Cyrus (2010/I)

Directors:

Jay Duplass
Mark Duplass

Writers (WGA):

Mark Duplass (written by) &
Jay Duplass (written by)

Release Date:

10 September 2010 (Ireland)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

John met the woman of his dreams. Then he met her son ...

Plot:

A recently divorced guy meets the woman of his dreams. Then he meets her son.

Plot Keywords:

Party | 21 Year Old | Musician | Fight | Los Angeles California

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

John C. Reilly	...	John
Jonah Hill	...	Cyrus
Marisa Tomei	...	Molly
Catherine Keener	...	Jamie
Matt Walsh	...	Tim
Diane Mizota	...	Thermostat Girl
Kathy Wittes	...	Ashley (as Kathy Ann Wittes)
Katie Aselton	...	Pretty Girl (as Kathryn Aselton)
Jamie Donnelly	...	Pastor
Tim Guinee	...	Roger
Charlie Brewer	...	Stranger at Reception
Steve Zissis	...	Rusty
Newell Alexander	...	(voice)
Steve Alterman	...	(voice)
Mitch Carter	...	(voice)
David Cowgill	...	(voice)
Elisa Gabrielli	...	(voice)
Bridget Hoffman	...	(voice)
Edie Mirman	...	(voice)
Michelle Ruff	...	(voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jerald Garner	...	Beer Guy at Party (uncredited)
Sean Hackett	...	Stoner (uncredited)
Caroline Neville	...	Dancing Party Guest (uncredited)
Justin Wilczynski	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Jay Duplass
Mark Duplass

Writing credits (WGA)
Mark Duplass		(written by) &
Jay Duplass		(written by)

Produced by
Michael Costigan	....	producer
Michael Ellenberg	....	co-producer
Ridley Scott	....	executive producer
Tony Scott	....	executive producer
Chrisann Verges	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Michael Andrews

Cinematography by
Jas Shelton		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Jay Deuby

Production Design by
Annie Spitz

Set Decoration by
Meg Everist

Costume Design by
Roemehl Hawkins

Makeup Department
Mustaque M. Ashrafi	....	makeup artist (as Mustaq Ashrafi)
David Forrest	....	co-makeup department head (as David Craig Forrest)
Lillie S. Frierson	....	hair stylist (as Lillie Frierson-King)
Estreya Kesler	....	makeup artist
Tina Roesler Kerwin	....	co-makeup department head
Kim Santantonio	....	key hair stylist
Toni-Ann Walker	....	hair designer

Production Management
Mads Hansen	....	unit production manager
J.M. Logan	....	post-production supervisor
Maresa Pullman	....	executive in charge of production: Scott Free
Chrisann Verges	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Chamonix Bosch	....	second assistant director
Mike Crotty	....	second second assistant director (as Michael Crotty)
Cas Donovan	....	first assistant director
Joe May	....	second second assistant director

Art Department
Jory Alvarado	....	leadman
Jose Castillo	....	set dresser
Steve Christensen	....	set designer
Cary Conway	....	paint supervisor (as Cary 'DS' Conway)
Robert Cook	....	paint gang boss
Jennifer Durban	....	art department researcher
Michael Garcia	....	set dresser
Miguel A. Garcia	....	set dresser
Susan Garcia	....	set dresser
Charles Hansen	....	laborer
Jourdan Henderson	....	art department coordinator
J. Jorgensen	....	construction coordinator
Lance Larson	....	property master
Steven B. Melton	....	property master
Billy Mitchell	....	set dresser
Jon Nicholson	....	on-set dresser
Alfredo Ortega	....	set painter
Bobby Pollard	....	set dresser (as Robert Pollard)
Gregory F. Poulos	....	assistant property master
Raymond Ramirez	....	propmaker
Oswaldo Rojas	....	propmaker
Clint Schultz	....	graphic designer
Bradford W. Shoemaker	....	propmaker foreman (as Bradford Shoemaker)
Thomas Spencer	....	set dresser
Peter Van Zyl	....	greensmen
Richard Webb Kelly	....	set painter

Sound Department
David Betancourt	....	foley mixer
Larry Blake	....	sound re-recording mixer
Larry Blake	....	supervising sound editor
Ed Casares	....	boom operator (as Joe Eddie Casares)
Matt Coby	....	sound editor
Dawn Fintor	....	foley artist
Shawn Harper	....	additional boom operator (as David Shawn Harper)
Shawn Harper	....	sound utility (as David Shawn Harper)
Kimaree Long	....	sound editor
Stefano Mascitti	....	synchronization
Mack Melson	....	sound mixer
Eric Potter	....	sound effects recordist
Alicia Stevenson	....	foley artist
Billy Theriot	....	assistant sound editor
Paul Buscemi	....	epk sound (uncredited)
Andrew Edelman	....	additional boom operator (uncredited)
John Soukup	....	sound transfer (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Kevin Hannigan	....	special effects coordinator

