One Day is Director Lone Scherfig’s newest scheduled release to date.  The movie is based on the 2009 international bestseller of the same name by David Nicholis and stars Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess and Patricia Clarkson.  Currently, everything is completed and is awaiting release on August 19^.

The story is about love between a man and a woman who spend the night of their college graduation together.  The woman, Emma Morley (Anne Hathaway) is ambitious and wants to make the world a better place while the man named Dexter Mayhew (Jim Sturgess) comes from a privileged family and believes the world is his oyster.  For 20 years, the film follows these two characters whether they are together, alone, cheerful, or sad on the anniversary of their meeting, July 15.

The book One Day was released in the U.K. in 2009, and quickly became a bestseller.  It then spread all around the world reaching the top of the charts in Italy and Sweden, No. 2 in Germany, No. 3 in Russia and No. 4 in the U.S.

Henry Goldblatt of Entertainment Weekly called it, “a luscious, beautiful, and ultimately devastating portrait of two soul mates.”

With this particular book-to-movie is that the writer of the book, David Nicholis, is also the screenwriter.  Writing a book is much different than writing a screenplay.

“There’s a challenge involved in trying to condense 20 years of a character’s life into a novel anyway. When you have to condense it even further, into maybe two hours of screen time, you just have to accept the fact that you’re going to lose things, Nicholis said.  “Having said that, s is a very faithful adaptation in terms of both the mood and the tone — as well as the storytelling style.”

The director, Lone Scherfig has directed An Education which was nominated three times; once for an Oscar for Best Picture.  When choosing the director the producer Nina Jacobson and David Nicholis had believed she was perfect for the job.  Nicholis had said that “It was clear that the qualities she has as a director were ones that One Day was going to need; integrity, and a sense of how to modulate the highs and lows of the story,” Nicholis said.

Anne Hathaway plays the main character,to the dismay of many, though she has shown interest in Emma as a character.  Scherfig had recounted that Hathaway approached her asking for the part.

“She liked Emma so much that she flew to London to talk to me and tell me why she should have the part! Anne shares Emma’s humor and strength. She is a highly experienced actress who lends huge warmth and fragility to the part, more than anyone else I can imagine,” Scherfig said.”

Jim Sturgess is playing Dexter, the character opposite of Emily.  He obtained the part through an audition but was chosen because of his natural chemistry with Hathaway.  Sturgess believes that himself and Hathaway have a unique resemblance towards their characters.

“Well, there’s a lot of Emma in Anne. She has an intellectual wit, as has Emma. On the set, I’d often find myself sitting next to Anne; I’d be reading a foolish magazine and she’d be reading some highbrow novel — that’s Em and Dex right there! She’s lovely, and we got on straight away,” Sturgess said.

Shooting finished nearly a year ago and the film is ready for release.  With the chemistry between the two stars the love story will come alive before the audience’s very eyes.

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About the author

Peter Yannantuono