Brian Wilson biopic: Love and Mercy

That's one of my main concerns too. Even in a film like THE THIN RED LINE (which I love), Cusack appears and I'm like...hey it's John Cusack. Mind you, he's one of my favorite actors of his/mine generation...he doesn't possess chameleon-like qualities as an actor, IMO.

Based on the screening you attended, what would you say the percentage is on Dano/Cusack scenes? Also, pardon me for being nosey, do you live in Minneapolis/St. Paul? I think the film just had it's debut at that film festival this weekend, that's why I ask. And according to what I have read, this was the first time the film has been screened with "One Kind of Love" from Brian's newest record.

 

Yes, I was at the screening that closed the Mpls/St. Paul Film Fest. That song might have been in the end credits, but I'm not positive.

I'd guess that Dano is in more of the film than Cusack, but not by a lot. Another way Cusack was handicapped is that the plot arc about Wilson's relationship with Melinda Ledbetter just wasn't as interesting as the one about his earlier artistic ascension/burnout.

According to director Bill Pohlad, who answered questions after the screening, Dano did the majority of his own singing, with a couple of instances where they either used Wilson's original track or stitched the two together.

 

For those in the Seattle area, SIFF will be screening Love & Mercy at the festival this year, May 15th & 16th: http://www.siff.net/festival-2015/love-and-mercy

 

"One Kind of Love" was definitely not in the print I saw at TIFF in September. The end credits were a live version of "Love & Mercy" plus about five minutes of session tape from "Good Vibrations" (the unused "hum-be-dum" section). I almost can't imagine where else they'd work "One Kind of Love" into the picture I saw.

The version I saw was probably 40/60 Dano/Cusack. It's close to an even split since the Dano scenes (which involve his relationship with Murry as well as the rest of the band) are in constant dialogue with Wilson's dependence on, and desire to extricate himself from, Landy.

I've repeated myself a lot in this thread, but I was much more impressed by Cusack in the picture than by Dano, who is good but does a bit of mugging. Cusack successfully evokes Brian as he was in the eighties without getting too hung up on impersonation. It's a great movie.

 

Ugh, so jealous - just found out my brother (who's an editor at Ain't It Cool) will be interviewing Brian (and Cusack) later this month, and probably hosting a Q&A with them after a screening in Chicago.

 

That's awesome! Does Ain't It Cool generally do text presentations of interviews or are they filmed?

Also, the website has been revamped and looks gorgeous: http://loveandmercyfilm.com/

 

I had a feeling the only two people I ever heard of with the last name Prokopy must be related.

 

I've been fortunate to see the EPK for the film. It lists, of course, the normal production notes but probably the coolest thing (it's all interesting) is all of the music used in the film. Based on the screenplay and some of the descriptions by board members that have attended screenings, I'm guessing these are more or less in order (artist/performer only listed when it isn't the Beach Boys or Brian Wilson)

Surfin' U.S.A.
Don't Worry Baby
Surfer Girl
I Get Around
I Get Around — Love & Mercy Musicians
Fun, Fun, Fun
Songbird — Kenny G
These Dreams — Heart
Nowhere to Run — Martha Reeves & the Vandellas
The In Crowd — Ramsey Lewis Trio
On the Wings of Love — Jeffrey Osborne
Nights in White Satin — The Moody Blues
God Only Knows — Paul Dano
I'm Waiting For the Day — Love & Mercy Musicians
Pet Sounds
Pet Sounds — Love & Mercy Musicians
Wouldn't It Be Nice
Wouldn't It Be Nice — Love & Mercy Musicians
You Still Believe In Me — Paul Dano
You Still Believe In Me
Love & Mercy — Darian Sahanaja
Hang On to Your Ego
Here Today
Caroline, No
Caroline, No — Love & Mercy Musicians
I Live For the Sun — The Sunrays
Heart Full of Soul — The Yardbirds
Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)
Sloop John B
You Don't Have to Say You Love Me — Dusty Springfield
Good Vibrations — Paul Dano
Good Vibrations
Surf's Up
Surf's Up — Paul Dano
The Elements: Fire
Heroes & Villains
Do You Like Worms
In My Room
Day by Day — The Four Freshmen
Til I Die
One Kind of Love
Love & Mercy
Good Vibrations

***

"Black Hole" composed by Atticus Ross contains portions of:

Don't Worry Baby
California Girls
Good To My Baby
Help Me, Rhonda
Wendy
Dance, Dance, Dance
Denny's Drums
Fun, Fun, Fun

"End Date" composed by Atticus Ross contains portions of:

Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)

"Believe" composed by Atticus Ross contains portions of:

You Still Believe In Me
Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)
Pet Sounds

"Silhouette" composed by Atticus Ross contains portions of:

God Only Knows
Let's Go Away For Awhile
Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)
Sloop John B

"Headphones" composed by Atticus Ross contains portions of:

I Live For the Sun — The Sunrays
I Know THere's An Answer
Sloop John B
Pet Sounds
Dance, Dance, Dance
Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)
Help Me, Rhonda
Here Today

"Knives and Forks" composed by Atticus Ross contains portions of:

God Only Knows

"Deep End" composed by Atticus Ross contains portions of:

Heroes and Villains
Barnyard
I Love to Say Da Da
Wind Chimes
Don't Worry Baby
Our Prayer

"B&M Studio" composed by Atticus Ross contains portions of:

Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)

"Baby No Morph" composed by Atticus Ross contains portions of:

I Love to Say Da Da
Here Today
Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)

"Bed Montage" composed by Atticus Ross contains portions of:

Don't Worry Baby
California Girls

"Into Mercy" composed by Atticus Ross contains portions of:

God Only Knows

***

 

Thanks for that!