Stunts
Gianni Biasetti	....	stunt double: Jonah Hill
Gianni Biasetti	....	stunts
Patrick Gallaway	....	stunts
Jack Gill	....	stunt coordinator
Charlie Brewer	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Albert F. Bagley III	....	best boy rigging grip (as Albert F. Bagley)
Tod Campbell	....	camera operator
David Chase	....	electrician
Tom Clancey	....	additional camera operator
Jared De Witt	....	rigging grip
Jay Duplass	....	camera operator
Ron Elliott	....	second assistant camera: "a" camera
Dave Ellis	....	grip
Sasha Freedman	....	camera production assistant (as Sasha Pavloff Freedman)
Steven Frohardt	....	best boy grip
Craig Garfield	....	grip
Jerry Gregoricka	....	rigging electrician
Adam Harrison	....	best boy rigging gaffer
Tomoka Izumi	....	second assistant camera
Keith A. Jones	....	first assistant camera: "a" camera
Vessie Kazachka	....	second assistant camera: "b" camera
Michael Kelly	....	electrician
Hilary Klym	....	key rigging grip
Rick Lamb	....	first assistant camera: "b" camera
Mark Manthey	....	gaffer
Frankie Martinez	....	electrician (as Francisco Martinez)
Chris Milani	....	electrician
Glenn E. Moran	....	rigging gaffer
Joey Moran	....	rigging electrician
Donis Rhoden	....	key grip
Sean Ruggeri	....	red camera technician
Joel A. Ruiz	....	rigging electrician
Wendy Schmidt	....	rigging grip (as Wendy J. Schmidt)
Josh Seifert	....	rigging grip
Jack Serino	....	grip
Harold Skinner	....	electrician
Abel Soto	....	rigging grip
Scott Sprague	....	best boy electric (as Scott J. Sprague)
Stephen Thorp	....	rigging electrician
Julie Torgerson	....	grip
Thomas Vandermillen	....	first assistant camera: "c" camera
Doug Wall	....	grip (as Douglas L. Wall)
Doug Weinmann	....	electrician
Ignacio Woolfolk	....	rigging grip
Gavin Wynn	....	media manager
R. Michael Yope	....	electrician (as Michael Yope)
Chuck Zlotnick	....	still photographer
Michael Fitzgerald	....	epk photographer (uncredited)

Casting Department
Dixie Webster	....	extras casting (as Dixie Webster-Davis)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Cheryl Cravedi	....	set costumer
Annie Hill	....	costume supervisor (as Anne Hill)
Marylou Lim	....	set costumer
Debra McGuire	....	wardrobe: Marisa Tomei
Vicente Parada	....	set costumer
Brigitta Romanov	....	assistant costume designer
Jacqueline Wazir	....	key costume illustrator

Editorial Department
Robin Buday	....	data operator
Chris Callister	....	apprentice editor
John Daro	....	digital film colorist
Jon Fletcher	....	associate editor
Yale Kozinski	....	apprentice editor
Paul Lavoie	....	digital intermediate project manager
Josh Polon	....	editorial production assistant
Daniel Sessoms	....	data operator
Jacob Vaughan	....	assistant editor
Jim Williams	....	color timer
Eric 'Woody' Wood	....	digital conform
Regan Copeland	....	digital intermediate editor (uncredited)
Bill Schultz	....	digital intermediate executive (uncredited)
Daniel Yang	....	data operator (uncredited)

Music Department
Stephen Kaye	....	score mixer (as Steve Kaye)
Stephen Kaye	....	score recordist (as Steve Kaye)
Frank Longo	....	original song "NYC Delight" performed by The Longo Brothers featuring Moe Koffman
Marguerite Phillips	....	music supervisor
Manish Raval	....	music editor
Charlie Wadhams	....	writer: "My Love" / performer: "My Love" (as Charles Wadhams)

Transportation Department
Ted Basso	....	production van driver operator
Michael W. LeMaster	....	driver
Rock LeRoy	....	transportation
Tommy Tancharoen	....	transportation coordinator
Tom Whelpey	....	transportation captain
Thomas Whepley	....	transportation captain (as Thomas Whelpley)

