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Changeling (film)

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This article is about the 2008 film directed by Clint Eastwood. For the 1980 film, see The Changeling (film).
Changeling
Theatrical release poster
Directed byClint Eastwood
Written byJ. Michael Straczynski
Produced byClint Eastwood
Brian Grazer
Ron Howard
Robert Lorenz
StarringAngelina Jolie
John Malkovich
Jeffrey Donovan
Gattlin Griffith
Jason Butler Harner
Amy Ryan
Michael Kelly
Geoff Pierson
Colm Feore
CinematographyTom Stern
Edited byJoel Cox
Gary D. Roach
Music byClint Eastwood
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release dates
Cannes Film Festival:
May 20, 2008
United States:
October 24, 2008 (limited)
October 31, 2008 (wide)
United Kingdom:
November 28, 2008
Running time
141 min.[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$20.6 million

Changeling is a 2008 American period thriller directed by Clint Eastwood and written by J. Michael Straczynski. The film begins in 1928 Los Angeles and tells the true story of a woman who recognizes that the boy returned to her after a kidnapping is not her son. After confronting the city authorities, she is vilified as an unfit mother and branded delusional. The events were related to the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, an infamous kidnapping and murder case that was uncovered in 1928. Changeling explores themes such as disempowerment of women, corruption in political hierarchies, and the impact that violent crime has on communities. The film was made by Imagine Entertainment and Malpaso Productions for Universal Pictures. Ron Howard was originally slated to direct, but scheduling conflicts and Universal's desire to fast track the project led to his replacement by Eastwood. Howard and Imagine partner Brian Grazer remained as producers, alongside Malpaso's Robert Lorenz and Eastwood.

After being tipped off to the real life case by a contact at Los Angeles City Hall, Straczynski, a veteran television writer and producer, spent a year researching it through archived city records. He wrote the script in eleven days. The shooting script was not changed from Straczynski's first draft, and was his first produced film screenplay. He attempted to stick closely to the facts of the case, and drew 95% of the script from articles, testimony, transcripts and correspondence from the period. Straczynski placed newspaper clippings into copies of the script to remind people it was a true story. Principal photography began on October 15, 2007 and was completed in November 2007. Filming took place in and around Los Angeles. Suburban areas of San Dimas, San Bernardino and Pasadena doubled for 1920s Los Angeles, and visual effects were used to supplement these exterior shots with skylines and backdrops. Filming also took place at surviving 1920s buildings, such as Los Angeles City Hall. Eastwood's noted economical directing style extended to Changeling's shoot: actors and members of the crew remarked upon the calmness of the set and the short working days.

Several high-profile actors were interested in the lead role before Angelina Jolie was cast. Eastwood cast her partly because he felt her face fit the period setting. The film also features Jeffrey Donovan, John Malkovich, Jason Butler Harner, Amy Ryan, Michael Kelly, Geoff Pierson, and Colm Feore. Most of the characters were based on their real life counterparts, while some were composites based on people and the types of people who lived in the period. Changeling premiered in competition at the 61st Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2008 and was met with critical acclaim, prompting speculation it could win the Palme d'Or. The award ultimately went to Entre les murs ("The Class"). Changeling had its North American premiere on October 4, 2008 as the centerpiece of the 46th New York Film Festival, and was released wide in North American theaters on October 31, 2008 after a limited release that began on October 24, 2008. It will be released in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland on November 28, 2008. Its theatrical release was met with a more mixed critical response than at Cannes. Reviews were generally favorable: the acting and storyline were largely praised, with criticism focusing on the film's conventional presentation and a lack of nuance.

Plot summary

In 1928 Los Angeles, single mother Christine Collins (Jolie) returns home one day to discover her nine-year-old son, Walter (Griffith), is missing. Reverend Gustav Briegleb (Malkovich) publicizes Christine's plight and rails against the Los Angeles Police Department for its incompetence, corruption and the extrajudicial punishment meted by its "Gun Squad", led by Police Chief James E. Davis (Feore). Several months later, Christine is told that her son has been found alive. A public reunion is organized by police, who believe that the positive publicity will negate recent criticism of the department. When Christine sees "Walter" (Conti) she doesn't recognize him. Captain Jones (Donovan) pressures a confused Christine into taking the boy home "on a trial basis".

After Christine confronts Jones with physical discrepancies between "Walter" and her son, Jones has a doctor visit her. He tells Christine that "Walter" is shorter because trauma has shrunk his spine, and pressures neighborhood children and an adult neighbor with poor eyesight into identifying the boy as Walter. A newspaper story appears that implies Christine is an unfit mother. Christine meets with Briegleb, who tells her the story was planted by police to discredit her. He also tells her of the corruption rife in the department, and of the Gun Squad's despotic rule over the city's streets. Walter's teacher and dentist give Christine signed letters confirming that "Walter" is an impostor. Christine arranges a press conference during which she tells her story. At Jones' order, Christine is taken to Los Angeles County Hospital's psychopathic ward. Christine is befriended by inmate Carol Dexter (Ryan), who tells Christine she is one of several women who were imprisoned for challenging police authority. Dr. Steele (O'Hare) deems Christine delusional and forces her to take mood-regulating pills. Steele says he will release Christine if she admits she was mistaken about "Walter". She refuses.

