Separated at Birth: Revolutionary Road vs. Reservation Road

BuzzSugar — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 12:21:30 -0700

There has been much buzz surrounding the project that is bringing Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet back together for the first time since Titanic, a family drama based on a 1961 novel titled Revolutionary Road. Yet there's another movie that comes out this fall with a similar title which is also set in suburban Connecticut! Titled Reservation Road and also based on a novel, the thriller can easily be confused with Revolutionary Road, so I've devised a handy-dandy chart to help keep them straight:

Title	Original Author and Publication Date	Setting	Premise	Road Significance	Stars	Release Date
Revolutionary Road	Richard Yates, December 1961	Mid-1950s suburban Connecticut	Young parents April and Frank Wheeler struggle with the confines of suburban life and the repressive social atmosphere.	Revolutionary Road is where the Wheelers live.	Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kathy Bates, Michael Shannon	Fall/Winter 2008
Reservation Road	John Burnham Schwartz, October 1999	Modern-day suburban Connecticut	The story revolves around one grieving father’s hunt for his son’s killer while another father begins to drown in his own guilt.	Reservation Road is the site of the boy’s death.	Mark Ruffalo, Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Connolly, Mira Sorvino, Elle Fanning	October 19, 2007

I've read both books and they're each worthy of a read before the film versions hit theaters. Between the two, however, I'd more recommend Revolutionary Road for its rich writing, depth and startling peek into the private life of a 20-something couple during a fascinating bygone era (the 1950s). Reservation Road is also a terrific read as a gripping, poignant page-turner. Both are roads you should wander down.

Connecticut: The Latest Filmmaking Hot Spot

BuzzSugar — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 15:36:00 -0700

I never knew Connecticut was so hip, but recently there has been a surge in movie news involving the Nutmeg State. What is it about the place that is attracting so many Hollywood types? Its idyllic fall foliage? The quaint colonial towns? The stately architecture of Yale? The many Dunkin' Donuts?

Most exciting - for those living in the greater New Haven area, that is - is today's post on SpielbergFilms about the open casting call for extras to star in the upcoming Indiana Jones 4 movie. The website post says:

The production is holding an open casting call for extras to appear in a sequence where Indy tears through campus on a motorcycle (along Chapel Street in New Haven). The call, organized by Billy Dowd Casting, will be held on Monday, June 11 and Tuesday, June 12 at the Omni Hotel at Yale between 1 p.m.-9 p.m. both days.

So hop to it, citizens of Connecticut! You could be in an Indiana Jones movie!

What else is going on in quaint little CT? Check it out:

The marriage drama Revolutionary Road, based on the 1961 Richard Yates novel and starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, takes place in the peaceful-yet-suffocating Connecticut suburbia in the 1950s. According to IMDB, the movie is filming in three separate CT locations.

More Connecticutlicious goings-on if you read more

The very similarly titled Reservation Road, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo & Jennifer Connolly and based on the excellent book by John Burnham Schwartz, also takes place in CT. The movie centers around the aftermath of a hit-and-run which kills a child and was filmed in both Stamford and Bristol. Hopefully the makers of both Revolutionary and Reservations Roads will be able to do their respective books justice.
Virginia Madsen has been cast in the spooky-sounding supernatural thriller A Haunting in Connecticut, which "tells the true story of a family forced to relocate near a clinic where their teenage son is being treated for cancer. There, they discover that the home they have rented is a former mortuary with a dark history that might account for the extraordinary manifestations of the boy's illness and the supernatural events that threaten the family." True story: Yipes!
Laws of Motion, an indie comedy now starring Ginnifer Goodwin in addition to Hilary Swank, Matthew Perry and Ben Foster, will film in Connecticut. The story "centers on a husband (Perry) struggling with life in a repressive career and community and enduring headaches caused by his free-spirited brother (Foster) and sister (Goodwin). Swank will play a supporting role as the all-too-perfect neighbor of Perry's harried character."

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