 

Apparently my brother's interview with Brian was, in his own words, "painful." Cusack was there to take up much of the slack, however.

I saw the movie a couple weeks ago. I had some issues with how Melinda was portrayed as Brian's savior (in the same ways, ironically, Landy was painted in Brian's "autobiography" many years ago). But aside from that, I really loved it - it hit on all the major beats that you'd expect from a Brian Wilson biopic (at least for one that was so narrowly focused on two crucial time periods in his life). And they were clearly doing their homework when it came to Brian in the studio - a lot of the dialog was lifted pretty much verbatim from the Pet Sounds box set.

The film's composer, Atticus Ross, did a Q&A after our screening. Very interesting stuff. Apparently he was given complete access to literally every mutlitrack the Beach Boys ever recorded (on hard drive, delivered to his studio) in order to create the sound collages used in the film. I think they were incredibly effective in portraying how Brian's head was (and still is) constantly swimming in music.

I wonder what Mike has to say about this movie...

 

It was just a press-junket interview. He hasn't put it up on the site yet. I'll post a link when he does.

 

Things are always dramatized and simplified for movie audiences, but Melinda was absolutely instrumental in wrestling Brian away from that lunatic Landy. If it weren't for her personal efforts to get Carl and Audree involved and convincing them of the dire need to take action against Landy Brian would have died many years ago under Landy's "care", with Landy sitting back and collecting the inheritance.

I hope I can sneak out of the house long enough to catch the film when it plays in my area!

 

I'll wait for that as a special Capitol iTunes-only download release: "The Complete Beach Boys Multi-tracks Volume 1."

That's sad. I can recall three years ago on the 50th Anniversary Tour, they did a ton of press junkets and Brian said almost nothing. On an extended Entertainment Tonight interview, Brian sat uncomfortably in a chair in a hallway while the group stood around him, and Mike Love and Bruce basically did all the talking.

 

My brother told me his interview will be posted on the site early next week. He did say that Brian really lit up when discussing the Wrecking Crew.

 

dprokopy, does this mean that the Beach Boys songs playing in the movie fully are in 5.1 surround?! If so, maybe we might see that kinda thing coming soon. Beach Boys albums done in proper 5.1? THAT would be amazing. I really think Jimmy Page ****ed up his own reissue campaign by NOT doing 5.1 mixes to go along with the reissues. He also could have been a tad more generous in the extras department.

 

A lot of the actual Beach Boys music used in the film (as opposed to Ross's mash-up score) are only snippets, and a lot of the vocal performances (of Brian at least) are either Dano, or Dano's voice mixed with Brian's. And a lot of the scenes of the Wrecking Crew recording Pet Sounds/"Good Vibrations"/Smile aren't the original recordings - they're new recordings (albeit, mimicking the originals very closely). I don't recall any really "in your face" surround mixes on that material. However, Ross's score has a beautiful surround mix. There's bits and pieces flying all over the place. You're literally swimming in Brian's melodies. Some are easily recognizable, some have been chopped up and rearranged, but still sound very "Brian-esque." I really can't wait to hear this on my home system when it comes out on Blu-Ray, quite honestly, and I'm hoping they put out a soundtrack of just Ross's work. (And instead of a soundtrack of the "real" Beach Boys songs used in the movie, they should just point people to the Pet Sounds & Smile box sets!)

 

Speaking of the Wrecking Crew, one of the bits that bugged me in the movie was the end credits: Despite the fact that in the movie itself, Brian addresses various musicians by name (and their real names, too - Brian and Hal in particular have a particularly meaningful exchange), in the end credits, the actors portraying the Wrecking Crew members are credited only by their instruments. "Guitarist," "Bassist," etc. Seems like a wonderful opportunity to honor those musicians properly, and they blew it.

 

I take it Atticus Ross didn't hint at a soundtrack or score being released? It was reported last year in Billboard that there would be a soundtrack and I think the Wikipedia page still says there will be. But I wonder if things didn't change with the release of Brian's new solo album since "One Kind of Love" is included there. I too would love to hear the "mashups" as presented in the film (a film I've still yet to see, mind you).

Hope you don't mind me bugging you with minutiae but I'm compelled to ask all that have seen it, what's the breakdown of Dano/Cusack, percentage wise? I gather than only a few minutes are spent on the Beach Boys ascent up the charts and the bulk of the Dano scenes are from 1965-1967. I believe I read that the "bed period" is only briefly referenced in some dialog. The screenplay has the film opening with Brian in bed during the "bed period" and remembering the Beach Boys ascent to fame. I have gathered from the reviews and reports I have read from others that none of that imagery remained in the finished product. Which is fine.

