Oral history provides the most comprehensive retelling of pop culture artifacts. This look back High fidelity The film celebrates its 25th anniversary.
Top 5 reasons High fidelity It still resonates 25 years later…
Number 1: Love him or hate him, we all know Rob Gordon. Number 2: We all think John Cusack is cool. Number 3: We are all in a relationship. Number 4: Worse, we are all heartbroken. And finally, with bullets, No. 5: We are all living for music.
Do you need to say more?
High fidelity We had a lot of things ahead of the release on March 31, 2000. By then, Nick Hornby’s book had already had cult support. It was the Bible of Musical Obsession. Therefore, adapting pages to screens has been a challenging, if not difficult, task for screenwriters Cusack, Doctor DeVincentis and Steve Pink. Mercifully, they rose to the challenge, and the film received similar critical acclaim from that spring.
Twenty years later, the film’s popularity has been strengthened. It leapt to the stage as a musical, got caught up in television as a Hulu series, and Cusack himself toured behind it. It’s the mainstream of cult classics and has since become one of the movies that remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when you first saw it. That’s a powerful thing.
To celebrate our 20th anniversary, we will follow the steps of how it was put together. Below we hear from all the key members, including writer Nick Hornby, director Stephen Flairs, screenwriter domestic violence Devin Kentis, John Cusack and Steve Pink, actors Jack Black, Todd Ruiso, Even Fujil, production consultant, Drug City co-founder Dan Koretzky, Dan Koretzky, supervisors like Western commander of Katy Supervisor Katy Nelson’s Prime Minister, and Drug City co-founder Even Hoire. Kucserka.
Nick Hornby (author): My first impulse was to write about romantic relationships from a man’s perspective. I had read so many fiction by women, and it was my favorite fiction, but then I realized that there was a book from a man’s perspective on aspects of life. And certainly not obvious to me.
And what I started was the form of a relationship that was crushed first and fixed by the end. And it was really the end of the book and the end of thinking about it, I thought, What is this guy going to do? And I thought, Ah, he was able to work in a record store. I know about music and record stores. And such kinds were more important than I thought at first.
Published in 1995, the novel became a critical hit and favorite among readers. However, it takes half a decade for Hornby’s story to hit the screen.
Hornby: Well, I think it was really surprising before it came out, or when it came out. However, due to certain iterations of options, nothing actually happened. It will be directed by director of English, Mike Newell, and was acquired by Disney by Mike Newell’s company. It was 1995.
It disappeared for four years. I didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t know where I went or what happened. And I understand that this is pretty standard for the process. Because I had chosen a few things, and they all disappeared the same way. But at the time I had no experience with that and I thought it was just dead.
DV Draft (co-screenwriter/co-producer): Everyone was saying, “You have to read this book. It’s you. You have to read this book,” so I read it when it came out. So I read the book and I loved it. I had a lot to do with that. I happened to be obsessed with music. There are thousands of records. I’m always involved in these types of conversations. And it was like written by someone who understood this and enjoyed it in the perfect way. I loved it.
But at that point in my life, I had just started a business, so my reading of joy was being intercepted by my business brain. And I said, “No, I don’t want to read things all the time in terms of adapting them. I don’t want to think about this book like that. I want to protect this book from my adaptive brain.” And I picked up the phone and called my agent to check if anyone had it. And I let it go. And then about six or eight months later, I got a call from Cathy Nelson.
Cathy Nelson (music supervisor): I worked at Disney for Joe Ross, and my friend Roger Ames, my MCA era music business, was calling me, and he says, “While you’re at Disney, they own a book property called just amazing High fidelity. ” And I said, “Really?” And he said, “Yeah. This book is great.” And I called Joe and said, “Joe, do we have a property called?” High fidelity What do we own? ” And he called me and said, “No, we won’t.” I called Roger and said, “Roger, Joe said we didn’t have one.” Roger said, “Yes, I will. I’m tracking this forever, so I know you’re going to do it.”
Simply put, they owned it and it was about to expire. And I got the book and read it. And I did it Gloss Point Blank John Cusack, Johnny and I have been friends for a very long time. So I called Joe and said, “Joe, I know this is going to be the perfect project for John Cusack. He’s actually this guy,” Joe said, “Go ahead and send him the book. It sounds like a great idea.”