Detective Ybarra (Kelly) is called to a ranch at Wineville, Riverside County to arrange a boy's deportation to Canada. Ybarra discovers 15-year-old Sanford Clark. The boy's cousin, Gordon Northcott (Harner), has fled after being unwittingly alerted by Ybarra to his visit. Northcott steals a truck after killing its driver. Clark tells Ybarra that Northcott forced him to assist in kidnapping and murdering approximately twenty children. Clark identifies Walter as one of them. Jones tells Briegleb that Christine is in protective custody following a mental breakdown. Jones orders Clark deported, but Ybarra makes Clark reveal the murder site. Briegleb secures Christine's release by showing Steele a newspaper that details the Wineville killings and names Walter as a possible victim. "Walter" reveals his motive was to secure transportation to Los Angeles to see his favorite actor. Northcott is captured in Vancouver, Canada. Christine has an attorney (Pierson) secure a court order to release the women unfairly imprisoned by police.

On the day of the city council's hearing into the case, Christine and Briegleb flee police who they believe want to prevent her testifying. Outside Los Angeles City Hall they encounter thousands of protestors who are demanding answers from the city. The hearing is intercut with scenes from Northcott's trial. The council concludes that Jones and Davis should be removed from duty, and that extrajudicial interments by police must be reviewed. Northcott is found guilty of murder and is sentenced to death by hanging. Two years later, Christine has not given up her search for Walter. She is told that Northcott is willing to admit killing Walter on condition that Christine meets with him before his execution. Northcott then refuses to tell her whether or not he killed her son, and he is executed the next day. In 1935, David Clay—one of the boys assumed to have been killed—is found alive. He reveals that one of the boys with whom he was imprisoned was Walter. David, Walter and another boy escaped, but were separated. David doesn't know whether Walter was recaptured, giving Christine hope that he is alive.

Production

Several years prior to writing Changeling's script, television screenwriter and former journalist J. Michael Straczynski was contacted by a former source at Los Angeles City Hall.[2] The source told him that officials were planning to burn numerous archive documents,[3] and that among them was "something [Straczynski] should see". This proved to be a transcript of a city council welfare hearing in Christine Collins' case.[4] Straczynski became fascinated with it,[5] and though he performed some research, he lacked the time to devote to making the story work on the page. He only returned to the project several years later, following Jeremiah's cancelation in 2003.[6] Straczynski had spent twenty years working in television, writing and producing shows such as Babylon 5 and Jeremiah, and felt he needed a break from the medium,[5] so he spent a year researching the Collins case through archived criminal, county courthouse, city hall and city morgue records. He collected around 6000 pages of documentation,[2] before obtaining enough information to be able to "figure out how to tell it".[5] He wrote the first draft of the script in eleven days.[6] Straczynski's agent passed the script to producer Jim Whitaker. He forwarded it to Ron Howard,[2] who optioned it immediately.[5]

In June 2006 Universal Studios and Howard's Imagine Entertainment bought the script with the intention for Howard to direct. The film was on a shortlist of projects for Howard after coming off the commercial success of The Da Vinci Code.[7] In March 2007, the production was fast tracked by Universal. When Howard instead opted to direct Frost/Nixon, following that with Angels and Demons, it became clear that he could not direct Changeling until 2009.[8] After Howard stepped down, it began to look as if the film would not be made, despite the script's being admired in the industry (a situation Straczynski said he had "gotten very Zen" about).[9] Howard and Imagine partner Brian Grazer instead began looking for other directors to helm the project. Straczynski said that five A-list directors were interested,[10] before Clint Eastwood agreed to direct immediately after reading the script.[3]

The film marked a repeat visit to territory visited by Eastwood in some of his earlier films: the Great Depression. Eastwood said his memories of growing up during that time meant that whenever a history concerning the Depression era landed in his hands, he "redoubled his attention" upon it.[11]

Casting

Angelina Jolie was suggested to Eastwood for the lead by producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. Eastwood cast her as he felt her face was one that fit "both contemporarily and in a period".[12]

Angelina Jolie plays Christine Collins. Five female stars campaigned for the role,[13] including Reese Witherspoon and Hilary Swank.[14] Eastwood selected Jolie as soon as he realised she was interested.[13] She had been suggested to Eastwood by Howard and Grazer. As he felt her face fit the period setting, Eastwood agreed.[12] Jolie was initially reluctant to join the production, as the film's subject was one that made her uncomfortable due to her having children herself. The screenplay's portrayal of Collins as having the ability to bounce back from adversity and the strength to fight against the odds swayed Jolie,[3] and she joined the production in March 2007.[15] Jolie noted that performing the role was very emotional,[16] and she had to learn to roller skate in high heels for scenes at the telephone exchange, a documented practice of the period. Gattlin Griffith plays her son, with Devon Conti as his doppelgänger, Arthur Hutchens.[3]

Jeffrey Donovan plays J.J. Jones. Jones is the Los Angeles Police Department captain leading the juvenile investigation unit, and Collins' primary antagonist. Upon returning the boy claiming to be Collins' son to her, he bullies Collins into accepting the boy. Lines from the real Jones' public statements were used in a scene where Jones has Collins committed to a mental institute. Donovan expressed his fascination and disbelief at the amount of power Jones wielded in the city, and that he was able to have Collins committed based solely upon his word.[3]

John Malkovich plays Gustav Briegleb. Malkovich joined the production in October 2007.[17] Briegleb is a Presbyterian minister and pastor of the St. Paul’s and Westlake Presbyterian churches in Los Angeles. The character is a community activist who uses his radio show to deliver sermons that challenge the public not to turn a blind eye to the corruption of police and city government officials. Briegleb uses his knowledge of the city's political structure to publicize Walter's disappearance on his radio show and rally the public behind Collins' cause. Malkovich said that the character helps Collins to find the strength of her own voice in her battle for the truth.[3] Eastwood deliberately cast Malkovich against type as he felt the casting would bring "a different shading" to the character.[18]

