A strong sense of place has always been a hallmark of director Alexander Payne‘s work but with ‘The Descendants’ it would become even more central. From the beginning, he and his crew of frequent collaborators were acutely aware that they were going where few filmmakers have gone before by following an intimate family drama into the lush fabric of Hawaii.

All of the conflicting juxtapositions of contemporary Hawaiian culture — modern and ancient, urban and wild, growth and preservation — became wrapped into the film‘s design, from the photography to the sets. The newest of the U.S. states, Hawaiian history goes back 1500 years, when Polynesian explorers first sailed canoes by the light of the stars to the fertile string of volcanic islands. Later, settlers arrived from across Polynesia – Tahiti, Samoa and Tonga – forging a distinctive matriarchal culture with its own language, customs, art forms and legends.

In 1810, King Kamehameha, Chief of the Big Island, united all the islands into one Hawaiian Kingdom. Soon after, Christian missionaries began to arrive, followed by colonialists from mainland United States. In 1893, a group of American businessmen overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy, paving the way for annexation. Meanwhile, the culture continued to evolve and adapt, merging elements of American values with native Hawaiian ways.

When Hawaii became a U.S. state in 1959, it was dubbed the ‘Aloha‖ state’, reflecting the impossible-to-translate Hawaiian word that conveys an open-hearted spirit rooted in a love of the land.

“My grandfather, he really loved this place. So did your mother. So does your mother.”

– Matt King.

To capture the islands as they are today — as rife with developers and suburbia as they are with laid-back surfers and Polynesian traditions — with a fresh eye, Payne reunited with director of photography Phedon Papamichael, who previously worked with him on ‘Sideways’. As soon as he read the script, Papamichael knew it was going to be something different. “It was a very dialogue-driven story, which usually means the film will be less visual,” he begins.

“But in the case, the opposite was true. Because of the way the Hawaiian setting is juxtaposed with the King family‘s struggles, the visuals take on a major role. It was going to be very important to capture the beauty and nature of the surrounding environment so you can understand the conflict Matt feels over selling his family‘s land.”

Papamichael divided the film between two Hawaiis: the more hectic, citified Hawaii of Honolulu and the stunning, natural Mecca of Hanalei Bay on the island of Kauai, draped with verdant, tropical rain forests and surrounded by sapphire seas. “We really wanted to give a feeling for the community in Honolulu but also the beauty of the coast so you understand what could be lost and the connection to history that is there.

That‘s why we decided to shoot wide-screen, which Alexander has only done once before, on ‘Election’,” he explains. “We decided that it would be a lot of fun to have that epic frame with these small, human figures confronted with the majesty of the landscape.”

At the same time, both men wanted the film to stay true to Payne‘s distinctively unadorned style, which is almost an anti-style. “I like to bring an almost documentary style to fiction filmmaking,” says Payne. “It gives the story a sense of reportage.” Papamichael concurs.  “With Alexander, one of the biggest assignments is always to make sure the photography doesn‘t get in the way of the story. He really loves realism, to the point that if we go

to a location and there are tree trimmers working nearby, he says ‘great‘ and he embraces that as part of what‘s going on in the scene,” he explains. “Or, for example, when we shot in the bar where George Clooney meets Beau Bridges, it was very important to Alexander to have the real locals who frequent the place be in there to get that feel of reality. The same goes for lighting. It‘s always very natural, to the point that the audience should never realize that they‘re watching a crafted film.”

He continues, “We really want the audience to be taken in by the characters without distraction. The emotions are so intense and the writing so strong, we don‘t need to add visual drama.” Hawaii, however, often brought its own drama. “The light there is challenging because it is constantly changing,” notes Papamichael.

“It can go from overcast to sunny in the time frame of one shot. Fortunately, both Alexander and George, being a filmmaker himself, are very good at reacting in the moment so you can switch scenes around. It gave us a lot of flexibility.”

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As Matt King, the protagonist of Oscar-winner ‘The Descendants’, tries to find his footing as a father to Alexandra and Scottie, he is surrounded by friends, foes and relations who keep throwing him off course. The cast of characters that complete the ensemble that the three Kings run into on their journey towards reconciliation are an accomplished ensemble of actors hand-picked by director Alexander Payne.

Note: There following may contain spoilers.

“The casting in this film provided a new and interesting challenge for John Jackson and me — to piece together not just a believable nuclear family but also an extended family and a community of friends as well — all of whom inhabit a fairly narrow enclave of class and race,” says Payne.

