It sounds loosely based on J.D. Salinger, the father is a recluse and has unpublished books that publishers would kill to have, the daughter is offered money to get the book and she’s an actress (J.D.'s daughter wrote a book about her father and his son is an Actor). The father is also with a younger woman (J.D. had an affair with a writer in the 70s and also is married to a much younger woman). I'm I the only one who has thought this or what?
sharei thought the same not to mention the obvious reference to "catcher" with the last name "holden". also, zooey deschanel is named after the title character from salinger's "franny and zooey"!
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lots of reclusive writer characters in movies are based on Salinger; Forrester in Finding Forrester was.
shareSounds like Salinger to me, too.
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You know i assumed it would be a lot like salinger, after seeing the trailer.
After watching the actual movie, i'm less convinced. there are obvious elements there and i think there was even some controversy at one point some time ago where Salinger's old love letters were auctioned. I believe the person who bought them gave them back to him? can anyone confirm that?
What throws me for a loop is Ed Harris character, acting much more like a left wing aging hippy. referencing "college students in berkley pulling out guns." and growing his hair long (although it is short in his "younger" dusk jacket photos). Salinger fought in WWII and even landed on D-day. Well into his old age (and perhaps still today) he drove a GI issued Jeep. From what i've read he doesn't strike me as being politically left, or political at all for that matter. I understand that this character may only be an allusion to the ecentric author, but I feel like there is a disconect in pairing the escentricities of Salinger with the stereotypes of a late sixties activist.
That being said, many paralelles to the film and to Salinger definately exist...
Ed Harris writing in his garage: Salinger wrote in a bunker he had behind his house. The random lit major trying to "track down" the allusive author. Harris's character involved with a much younger women reminds me a lot of Salinger's love affair with Joyce Maynard. The idea of unpublished work hidden his house, I remember reading about a house fire that occured at Salingers and the speculation of how many unpublished works may have been lost. The idea of a secret novel, that may be amazing or a disaster; anyone remember Salinger's attempt to print his novella "Hapsworth" and then later pulled it after customers already preordered it on Amazon in 1997. The notion that the aging author may have "lost it" regarding his writing ability, many who have read "Hapsworth" when it was first published in a periodical many years ago thought it lacked the magic of his original writtings and seemed lost in eastern theology. Even an estranged daughter, i recommend reading "Dream Catcher" a memoir by Salinger's daughter. The reclusiveness of his house parallels Salinger's home tucked away in New England.
Any how that was just off the top of my head. I would be curious to hear of any more parallels found, or any disputes to the ones i mentioned. Its interesting how film makers try to work a Salinger type character into movies. Aparently Salinger detests the film industry ( see: Holden's reference to his brothers line of work in Catcher) and is extremely protective of his intellectual property. On a side note, in the movie Field of Dreams, or more directly in the novel the movie was based on, Salinger is supposed to be the author (James Earl Jones) tracked down and brought to the baseball field.
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I definitely found the connection between the two when I watched this.
Mainly when the woman offered Reese the money, and said that her father hadn't published anything in years.
I wondered if this film actually WAS based on Salinger's life, because I rented it on a whim, not knowing anything about it.
It's cool that I'm not the only one who found this connection.
Yeah, I agree that Salinger was without a doubt at the heart of this story, for all the reasons mentioned above.Though it was unintentional, when I saw that picture of Ed Harris on the wall, I was instantly reminded of something J.D Salinger wrote: "The writer who tells you these things is also very likely to have his picture taken wearing an open-collared shirt--and he's sure to be looking three-quarter-profile and tragic"
this is the photo used for Don Holden's dust jacket.
http://www.imdb.com/gallery/ss/0120686/Ss/0120686/1-10.jpg?path=pgallery&path_key=Harris,%20Ed%20(I
Yep, the references were all pretty obvious, which is why I was surprised after the credits to see the old "any similarity to real or fictitious people is strictly coincidence..." clause. Can they get away with that?
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This movie is fairly typical regardless. I don't know much about and haven't read Salinger and it's even familiar to me.
Girl loses mom, girl takes drugs, girl can't feel, pushes aside nice boy who wants to feel her, girl needs money, girl will get money for alive genius dad's and dead genius mom's long lost letters, girl goes home with alterior motive, girl deals with dead genius mom and alive genius dad who's turned into a recluse nutjob, girl changes mind and a has a Grinch-who-stole-Christmas expanding heart moment after a while and all is well with the world. Insert a few quirky characters where needed to make things a bit more interesting.
Yeah. You don't need Salinger for that to sound familiar.
Well, this thread was started when J. D. Salinger was still alive... Anyway, I immediately thought of Salinger when it was revealed that the girl's father was a reclusive once famous writer. I've always found Salinger's life story, especially his later withdrawn period, to be very intriguing and a good basis for a movie. Unfortunately there isn't yet a straightforward movie about Salinger. Winter Passing is perhaps the closest thing we've got so far.
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