Dreamer (2005 film)

Dreamer

Theatrical release poster
Directed by John Gatins
Produced by Brian Robbins
Hunt Lowry
Michael Tollin
Written by John Gatins
Starring Kurt Russell
Dakota Fanning
Kris Kristofferson
Music by John Debney
Cinematography Fred Murphy
Edited by David Rosenbloom
Production
company
Tollin/Robbins Productions
Hyde Park Entertainment
Distributed by DreamWorks Pictures
Release dates
 September 10, 2005 (TIFF)
October 21, 2005
Running time
 102 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $32 million
Box office $38,741,734

Dreamer is a 2005 American family drama film starring Kurt Russell and Dakota Fanning, inspired by the true story of an injured Thoroughbred racehorse named Mariah's Storm. The film was written and directed by John Gatins, marking his directorial debut.

Plot

Ben (Kurt Russell), a horse trainer who takes his work very seriously, neglects his precocious daughter while he pours his heart into the care of the horses that he trains.

Determined to make good on her father's overdue promise, Cale (Dakota Fanning) prods him to take her along to work and succeeds. One morning, a horse named Soñador falls during a race, injuring herself so badly that Ben's boss, Palmer, demands the horse be put down. Having Cale along, Ben instead strikes a bargain with Palmer and becomes the owner of the wounded horse. With no job and facing foreclosure on his property, he decides to breed Soñador.

Cale, having fallen in love at first sight with Soñador, begins to sneak out to the barn at night to see her. She also sneaks over to see her grandfather, 'Pop', Ben's dad (Kris Kristofferson), who loves teaching his granddaughter about horses.

One day, Cale hears her father tell her mother, Lily (Elisabeth Shue), that Soñador has ruined them. Lily responds that Soñador is the best thing that has ever happened to them, alluding to the fact that Ben is finally spending much-needed time with Cale.

Hurt after hearing the conversation, Cale sets out to run away and saddles Soñador. Not knowing of Cale's plan, Ben enters the barn. The door slams behind him, and a startled Soñador bolts out of the barn with Cale hanging on for dear life. Ben scrambles to his truck and sets out after them.

This incident begins to cement the newly forming bond between father and daughter and heal the wounds of the whole family. In the end, Soñador wins a major race and goes from being a negative focal point to the hero of the movie.

Cast

Production and cast

The movie is loosely inspired by the story of the mare Mariah's Storm. She was a promising filly who was being pointed towards the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies in 1993 but then broke her cannon bone (the incident is mentioned in the film by Sonador's veterinarian). She recovered and later won some graded stakes races. She started in the 1995 Breeders' Cup Distaff and finished ninth. She was owned by Thunderhead Farms and trained by Don Von Hemel. She is now known mostly for being the dam of Giant's Causeway. In the movie, when Cale and Ben go to Ashford Stud to check out the studs, the stallions they are naming, such as Fusaichi Pegasus, Giant's Causeway, Mariah's Storm, Johannesburg and Grand Slam, are real horses who actually stand at Ashford. However, the actual stallions were not used in filming. Stand-ins were placed in their stalls instead. In the scene where Sonya is considered for the Breeder's Cup, Prince Sadir says that his horse "Rapid Cat is sired by Storm Cat, the best sire in the world." Coincidentally, Mariah's Storm (on whom Sonya is based) was bred to Storm Cat.

While doing research in Kentucky, the director/writer came upon a vet who told him about a racehorse who miraculously made a comeback after a serious injury, and he loosely based the script on this story. Before being picked up by DreamWorks, the script was presented to Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros, but both declined. Director John Gatins was told that if he could get Dakota Fanning in the lead role his movie would get a green-light. He went to see Fanning's agent and finally got the young actress to sign on. The role of Cale Crane was originally written for a boy, and the role was changed specifically so that Dakota Fanning could play it. The first script that was sent to Fanning actually had the word "boy" in the character description.

To produce the soundtrack, an advance showing of this film was shown to a number of recording artists, who were then asked to submit ideas for theme songs. Bethany Dillon's song "Dreamer" was chosen out of all the submissions.

After the movie, Kurt Russell bought Dakota Fanning a real Palomino horse, whom she named Goldie.

Box office

Dreamer opened in second place at the box office behind Doom, with $9,178,233 earned for a $4,573 average from 2,007 theaters. In its second weekend, it held well with a 33% drop to fourth place with $6,132,856 earned for a $2,462 average from being expanded to 2,491 theaters and lifting its two-week total to $17,374,339. It held up even better in its third weekend, only slipping 22% to sixth place and $4,794,741 for a $1,832 average from being expanded to 2,617 theaters. In its fourth weekend, it once again held well with another 22% slide to $3,728,510 and ninth place, for a $1,363 average from being expanded to its widest release, 2,735 theaters.

The film closed on January 5, 2006, after 77 days of release and grossing $32,751,093 domestically along with an additional $5,990,639 overseas for a worldwide total of $38,741,732. Produced on a $32 million budget, the film is considered a so-so film at the box office, as it barely recouped its budget.

External links