"I was born under unusual circumstances…”
So begins The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, adapted from the Twenties’ short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards. A man, like any of us, who is unable to stop time. From New Orleans at the end of World War I to the 21st Century, the film tells the grand tale of the exceedingly curious Mr Button and the people and places he discovers along the way, the loves he finds and loses, the joys of life and the sadness of death, and ultimately what lasts beyond time.
Fitzgerald's flight of fancy was long perceived as too ambitious, too fantastical to accomplish on the big screen, and the project floated around Hollywood for 40-odd years until producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall took it up. For over a decade, the project had likewise intrigued screenwriter Eric Roth, director David Fincher and star Brad Pitt, who shares the screen with the luminous likes of Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton and Taraji P. Henson.
The chance to live life backwards would seem ideal, "But it's not that simple," says Roth. "On the surface, you think it would be just lovely, but it is a different kind of life, which I think is so compelling about this story. Even though Benjamin is going backwards, the first kiss and the first love are still as significant and meaningful to him. It doesn't make any difference whether you live your life backwards or forwards - it's how you live your life."
The movie, available now from Xtra-vision, explores the human condition that exists outside of time and age - the joys of life and love and the sadness of loss. "David and I both wanted it to feel as if this was anybody's story," Roth says. "It's just a man's life - that's what's sort of extraordinary about the movie and very ordinary at the same time. What affects this odd character affects everyone."
Early in the film's preparations, Fincher's meetings with Kennedy and Marshall often turned highly personal. "We'd start talking about the story," Fincher remembers, "and fifteen minutes later we're all talking about people that we've loved who have died, and people that we loved who didn't pay attention to us, or people we chased or who chased us. The film is interesting in that way; it had this effect on all of us."
Making the movie was an ambitious jump, posing dramatic as well as technical challenges. "How do you deftly and succinctly create the experience of a life, with all its dips and peaks, from grave to cradle, within a single film?" muses Kennedy. "In Eric's script, each moment accrues emotions that resonate with you later on. Cheating that sensibility would diminish the experience, so we knew from the beginning that it would take time to project the experience of a whole life."
For Pitt, the only way to play the character was all the way through, at every age, which posed one of the film's most daunting challenges. "Brad was only interested in playing the part if he could play the character through the totality of his life," Fincher explains. "Kathy and Frank were more than mildly curious how we were going to do that. I said, 'I don't know, but we'll figure it out.'"
Visual effects supervisor Eric Barba, a longtime Fincher collaborator, notes, "David told me from the beginning, 'Brad has to drive the performance from beginning to end.' Benjamin is the emotional core of the movie, and is clearly present, even when it seems impossible. That was our challenge with the effects." Barba worked in tandem with Academy Award-winning special make-up designer Greg Cannom, who created prosthetics to enhance the aging and de-aging throughout the film.
Pitt's draw was also in the journey Benjamin takes. "Many actors weigh a part based on what their character gets to do," says Fincher. "Well, Benjamin doesn't do a lot, per se, but, man, he goes through an enormous amount. Brad was the perfect person. It's the kind of role that would be passive in lesser hands."
To share the screen opposite Pitt, Fincher cast Cate Blanchett. The director had Blanchett on his mind since catching her performance in Elizabeth. "I remember thinking, 'Who is that? My goodness,'" he recalls. "You just don't see people who have that kind of power and ability every day of the week."
The actress, says Pitt," elevated most of our performances. She's exquisite. She's a great friend. She can read a scene like few actors can. I find her to be grace incarnate. I liked that she was playing a dancer. It fit her because of who she is, because of her undeniable elegance."
The relationship between her character Daisy and Benjamin evolves as she comes to understand and learns to live with his preternatural circumstances. Notes Eric Roth, "Cate embodies this woman, who has to make peace with the idea of growing older while the person she loves is on the backward path. What does life become for her then? She goes from being an impetuous, passionate dancer to a woman with deep reserves of strength."
Daisy is one of many figures that come into contact with Benjamin. "Benjamin is like a cue ball and all the people he collides with leave marks on him," says Fincher. "That's what a life is - a collection of these dents and scratches. They are what make him who he is and not anyone else."
"I like this idea of dents," adds Pitt. "People make an impact and leave some kind of an impression. There's something very poetic and accepting about that. It doesn't mean you roll over. It doesn't mean you don't fight for what you want. It means you accept the inevitabilities of life. People come and go. People leave, whether by choice or by death. People leave as you yourself will someday leave - it's the inevitable. How you deal with this becomes the question."
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was shot in a variety of locations, including Montreal and the Caribbean, and the character's home city of New Orleans, which was recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina when production set down. "We had committed to film in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina and, of course, there was a period of uncertainty about whether we would be able to shoot there following the disaster," recalls Kennedy. "However, the city called us just two days after the hurricane, eagerly encouraging us to continue with our plans."
Working in an area that was just coming out from under devastating emotional and physical damage presented some logistical challenges for the filmmakers. "With the overwhelming support of the city and the incredible talent of our cast and crew, these proved to be minor complications," says Marshall. "Each day was carefully planned and rehearsed, and David's leadership in all areas allowed everyone to have a clear idea of what was expected, so, overall, the shoot went very smoothly."
Of his director, best known previously for his work on Fight Club and Se7en, both of which also starred Pitt, Brad notes, "David is like a man possessed. He's got such an eye for film and the balance and ballet of a camera move that it cannot be any other way for him but superb. The great reward is that you have this finely sculpted piece at the end. He is a sculptor."
Adds Blanchett, “He circles an idea, a moment, an image, a character or a scene, viewing it from all angles and, where other people are satisfied when they have viewed the idea in three dimensions, David wants to keep investigating until that idea has six or seven dimensions. When other people would say, 'Stop David, that's impossible,' it only spurs him on. I do think many other filmmakers would have stopped short of the incredible places David took this fable - and us."
Fincher's exacting sensibility and attention to detail provided the ideal compliment to his deep understanding of the truths at the heart of Benjamin's tale. "Considering the epic scope of the story and the deep emotional arcs,” concludes Kennedy, “every choice he made was perfect and so rewarding for us to be a part of.”