For the catalytic role of Brian Speer, the mysterious real estate agent Matt King is chasing throughout much of the film, Payne cast Matthew Lillard, the tall, versatile actor best known for his comic performances and as Shaggy in the Scooby-Doo movies. When Lillard read for the role, he was convinced it was the longest of long shots.

“I walked in, and there were like five great looking guys waiting to read, all of them with that California movie star thing, strong chins and pecs and biceps,” he recalls. “I thought to myself, ‘There’s just no way.‘ I already know that the chances of me playing George Clooney’s wife’s lover are pretty slim.”

Lillard gave it his all and was satisfied just to have elicited praise from Payne. But four months later he was stunned when he received a call from Payne saying “I‘d love to have you be a part of this movie.” Payne recalls that Lillard‘s speedy approach clinched it. “I like it when actors act fast. Later I told him that he should do more of his audition with his kids in the car,” remarks the director.

For Lillard, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “Your whole life as an actor you look for the chance to be part of an experience that is this special,” he says. “I don‘t think I would ever have been the standard casting choice. I think I‘m outside the box, but that‘s what makes Alexander such a great director. He has the ability to make choices that set his body of work apart.”

As for Brian, who unwittingly becomes Matt King‘s greatest nemesis but also perhaps his liberator, Lillard says, “He‘s a real go-getter. He‘s a family man who truly loves his wife and kids as well, but he has a fatal flaw. He saw a financial opportunity with Matt‘s wife, only he got himself in too deep, too fast and suddenly, he‘s in the middle of an incredible situation.

What‘s fun about it is that George Clooney goes on this whole transformative journey of hunting my character. But then, Brian becomes a kind of oracle who sends him back to his family to find a way through.”

Another actress known primarily for her comedic abilities, Judy Greer, recently seen in the TV series ‘Mad Love’, was cast as Brian Speer‘s wronged wife, the seemingly soft-spoken Julie, who first runs into Matt King on a blissful Kauai beach. Greer was taken by the way her character defies expectations and is much more than comic fodder.

“She‘s a very modern mother figure,” Greer observes. “She‘s earthy and sensitive and committed to keeping her family together no matter what. I like that Alexander put a very calm and grounded human being into this situation.”

When the situation nevertheless explodes into chaos, it is Julie, not Brian, who finds herself at the center of a turbulent scene showing up at the hospital to make amends with Matt‘s comatose wife, only to find herself going off on a bedside rant. Greer could empathize with Julie‘s reasoning even if her behavior turns shocking. “I think Julie goes to see Elizabeth because she is confused and concerned,” says Greer. “Maybe she just wants to see the other woman.

When you find out your husband‘s been cheating, you‘re taken over by feelings of jealousy and inadequacy and anger and sadness and maybe she just wants to get a look at the woman who ruined everything she thought she had. She also has an incredible amount of compassion for Matt‘s situation. The beauty of the scene and the way that it is written is that it is all of these things at once. She becomes taken over by what she‘s really feeling.”

Image Courtesy of   Joe Seer / Shutterstock.com

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As the King family struggles to make sense of their mother’s accident and exposed infidelity in the Oscar-winning film ‘The Descendants’, confusion also reigns in the emotions of Matt‘s father-in-law Scott Thorson, portrayed by veteran screen and television star Robert Forster (‘Jackie Brown’, ‘Mulholland Drive’).

A retired military man with a crusty drill sergeant‘s temperament, Scott is already dealing with his wife‘s Alzheimer‘s when he learns that his daughter‘s life is on the line. He channels all his frustration directly into blaming Matt. “Scott regards his son-in-law as a grave disappointment,” explains Forster. “He thinks his daughter was too much for him, she had too much spirit for this guy. Matt‘s got a lot of money but not a lot of drive, so he never rose to Scott‘s expectations of what a serious man should be. Scott‘s commanded men all his life, and Matt doesn‘t pass muster for him.”

On Matt‘s side of the family, things are proceeding no more smoothly, especially when he starts to balk at an agreed-upon deal to sell the family‘s high-worth land to a local developer of golf resorts. This brings him into conflict with his laid-back cousin Hugh, played by two-time Golden Globe winner Beau Bridges. Bridges was drawn to the script for a lot of reasons. “Two of the reasons I wanted to be involved are Alexander Payne and George Clooney,” he remarks. “These are two guys at the top of their game. I thought that would be pretty interesting.”

