Untamed Heart

Untamed Heart

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Tony Bill
Produced by
  • Tony Bill
  • Helen Buck Bartlett
Written by Tom Sierchio
Starring
Music by Cliff Eidelman
Cinematography Jost Vacano
Edited by Mia Goldman
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
  • February 12, 1993 (1993-02-12)
Running time
 102 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $6 million[1]
Box office $19 million (US)[2]

Untamed Heart is a 1993 American romantic drama film starring Christian Slater and Marisa Tomei. It tells the story of a young woman, always unlucky in love, finally finding true love in a very shy young man. The film is directed by Tony Bill and written by Tom Sierchio. The original music score is composed by Cliff Eidelman, and includes a classical interpretation of "Nature Boy".

Plot summary

Caroline (Tomei) is a young woman working as a waitress and attending beauty school part-time who is always unlucky in love. Adam (Slater) is a shy busboy who saves Caroline when two men try to rape her on her way home one night. She then gets to know him. They become close, but she finds out his past, and the attackers come after Adam for revenge. They end up stabbing him.

While Adam is recovering in the hospital, Caroline discovers that he has a heart defect, though he claims he has a baboon heart. On his birthday she surprises him by taking him to a hockey game. Before they leave, he shows her a surprise gift he left her to be opened when they return.

At the hockey game, Adam catches a stray hockey puck that is shot into the crowd. On the way home, he falls asleep and dies at the age of 27. After the funeral, Caroline opens the gift he left her. It is a box of albums with a handwritten note from Adam declaring his love for Caroline.

Cast

Production

Tony Bill discovered Tom Sierchio's screenplay for Untamed Heart during one of his talent hunts. He asked an agent at William Morris to send him screenplays from new writers. Originally, Sierchio's screenplay had been submitted as a writer’s sample. Bill showed the screenplay to producer Helen Bartlett who suggested that they option it. Within two weeks of Sierchio handing his script to his agent, MGM had greenlighted the project. Originally the film was entitled The Baboon Heart in honor of an infant named Baby Fae (born 14 October 1984) who received a cross-species heart transplant from a baboon to fix a congenital heart defect.

Initially, Bill had not considered Christian Slater for the role of Adam, “but then it was just the obvious choice."[3]

For the role of Caroline, Bill remembered auditioning Marisa Tomei for his earlier film, Five Corners. She had been too young for that role but after her success with My Cousin Vinny, he knew she was right for this film. Sierchio's screenplay was originally set in New Jersey but for logistical reasons they could not shoot there. The filmmakers considered finding a location to double for the state but while Bill, Bartlett, and Sierchio were scouting in Minneapolis, they realized that it was the perfect place because of its strong acting community (they cast 35 of the film’s 40 roles from it) and a large commercial production community which allowed them to utilize a mostly local crew.

The city’s locations were also a strong factor in deciding to shoot there. The centerpiece was Jim’s Coffee Shop & Bakery, which actually existed at the time of production but was closed to the public for the duration of shooting the film. Bill said, “It had a wonderful combination of ingredients from every diner you’ve ever been to; we’ve done very little to change it for the film. In fact, we changed the original name of the diner in the script to reflect that it is Jim's."[4]

Principal photography began in March 1992 amidst cold temperatures. However, several scenes in winter were shot in May and fake snow had to be created to maintain the illusion. One scene was shot at the Met Center, the home of the Minnesota North Stars at the time. Tomei wanted to have a believable regional accent and chose a driver, Craig Kittelson, who was from the area and could act as her dialogue coach.

Reception

Untamed Heart received a 54% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 26 reviews.

Film critic Roger Ebert wrote that the film was "kind of sweet and kind of goofy, and works because its heart is in the right place".[5] Hal Hinson of The Washington Post said that the film "is hopelessly syrupy, preposterous and more than a little bit lame, but, still, somehow it got to me".[6] Vincent Canby of The New York Times, said that the film "is to the mind what freshly discarded chewing gum is to the sole of a shoe: an irritant that slows movement without any real danger of stopping it".[7] Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "B−" rating and Owen Gleiberman praised Tomei's performance: "With her flashing dark eyes and libidinous overbite, Tomei is adorable — she looks like a flirtatious bunny rabbit — but what's astonishing is the range of expression that passes over those delectable features".[8] Rolling Stone magazine's Peter Travers wrote, "The Rain Man-Dying Young elements in Tom Sierchio's script are pitfalls that Slater dodges with a wonderfully appealing performance. His love scenes with the dazzling Tomei have an uncommon delicacy".[9] In his review for The New Yorker, Anthony Lane praised Tomei for bringing "startling high spirits to a dullish role. She snatches moments of happiness out of the air and shares them out to anyone who’s around".[10] Mike Clark, in his review for USA Today, wrote, "Director Tony Bill (My Bodyguard) is adept both in the yarn's meticulous buildup and in his handling of the actors".[11]

References

  1. ↑ Kung, Michelle (2009-10-26). ""Baby Fae"-Inspired Film "Untamed Heart" Might Have Starred Madonna, Brad Pitt". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
  2. ↑ "Untamed Heart". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
  3. ↑ "Untamed Heart Production Notes". MGM. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
  4. ↑ "Untamed Heart Production Notes". MGM. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
  5. ↑ Ebert, Roger (February 12, 1993). "Untamed Heart". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
  6. ↑ Hinson, Hal (February 12, 1993). "Untamed Heart". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
  7. ↑ Canby, Vincent (February 12, 1993). "Boyfriend Has Heart Of Baboon". The New York Times. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
  8. ↑ Gleiberman, Owen (February 26, 1993). "Untamed Heart". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2009-04-21.
  9. ↑ Travers, Peter (April 18, 2001). "Untamed Heart". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2009-04-21.
  10. ↑ Lane, Anthony. "Untamed Heart". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2009-05-13.
  11. ↑ Clark, Mike (February 12, 1993). "Marisa Tomei pours soul into Untamed Heart". USA Today.
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Untamed Heart
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/14/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.