Jason Butler Harner plays Gordon Northcott. Harner described his character as "a horrible, horrible, wonderful person".[19] He said Northcott plays a cat-and-mouse game with Collins, and that he believes he shares a connection with her due to their both being in the headlines: "In his eyes, they’re kindred spirits".[3] Harner landed the role after a single taped audition. Casting director Ellen Chenoweth explained that Eastwood chose Harner over more well-known actors who desired the part due to seeing "more depth and variety" in the performer, and because he was able to project "a slight craziness" without evoking Charles Manson.[20] During casting, Eastwood was surprised by the resemblance between Northcott and Harner, saying they looked "very much" alike when Harner was made-up. Eddie Alderson plays Northcott's cousin and accomplice, Sanford Clark.[3]

Amy Ryan plays Carol Dexter. Dexter is a prostitute wrongfully imprisoned by police in the same mental institute as Collins. She befriends Collins and teaches her how to survive the treatment to which Dexter has already been subjected.[3] Like Jolie and Harner, Ryan didn't audition for her role in person; instead she sent in a tape to Eastwood.[21] Ryan cited the filming of a fight scene during which Eastwood showed her "how to throw a movie punch" as her favorite moment of the production.[22]

Michael Kelly plays Lester Ybarra. Ybarra is a police detective and the only officer on the case who believes Collins.[23] He is a composite of several people from the historical record.[3] Kelly was chosen based on a taped audition and had to work around scheduling conflicts with TV series Generation Kill, which he was filming in Africa at the same time.[23]

Geoff Pierson plays Sammy Hahn. Hahn is a defense attorney, known for taking high-profile cases. He takes up Collins' case and in doing so plants the seeds of the eventual overturning of "Code 12" interments—a term used to jail or commit someone who was deemed difficult or an inconvenience. These were often women committed to the psychopathic ward without due process.[3]

Colm Feore plays James E. Davis. Davis is the Los Angeles chief of police, who is keen for Collins to disappear due to the bad publicity her campaign brings upon the department and the despotic political infrastructure led by Mayor George E. Cryer (Reed Birney). The life and backstory of Davis was changed from that of his historical counterpart.[3]

Denis O'Hare plays Jonathan Steel. Another composite character, Steel is a doctor who rules the hospital psychopathic ward with a brutal approach to psychiatric care.[3]

Filming

The production used a fully-functioning replica Pacific Electric Railway streetcar for two scenes.[11] Other streetcars were added to background shots by the visual effects team.[3]

Changeling was made by Imagine Entertainment and Malpaso Productions for Universal Studios.[24] It was produced by Imagine's Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, with Malpaso's Robert Lorenz and Eastwood. The film was edited by Gary D. Roach and Joel Cox, and the score was by Eastwood. Tim Moore and Jim Whitaker were executive producers. Production design was supervised by James Murakami,[3] and cinematography was by Tom Stern.[3] In what was described as a "technical innovation", Eastwood and Stern used hand-held wireless video screens to watch live feeds of some shots.[25]

Principal photography began on October 15, 2007,[26] and took 35 days.[25] Filming mostly took place on the Universal Studios backlot in Los Angeles.[27] The backlot's New York Street was used, as was an alley next to the entrance to the King Kong attraction. New York Street was later destroyed by a fire.[28] Location scouting prior to filming revealed that many of the older buildings in Los Angeles had been torn down, including the entire neighborhood where the real Collins lived. Suburban areas in the nearby cities of San Dimas, San Bernardino and Pasadena doubled for 1920s Los Angeles instead. A neighborhood in the Old Town district of San Dimas stood in for the block of homes that housed the real Collins. It was used for both interior and exterior shots and also stood in for some surrounding areas. Murakami said that the area was chosen because very little had changed since the 1920s. A subdued color palette was used in decorating the location to evoke feelings of comfort.[3] For some exterior shots, the production renovated run-down properties in neighborhoods of Los Angeles that still had surviving 1920s architecture.[29] The Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank, California was also used, as was the Park Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, which was converted into a replica of the 1920s Los Angeles City Council chambers.[30]

Eastwood had clear childhood memories of living in Los Angeles in the 1930s and attempted to recreate several details in the film: the town hall, at the time one of the tallest buildings in the city; the city center, which was one of the busiest in the world; and the "perfectly functioning" Pacific Electric Railway, the distinctive red streetcars of which feature closely in two scenes.[11] The production used a fully functioning replica streetcar for these shots, with visual effects employed for streetcars in the background.[3] Around 150 motor cars dating from 1918 to 1928 were sourced from vintage car collectors throughout Southern California. In some cases, the cars were in too good a condition, so they had to be retouched to make them appear more like they were in everyday use. Dust and water were sprayed onto the bodywork, and to "age" the cars, in some cases an artificial coating was applied that simulated the look of rust and scratches.[31] Los Angeles City Hall, on which construction was completed in 1928, was retouched by the effects team to remove the weathering and newer surrounding architecture. A small farm on the outskirts of Lancaster was used as the location for the Wineville chicken ranch. The entire ranch was recreated; the production crew used archive news photographs and visits to the original ranch where the killings took place to get a feel for the topography and layout.[3] Steve Lech, president of the Riverside Historical Society, was employed as a consultant and accompanied the production crew on its visits.[32]

