Film of the week: 50/50

COULSDON COLLEGE: MEDIA TEXT INFORMATION SHEET

TITLE:

50/50

YEAR OF PROD:

2011

TYPE:

FILM

TELEVISION

DOC.

MUSIC

ADVERT

MUSIC VID.

OTHER:

DIRECTOR

Jonathan Levine

PRODUCER

Evan Goldberg, Ben Karlin and Seth Rogen

WRITER

Will Reiser

PRODUCTION COMPANY

Summit Entertainment, Mandate Pictures, Point Grey

KEY CAST /ARTIST

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Adam), Seth Rogen (Kyle), Anna Kendrick (Katherine), Bryce Dallas Howard (Rachael), Serge Houde (Richard), Andrew Airlie (Dr. Ross)

KEY CREW

Music- Michael Giacchino, DP- Terry Stacey, Editor- Zene Baker and Casting- Francine Maisler

GENRE

Comedy, drama, bit of romance

BUDGET

$8 million

BOX OFFICE

$39.2 million

THEMES

Cancer, love, friendship, betrayal, acceptance, anger, frustration, loss, defeat, determination, resist, care, understanding and survival.

AWARDS

12 wins, e.g. Independent Spirit Award- Best First Screenplay and Aspen Filmfest- Audience Favourite Feature. It also received Golden Globe nominations for best motion picture and for best performance (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).

NARRATIVE: The IMDb description: “Inspired by a true story, a comedy centered on a 27-year-old guy who learns of his cancer diagnosis, and his subsequent struggle to beat the disease. With the help of his best friend, his mother, and a young therapist at the cancer center, Adam learns what and who the most important things in his life are.” My opinion on the film: I loved 50/50 so much and Seth Rogen’s performance was absolutely hilarious so the film would not have been the same without him. It was interesting to see how the serious topic of cancer was approached in a comedy and I think Jonathan Levine did an excellent job because he made me, as a member of the audience, feel a variety of emotions. At the beginning of the film, there were a lot of ‘laugh out loud’ moments which continued throughout, however towards the end it became very sad and I felt more emotional because over the first half of the film, I was able to gain a connection with the characters. I had high hopes going into this film and my expectations were definitely met and it was even better than I expected. I would honestly recommend this film to anyone so go and watch it and you will not regret it!! 9.9/10

KEY SCENES: ·         Adam finds out he has cancer ·         Adam shaves off his hair ·         The car scene near the end of the film- Adam has a complete breakdown ·         Adam meets with Katherine ·         Hospital scene- in the waiting room ·         Before Adam goes into operation ·         Adam reveals to his mum that he has cancer ·         Adam finds out that his girlfriend cheated on him ·         “50/50 is not that bad” ·         Messy car ·         “I wish you were my girlfriend”- part of the car scene near end of film

COMPARABLES: Funny People (2009)

PROGRESSION OF KEY CONTRIBUTORS: Jonathan Levine went on to direct: Warm Bodies (2013), The Screen Junkies Show (TV Series-2013), Rush (TV Series-2014) and The Night Before. He is currently at the production stage of the TV Movie, I’m Dying Up Here. Joseph Gordon-Levitt went on to act in films such as The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Looper (2012) and The Night Before (2015). Seth Rogen went on to act in films such as This Is the End (2013), The Interview (2014) and The Night Before (2015).

ANY OTHER BUSINESS? “Adam is based on writer Will Reiser, who was diagnosed with cancer and later recovered. Seth Rogen, who plays Kyle, helped Reiser cope with his disease and convinced him to write a screenplay during their early 20s together.” “Joseph Gordon-Levitt actually shaved his head during filming. Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen were improvising in character while the cameras kept rolling since the scene was not in the script.”