Jennifer Garner Interview: ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN Not Your Typical Disney Film About Parenting & Marriage
- Details
- Category: Interviews
- Created: Wednesday, 15 August 2012 08:00
- Published: Wednesday, 15 August 2012 08:00
- Written by Fernando Esquivel
Director Peter Hedges known for What's Eating Gilbert Grape and Dan in Real Life brings enchantment to the screen with this inspiring, magical story about a happily married couple, Cindy and Jim Green (Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton) who can't conceive a child. That is until a dream child they created in their minds shows up on their footstep.
THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN also hit close to home for Jennifer Garner, the mother of a 5-month old newborn boy and two daughters. At a recent press conference in Los Angeles, Jennifer expressed her happiness with the film in that Timothy Green gets something right about parenting and marriage in a way that hasn't been seen on the screen for a “very, very long time.” It asks you to love the child that you have and not make them into something they're not," says the dedicated mom.
When Jennifer first read the film, she says she “begged Peter” to let her be part of the film.
“It's his writing; I'm a sucker for good writing. This was such a beautifully drawn story; Peter is so gutsy to have so much to say for an original movie from a studio. It doesn't happen anymore."As a new mom for the third time, Jennifer hasn’t quite gotten the urge to get back to acting and hasn’t lined up her next film yet. She admits when you have a baby, you don’t start coming out of your “fog” until 5 months after giving birth. She does, however, feel “a bit more open” to booking her next acting gig. She did, however, open up her feelings about her newborn.
"It's just so shocking to have another one. Again and again I say ‘the girls,’ then I say oops ‘the kids.’ It's just shocking that there really is a baby around. Maybe because it's my last. I'm just so nuts about him."Jennifer’s on screen son CJ Adams is the real star of the film, according to his co-stars and director. Jennifer couldn’t imagine any other child actor drawing you into the film as did CJ’s performance. Having worked with Peter Hedges before in Dan in Real Life, CJ had formed a special relationship with the director. CJ felt the story was very sweet and probably one of the best movies that he'll ever do in his career. “When me and my mom read the script we were like wow Timothy Green is me," says the 11-year-old child actor.
CJ’s on screen father Joel Edgerton says CJ was very insightful about his character and would suggest ideas to Peter. “The whole production would stop,” according to Edgerton, and occasionally CJ’s idea ended up in the film.
A Disney veteran, Peter was asked to come back to the mouse but Peter questioned the request since he really didn't have any Disney ideas. "I was writing the anti-Disney project. Then I heard about the Timothy Green idea and thought I could run with it," he says of the project. Odd Life was a project where Peter could push themes that he cared about within the “magical element” that Ahmet Zappa had defined in his original story, and one he says he could never have conceived. Although the story didn’t originate with him, the film isn't any different then his past films and considers it to be a personal one. "It was never make a Disney film; it was make a great film," says THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN director.
Out of all of the stories Peter has been a part of, he insist that this one has been the hardest.
"I didn’t want to have a laugh for the first 15 minutes. How revolutionary to start the movie with the Disney castle then the first scene in the film is a couple in the lowest and darkest place."Peter believes it's becoming harder to make original movies like THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN and hopes people will flock to see the family drama in order to make it successful and inspire more films like it…especially ones he can make.
Joel Edgerton agrees with Jennifer and Peter that the Disney drama changed how he felt about movies and life. Joel says it allowed him to explore new things and left him believing there are really great things about life and people need to try harder to be better people.
When it comes to Disney, it's all about the magic, according to Peter. Magic to Peter is "when you love, when you live, when you make new mistakes" and are willing to keep trying. "That to me seemed like a movie worth trying to make."
THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN is in theaters August 15th.