Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

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Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881

The Daily Northwestern

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A closer look at The Box

The Weekly had a chance to participate in a conference call with some of the stars and creators of The Box. Here’s what we learned.

Richard Kelly could not be more relaxed while he watches a Wednesday morning episode of the “Rachael Ray Show” from a Chicago hotel room. For many college students, it’s an ideal fly-on-the-wall scenario. OK, maybe there are other things most of the director’s fans would like to hear Kelly talk about besides the merits of EVOO, like what’s with all the rabbits in Donnie Darko?

But today, Kelly is not here to shed any light on that cult favorite. The director is promoting his latest film, The Box, starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden, who join Kelly from Boston. For Kelly, The Box marks a critical juncture in his artistic career. In interviews, Kelly has acknowledged that this is his first film to be picked up by a major distributor (Warner Bros.), now that smaller, artsy distribution companies are going by the way side. Still, ask anyone who’s seen the movie and they’ll say it hardly conforms to the big-studio sci-fi thriller genre.

Kelly, who wrote the screenplay, based the film on Button, Button, a short story by Richard Matheson (author of the story that spawned I Am Legend), which was first published in a 1970 Playboy issue. That short story, a scant 10 pages in book form, managed to leave a lasting impression on Kelly when he read it as a boy. “It obviously had a huge impact on me. The concept of the story was something that left a strong footprint in my mind.”

Having secured the rights to Matheson’s work, Kelly developed the story to fill a feature-length running time. For Kelly, Button, Button laid the foundations for a great story. “I see the short story as Act One for a movie. By the end, you’re left with these questions. These were such amazing questions to be explored in Act Two and Act Three, which is really what this film is about.”

The Box centers on Norma (Diaz) and Arthur Lewis (Marsden), a middle-class couple in 1976 Virginia, whose world is thrown into chaos when a mysterious, disfigured Arlington Steward (Frank Langhella) arrives at their door with a simple propostion. Push a button and receive $1 million, but a stranger will have to die because of it.

Marsden was immediately intrigued by the film’s premise: ordinary people forced to confront their own morals under incredible circumstances. “These characters were very human, but they’re surrounded by these supernatural situations. It makes for a really great story.”

Diaz, an admirer of Kelly’s work, was immediately drawn to the story. “When I read the script, it was very authentic to the stories Richard tells. He has this way of telling a story in his own, unique way.” Seeing so much of Kelly in the script should come as no surprise. Kelly weaves much of his own life into The Box. Kelly grew up in the Virginia suburbs, where his father worked for NASA (as does Arthur in the film). In addition, Norma’s disfigured foot is based on Kelly’s mother’s own freak radiation accident.

Kelly acknowledges that setting The Box in 1976 was needed to keep the integrity of Matheson’s story. “It became a necessary decision to set it in the 1970s because today, with social networking and Google, it just wouldn’t work. I didn’t want Norma sitting in front of a laptop for half of the movie.” This retro setting also allows Kelly to pay homage to the thrillers of Hollywood’s past. “The movie’s score here is really in the spirit of Bernard Herrmann,” says Kelly, referring to the great film composer, whose work included Vertigo and several episodes of The Twilight Zone. The Box, with its lingering zooms and long tracking shots, is reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick’s work.

Still, Kelly thinks today’s viewers will have no trouble connecting with Arthur and Norma’s struggle. “They have a lifestyle they can’t afford with the mortgage, private school, the Corvette in the driveway. I hope the film resonates with people today.”

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Northwestern University and Evanston's Only Daily News Source Since 1881
A closer look at The Box