First Daughter (2004 film)

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For the 1999 film, see First Daughter (1999 film).

First Daughter

Directed by	Forest Whitaker
Produced by	John Davis
Written by	Jessica Bendinger and Jerry O'Connell (story); Jessica Bendiger and Kate Kondell (screenplay)
Starring	Katie Holmes, Marc Blucas, Amerie, Michael Keaton
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	September 24, 2004 (U.S.)
Running time	106 min.
Language	English
Budget	US$30,000,000
IMDb profile

First Daughter is a romantic comedy film released by 20th Century Fox in 2004 (see 2004 in film). It stars Katie Holmes as Samantha Mackenzie, a Presidential daughter who enrolls at a college and develops a relationship with another student at the college played by Marc Blucas. The film follows Samantha as she is given a new sense of freedom during her time away from the White House, and the advantages and disadvantages of her college life and education. It co-stars Michael Keaton as the President of the United States and Amerie as Samantha's roommate.

The film was directed by Forest Whitaker, written by Jessica Bendinger, Kate Kondell and Jerry O'Connell and produced by John Davis. Whitaker likened First Daughter to a fairy tale, characterising it as "the story of a princess who leaves the 'castle' [the White House] to go out in the world to discover who and what she is".^[1] The film languished in development hell for several years, and was further delayed even after its completion. It was not a commercial success upon its eventual release, and reviews criticised its bland storyline, the cloying direction, and an unconvincing performance from Katie Holmes.

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Reception
5 See also
6 Notes
7 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Samantha Mackenzie (Katie Holmes), the President's daughter, has been in the public eye for quite a long time. She has recently spent a sheltered existence in the White House with her father (Michael Keaton), who is usually too busy taking care of the country to look after his daughter. Accompanied by Secret Service agents everywhere she goes, Samantha finally believes she has the chance to break out of her cocoon when she is given the opportunity to attend college.

Though still followed by Secret Service agents, Samantha at last feels as if she is leading a normal life. She ends up sharing a dorm with tough-talking Mia (Amerie), and the two instantly strike up a friendship and embrace their new freedom. At a party, Samantha meets James (Marc Blucas), who Samantha feels is the icing on the cake of her new life at the college. But there is more to James than she initially thought, and Samantha must learn that the two sides of her life do not have to be separate from each other in order for her entire life to be content.

[edit] Cast

Katie Holmes as Samantha Mackenzie. The final episode of Holmes' television show Dawson's Creek had aired shortly after she had signed up for the film, and this was one of the reasons she became interested in the project: "It was a movie I felt like sort of catered to the audience of Dawson's Creek".^[2]
Marc Blucas as James Lansome.
Amerie as Mia Thompson. First Daughter was the R&B singer's acting debut. Of Forest Whitaker, Amerie said "It was a blessing to work with such a great director. He's an actor as well, so he knew how to get the best out of me and teach me."^[3]
Michael Keaton as President Mackenzie.
Margaret Colin as Melanie Mackenzie, the First Lady.
Lela Rochon Fuqua as Liz Pappas, the President's secretary. Rochon had previously played a leading role in Forest Whitaker's directorial debut, Waiting to Exhale (1995).

Katie Holmes on the First Daughter DVD cover.

[edit] Production

The film was in development as far back as March 1999, when actor Jerry O'Connell sold a screenplay he had written to Regency Enterprises for a six figure sum, with O'Connell also intending to star in the film. Originally to shoot in the summer of that year, the project was pushed back to the spring of 2000 (under the direction of Brian Robbins) to allow O'Connell to film Mission to Mars, and then Rob Thomas was hired to rewrite the script.^[4]^[5] For reasons unknown, the film was not produced at that time, although O'Connell later received a "story by" credit for the film from the Writers Guild of America. (The film's original producer, Mike Karz, was also credited as a producer in the final print of the film.)

Filming began on June 2, 2003^[6] on a budget of US$30 million,^[7] and continued into July.^[8] The film was shot on location in Southern California. For the film's opening scene where Samantha descending a red-carpeted stairway, the lobby of the Los Angeles Theatre in Los Angeles was used, while the auditorium of the building was used for a scene where Samantha and James go to see a movie. The Huntington Library in San Marino stood in for the exterior of the building in the first scene.^[9]

Ashly Menser was one of the younger actresses who played Samantha for the film's opening sequence. Menser, who was chosen by Forest Whitaker from sixteen other girls, said: "All I can say is I am the luckiest girl to have had the chance to work with Michael Keaton and Forest Whitaker and the rest of the cast and crew. I had my own trailer and was made to feel very special".^[10]

[edit] Reception

A number of viewers and reviewers pointed out that the film's plot is very similar to the film Chasing Liberty (In fact Chasing Liberty's working title was First Daughter), involving the President's daughter trying to experience life away from the White House. Like Chasing Liberty, the film was not well received by critics. The consensus among the reviewers is that First Daughter has a more realistic yet slower storyline than Chasing Liberty, although in the end it was Chasing Liberty which appealed more to its target audience, winning three Teen Choice Awards.

The film was not a financial success. Opening in fifth place at the box office,^[11] First Daughter ended up with just $9.1 million in domestic ticket sales and $10.4 million worldwide.^[12] It was Katie Holmes' second least successful mainstream film after Teaching Mrs. Tingle.^[13] The film performed better on home video and DVD, where it made $13.14 million in combined rentals and sales.^[14]