno as Willy Jack, whose heartless ditching of Novalee changes her life (and his, as he ends up getting what’s long been coming to him); and Keith David as Moses Whitecotten, a photographer who puts Novalee on the path to a new career.

The film is directed by Matt Williams, from a screenplay by Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel, based upon the novel by Billie Letts. The producers are Susan Cartsonis, David McFadzean, Patricia Whitcher and Matt Williams. The executive producers are Carmen Finestra and Rick Leed.

The production team includes director of photography Richard Greatrex, B.S.C., production designer Paul Peters, editor Ian Crafford and costume designer Melinda Eshelman. Music is by Mason Daring, and the music supervisor is Lisa Brown.

Matt Williams, the highly successful television producer/creator of several hit television series, had a strong reaction when he first read Billie Letts’ novel Where the Heart Is.

"I really responded to the book’s humanity and humor," says Williams. "The characters were quirky yet very real, and they reminded me of the people I grew up with in the Midwest."

"They’re also heroic, not in a grand way, but in the way they persevere with a sense of humor through all the various assaults life can throw in one’s direction. Most importantly, they persist by banding together and forming a surrogate family – a community of souls."

These qualities also excited producer Susan Cartsonis when she read the novel, prior to publication, during her tenure as an executive at Twentieth Century Fox. By the time the book was published, she had become president of production at Williams’ Wind Dancer Films. So for Cartsonis, bringing WHERE THE HEART IS to the screen has been particularly satisfying.

"When I first read the novel I fell in love with it," she recalls. "I had an instinctive and visceral response to the story. In a way it’s an epic story: The characters are heroes and are inspirational; they overcome hurdles in funny, tragic and interesting ways to make something of themselves."

"I particularly responded to the book’s theme: the nature of family and the idea that you’re not necessarily related to the people who become your family."

Adds Williams, whose work includes the landmark television series "Roseanne" and "Home Improvement": "I didn’t realize it until I decided to direct the film, but there’s a common thread to every television show I’ve created and all the plays I’ve written – the celebration of the American family."

To bring the family of WHERE THE HEART IS to cinematic life, Williams and Cartsonis turned to noted screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (“City Slickers,” “Parenthood,” “EdTV”). “I’ve always been a fan of their work,” says Williams, “so we met with Lowell and Babaloo, gave them the book and told them, ‘We think this may be a match.’ And they said, ‘Wait a minute. We’re a couple of guys who grew up in New York City, and this book is about a 17-year-old Tennessee girl who ends up in Oklahoma.’ But they read it in one night, came back the next day and said, ‘This scares the hell out of us. That’s why we have to do it.’”

The biggest challenge in adapting the novel was finding a center around which the story could unfold. Explains Williams: "The book has many wonderful characters, and it’s a bit of a tapestry. For the screenplay we had to have more of a spine, and more of a narrative drive to the story." Novalee Nation became the spine of the story.

It was not an easy role to cast. "The film spans a five year period, with the character aging from 17 to 22," says Williams. "She changes from being naïve and somewhat ignorant of the world to being empowered and gaining control of her life and destiny. We had to have an actress who could make that physical and emotional journey." Williams and Cartsonis found their Novalee in Natalie Portman. "In addition to being a gifted actress, Natalie was on the same cusp of maturity as the character," states Cartsonis. "She was the perfect age – no longer a child, but not fully a woman yet. She had a foot in both of those worlds, just like Novalee."

Portman also appreciated this connection. "Novalee makes a transition to adulthood, and I was offered the role as I began going through that transition in my own life."

When Portman first read the script she saw it was a modern day “Wizard of Oz.” “Like Dorothy, Novalee follows a path, acquiring a family along the way,” she points out. “I also think the film’s views on family are very interesting – that the family you might be born into is not always the family that is right for you.”

A carefully chosen ensemble assembled by Williams, Cartsonis and casting director Mali Finn plays the members of Novalee’s new family. Says Cartsonis: “We wanted to create a family of actors who responded strongly to each other. It was particularly important to cast actors with whom Natalie would have great chemistry, and who would fit together in a illogical but balanced and entertaining way.”

Ashley Judd takes on the role of Lexie, a woman who according to Matt Williams, “is just looking for that person to love, to complete her life, but she keeps picking the wrong guys. Lexie perseveres through a sense of humor. She’s a wonderfully funny character who, like Novalee, goes through an interesting transformation.”

Williams also notes that Judd shares important traits with her character. “Ashley is full of life; she’s curious, smart and bubbly. We knew immediately after meeting with her that she had Lexie’s spirit.”

Judd found it easy to picture herself in the film as early as her first reading of the script. “I was on a plane,” she remembers, “going through the script, and there was a copy of Vanity Fair on the seat next to me, with Natalie on the cover. That made it so easy to fall into the vision of the movie. And immediately I pictured myself playing Lexie.”

While Lexie is like a sister to Novalee, the character of Sister Husband becomes a surrogate mother. And like several other characters in the story, she has overcome adversity with humor and love (plus some frisky activities with her boyfriend atop her kitchen table, acts for which the born-again Sister regularly repents).

Sister Husband is the essence of pure generosity, a very loving and funny character. The filmmakers knew that Stockard Channing could embody those characteristics. “With her incredible experience, especially on the stage, I was certain Stockard would have no problem playing a range of emotions, from purely comedic to dramatic,” notes Williams. “The role of Sister required that kind of range.”

