Cheaper
by the Dozen (2003)
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Directed
by:
Shawn Levy MPAA:
Rated PG for language and some thematic elements. Full
Cast and Crew:
Summary: The
Bakers, a family of 12, move from small-town Illinois to the big city
after Tom Baker (Martin) gets his dream job to coach his alma mater's
football team. Meanwhile, his wife (Hunt) also gets her dream of
getting her book published. While she's away promoting the book, Tom
has a hard time keeping the house in order while at the same time
coaching his football team, as the once happy family starts falling
apart. Cheaper
by the Dozen serves a lot of laughs and fun and entertainment. All of
the actors are great, and all of the kids did a very good job. It is
about Tom Baker (Steve Martin), who lives with his wife (Bonnie Hunt),
and his 11 kids (that's nuts!) in the country town of Midway, and his
twelfth daughter Nora (Piper Perabo) is living with her boyfriend
(Asthon Kutcher) in Chicago. Then, Tom is offered a big job of a
football coach, so he moves the entire family to Chicago. Then, his
wife gets a publishing offer for her book about her family, and ends
up leaving the house for 2 weeks. This leaves Tom with a whole house
full of chaos. This movie had some funny incidents and captured the
chaos of having twelve kids in your house. It was entertaining and
kept you laughing. Production
began at locations in and around the Los Angeles area, with Northern
California's Napa Valley serving as the exterior setting of the
Bakers' Midland, Illinois farmhouse. "One
of the unusual choices made for this film was building a two-story
house on a stage for the interior shots," says production
designer Nina Ruscio. "For
most productions, the first and second story sets are built side by
side and shot separately, but we opted for two levels, so we could
shoot from the first floor up to the second and vice-versa; this
enabled us to capture the full fury and fun of the family in
action." "We
had a lot of fun coming up with ways to visually define each of the
different Baker kids. Henry has an interest in jazz and we gave Sarah
a love of cartooning and put little drawings all over her space.
Jessica and Kim are bookish so we posted a little book report
on their door with their list of recommended reading.
Audiences might not notice these little touches, but it helped
us distinguish the individual children and give them their own little
nooks and crannies in the house." Another
design subtlety was the placement throughout the Baker house of
several fertility symbols, such as stalks of wheat in the mouldings
and a little woman carved into the area above a doorway.
These touches make important contributions to the creation of
the Baker family's world at home. The
CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN set often was a frenzied environment that
mirrored the dynamics of the Baker family.
"If you're going to make a movie about the craziness of a
big family, you can't have a set without some level of chaos,"
says Levy. The
younger, less-experienced actors contributed to the set's frenetic
energy. "There's a
madness and level of anarchy that happens between kids who are having
fun without the fear of failure, and that creates a great
environment," says Tom Welling.
"When you have 12 kids who are playing brothers and
sisters, there's a lot of energy that reflects that of a real
family." "At
first I didn't really know how it was going to work with so many of us
on set," says Hilary Duff. "Sometimes
scenes took a little bit longer to shoot, because there were 12 of us
and we all had to be focused and work together, but there was never a
boring moment." Steve
Martin developed critical psychological tactics when working with his
very young co-stars. "With 12 kids on set, it's impossible to
control everything," he says. Controlled
chaos was a key component of several large set pieces that incorporate
physical comedy and complicated action.
One involved a big family breakfast with a frog on the loose �and
a melee of flying scrambled eggs.
The scene was not one of Hilary Duff's favorites.
"I got splattered with the eggs the most," says Duff.
"It was horrible because I can't stand eggs!" Shawn
Levy captured the honesty of Duff's repulsion and enjoyed the
authenticity of the scene's chaos.
"The frog wreaking havoc in the kitchen was one of the
high points for me," says Levy.
"I give a lot of credit to Hilary for her reactions." Steve
Martin didn't escape the on-set craziness.
One scene had him being shot into the air by an exploding
inflatable device called a moonbounce; another has him swinging from a
falling chandelier while trying to rescue a neighbor's child after a
roller-hockey game goes awry. "Part
of what Steve does is incredibly physical and he is really at his best
when you set up a context for him to be zany," says Levy. "A lot of work went into the script to come up with the
right context for Steve to be Steve." The
close relationships formed between the actors made the lines hazy
between character and reality, and some cast members found themselves
stepping into their characters even when cameras weren't rolling.
"Like a real mom, Bonnie took care of everyone on set, which was
really cool," says Duff. "When
the kids were having trouble and couldn't focus, she talked to them.
She treated them like her own kids, always made it fun for
them, and always helped get the job done." "There
were moments where I laughed within character," says Hunt,
"and I would have laughed just the same if it were my own child,
because kids really do say the darnedest things." The
cast formed a special family bond that is reflected on the screen.
"As far as the family as a whole, I think compatibility
was part of the casting process," says Tom Welling.
"This is a family that has a good time being around each
other, and I hope that comes through to the audiences." CHEAPER
BY THE DOZEN is directed by Shawn Levy, produced by Robert Simonds,
Michael Barnathan and Ben Myron, and co-produced by Ira Shuman.
The screenplay is by Sam Harper and Joel Cohen & Alec
Sokolow, and the screen story is by Craig Titley, based upon the novel
by Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey. The
director of photography is Jonathan Brown, the production designer is
Nina Ruscio, the film editor is George Folsey, Jr., A.C.E., and the
costume designer is Sanja Milkovic Hays.
The music supervisor is Dave Jordan, and music is by Christophe
Beck. Director
SHAWN LEVY's most recent film, "Just Married," starring
Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy,
grossed over $100 million in worldwide box office.
Produced by Robert Simonds for Twentieth Century Fox, the film
was number-one at the box office its opening weekend. In 2002, he directed the hit family comedy "Big Fat
Liar" for Universal with Frankie Muniz, Paul Giamatti and Amanda
Bynes. |
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