He was also pulled in by his own passionate connections to Hawaii, a place that is almost a second home to him; he has visited regularly since childhood and attended college at the University of Hawaii. “You can watch life unfold there,” he says of the islands. “Hawaii seems to have retained some of the simplicity of life that is missing elsewhere.” Hugh‘s character reflects back to Matt a way of life he is suddenly questioning. “Hugh is

interesting,” Bridges muses. “Like Matt, he‘s a mixed descendant of missionaries and Hawaiians, but he wants to sell the land they‘ve inherited. He justifies his position by saying that the land is going to be sold to a local businessman and not to someone who‘s going to build a Wal-Mart . . . but he still wants the money.”

Bridges also thinks Hugh believes he‘s looking out for Matt in a time when his cousin might not be thinking straight – even if Matt feels like he‘s finally seeing things clearly for the first time. “I think Hugh, in his heart, truly wants the best for Matt,” Bridges concludes, “but he also does not want him to be a fool, and in his mind, not selling this valuable land is just crazy!”

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In the newly Oscar-winning film ‘The Descendants’, Alexandra‘s overbearingly boyish and goofy best friend Sid, played with abandon by rising teen star Nick Krause, is an interloper into the King family who winds up making his own iconoclastic mark on their road adventure. “Sid kind of serves as Alexandra‘s comic relief,” Krause says, so they hang out together, especially in troubled times.

Sid is so laid back that he‘s completely forgotten any social standards. He never knows what to say or how to put anything tactfully. Even though he always means well, he just doesn‘t know how to express it.

That dismaying lack of tact often leads Sid into trouble — as it does when Alexandra‘s grandfather hauls off and socks him for giggling at his wife. The scene became one of author Kaui Hart Hemmings‘ favorites on screen. “I like it because it’s absurd but it also feels so real,” she says. “It‘s almost all dialogue. I really like the moments in a film where not a lot happens, and yet a lot happens.”

“I mean, how often do old people just haul off and cold-cock you in the face?”

– Sid

Yet, no matter how much Sid provokes the people around him, he also becomes an unlikely uniting force. “I think Sid really grows to be a part of the family while they deal with all these crazy situations that are just stacked one on top of another,” Krause says. “His journey is about becoming part of a new family. He starts out as this kind of stoner guy meeting a friend‘s dad but by the end of the story, he and Matt have a deeper understanding of each other.”

Note: There may be spoilers in the following.

Producer Jim Burke sees Sid as an essential link in the story. “He winds up allowing Matt to connect to his daughters in a way that he never could have if Sid was not there,” says the producer. “Towards the end, he realizes Sid might be the only guy he has to talk to.”

Sid becomes his confessor, although a very unusual one. Like Sid, Matt‘s long-time friends Mark and Kai have a galvanizing effect on the King family — as the only ones who have the real scoop about with whom his wife was cheating. Taking the roles are two actors who both emerged from the comedy world, Rob Huebel and Mary Birdsong. Huebel was excited to be part of one of the film‘s most dramatic scenes, as Matt bursts into their house out of the blue, demanding immediate details on his wife‘s affair, even as she lies in a vegetative state.

Huebel and Birdsong had to walk a tightrope balanced between angst and absurdity. “It‘s a tricky scene because it‘s serious but it has to be funny, too,” notes Huebel. “Mark and Kai are horrified because they knew this was going on and we‘re supposed to be Matt‘s best friends. We try back-pedaling, we try getting out of telling him, we try defending Matt‘s wife, but it only makes Matt angrier. In the end, Mark wants to retain his friendship with Matt, so he tells him the identity of the man his wife was sleeping with. I think that‘s what most guys would do.”

The nervy, multi-layered scene worked, Huebel says, mainly because of Payne‘s ability to set his cast completely at ease. “He‘s just the most precise director I‘ve ever worked with,” he observes. “He had already imagined every nuance and every gesture by the time we were doing the scene and you really feel like ‘oh we‘re going to be fine, because he‘s driving the boat’.”

Birdsong sees Kai as being in a particularly precarious position when Matt finds out about the affair because her loyalties are split. “Matt‘s wife Elizabeth was her closest friend,” she explains. “Now she‘s torn between her devotion to Elizabeth and telling the truth. To her, Elizabeth was this amazing free spirit and now she wants to protect her.”

Like Huebel, Birdsong gives credit to Payne for taking a chance on casting actors from diverse backgrounds. “He has a very original and individual brain,” she describes. “And I think the casting of the film is a testament to his sensibility. He saw something in each of us that would help the story.”

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