Other crew
Mark Asaro	....	production coordinator
Matthew Balzer	....	set production assistant
Judy Blinick	....	first assistant accountant
Deanne Bloch	....	script clearance researcher: The Bloch Company
Toby Burge	....	set production assistant (as James Toby Burge)
Debra Burgess	....	payroll accountant (as Debra M. Burgess)
Barbara Casner	....	assistant production coordinator
Marco Franco	....	catering assistant
Daniel Garcia	....	catering assistant
Hector M. Garcia	....	catering assistant
Michael Glaser	....	assistant location manager (as Michael J. Glaser)
Carlos Guel	....	chef
Sean Hackett	....	assistant: the Duplass Bros
Rich Heichel	....	assistant location manager
Kenneth Hunter	....	location scout
Stacey Jelin	....	craft service (as Stacey Kasubowski)
Rachel Jensen	....	set production assistant
S. Dylan Kirkland	....	location scout
Jon Ko	....	set medic (as Jon P. Ko)
Natalie Mathes	....	post production accountant
Carol McConnaughey	....	unit publicist
Robert McCormack	....	catering assistant
Richard McCune	....	financing: City National Bank (as Richard V.McCune)
Shaun M. McGovern	....	production accountant
Steve Michaelson	....	caterer: Limelight Catering (as Steve Michelson)
Erik Piecuch	....	financing: City National Bank
Keykhsrow Radji	....	caterer: Limelight Catering (as Keykhosrow Radji)
Miguel Reyes	....	assistant: Mr. Costigan
Lili Romero	....	office production assistant
Jeremy Sanchez	....	assistant post-production accountant
Jenny Siff	....	script supervisor
Nate Taylor	....	location scout
Anthony Tellenbach	....	security supervisor
Carl B. Thompson	....	office production assistant
Keomanee Vilaythong	....	location assistant
Matthew Wersinger	....	location manager (as Matt Wersinger)
Georgianna Whitley	....	set production assistant
Keegan Zall	....	assistant crafts service (as D. Keegan Zall)
Samuel Birdsong	....	production assistant (uncredited)
Paul Buscemi	....	epk: sound (uncredited)
Sasha Freedman	....	designer: puppet movie (uncredited)
Whitney Fromholtz	....	assistant: Mr. Hill (uncredited)
Karin M. Gaarder	....	assistant: Ms Tomei (uncredited)
Alexander Katz	....	stand-in: Jonah Hill (uncredited)
Tom Moran	....	executive assistant: Mr. Scott (uncredited)
Bob Riley	....	production assistant (uncredited)
Steven Robbins	....	assistant: Mr. Scott (uncredited)
Mitch Spacone	....	system support: FotoKem (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Scott Free Productions

Distributors

• 20th Century Fox (2010) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (2010) (France) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (2010) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Fox Searchlight Pictures (2010) (USA) (theatrical)
• Front Row Filmed Entertainment (2010) (United Arab Emirates) (theatrical) (Middle East)
• Odeon (2010) (Greece) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox C.I.S. (2010) (Russia) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Japan (2011) (Japan) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2011) (Argentina) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (USA) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• 20th Century Fox de Argentina (2011) (Argentina) (all media)
• FS Film Oy (2010) (Finland) (all media)
• Film1 (2011) (Netherlands) (TV) (limited)
• Odeon (2011) (Greece) (DVD)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2011) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Business Affairs  production counsel
• Cast & Crew Production Services  cast & crew payroll services
• City National Bank  financing
• Digital Vortechs  editing systems provided by
• FotoKem Digital Film Services  digital intermediate facility
• Go For Locations  locations equipment rentals
• L.A. Mad Dogs  loop group (as LA Maddogs)
• Limelight Catering  catering
• PES Payroll  extras payroll
• Paskal Lighting  lighting and grip equipment
• Reel Security  production security
• Swelltone Labs  sound post-production
• The Bloch Company  script clearance research
• Twentieth Century Fox  foley recording facility

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some sexual material

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #45800) | UK:15 | Ireland:15A | Canada:14A (Alberta/Manitoba/Ontario) | Malaysia:18 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Singapore:NC-16 | Sweden:Btl | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:13 | Portugal:M/12 | Germany:6

Company:

Scott Free Productions

Trivia:

Although there was a definitive script, the Duplass brothers encouraged their actors to improvise as much as possible.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Cyrus and his mom are at his setup, and she is going through the photographs, Cyrus' Apple Macbook says Alienware below the mouse pad. The two are separate manufacturers.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Jamie:[from outside of house] John! John! John!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #18.80" (2010)

Soundtrack:

