How it was done......

As a teenager, Jennifer Love Hewitt read an early draft of "If Only" and instantly knew she had to be involved with the project. "When I read the script it changed my life," she says. "I lived life differently because I really took it to heart. I think that sometimes in life things are brought to you for a reason and that's what our movie is about. It was at a time in my life when I really needed to stop for a second and go 'God, all this other stuff is great, but how lucky am I just for this one simple thing which is that I get to be alive every day?'"

She auditioned for the role of Samantha when the script was owned by a previous studio but Hewitt was considered too young for the part. "I wasn't big enough to star in a movie and I hadn't been in very many movies before," says Hewitt. "They said 'we can't make a love story for people in their twenties because people in their twenties don't fall in love this way', which is so wrong!"

Hewitt couldn't let the opportunity to play a part she'd fallen in love with get away and followed "If Only" for years as the project moved from studio to studio: "I was heartbroken because I didn't get the movie that I so desperately wanted to be in, but I tracked the film."

In the intervening years, Hewitt had formed her own production company, Love Spell Entertainment, with producer Jill Gilbert. Together with Jeffrey Silver and Robert Newmyer of Outlaw Productions, she jumped at the opportunity to buy the right to "If Only" when the opportunity arose: "They kept going through all these different actresses and all these different companies, and then about two years ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and suddenly thought 'what happened to that movie?' I called that day and that day it went up for sale. I went into it with Outlaw and now I've been able to be a part of it."

The thing that attracted Hewitt to the character of Sam was her free spirited passion and love of life - something that sums up the film's message. "She embodies what the entire movie is about, which is a certain life that you have to have and how important that is, and Sam is somebody who's absolutely full of life - she's always jumping around or making a joke or seeing the brighter side of something," she says. "She's always busy and she just really loves everything and appreciates stuff. She's a hopeless romantic and completely believes she and Ian will be together forever and ever and ever. To me that makes her a really special character."

Intermedia's Moritz Borman and Box Film's Gub Neal soon came on board as executive producers, and Hewitt's long cherished dream was on the way to becoming a reality. Acclaimed television director Gil Junger had wanted to work with Hewitt for a long time, so he too jumped at the chance to work on "If Only".

With the director, lead actress and backing in place, the major task remaining was to find the right British actor to play alongside Hewitt. Junger and Hewitt were sent audition tapes which they watched in LA and after seeing Paul Nicholls' tape, they decided instantly that they wanted him to read for them in person.

Nicholls was given the part on the spot and was thrilled, if a little bowled over. The role of Ian immediately appealed to Nicholls. He's a complex character who goes through the biggest changes in the film and it was important not to turn him into someone who's solely insensitive and uncaring in the first half and impulsive and loving in the second. Nicholls sees 'Act I' Ian as someone who's confused about how to express his feelings as opposed to someone who has no feelings to express. He says, "Ian's obsessed with work and he doesn't have time to think about his girlfriend and I've certainly been like that on certain jobs I've done. When I'm working I just want to concentrate on work and that's it. He does love and care about his girlfriend but he also cares about his work. Added to that, he doesn't quite know how to speak to her - he wants to appear cool to his mates but he's still a sweet guy."

In spite of the fact that they hail from opposite sides of the Atlantic and have previously worked on very different projects, Hewitt says that she and Nicholls have a lot in common, something that helped them to support each other as they embarked on two emotionally charged lead roles. She says, "Paul and I are very similar in a lot of ways - we're both 24, we both started really young in the business and have had some success but still want more in other parts of our careers. It's a big thing for both of us: It's a big thing for Paul because America is going to get to see this amazing guy on screen and hopefully fall in love with him the way our entire crew have over the past three months. For me, it's the first time I've gone out on a limb without being attached to a bigger name in the movie and I have a different look, I'm being a different person. What Paul and I have done for each other the most in this movie is just be each other's friend and really pat each other on the back as much as we possibly can."