"One day we were shooting a scene where [Collins and Briegleb] talk about her case... We started shooting at 9:30 a.m. and it was seven or eight pages, which is usually an 18-hour day. Around 2:30, [Eastwood] goes, 'That's lunch and that's a wrap.'... I've made close to 100 films now and that's certainly a phrase I've never heard in my entire life."
—John Malkovich discusses Eastwood's famously economical directing style, which extended to Changeling's set.[33]

Eastwood is known for his "economical" film shoots,[33] and his regular camera operator (Steve Campanelli) indicated that the rapid pace at which Eastwood shoots his films—and intimate and near-wordless direction—was also a feature of Changeling's shoot.[34] Eastwood limited the number of rehearsals and takes to garner more "authentic" performances from the cast.[3] Jolie said, "You've got to get your stuff together and get ready because he doesn't linger... He expects people to come prepared and get on with their work."[35] Campanelli sometimes had to tell Jolie what Eastwood wanted in a scene, as Eastwood talked too softly.[34] To lend verisimilitude to certain scenes, Eastwood sometimes asked Jolie to play a scene quietly, as if just for him. At the same time he would ask his cameraman to start filming discreetly, without Jolie's seeing it. Some of these takes made it into the completed film.[11] Malkovich noted Eastwood's direction as "redefining economical", saying that Eastwood was quiet and didn't use the usual phrases "action" and "cut" during filming. "Some [directors]—like Clint Eastwood or Woody Allen—don’t really like to be tortured by a million questions. They hire you, and they figure you know what to do, and you should do it... And that’s fine by me."[36] Ryan also noted the calmness of the set,[37] observing that her experiences working with director Sidney Lumet on 100 Centre Street and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead were useful due to his sharing Eastwood's preference for filming a small number of takes.[38][21]

Clothing matching the 1920s style had to be found for up to 1000 people, a task made difficult for costume designer Deborah Hopper by the fabrics used in the period, which were not hard-wearing. Sharp wool suits were found for the police officers. The style for women of all classes was to dress to create a demure silhouette, using dropped waist dresses, cloche hats that complemented the bob cut hairstyles of the day, fur-trimmed coats and knitted gloves. Archive media of Collins was used to replicate her look for Jolie. She indicated that the costumes Collins wore formed an integral part of her approach to the character, saying that the style made her "feel a little softer and just so delicate, hidden behind it all".[3]

Visual effects

Scenes set outside Los Angeles City Hall were retouched by the effects team to make the building appear new.[3]

The visual effects were created by CIS Vancouver and Pac Title, under the overall supervision of Michael Owens. CIS' work was supervised by Geoff Hancock and Pac Title's by Mark Freund. Each effects studio created around 90 shots for the film, with Pac Title focusing primarily on 2D imagery, such as rig removal.[27] The focus of the effects work was mostly on what Owens called "peripheral elements": the primary additions were architecture, vehicles,[39] crowds and furniture. The 3D modeling package Maya was used to animate city scenes, with mental ray employed for rendering. Matte paintings were generated using Softimage XSI and Maya, and Digital Fusion was used for some 2D shots. The work began with research into what Los Angeles was like in 1928. Historical photographs were used, as well as data that revealed the population density in the urban core.[27] CIS had to generate most of the computer models, textures and motion capture from new because the team's existing effects catalogue consisted mostly of modern era items.[39] They supplemented exterior shots with skylines and detailed backdrops.[3] Extensions to the set were created digitally and with matte paintings.[39] The city blocks were created using shared elements of period architecture that could be combined to make different buildings. They could be rearranged and restacked to create buildings of different widths and heights. That way, the city could look diverse with a minimum of textural variation. Vintage aerial photographs of downtown Los Angeles were referenced so the shots would better reflect the geography of the city, as Hancock felt it important to have a consistency between scenes that would allow the audience to understand and become immersed in the environment.[27]

For crowd scenes, extras were supplemented with digital pedestrians created using traditional motion capture. The motion capture performers were coached to better replicate the movements of the period, which were described by Owens as "small, formal and refined".[39][27] The Massive software package was used to generate the interactions of the digital pedestrians. This presented a challenge when it came to the digital pedestrians' mingling with the live-action extras, who had to move from the foreground into the digital crowd.[39] Owens said Massive worked well until this interaction was required, at which stage direct intervention was required to move the digital pedestrians so the live-action extras wouldn't have to be taken out of the shot.[27] To allow closer shots of individual Massive extras, the effects team paid particular attention to their faces and walking characteristics. Hancock explained: "We wanted to be able to push Massive right up to the camera and see how well it held up. In a couple of shots the characters might be 40 feet away from the camera, about 1/5th screen height. The bigger the screen is, the bigger the character. He could be 10 feet tall, so everything, even his hair, better look good!"[39] Twice as much motion capture was done by CIS than on their previous projects. This was due to the necessity of having variety between the Massive extras so they could be better integrated with the live-action ones. Shaders were written for their clothing; an assortment of displacement maps in the air shader were linked to the motion capture and would animate the wrinkles in the trousers and jackets.[27]

