Town & Country

Town & Country
Directed by	Peter Chelsom
Written by	Michael Laughlin, Buck Henry
Starring	Warren Beatty Diane Keaton Andie MacDowell Garry Shandling Jenna Elfman Nastassja Kinski Charlton Heston and Goldie Hawn
Editing by	Claire Simpson
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Running time	104 min.
Budget	$90,000,000 (estimated)

Town & Country is a 2001 film starring Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton and directed by Peter Chelsom. It is a romantic comedy in which Beatty plays New York City architect Porter Stoddard, with Keaton as his wife, Ellie. It holds the record for the largest absolute loss (movie budget minus box-office intake) on a movie.^[1]

Cast

• Warren Beatty - Porter Stoddard
• Nastassja Kinski - Alex
• Diane Keaton - Ellie Stoddard
• Goldie Hawn - Mona
• Garry Shandling - Griffin
• William Hootkins - Barney
• Josh Hartnett - Tom
• Tricia Vessey - Alice
• Marc Casabani - Omar

Production history

Production costs

The production costs of the film totaled an estimated USD$90 million,^[2] not including distribution and marketing expenses. The total worldwide box office came to $10,365,000.^[2] Considering that typically half of the gross box-office receipts go to the exhibitors and half to the filmmakers, Town & Country lost the studio at least $100 million, and probably much more if costs for distribution and marketing are considered, which average around $35–50 million for a studio picture such as this. The studio, having already spent in excess of $90 million, backed a very limited distribution and marketing campaign in the $15–20 million range, bringing the total cost to $105–110 million.

1998-1999

The production itself began on 8 June 1998 on a budget of $44 million, including $5 million up front for Warren Beatty. Filming was originally supposed to wrap by the fall of 1998 for a summer or fall 1999 release. Various problems occurred during filming, however, including Beatty's meticulous demand for many takes. Also, the script was still being developed, as writers were not satisfied with the ending originally written by Michael Laughlin. Various other screenwriters were brought in, including Paul Attanasio and Gary Ross. By April 1999, production was still going, but Garry Shandling had to leave to do another film (What Planet Are You From?) as did Diane Keaton (Hanging Up). It would take a full year before they could gather the cast back together to film the new pages written by Buck Henry.

2000 reshoots

Reshoots began on 10 April 2000, and wrapped by late April/early May 2000. More money was spent since the other cast members had to be paid their full salaries again.

Release and reception

The movie finally made it into theaters on 27 April 2001, nearly three years after filming began. It received generally poor reviews and was called "boorish" and "obtuse" by one reviewer.^[3] It holds a generally poor rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.^[3]

References

External links

• Town & Country at the Internet Movie Database
• "Stumbling Toward a Theater Near You", a 2001 article from The New York Times on the making of Town & Country.