Something else I'll mention is that I hope that with a Blu Ray/DVD/digital release that Lionsgate chooses to include some of the scenes that were excised from the film. For example there's a powerfully written scene in the screenplay that I don't believe is in the film (or, I should say, I was told was not) of Murry interrupting the "I Get Around" session (transposed from the actual "Help Me, Rhonda" session). I've followed the production of this film since Oren Moverman was writing the screenplay (maybe even earlier) so I'm enthused about anything related to it.

Really has been a long time coming for a well made film about BW. I'm glad BW is still around the see the accolades.

 

That's a shame. That could've easily been remedied with something like Hal Blaine/Wrecking Crew Drummer, Carol Kaye/Wrecking Crew Bassist, etc.

 

No one thought to ask! I kinda wish I had. (He did answer one of my questions, about Brian's impressions of what he did - he said Brian was a bit concerned with how "dark" some of it was, but in the end he liked it.)

As others have said, it's about 50/50. I didn't watch it with a stopwatch, really! Obviously, I would have been happier if they had focused more on the earlier period, as I think they did such an incredible job re-creating moments I've known from box sets and bootlegs for years. And I felt the whole Cusack/Banks love-story aspect felt somewhat awkward. Cusack does a serviceable job capturing Brian's latter-day quirks, but as others have mentioned, you watch the movie and just can't get past the fact that it's John Cusack playing Brian Wilson. Dano, on the other hand, completely loses himself in the part. I did enjoy Paul Giamatti's performance quite a bit, as well.

Pretty much true. The group's ascent is handled more like a prologue. Some flashes of them performing on TV and in concert, a few in-the-studio snippets, etc.

There's a bit of the "in bed" period covered towards the end of the Smile period, but basically it ends there, and there's no reference at all to anything in the Seventies (except for a beautiful use of "Til I Die"). They don't even really cover how Landy entered into Brian's life in the first place.

I was a bit surprised that the "Rhonda" stuff didn't end up in the movie either, as it's probably the single greatest example of Murry's overbearing relationship with Brian. I do believe there's a snippet of the "I'm a genius, too" line in one of the montages, though. And there's certainly scenes of Murry being Murry, which is probably why that particular scene was cut. But honestly, my recollection was that the "An American Family" TV movie did a better/more accurate/more thorough job of portraying Murry than this movie did. (And that one did use the "Rhonda" exchange, if I recall correctly.)

 

Thanks for humoring my questions, appreciate the info. Can't believe it's finally just down to 1 week away (finally!)

 

FYI to all, the following cities will be getting Love & Mercy on opening weekend (June 5th), per Brian's Facebook page.

Albuquerque - Santa Fe, NM
Atlanta, GA
Austin, TX
Baltimore, MD
Birmingham, AL
Boise, ID
Boston, MA
Buffalo, NY
Charlotte, NC
Chicago, IL
Cincinnati, OH
Cleveland,OH
Colorado Springs, CO
Columbus, OH
Dallas - Ft. Worth, TX
Denver, CO
Des Moines - Ames, IA
Detroit, Ml
Fresno - Visalia, CA
Ft. Myers - Naples, FL
Grand Rapids - Kalmzoo, Ml
Greenville - Sprt - Ashevlle,NC
Hartford-New Haven, CT
Honolulu, HI
Houston, TX
Jacksonville, FL
Indianapolis, IN
Kansas City, KS-MO
Knoxville, TN
Lansing, Ml
Las Vegas, NV
Lexington, KY
Los Angeles, CA
Louisville, KY
Madison, WI
Memphis, TN
Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Milwaukee, WI
Minneapoilis - St. Paul, MN
Monterey Salinas, CA
Nashville, TN
New Orleans, LA
New York, NY
Norfolk-Newport News, VA
Oklahoma City, OK
Omaha, NE
Orlando-Daytona Beach, FL
Palm Springs, CA
Philadelphia, PA
Phoenix, AZ
Pittsburgh, PA
Portland, OR
Providence - New Bedford, RI
Raleigh-Durham, NC
Richmond - Petersburg, VA
Rochester, NY
Sacramento - Modesto, CA
Salt Lake City, UT
San Antonio, TX
San Diego, CA
San Francisco-San Jose, CA
Santa Barbara - SLO, CA
Seattle-Tacoma, WA
Springfield - Holyoke, MA
St. Louis, MO
Syracuse, NY
Tampa - St. Pet.- Sarasota, FL
Tucson, AZ
Tulsa, OK
Washington DC
West Palm Beach, FL
Wilkes Barre - Scranton, PA

Additional cities (and I assume theaters within these cities) will be added in the second week.

 

Love & Mercy Featurette

 

New York Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/31/m...trayed-by-john-cusack-and-paul-dano.html?_r=0

 

I've caught the trailer on TV a few times this week. Like many here, I am questioning John Cusack as the older Brain Wilson. I may catch it in the theater.

So, can we expect a poorly mastered soundtrack CD from Capitol?