To maintain the pace of shooting that Eastwood demanded, Owens chose to mostly avoid using bluescreen technology, as the process can be time-consuming and is more difficult to light. He instead used rotoscoping, the process whereby effects are drawn directly onto live action shots.[39] Rotoscoping is more expensive than bluescreen, but Eastwood had made extensive use of it on Flags of Our Fathers to avoid shooting against bluescreen on top of a mountain, and it had since become a reliable technique on his films. For Owens, the lighting was much better, and he considered rotoscoping to be "faster, easier and more natural".[27] Bluescreen was only used where it was reasonable to, such as at the ends of a street on the backlot, where it wouldn't impact on the lighting.[39] The Universal Studios backlot had been used for so many films that Owens also thought it important to disguise familiar architecture as much as possible, so some foreground and middle distance buildings were swapped. One of Owens' favorite effects shots was a scene in which Collins exits a taxi in front of the police station. This was filmed almost entirely against a bluescreen background; only Jolie, the sidewalk, the taxi cab and an extra were real. The completed shot features the full range of effects techniques used in the film: Massive extras in the foreground, set extensions and computer generated vehicles.[27]

The final shot in the film is a two and a half minute sequence that shows Collins' walking off to eventually become lost in a crowd. The camera pans upwards to reveal miles of city blocks,[39] people walking the streets, cars going by and streetcars running along their tracks.[27] This sequence was not included in the version of the film that screened at Cannes; it faded to black as Collins walked away. The 4000-frame shot was Owens' idea. He told Eastwood that he thought the film should end like Chinatown, with the camera lifting to take in the scene. Owens felt the cut to black pulled the viewer out the film too quickly, and that the scene should allow room for emotional reflection. There was no time to complete the shot before the Cannes showing, but afterwards Owen used the cineSync tool to conduct the work from his home. The shot included two blocks of computer-generated buildings that recede into the distance of a downtown set extension. As Collins disappears into the crowd about a minute into the shot, the live footage continues and is gradually joined by more digital work.[39] The streetcars, tracks and power lines were entirely computer generated. Live action extras appeared for the first minute of the shot before being replaced by all-digital ones, some of which were duplicates of one another. The shot was made more complicated by the need to add Massive extras.[27] The scene was constructed by first building the environment around the live action in the foreground. Then the background was added, before the scene was filled with vehicles and people.[39]

Writing

"The story is just so bizarre that you need something to remind you that I'm not making this stuff up. So it seemed important to me to put in those clippings because you reach the part of the story where you go, 'Come on he's got to have gone off the rails with this.' Turn the page and there is indeed an article confirming it, which is why, in terms of writing the script, I hued [sic] very close to the facts. The story is already extraordinary enough."
—Screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski placed newspaper clippings into physical copies of the script to remind people it was a true story.[4]

Straczynski deliberately chose not to focus on the atrocities in the story, preferring to tell it from Collins' perspective.[40] He stuck close to the facts of the case while writing the script, because he felt that the story was bizarre enough that adding too many fictional elements would call into question its integrity.[41] Straczynski claimed that 95% of the script's content came directly from articles, testimony, transcripts and correspondence from the period.[2] He said there were only two moments at which he had to "figure out what happened", due to the lack of information in the public records. He cited as one example a scene set in a psychiatric hospital, for which there was only limited after-the-fact testimony. Straczynski had to extrapolate events based upon standard practice in such institutions at the time.[4] He also cited his academic background, which includes majors in psychology and sociology, as a help in writing these, specifically a scene where Dr. Steele distorts Collins' words to make her appear delusional.[6] To ensure the veracity of the story, Straczynski incorporated quotes from the historical record and direct testimony directly into the dialogue. He also included photocopies of news clippings every 15–20 pages in the script to remind those reading it that the story was a true one.[3] So the credits could present the film as "a true story" rather than as "based on" one, Straczynski had to go through the script with Universal's legal department, providing attribution for every scene.[42] Straczynski believed the only error he made in his research was in a scene that referenced Scrabble, pre-dating its appearance on the market by two years. This was changed to reference a crossword puzzle.[6] The shooting script was not changed any further from Straczynski's first draft;[43] though Straczynski had written a couple of different drafts at Imagine's behest, Eastwood insisted the first draft be filmed.[41] Straczynski said, "Clint's funny—if he likes it, he'll do it, that's the end of the discussion. When I met with him to ask, 'Do you want any changes, do you want any things cut, added to, subtracted from, whatever,' he said, 'No. The draft is fine. Let's shoot the draft.'"[4]

Straczynski viewed "sitting down and ferreting out [the] story" as a return to his journalistic roots, and he also drew upon his background in writing crime drama for the procedural elements of the story.[6] Straczynski said he'd gathered almost "too much" information about the story to be able to work out how to tell it. To let it develop at its own pace, he put it aside for a while to allow himself to forget the less essential elements and bring into focus the parts he wanted to tell. He described what he saw as two inverted triangles: "the first triangle, with the point up, is Collins’ story. You start with her, and her story gets broader and broader and begins having impact from all kinds of places. The overlay on that was an upside down triangle with the base on top, which is the panorama of Los Angeles at that time—1928. And it begins getting narrower and narrower toward the bottom, bearing down on her." Once Straczynski saw that structure, he felt he could write the story.[41] He said his attraction to the project was the tenacity Collins showed in her fight to uncover the truth, and the legacy the case left throughout California's legal system: "My intention was very simple: to honor what Christine Collins did."[3] He was left with a strong desire "to get it right", and approached writing Changeling less like a regular film than "an article for cinema".[6] The title is derived from West European folklore and refers to a creature, a "changeling", left by fairies in place of a human child.[44] Due to the word's association with the supernatural, Straczynski only ever intended it as a temporary title, believing he would be able to change it later on.[42]

