Oscar-nominated writer and director Peter Hedges has made a career of telling compelling and complex stories about flawed families of all shapes and sizes and the unique struggles they face.\u00a0In films including the 1993 cult classic What\u2019s Eating Gilbert Grape, which he adapted from his own novel; his feature directorial debut, Pieces of April; and About a Boy, which he co-wrote based on Nick Hornby\u2019s novel, Hedges has presented audiences with moving, often funny tales of imperfect families doing their best in an imperfect world. Hedges\u2019 latest film, Ben Is Back, opens on a family that seems at first glance to have little in common with the ones populating his previous films. Affluent, attractive and loving, with their talented teenage daughter singing in the choir and their adorable younger children dressed up for a Christmas pageant, the Burnses evoke a modern version of a Norman Rockwell painting. But the deeply conflicted look on Holly Burns\u2019 face when she arrives home to find her oldest son Ben on her doorstep makes it instantly clear that this family faces a profound challenge of its own \u2014 one that cuts across economic and social strata.<\/p>\n
\u201cI come from a family that has been deeply impacted by addiction, both alcohol and drugs,\u201dsays Hedges. \u201cSome in my family recovered, some did not make it, and some family members are still struggling. So after I suffered the loss of someone close to me and watched another person I knew in recovery, I wanted to make a film that explores how one broken, hurting person can impact all the members of his family.\u201d<\/p>\n
As he looked for a way to effectively dramatize this ripple effect within the timespan of a\u00a0feature film, Hedges decided to compress his story into a single 24-hour time frame. \u201cI got the idea of starting the movie on Christmas Eve morning. I wondered what could happen in one day if a young man in recovery comes home when it\u2019s probably too early for him to return,\u201d explains the filmmaker. \u201cThe story became more compelling when I approached the issue from the point of view of one ordinary family on one extraordinary day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hedges was excited at the opportunity to return to his indie filmmaking roots. \u201cI felt an ache to get back to making the kind of films I made early in my career, something urgent and raw,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019d spent a number of years helping other people realize their ideas. Now I wanted to shift back to doing something original. I wanted to see what happened if I took that old fearlessness I had and married it with whatever wisdom I\u2019ve accrued over 35 year of being a writer.\u201dAfter mulling over the idea for several years, Hedges sat down to write Ben Is Back in\u00a0earnest in late May 2017. He surprised himself by finishing a draft in less than six weeks. \u201cIt didn\u2019t feel like I was telling this story,\u201d he recalls. \u201cIt was more like the story was telling me. I wrote it in a white heat, and that rarely happens for me. I just tried to get out of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the aspects of the script Hedges was proudest of was the role of Holly Burns. \u201cI\u2019ve written some pretty interesting mothers,\u201d he says. \u201cFrom Gilbert Grape to Pieces of April, but when Holly Burns emerged, I felt like she was the most complex, full and fierce mother I had ever imagined. That\u2019s not to say that Holly does everything right. She makes a lot of questionable choices. But she never makes them with malicious intent. They always come from this aching hope to be a protector and a provider for her children.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a couple of revisions, Hedges sent the script to his friend, entertainment industry\u00a0powerhouse Nina Jacobson. Formerly the president of Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, Jacobson has gone on to produce blockbusters including The Hunger Games and Crazy Rich Asians under her Color Force banner. \u201cNina is one of my favorite people in the film business,\u201d Hedges says. \u201cAlthough I felt Ben Is Back was too small for the kind of thing she does, I wanted her to see what I was up to before I went to other producers. Within 90 minutes of getting the script, Nina called me and said, \u2018You wrote a real page-turner. I have to produce this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Nineteen-year-old Ben Burns unexpectedly returns to his family’s suburban home on Christmas Eve. Ben’s mom, Holly, is relieved and welcoming but wary of her son’s drug addiction. Over a turbulent 24 hours, new truths are revealed, and a mother’s undying love gets put to the test as Holly does everything in her power to keep Ben clean.<\/p>\n
Ben is Back is written and directed by Peter Hedges. The film also stars Lucan Hedges, Courtney B. Vance and Kathryn Newton apart from Julia Roberts. The film will be released\u00a0in India by PVR Pictures on December 14, 2018. Oscar-nominated writer and director Peter Hedges has made a career of telling compelling and complex stories about flawed families of all shapes and sizes and the unique struggles they face.\u00a0In…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"powerkit_post_featured":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"yoast_head":"\n
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