John Cusack (“Rob”/co-screenwriter): At first it was what I made Gloss Point Blank Joe Ross and Kathy Nelson on Touchstone. And we have just completed a film where music is very important. We got Joe Strummer, we managed to get David Bowie and Queen “under pressure.” So we went through the process of creating a cool soundtrack. Joe and Cathy knew how important music was to me. And we were kind of priming, so Cathy knew they had High fidelity As a property, he said, “Why don’t you write it to John?” And that’s how the story emerged.
Steve Pink (co-screenwriter/co-producer): I wrote about the adaptation. And you’re in development – we were young, we were in our 20s – you just don’t know what will happen. It’s very difficult to make a film, and we didn’t actually know. We are, “Well, I love writing this film,” and it’s something you never know if the script will become a real film. One day, we were at the Disney Lott for some reason, but Joross, leaving the car park, stops. And he is the president of the studio. And he stops and says, “Hey, how about the script? Because I’m making that film.” And he drove. And we’re like, “Holy shit. We’re better off getting to work.”
High Fidelity (Photo of Touchstone)
With all the writers on board, they had to meet Mike Newell, the director who was already obsessed with the project. At the time, Newell was hot from the success of films like that. Four weddings and funerals and Donnie Brasco. At the time, he was actually working on another film, Push the tinStarring John Cusack.
Devincentis: He had to sell to Mike Newell. This was in front of the internet, the phone and the microphone Newell and had to pitch immediately. And I was the only person. And my Chicago transition was something I had to be ready to talk to Mike Newell. And I basically outlined a summary of the Chicago transposition. Beautiful heart. Except that it wasn’t much more beautiful. Mike Newell was in London, so I took him through the transposition of the Chicago story and he loved it.
We had a great conversation for a few hours, and finally, he said, “Do I have to be in Chicago? Can I be in London?” “Yes, but if I’m in London, you might want to consider getting a British actor and a British writer. Why do you think I should be in London?” he said, “Well, the only reason I think I should be in London is because I have a family and they live there. And I think it’s really good to make a film around my family.”
pink: I remember it was a very good experience with Mike. I remember meeting Mike. I remember receiving the note. I remember working for him in the script. And he left the project.
Devincentis: There was a draft, but suddenly Mike Newell couldn’t do it anymore. We were trying to think of a director. John said, “What about Stephen Flairs?” That was a dream for me, and it was completely impossible.
Cusack: I made a movie with Stephen when I was 25 years old. Glyphterand it was an intense and cool movie. So I was very aware of how he worked. I don’t know if everyone else did it. But how can they do it? I knew what he was doing and how to deal with it. But it was amazing. He is a very intense and creative man.
Hornby: I used to buy cigarettes every day from the same kiosk outside the Arsenal underground station when I smoked. One day, the man who ran the kiosk gave me a piece of paper. Stephen knew someone who knew he was my neighbor. And he said, “Can you get this to Nick?” And he said, “Well, I think he’ll go to a kiosk on the edge of my street, so I’ll give it to the guy there.”
Stephen Flairs (Director): Nick (Hornby) always tells the story. I remember John Cusack calling me. yes. And I think a little later, they must have said, “Well, come and see Nick.” I don’t remember that (as told by Storynick), but I had a friend who lived near the kiosk, so I think it’s how it happened. But I got a call from John Cusack and then everything really continued.
Devincentis: We went to New York and met Stephen. He went into the room, it was in a hotel room and he never sat down. He leaned against the wall, then put his pace and leaned against the wall. And although I can’t remember every conversation, it was a short one. And he said, “Well, it’s okay. This sounds hilarious and fun” or something.
Hornby: When I spoke to Stephen he said, “Well, I’m called to direct this film and I work with the people who write it. Do you talk to them?” So it was the first time I’ve met Doctor and Steve and John. And the most satisfying thing was that they thought it was a book about them. And you can’t be a safer hand than that. All three of them felt the book spoke directly to them. When they grew up in Chicago at another time, it was about their lives. And that was what they wanted to make a film.