For the small but vitally important role of the mysterious taxi driver, Academy Award-nominated actor Tom Wilkinson was cast. Wilkinson had worked on Junger's previous film Black Knight and enjoyed the experience immensely. He says, "We got to know each other's way then, so he doesn't really need to direct me - he only needs to say little things. He's got lots of energy which is really good, tells lots of jokes."

Wilkinson's character's brief scenes spark off Ian's realisation that he should make every second of his life count. Says Junger, "Tom's character is Ian's spiritual guide to the next world. Tom knows that Ian's going to die, and knowing that, he wants him to become the most loving man he can possibly be. He's a very caring man."

Wilkinson adds, "It's not a particularly difficult role to play, but the fun of it is that it's a pivotal role in the movie." Making the character a taxi driver suited the plot perfectly and allowed the filmmakers to play on the stereotype of London taxi drivers subjecting their passengers to arbitrary monologues. "Passengers are a captive audience for taxi drivers - if he wants to talk, there's very little you can do to stop him," says Wilkinson. "My cab driver's a bit importunate in this way - this poor guy gets in and I seem to know all about him. Most people aren't rude enough to say 'will you please shut up?'"

One of the priorities for the filmmakers was not to make the story overly sentimental. Says Junger, "Right from the very beginning, one of my main concerns was not to make the film melodramatic, not to make Jennifer hysterical in reacting to things, and to find a grade with Paul because he eventually has to freak out."

Hewitt also had concerns about where to set the tone but admits that there are certain emotional levels you can't completely dispense with when making a love story. "Movies like this are generally tough because you want the movie to be really sappy because it's a love story and love is sappy. Love is being at your most embarrassing and vulnerable and silly. But you have to balance that with the fact that you don't want people to be watching a sappy, melodramatic movie," she says. "When you're doing things which are really kind of mushy and tender and sweet, it's hard not to be melodramatic. We've all been closely watching out for it as we've been filming the movie."

Junger's aim was to inject as much humour into the story as possible in order to heighten the emotion as the tragic elements of the story unfold in the second half. "Our intention was to make 'Act I' a romantic comedy and then after the crash, 'Act II' is a serious drama with the pace of a comedy," he says. "This means that the really dramatic moments have all the more impact."

Both Hewitt and Nicholls loved the experience of working with Junger, whose personality was as important to the mood of the shoot as his talent as a director. Says Nicholls, "I think you'd have to be the most miserable person in the world not to get on with Gil. I've never met anyone like him in my life. He's incredibly bright and I've never seen him get angry on set. Major things might go wrong but he just keeps his cool. He's a fantastic director and I love him to pieces."

Hewitt agrees, adding, "Gil's a great guy just to sit and talk to. He talks to us all the time, constantly reminding us where we are in the movie. In the middle of all these serious conversations, he's also just checking in on us as people and seeing how we're doing, because sometimes where your head is depends on how he directs you. For example, if you're upset one day for whatever reason and you're supposed to be happy on the screen, then it's a director's job to find a way to help everybody to move on and do their job. Or, if you're really, happy and silly that day, then it's his job to sit you down and get you going about serious things."

As well as finding the right dramatic and emotional level for the film, another major concern for Junger was how to film the same day twice without making it look too repetitive or even tedious for the audience to watch. He used very specific technical methods to achieve this. "Act I is lit very warmly, there's a lot of amber filters, most of the camera moves are slower and more graceful and the cutting pattern on the edit day is at a normal pace," he explains. "Then in Act II, we had the dilemma of having to repeat so many things without boring the audience. I thought that if we repeated everything, including dialogue exactly, there would be no question that it was a repeat of day one. But what I always wanted to do was keep the audience guessing. Is it a repeat? Fate? Was day one a premonition?"