Themes

Changeling begins as an ordinary story of an abduction, but the film largely stays outside the framework of a family drama to concentrate on a portrait of a woman whose desire for independence is seen as a threat to a male-dominated society.[11][45] The Los Angeles of the 1920s is depicted as a city that behaves towards women as if they are hysterical, and unreliable when they question the judgment of men.[1] As a film dealing with female courage, Changeling has been called "about as feminist as Hollywood can get". A perception that the film has as a result been subject to sexist disdain drew comparison with that leveled at the women who vied for high political office in the year of the film's release, as well as that directed at the women of Changeling's 1920s setting, reflecting a view that attitudes towards independent, career-minded women have failed to significantly change in the intervening years: Collins defies male-generated cultural expectations that women are not suited for professional careers, and is punished for it.[44] The portrait of a vulnerable woman whose mental state is manipulated by the authorities was likened to the treatment of Ingrid Bergman's character in the 1944 film Gaslight, a woman who also wondered if she might be going insane,[11][46] with Eastwood citing photographs in which Collins is seen smiling with the child she knows is not hers.[11] Like a number of other women of the period who were deemed disruptive, Collins is forced into the secret custody of a mental institution. The film shows that psychiatry became a tool in the gender politics of the era, only a few years after women's suffrage in the United States was guaranteed by the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. As women ceased to be "second class citizens", further asserting their independence, mental institutions became key tools used by the male establishment to bring about female disempowerment; in common with other unmanageable women, Collins is subjected to medical treatment designed to break her spirit and compel obedience.[44] The testimony of the psychiatrist who treated Collins is directly quoted from in the film. Eastwood said that the testimony said a great deal about how a woman was prejudged as hysterical and lacking in reliable judgment, and that the behavior of the police also reflected how a woman was seen at the time. He quoted the words of the officer who made the decision to send Collins to a mental institute: "Something is wrong with you. You're an independent woman." Eastwood said, "The period could not accept [it]".[11]

In Changeling, romantic ideas of 1920s Los Angeles' being a more innocent period are discarded in favor of portraying the city as being ruled by a despotic political infrastructure, steeped in sadistic, systematic corruption throughout the city government, police force and medical establishment.[3][47][1] Eastwood said he believed there had never been a "golden age" in the city,[11] and noted a correlation between the corruption of 1920s Los Angeles and the corruption of 2008.[48] The pressure from the Los Angeles Police Department hierarchy was a potential motivator for officers to quickly solve Walter Collins' disappearance, and their ignoring the fact that they had returned the wrong child. Chief of police James E. Davis is directly quoted in the film: "We will hold trial on gunmen in the streets of Los Angeles. I want them brought in dead, not alive, and I will reprimand any officer who shows the least bit of mercy to a criminal."[3] Los Angeles Police Department excess is depicted as a post-Old West metropolitan counterpart to the countrified vigilantism of the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s, as the department's "Gun Squads" carry out illegal executions of criminals; not to eliminate crime, but to eliminate competition.[44]

Danger to children is a theme that Eastwood has dealt with in his previous films, A Perfect World and Mystic River.[49] Changeling has been considered a thematic companion piece to Mystic River,[50] which also examined a community contaminated by an isolated, violent act against a child—a comparison with which Eastwood agreed.[11] He said that depicting a child in danger was "about the highest form of drama you can have", as crimes against them were to him the most horrible: "When one comes along quite as big as this one, you question humanity. It never ceases to surprise me how cruel humanity can be."[49] The scene featuring Northcott's execution by hanging has been perceived as "unbearable" due to its attention to detail, and as one of the most convincing pleas against the death penalty imaginable. Eastwood noted that for a supporter of capital punishment, Northcott was an ideal candidate. He said that in a perfect world the death penalty might be an appropriate punishment for such a crime;[11] crimes against children would be the top of his list for justifications of capital punishment.[13] But he said that whether one were pro- or anti-capital punishment, it must be recognized that there is a barbarism in making the execution public. Eastwood argued that in putting the guilty party before the families of his victims, justice may be done, but after such a spectacle the family would find it hard to find peace. The scene's realism was deliberate: the audience hears Northcott's neck breaking, his body swings, and his feet shake. It was Eastwood's intention to make the scene unbearable to watch.[11]

Release

Changeling is the first film made by Eastwood for a studio other than Warner Bros. since Absolute Power in 1997, and is his first directed for Universal since The Eiger Sanction in 1975.[25] Eastwood's successful track record at the Academy Awards generated speculation that Changeling will find success at the 81st Academy Awards ceremony in 2009, which will honor outstanding achievements in film for 2008.[51][52][53]

Changeling premiered in competition at the 61st Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2008.[54] The film was Eastwood's fifth to enter competition at the festival.[55] Its appearance at Cannes was not part of the original release plan. Universal said it had been looking forward to the festival without the worry associated with screening a film there, until Eastwood made arrangements himself for Changeling's appearance.[56] He had been pleased with the critical and commercial success that followed Mystic River's appearance at the festival in 2003 and wanted to generate the same "positive buzz" for Changeling.[14] The film was still in post-production one week before the start of the festival.[56] It also appeared at the 34th Deauville American Film Festival, held September 5–14, 2008,[57] and had its North American premiere on October 4, 2008 as the centerpiece of the 46th New York Film Festival, screening at the Ziegfeld Theatre.[58]