I Buried a Bone

The elephant in the room

'Cyrus' is one of those stories about an otherwise promising new relationship threatened by the cumbersome excess baggage one person brings along. In this case that baggage is another human being: a big, fat adult child called Cyrus (Jonah Hill), who, at twenty, still lives with his mother, with whom he's so close it's almost incestuous. With this movie the Duplass brothers, Mark and Jay, who wrote and directed, move away from their former territory of the micro-budget indie film-making group known as Mumblcore, into the realm of an Apatow comedy. Jonah Hill, of 'Knocked Up' and 'Superbad,'as well as the current 'Get Him to the Greek,'is a mainstay of the Apatow stable. This time the schlub he's playing isn't looking to get laid, only to keep his mom from doing so; and he plays it straight this time, not for laughs. This becomes a movie about stasis. And it also remains stuck between two genres. Some sparks fly, and the audience enjoys that, but somehow this ends by seeming something of a missed opportunity. It's neither a trail-blazing drama, nor a riotous comedy. It's just a big tease. The dangerous, obstructive situation is something the filmmakers play with successfully for an hour or so, and then don't seem to know what to do with. And the action just fizzles out.

Mumblecore tends to deal with twenty- or thirty-somethings' mating games and job dilemmas depicted in dialogue that feels rough and improvised. This time things are totally different because the Duplass brothers are working with famous actors. 'Cyrus' keeps things simple, but it's very sure of itself -- except that it doesn't finally decide where to go. It lacks the authentic flavor of Mumblcore, and it's not broadly drawn or funny enough for Apatow; what's more, it lacks the final sense of resolution of comedy. 'Cyrus' has a very forceful series of scenes, but they develop the situation only up to a point.

People laugh watching 'Cyrus,' but it doesn't try to be funny so much as embarrassing. It verges on the Todd Solondz-lite of Mike White, whose funny-peculiar, funny-creepy edge it duplicates; but it lacks White's droll range of characters.

John (John C. Reilly) is a lonely Guy, seven years divorced and still unable to move on. (Reilly gives John his usual warmth, but the writing doesn't flesh him out.) He relies a lot (abnormally much, in fact -- he's odd too) on his ex-wife and co-worker Jamie (the always suave Catherine Keener), who's about to get married. At Jamie's urging, John goes to a party and he meets Molly (Marisa Tomei) and magically they immediately hit it off and she goes home with him. But she leaves in the night. And she does that again when she comes back for a date.

We soon find out why. Molly's unnaturally tied to Cyrus, her large, rotund twenty-year-old son who still lives with her. It's not clear if Cyrus actually does anything; he composes synthesizer music. Even the composing Molly shares in. He is not in school. He never calls his mother "mother," always "Molly."

The awkwardness of the situation keeps you watching. With John at Molly's house for their second evening together, Cyrus goes into the bathroom while his mother is taking a shower, thus signaling their inappropriate (and for John threatening) intimacy. Later that night when John has stayed over and he and Molly are asleep, Cyrus has a screaming fit that awakens them, and Molly runs to comfort him. It's clearly impossible for John and Molly to have private time together. Any sane man would run from this situation, but we understand John's neediness. For seven years he's been alone, and at last he's found a woman he really likes who likes him. What a pity!

Things go back and forth, but there's no real resolution. 'Cyrus' the movie is as narrow as it is effective -- up to a point. The strong, polished actors contrast with the obtrusive in-and-out zoom of the Duplasses' hand-held camera, which here feels annoying and unnecessary. It's an obtrusive holdover from the brothers' previous low-budget indie work. Only here the tentativeness and naturalism are gone. There's something slick about the movie. It has another obtrusive tic: whenever Molly and John make declarations to each other about their feelings, we see them together, but the lines are in voice-over, as if anything romantic is merely tacked-on.

John could hardly be unaware of how huge a threat Cyrus is to his connecting with Molly, and vice versa, but at first John and Cyrus circle around each other politely with nothing untoward happening except the odd disappearance of an essential piece of clothing. But after a while longer something slips and the gloves are off. Cyrus seems dangerous, potentially unhinged as well as incestuous. But he and John are both cowardly lions, not strong or mean enough to go over the top. If one of them did, things might not end up so muddled.

The movie seems afraid to carry things all the way. It lacks an edge, and its resolution is soft and fuzzy. While in this it's like Mumblecore films, which tend just to end, such an approach doesn't suit comedy. 'Cyrus' ventures far out of Mumblecore territory -- without entering anywhere else very definite. The result is far from a total loss. The film-making is solidly competent, the scenes are clearly -- perhaps too clearly -- written; the cast is fine. Cyrus is worthy of our attention, even though it ultimately somewhat disappoints, winding up with neither its dilemma nor its characters fully developed. This would be only a small fraction of a Mike Leigh film, and it would be resolved. The Duplass brothers are lazy filmmakers. They haven't at all got the keen observation of Andrew Bujalski.