To accomplish this, Junger made a number of subtle differences in day two: "For example, Jennifer says the same things but slightly differently; the lighting is a little colder and a bit more intense; the camera moves are usually faster and we've used longer lenses which makes it a bit more visually intense. In editing style I was much more aggressive, using faster cuts to build the tension. There are some subtle visual clues which repeat certain scenes or shots from day one with slight differences which leave the audience wondering what's going on. Wardrobe-wise, in Act II, the only people who are allowed to change their clothes are Ian and Samantha - all the extras are wearing precisely the same clothes."

Having been involved with the project from the beginning, it was important to Jennifer Love Hewitt to produce "If Only" as well as act in it. She had very strong ideas how to bring the script she loved so much to life. "I felt that 'I waited this long, now it has to be right!'" she says. "And I had all these ideas and people seemed to respond to them. I just really wanted to be a part of it and make sure that it was all that it was supposed to be."

Hewitt feels that producing and developing the film also helped her to give the best performance she could possibly give. She says, "Hopefully people will think I've given a good performance and if they do, I feel like the credit is more to the producing side of the movie. I've been involved in so many different versions of the script, I've sat in so many six-hour writing sessions for my character and Paul's character. I feel like I've cheated a little bit because I know what the intention is and where they're coming from - I know so much more than I would have if I was just an actor cast in the movie who has to then figure it out."

According to Junger, "Her instincts are terrific. She's very respectful of the director and always defers to what I think - although her ideas are sensational - she's constantly inside her character's mind."
Junger cherished the opportunity to shoot in London but he was careful to present a real, living city. "Filming in England has been phenomenal," he comments. "London is a gorgeous city and that's something I wanted to catch in the film. I wanted to make London look like a place that was so romantic that you can't wait to visit, but I didn't want to make it look like a postcard."

Shooting in London did have one downfall, however - the omnipresent rain! "It was great, apart from the rain," Junger jokes. He turned this to the film's advantage, however, and used the rain to heighten the romantic nature of the story: "We incorporated umbrellas to give that old-time romantic movie look -there can be a beauty to umbrellas. There isn't one exterior in the film where the street isn't soaking wet - and we did that intentionally with fire trucks, it gives a little glisten and sheen - and it also meant that if it rained the next day we were covered. Apparently it was the wettest November in 100 years!"

Tom Wilkinson enjoyed the exaggerated downpours, too. He says, "The rain was enjoyable - it was proper, what I call "Hitchcock" rain, when it's clear for just a second just as the windscreen wiper goes and then it's full again. It doesn't really happen in real life unless it's a tumultuous downpour but it happens in movies."

The film showcases another side of Hewitt's career - singing. Hewitt relished the chance to present her singing abilities as part of the film. "I got all my loves together - acting, singing and producing - in one film," she says.

The use of music heightens the powerful romance in the film, in particular the song which Hewitt's character, Samantha, sings near the end. "Beside the gift of love, we wanted Paul's character to give Jennifer's character something she can take with her which will inspire her to be the best that she can be and realise her dreams and potential," explains Junger. "We came up with the idea that she was a violinist but that her real passion was singing and song-writing and she was just too afraid. So we staged the scene where at the very last minute Ian forces her into the position of singing in a huge auditorium. Then we tied in the song as something Ian gets to read after Samantha has 'died' after the end of the first day. It's a very heartfelt song that Jennifer and I wrote together. It starts as a classic ballad but as her courage builds it goes intro a very strong R&B, very soulful number."

Reflecting on what she wants people to feel after seeing "If Only", Hewitt doesn't hide the fact she hopes to deeply move them. "I want the audience to bawl their eyes out, and, if they're in love with somebody, feel like they want to hug them like they've never hugged them before and kiss them like they may never get to kiss them again!"

Story: © 2005 The Writing Studio. All Rights Reserved.
Images: © 2004 If Only Production Servies Limited. All Rights Reserved.
"Love Spell" and Love Spell logo: ™ ® & © Love Spell Entertainment. All Rights Reserved.