The filmmakers and Universal considered opening Changeling wide in its first weekend to capitalize on Jolie's perceived influence at the box office, but the release plan was ultimately modeled after that of other Eastwood-directed films, Mystic River in particular. While the usual strategy for a film from a notable director is to open their film in every major city across the United States to ensure a large opening gross, in what the industry calls a "platform release", Eastwood's films generally open in a small number of theaters before opening wide a week later.[14] Changeling was released in 15 theaters in nine markets in the United States on October 24, 2008.[59] The marketing strategy involved trailers that pushed both Eastwood's involvement and the more commercial mystery thriller elements of the story. The limited release was preferred in an attempt to capitalize on good word-of-mouth support from "serious movie fans" rather than those in the 18 to 25 year old demographic profile.[14] It was released across North America on October 31, 2008, playing at 1850 theaters,[60] and will be released in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland on November 28, 2008.[61][62]

Changeling's limited release at the American box office saw it take $502,000, $33,441 per theater, in its opening two days.[59] It made $2.3 million in its first day of wide release,[60] before going on to take fourth place in the weekend box office chart by taking $9.4 million, a per theater average of $5,085.[63] Its total gross as of November 9, 2008 stands at $20.6 million.[64] Changeling's link to the Inland Empire, the locale of the Wineville killings, was credited with generating additional local interest in the film, causing it to outperform the national box office by 45% in its opening weekend.[65]

Critical reception

The film's screening at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival was met with critical acclaim, prompting speculation it could be awarded the Palme d'Or.[66] The award eventually went to Entre les murs ("The Class").[67] Straczynski claimed that Changeling's loss by two votes was due to those judges' not believing the filmmakers' claims that the story was a true one.[2] The film's theatrical release was met with a more mixed response.[63] Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, reported that reviews were generally favorable, with an average score of 65, based on 28 reviews.[68] As of November 8, 2008, 56% of critics listed by review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes had given the film a positive review, based on a sample of 140. It reported a consensus that while Changeling is well-acted and beautifully shot, the compelling story was often told in too conventional a manner.[69] CinemaScore polls during the opening weekend revealed that the average grade cinemagoers gave Changeling was "A-" on an A to F scale. Audiences for the film were mostly older,[70] with 68% over 30 and 61% female.[63]

"Jolie puts on a powerful emotional display as a tenacious woman who gathers strength from the forces that oppose her. She reminds us that there is nothing so fierce as a mother protecting her cub."
—Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter on Jolie's performance.[1]

Todd McCarthy of Variety praised Jolie's acting as "top-notch". He said she was more affecting than in A Mighty Heart (2007) due to her relying less on artifice. McCarthy also noted a surfeit of good supporting performances, singling out Michael Kelly in particular.[50] Oliver Séguret of Libération said the cast was the best aspect of the film. He had praise for the "magnetic" performances of the supporting actors and called Jolie "intense but discreet... beautiful but never dazzling".[45] Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter also praised Jolie, saying she shunned her "movie star" persona to appear both vulnerable and resolute at the same time. Honeycutt noted that with the exception of Amy Ryan's character, the supporting characters had few shades of gray.[1] David Ansen writing in Newsweek agreed that they could be easily sorted as "black or white", but that "some stories really are about the good guys and the bad". He said that when the distractions of Jolie's celebrity and attractiveness were put aside, she carried the role with "admirable restraint" and "slow burning ferocity".[71] David Denby of The New Yorker said that while Jolie's acting was "skilled and selfless", the performance and character were uninteresting. He said Collins was one-dimensional, lacking desires or temperament. He cited similar problems with Malkovich's "uncomplicated" and "impersonal" Briegleb, concluding, "The two of them make a very proper and dull pair of collaborators."[72]

McCarthy expressed admiration for the "outstanding" script, which he said was ambitious and deceptively simple. He praised Eastwood's respecting the script through not playing up to the melodramatic aspects of the story, and not telegraphing its eventual scope at the start.[50] Honeycutt wrote that due to Changeling's close adherence to the true-life facts of the case, the drama sagged at one point, but that the film didn't feel as long as its 141 minutes, as the filmmakers were "good at cutting to the chase".[1] Ansen said Straczynski's dialogue tended to the obvious, but that while it lacked some of the moral nuance of Eastwood's other films, the "copiously researched" screenplay as a whole was "a model of sturdy architecture", each layer of which built audience disgust into a "fine fury". He said, "when the tale is this gripping, why resist the moral outrage?"[71]

"The trouble with period movies made by talented craftsmen who are serious about authenticity and consistency is that no one wants to mess up the shots."
—David Denby, writing in The New Yorker.[72]

Séguret said that while Eastwood proved he was capable behind the camera, and had presented a solid recreation of the era, he never felt the director was inspired by the challenge the reconstruction posed. Séguret noted that Eastwood kept the embers of the story alight, but that it seldom burst into flames. He said the effect was like placing the audience in the position of a passenger in a limousine with all the options and air conditioning on: comfortable but a little boring.[45] Denby and Ansen commented that Eastwood left the worst atrocities to audiences' imaginations. Ansen said this was because Eastwood was less interested in the lurid aspects of the case,[71] and McCarthy praised the more thoughtful than sensationalist treatment.[50] Denby cited problems with the austere approach, saying it left the film "both impressive and monotonous". He said Eastwood was presented with the problem of not wanting to exploit the "gruesome" material because this would contrast poorly with the delicate emotions of a woman's longing for her missing son. He said that Eastwood and Straczynski should have explored more deeply the perverse aspects of the case. Instead, he said, the story played out by methodically settling the emotional and dramatic issues, "reverently chronicling Christine’s apotheosis", before "[ambling] on for another forty minutes".[72] Ansen said the film's classical approach lifted the story to another level, and that it only embraced horror film conventions while on its way to transcending them.[71] McCarthy said Changeling was one of Eastwood's most vividly realized films, citing Stern's cinematography, the set and costume design, and CGI landscapes that merged seamlessly with the location shots.[50]

