What's Eating Gilbert Grape
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| What's Eating Gilbert Grape | |
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| Directed by | Lasse Hallström |
| Produced by | Lasse Hallström Alan C. Blomquist |
| Written by | Peter Hedges |
| Starring | Johnny Depp Juliette Lewis Leonardo DiCaprio Darlene Cates |
| Music by | Alan Parker Björn Isfält |
| Cinematography | Sven Nykvist |
| Editing by | Andrew Mondshein |
| Distributed by | J&M Entertainment (non-USA) Paramount Pictures (USA) |
| Release date(s) | December 25 1993 |
| Running time | 118 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$11 million (estimated) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
What's Eating Gilbert Grape is a 1993 dramedy movie directed by Lasse Hallström and starring Johnny Depp, Juliette Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio. It is based on a book of the same name by author Peter Hedges. It was filmed in Manor, Texas.
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[edit] Plot summary
In the small town of Endora, Iowa, Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) is busy caring for his mentally handicapped brother, Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio). His morbidly obese mother, Bonnie (Darlene Cates), has not left the house in seven years since her husband committed suicide in the basement of their house, spending almost all of her time on the couch watching television. With Bonnie unable to care for her children on her own, Gilbert has taken responsibility for repairing the old house and looking after Arnie, who has a habit of climbing up the town water tower, while his sisters Amy and Ellen do the rest. A new "Food Land" supermarket has opened, threatening the small Lamson's Grocery where Gilbert works. With all the weight on his shoulders Gilbert tries to handle his situation the best he can.
As the film begins, the family is preparing for Arnie's 18th birthday. Just then, a young woman named Becky (Juliette Lewis) and her grandmother are stuck in town when the truck pulling their mobile home breaks down. When Gilbert first sees Becky, he begins to rethink his life. His unusual, chaotic home life threatens to get in the way of their budding romance. The mother climbs the stairs of her house to her bedroom for the first time since her husband's suicide and dies for reasons not mentioned in the film directly. The children, not willing to let their mother become the joke of the town by having her corpse lifted from the house by crane empty their family home of possessions and set it ablaze, to cremate their parent. The film cuts to the blaze and fades out with the family looking on at their burning home. The story then skips ahead one year, with Gilbert describing how Amy got a job in Des Moines, and Ellen who can't wait to switch schools, as Gilbert and his brother Arnie wait by the side of a long road for the arrival of Gilbert's romance, Becky. The film fades out with Gilbert and Arnie riding with Becky and her grandmother to an untold destination, hugging each other in the back seat of the Recreational Vehicle owned by Becky's grandmother..
[edit] Cast
- Johnny Depp as Gilbert Grape
- Leonardo DiCaprio as Arnie Grape
- Juliette Lewis as Becky
- Mary Steenburgen as Betty Carver who lusts for Gilbert
- Darlene Cates as Bonnie Grape, the obese mother
- Laura Harrington as Amy Grape, the older of Gilbert's sisters
- Mary Kate Schellhardt as Ellen Grape, the younger of Gilbert's sisters. Seen in three scenes practicing on a trumpet
- Kevin Tighe as Ken Carver, an insurance agent
- John C. Reilly as Tucker Van Dyke, Gilbert's friend who also serves as a handyman and is hired by Burger Barn
- Crispin Glover as Bobby McBurney, who works at a morgue
- Penelope Branning as Becky's Grandma;
- Tim Green as Mr. Lamson, the storeowner
- Susan Loughran as Mrs. Lamson
- Robert B. Hedges as Minister
- Mark Jordan as Todd Carver, one of the Carver sons, possibly the older
- Cameron Finley as Doug Carver, one of the Carver sons
- Brady Coleman as Sheriff Jerry Farrel
- Tim Simek as Deputy
- Nicholas Stojanovich as Boy #1
- Libby Villari as Waitress
- Kay Bower as Police secretary
- Joe Stevens as Burger Barn manager
- Mona Lee Fultz as FoodLand Bakery Worker
- George Haynes as Dave
- Daniel Gullahorn as Boy #2
[edit] Taglines
- Life is a terrible thing to sleep through.
- Living in Endora is like dancing to no music.
- Arnie knows a secret: His brother Gilbert is the best person in the world.
- Life hasn't passed Gilbert by...it's just taken a slight detour.
[edit] Age/Time Discrepancy
Gilbert Grape has what is probably the one of the biggest movie discrepancies of all time. That "Poppa" Grape has been dead for 17 years (as Gilbert pointed out), yet youngest Ellen had only just turned 15. It is further pointed out during the Ken Carver funeral scene, with Arnie playing at Poppa's grave. This is somewhat explained in the Commentary between director Hallström & Screenwriter/novelst Hedges in the DVD version of the movie. In Hedges' novel, Ellen was slightly older and a little more mature (but not too much), than in the movie. But since they had cast such a young actress (Schellhardt, then 15 herself), they had no choice to make the movie version of Ellen that young as well.
[edit] Trivia
- This was the first ever film shown on the British television channel, FilmFour.
- Leonardo DiCaprio earned an Oscar nomination for this film.
- An episode of American Dad! titled "Irregarding Steve" parodies the movie, but with talking squirrels.
- Darlene Cates, who plays "Momma", first appeared on the American show Sally Jessy Raphael to talk about her weight problem, and was chosen for her role after the producer of the show sent a tape to the casting director of the film. The picture of Momma that Gilbert is seen looking at in the film is an actual photograph of Darlene, aged 14. [1]
- in a VGDC parody, "arnie's mis-adventures," Is a parody of the movie, but with mushroom retainers as the characters.
- In season 5 of CSI:Crime Scene Investigation there is a title of an episode, possible a parody of the film, called "What's Eating Gilbert Grissom".