Although Channing does not physically resemble the character as described in the book, the actress notes that she tried to capture Sister’s wonderful spirit. “Sister is a very loving human being, with a great deal of common sense,” Channing points out. “She’s very grounded and becomes Novalee’s mother as well as her friend. She takes Novalee into her house, and in a kind of rite of passage, gets Novalee through the difficult part of her life.”

Channing and Judd were relatively easy to cast, but finding an actor to play Forney, the lonely librarian closed off from life after caring for his ailing sister for several years, proved more challenging.

“When I read the book and screenplay, I could draw a direct parallel to someone I know in real life with every character except Forney,” explains Williams. “We saw about twenty actors, but no one who was even beginning to hit the character. Then James Frain came in off of a film where he was playing a gangster. He was unshaven, had bags under his eyes, and was wearing a scruffy leather jacket. It was then I knew we had our Forney. He brought an intellect and intensity to the role.”

Frain, while appreciating all of the character’s traits, was particularly intrigued by the relationship that develops between Forney and Novalee. “They’re such an unlikely couple at the beginning because they’re so different from one another,” he points out. “Forney doesn’t know much about people, and she helps him with that. He in turn shows her how to take charge of her life and educate herself. And they realize that beneath the differences they have a lot in common. They have the same kind of mind and heart.”

The casting of the other man in Novalee’s life, Willy Jack, came about in an unusual way. Actor Dylan Bruno was submitted for the role of Forney, but when he came in for his audition he told the filmmakers he wasn’t right for the part; he wanted to read for Willy Jack. Says Williams: “Dylan read the scenes, we put him on tape – and he just nailed Willy Jack.”

“Willy Jack is a charismatic and handsome rogue,” Williams adds. “And Dylan had those qualities.”

Bruno found some unexpected difficulties while preparing for the role. “I had about three weeks before shooting started, during which I spent every day playing the guitar like mad as well as trying to teach myself to sing,” he remembers. “While I had no trouble learning each individually, it was difficult for me to do the two things at the same time. It all finally clicked – two days before I had to do the scene.”

After ditching Novalee, Willy Jack decides to pursue a career in music. His tough, cynical and sarcastic Nashville agent, Ruth Meyers, is played by Joan Cusack. As much as the filmmakers wanted Cusack for the part, initially it looked like her work on other projects would preclude her involvement with WHERE THE HEART IS. “I couldn’t see anyone else as Ruth,” says Williams. “Lucky for us a hole opened up in her schedule.”

Cusack in turn appreciated Williams’ approach to the material. “I like the way Matt described the film, and the idea of people finding a family. The film also is about hope, and my character puts her hope in the wrong place. That certainly happens in life, and I thought it would be interesting and different to play.”

For the role of photographer Moses Whitecotten, Novalee’s surrogate father and mentor, the filmmakers cast Keith David. “I’m a father myself,” says David, “so the theme of nurturing a young person appealed to me. But I was most excited to be working in a film about relationships.”

Although WHERE THE HEART IS is set in a small town in Oklahoma, the filmmakers decided to shoot on locations in Austin, Texas to take advantage of that city’s large film crew base. Filming also took place in various towns and on soundstages at Ranch Studio in the Texas capital.

Besides its film crew base, Austin also has a prominent music scene, which was important for sequences in which Willy Jack is seen pursuing his career as a musician in Nashville. The bustling street life and clubs of 6th Street in downtown Austin doubled for Music City.

Austin also has a similar terrain to the story’s Oklahoma setting. The city’s Wal-Mart was a key location, and the store’s management and employees were extremely cooperative with the production. Says Susan Cartsonis, “The look and feel of the area, the landscape, the architecture – everything we needed – was available within a small radius of the city.”

Excerpts from the press video (thanks to Carol & Eileen)

James Frain soundbites:

On "Forney":
"I play a character called Forney who is....he's from a different world than the other characters in the town. He is from the East, from an educated family who are now kind of decimated. There are only himself and his sister left in the town. He lives in this library which the family run, but effectively, he runs."

On "Forney's" attraction to "Novalee":
"He's always kind of carrying a flame for her, but he keeps it at bay, you know, because he doesn't want to intrude, and he doesn't want to spoil what they have. He's very careful with people, he's very loyal and he's very caring, but he's careful not to ruin things and spoil things. He becomes a kind of surrogate father-figure for Novalee's child, and that's a very important relationship for him."

On Natalie Portman:
"Natalie is so fresh and spontaneous, and confident and relaxed, and joyful and, you know, just beautiful. She has this total freedom in front of the camera. She's just really fun to work with and really, sort of a joy to be around. She's a great actress. I mean, she just seems to be able to tap into whatever experience is necessary, just like that."

Natalie Portman soundbite:

On "Forney":
"Forney is played by James Frain and he is this librarian who Novalee befriends. He's pretty much her best friend in the world and he becomes a father-figure for her child. This very sweet love story develops between them that grows out of friendship."

Director Matt Williams soundbite:

On "Forney":
There's great kindness in this man, but he had to have someone come along, if you will, and unlock that door in his soul and open it up, and that's what Novalee does. Very interesting, because he, um, he's a little strange and offputting at first, and little by little, the layers start to peel away and you see the essence of the man which is a very kind, wonderful, sensitive individual.

On the movie's theme:
"Where The Heart Is" is home. It's that sense of home. And it's not just a geographical place. It is metephorically that place that you go to for comfort and joy and communion.

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