High Fidelity (Photo of Touchstone)
Cusack: I thought, The only difference between the record stores I grew up in is that we were obsessed with British music, and the characters in Hornby novels were obsessed with soul, rhythm and blues.. But when I switched them it was the same person. It was just a man’s confession. It was also about romance with music. A theme about how music is autobiographical in our lives. How deeply meaningful is there music for people? So it’s really fun and soulful.
Freeze: John told me, “It’s set in Chicago.” And I thought, Well, that’s not a very good idea. And I read the script, read the book, think about it, Well, that’s totally fine. That’s not important. The script they wrote really reached the heart of the book. And we found out they had taken their experience from Chicago, but we also realized that they were saying, “It’s all about England.” It turns out the boys changed it to suit their age and musical tastes.
Hornby: That seemed to me as ridiculous to challenge. I’ve only just started to tour with books and whether I went to New York or Hamburg, no one ever told me, “Oh, that’s what it is in English.” They always said, “Well, I’m like this, my siblings are like this, my boyfriend is like this.” And Rob’s nationality really wasn’t exposed at all.
Devincentis: It all makes sense. It will soon be in all my record stores. It quickly falls over my friends’ bars, my friends’ bands, and the conversations I have spent all my life, the conversations that led to the adult life of Chicago. This is easy for me. I was able to easily translate this.
pink: It is a post-industrial town with a vibrant counter culture. And Chicago has always had it, like London. So we all identified that as there are very few restrictions on all the cultural things you can enter in Chicago.
Cusack: And while it’s hard to get such a film right, I think we did the book justice because the book was right. I think we were proud of the book.
Freeze: I realized it was about love. It wasn’t about music. It was about love. And you had to create a compelling couple. The couple you care about.
pink: I feel like I wrote a movie 100 times. Easy. Throughout production, we constantly rewrite and improve things.
Devincentis: And I think the company we had and John still has, but the very important project against the new crime was the film. Jack Bull. It was this amazing movie that was difficult to make. It was eventually made for HBO. But it had to be made in Calgary, so John and Steve went up to do it. John was starring. And Stephen wanted to start a script. And he said, “Imperfect, please send me another one.” It was September 1998. Suddenly, I boarded a plane to London, where I was supervised through the draft by one of my history’s heroes.
pink: Well, the process was generally about domestic violence and I drafting, then Johnny corrected and then drafting. Mostly domestic violence and I just draft. There was a point where he was making a film for HBO starring Johnny, and domestic violence flew to London and drafted it with Frears, so that was the draft he did without us. But in general, we’ll get notes from Flairs and then incorporate those notes.
Devincentis: What happened was that prose was a very good thing in the book. I’m not a big narrator guy. I don’t like movies that tend to rely on it, but you don’t want to lose it because the prose is very good and Rob’s character is insightful. Because it countered the story so beautifully and wouldn’t have been that good without it.
High Fidelity (hulu)
Freeze: It was written in narration. And I said to domestic violence, “Look, I don’t think this is a very good idea as a narration. The ratio will be lost.” I actually said, “I think it should be some form of a direct address.”
Devincentis: Then the next thing is to send the script to John and Steve, who were making the films that were in Calgary. And then Stephen and I flew to Calgary and looked into it and worked on them. What we did. And it’s getting better. And then Stephen and I actually flew on an unprotected, four-seat plane from Calgary to Montana. Because Stephen wanted to drive to LA. There he found a way to reach America’s northernmost point where you can land a plane and rent a car. He wanted to drive. He loves road travel. It’s one of his favorites. That was like that My favourite year.
and Koretzky (founder of Drug City): I think they may have been the only obsessive fan who knew, sympathized, and found effective use afterwards.
Devincentis: Dan has always listened to the biggest source of my music. If I need something new to listen, I ask him, and that’s how I turn to the rich. So, when I was thinking about this with Rob, I was thinking about putting out the records like Dan did. There was a day when Dan decided he was going to put out his first single, and it was actually Royal Trux. That was a big deal. And it took him from the audience to those involved in the process. So, for me, that was what I thought was great for Rob.
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