The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Cate Blanchett as: Daisy Fuller

Directed by: David Fincher
Selected Cast: Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, Jared Harris, Julia Ormond, Taraji P. Henson, Mahershala Ali, Jason Flemyng
Written by: Eric Roth (Based on the short by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
Release Year: 2008
Genre: Drama / Fantasy / Mystery / Romance
MPAA Rating: PG-13

 

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Born under unusual circumstances, Benjamin Button springs into being as an elderly man in a New Orleans nursing home and ages in reverse. Twelve years after his birth, he meets Daisy, a child who flickers in and out of his life as she grows up to be a dancer. Though he has all sorts of unusual adventures over the course of his life, it is his relationship with Daisy, and the hope that they will come together at the right time, that drives Benjamin forward.

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Behind the scenes
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Quotes from Cate Blanchett

  • On the film: “Really, it’s a story about people missing one another, and how in the end we are all on our own individual journeys. If the timing is right, you can intersect with someone and form a lasting bond, while if the timing isn’t right, you can end up feeling quite isolated.” (Telegraph, January 2009)
  • “It’s a real star-crossed lovers story. There is a point where they are both at a suitable age when they can connect, where things are perfect. You feel you have spent a lifetime with these characters. I don’t want to give away the end image but I find it utterly heartbreaking.” (Vogue Australia, 1997)
  • On David Fincher: “When one deals with an epic romance, a film like this could have easily gone into the sentimental, but given that we have got David Fincher, who is the world’s greatest cynic at the helm, we were safe.”
  • “I had finished shooting [the fourth] Indiana Jones with Steven Spielberg and was working on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on the same lot. I was in my full prosthetics [for scenes as the elderly Daisy], and I went over to the Indiana Jones assistant director and told him that I was from the Make-A-Wish-Foundation and wanted to meet Mr. Spielberg. He came over and shook my hand and he was thinking, ‘Why didn’t someone warn me that this mad old owman was going to accost me?’ I told him it was me and he still didn’t believe me.” (Elle US, November 2012)

Quotes from Others

  • David Fincher:
    — On the film: “It’s sort of like a repository for your grief, about whatever you grieve about—the loss of loved ones, the missing of opportunities, whatever. You hope it will leave people feeling hopeful about certain things, and sad about certain things.”
    — On Cate Blanchett: “It is a blessing to work with someone who is able to respond to changes at a moment’s notice because their random access of the material is constantly humming. You don’t find that often with movie starts. In the middle of juggling all the technical things — chin up, chin down, should your head be cocked — you can give her these emotional traffic cones to work within, and she understand innately. I’ve worked with great actors who will say, ‘No, I can’t have that on my mind while I’m doing all the rest of this.’ They’re playing Chinese checkers and she’s playing 3-D chess.”
    — “She’s [Cate Blanchett] just so smart, capable, facile, thoughtful, beautiful, and emotionally present. She helps you as a director in so many different ways, coming up with ideas you may not have thought of. She’s going to come having done her homework; she’s done all the thinking, and it’s deep and measured. She has a great work ethic, knowing her lines and knowing everyone else’s lines. She prides herself on making things work. She’ll say, ‘Well, I see you’ve given me eight words here, so how about this?’ She’s not one of those people who says, ‘I need a soliloquy—someone’s going to have to come in and retool this.’ She’s the prototype of what you would want to have.”

Trivia & Facts

Press conference, 6 December 2008; Sydney premiere, 10 December 2008