Damon Wise of Empire called Changeling "flawless",[73] and McCarthy said it was "Emotionally powerful and stylistically sure-handed". He maintained that Changeling was a more complex and wide-ranging work than Mystic River, Eastwood's 2003 entry at Cannes, and stated that the characters and social commentary were brought into the story with an "almost breathtaking deliberation, as dramatic force and artistic substance steadily mount". He said that as "a sorrowful critique of the city's political culture", Changeling sat in the company of films such as Chinatown and L.A. Confidential.[50] Honeycutt said that the film added a "forgotten chapter to the L.A. noir" of those films, and that Eastwood's "melodic" score contributed to an evocation of a city and a period "undergoing galvanic changes". Honeycutt said that "[the] small-town feel to the street and sets... captures a society resistant to seeing what is really going on".[1] Séguret said that while Changeling had no obvious defects, it was "perplexing" that other critics had such effusive praise for the film,[45] and Denby said that it was beautifully made, but that it shared the chief fault of other "righteously indignant" films in its congratulating the audience for feeling contempt for the "long-discredited" attitudes depicted.[72] Ansen concluded that the story was told in such a sure manner that "only a very hardened cynic" would be left unmoved by the "haunting, sorrowful saga."[71]

Historical context

Changeling is based on the true story of the kidnapping and supposed return of Christine Collins' 9-year-old son, Walter. The aftermath of his disappearance exposed corruption in the Los Angeles Police Department and wider political infrastructure, and led to the dismissal of senior civic leaders.[3] Walter went missing on March 10, 1928,[74] after having been given money by his mother to go the cinema. His disappearance received nationwide attention, and the Los Angeles Police Department followed up on hundreds of leads without success.[75] The department faced increasing public pressure to solve the case,[3] until five months after Walter's disappearance,[75] when a boy claiming to be Walter was found in DeKalb, Illinois. Collins paid for the boy to be brought to Los Angeles, where a public reunion was organized by police. Collins' claims that the boy was not Walter were met by police Captain J.J Jones' urging her to "try [the boy] out for a couple of weeks".[3] When Collins returned to see Captain Jones three weeks later to repeat her claim, he had her committed to the psychopathic ward at Los Angeles County Hospital.[3] During Collins' incarceration, Jones questioned the boy,[75] who admitted to being 12-year-old Arthur Hutchens. A diner at a roadside café in Illinois had told Hutchens of his resemblance to the missing Walter, so Hutchens came up with the plan to impersonate him. His motive was to get to Hollywood so he could meet his favorite actor, Tom Mix.[3] Collins was released and filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department.[75]

In 1926, 14-year-old Sanford Clark was taken from his home in Saskatchewan, Canada by his uncle, Gordon Stewart Northcott. Clark was taken to Northcott's ranch in Wineville, Riverside County, where he was beaten and sexually abused by Northcott. A family member informed police of the situation,[32] and in September 1928, police found Clark at the ranch and took him into custody. Clark claimed that Northcott had kidnapped, molested and killed several young boys with the help of Northcott's mother—Sarah Louise Northcott—and the forced participation of Clark himself.[75] The police found no complete bodies at the site—Clark said the bodies were dumped in the desert—but discovered body parts, the personal effects of several missing children, and blood-stained axes. Northcott and his mother had fled to Canada, but they were arrested and extradited to the United States. In the hope of saving her son, Northcott's mother initially confessed to the murders,[32] including that of Walter Collins. She later retracted her statement, as did Gordon Northcott, who had confessed to killing five boys.[75] Gordon Northcott was subsequently convicted of the murders of Lewis and Nelson Winslow (12 and 10 respectively), and an unidentified Mexican boy,[32] though the authorities believed Northcott may have killed as many as 20.[13] He was executed by hanging in 1930. Sarah Louise Northcott was convicted of Walter Collins' murder and served almost twelve years in prison before being paroled.[32] After Gordon Northcott's execution, one of the boys thought to have been killed was found alive. The case became known as the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders. In 1930, the residents of Wineville changed the town's name to Mira Loma, partly to escape the notoriety brought by the case.[75] Collins went on to win the second of two lawsuits and was awarded $10,800, which Jones never paid. The city council welfare hearing recommended that Jones and Chief Davis leave their posts, but both were eventually reinstated. In the aftermath of the case, the California State Legislature passed a bill that made it illegal for the police to committ someone to a psychiatric facility without a warrant.[13]

The filmmakers attempted to retain the names of the real-life protagonists in the case, though several characters were composites of people and the types of people who lived in 1920s Los Angeles.[3] Eastwood deliberately left the ending of the film ambiguous to reflect the uncertain fates of several characters in the history. He said too often a story aimed to finish at the end of a film, whereas he preferred to leave it open.[11]

References

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  2. ^ a b c d e Andrew Gnerre (2008-10-23). "Times Are Changing for J. Michael Straczynski". MovieMaker. MovieMaker Publishing Co., Inc. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag "'Changeling' production notes". universalpicturesawards.com. Universal Pictures. Retrieved 2008-10-08. (Microsoft Word document)
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