The Lie (2011 film)
| The Lie | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Joshua Leonard |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring |
Joshua Leonard Jess Weixler Mark Webber |
| Music by | Peter Raeburn |
| Cinematography | Benjamin Kasulke |
| Edited by | Greg O'Bryant |
Release date | November 18, 2011 |
Running time | 80 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Lie is a 2011 American drama/comedy film written and directed by Joshua Leonard with additional writing by Jeff Feuerzeig, Mark Webber, and Jess Weixler, based on the short story The Lie by T. Coraghessan Boyle, printed in The New Yorker.[1] The film stars Joshua Leonard as Lonnie, Jess Weixler as Clover, and Mark Webber as Tank. The film is about how a man's life is altered unexpectedly after telling a lie to get out of work. The original short story was sixteen pages long.[2] The crew spent two and a half weeks shooting the film, and six months editing it.[3] The film had its world premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.
Cast
- Joshua Leonard as Lonnie
- Jess Weixler as Clover (Lonnie's wife)
- Mark Webber as Tank (Lonnie's friend)
- Violet Long as Xana (Lonnie and Clover's baby daughter)
- Alia Shawkat as Seven (Tank's girlfriend)
- Kelli Garner as Brianna
- Jane Adams as Dr. Bentel (Lonnie's therapist)
- James Ransone as Weasel
- Matthew Newton as Steve
- Kirk Baltz as Joel
- Gerry Bednob as Radko (Lonnie's boss)
- Allison Anders as Allison
- Holly Woodlawn as Cherry
- Tipper Newton as Jeannie
- Lola Blanc as Green-Eyed Girl (as Kandice Melonakos)
- Michael McColl as Ted
- Gwyn Fawcett as Mary
- Germaine Mozel Sims as Diner
Production
Joshua Leonard had been on the lookout for a story to be made into a movie, when he read the short story, The Lie, which was in the April 14, 2008 issue of The New Yorker. He realized that the story was a good fit for an independent film that could be made in Los Angeles, using collaborators he already knew in the area.[4] For the baby Xana, the filmmakers cast Violet Long (an infant at that time) whose parents are Daniel (the film's co-producer) and Darby Long.
Reviews
- Olsen, Mark (2009-11-29). "The little 'Lie' that could ad-lib". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2016-05-30.
Though the scenes for 'The Lie' have a preconceived shape and direction, there are only spare snippets of specific dialogue written, in the hope that the tightrope walk of the creative moment will help capture some real-life spark.
- Breznican, Anthony (2011-01-10). "Sundance EXCLUSIVE: 'The Lie' finds dark comedy in a falsehood sure to shock moviegoers". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2016-05-30.
[T]his ultra-low-budget dark-comedy also may be one of the upcoming Sundance Film Festival's most touching family dramas.
- Catsoulis, Jeannette (2011-11-17). "Twentysomething in Need of a Life Coach". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-05-30.
Beautifully acted and emotionally resonant -- in the film's best scene, Clover's face silently telegraphs the dawning realization that Lonnie's hideous new song is really a terrible confession -- 'The Lie' is about adjusting one's self-portrait to accommodate changing realities.
- Ebert, Roger (2012-12-04). Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2013: 25th Anniversary Edition. Andrews McMeel Publishing. pp. 350–352. ISBN 9781449423117.
In 'The Lie', Lonnie, Clover, and Baby Xana go on a weekend camping trip, and we see they truly do make up a family, and Leonard does this in a convincing and affectionate way.
References
- ↑ Boyle, T. Coraghessan (2008-04-14). "The Lie". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
- ↑ Leonard, Joshua (2011-11-17). "Joshua Leonard Talks The Lie". MovieWeb (Interview). Interview with B. Alan Orange. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
I took the original short story, which was sixteen pages, which was phenomenal, but it needed a lot of work to translate it into a feature film.
- ↑ Leonard, Joshua (2011-11-23). "Joshua Leonard Does "The Lie"". The Wall Street Journal (Interview). Interview with Dennis Nishi. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
We shot the film for two and a half weeks but we were in the editing room putting it together for six months.
- ↑ Leonard, Joshua (2011-11-17). "Interview: Joshua Leonard (Writer/Director, 'The Lie')". PopOptiq (Interview). Interview with Simon Howell. North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Retrieved 2016-05-30.
... from a production standpoint, ['The Lie' story] resonated because it was something that could be done in Los Angeles as a truly independent film, it was a story that could be told in large part with a group of collaborators that I already had surrounding me.
External links
- Official website
- The Lie on IMDb
- The Lie at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Lie at Metacritic
- The Lie at the American Film Institute Catalog
- The Lie at AllMovie
- The Lie at the TCM Movie Database
- "The Lie (2011) Synopsis - Plot Summary". Fandango. Retrieved 2016-05-26.
[B]etween work, school and looking after the baby, their free time has all but disappeared, which means Lonnie never gets to jam with his loser buddy Tank.