Now Is Good (2012)

Director:

Ol Parker

Writers:

Jenny Downham (novel)
Ol Parker (written by)

Release Date:

19 September 2012 (Ireland)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Live every moment, love every minute

Plot:

A girl dying of leukemia compiles a list of things she'd like to do before passing away. Topping the list is her desire to lose her virginity. |

Plot Keywords:

Leukemia | Dying | Virgin | Loss Of Virginity | Cancer

Cast

Dakota Fanning	...	Tessa Scott
Jeremy Irvine	...	Adam
Paddy Considine	...	Father
Olivia Williams	...	Mother
Kaya Scodelario	...	Zoey
Edgar Canham	...	Cal
Joe Cole	...	Scott
Julia Ford	...	Sally
Julian Wadham	...	Dr. Ryan
Josef Altin	...	Jake
Rakie Ayola	...	Phillippa
Tom Kane	...	Paul
Franz Drameh	...	Tommy
Simon Wilson	...	Suit
Susan Brown	...	Shirley
Clare Swinburne	...	Nurse #1
Sarah Hadland	...	Caroline
Kate Dickie	...	Doctor
Rose Leslie	...	Fiona
Sarah Niles	...	Nurse #2
Morgan Watkins	...	Nurse
Isabella Laughland	...	Beth
Patrick Baladi	...	Richard
Luke Carroll	...	Instructor
Darren Morfitt	...	Mark
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Habib Anibaba	...	Man Kissing Girlfriend (uncredited)
Hamed Arif	...	House Party Guest (uncredited)
Jonathan Brooks	...	Civilian (uncredited)
Robert Clayton	...	Hospital Visitor (uncredited)
Teresa Couch	...	Clinic Nurse (uncredited)
Darren Hammock	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Matthew David Hearn	...	Hospital Porter (uncredited)
James Lee Hunt	...	Guy (uncredited)
Mo Idriss	...	Shopping Mall Male (uncredited)
Victoria Ley	...	Shopper (uncredited)
Simone Liebman	...	Shopper (uncredited)
Sarah Lowe	...	Girl on Pier (uncredited)
Martyn Mayger	...	Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Kiki McCaffery	...	Girl (uncredited)
Les Nash	...	Stall Holder on Pier (uncredited)
Adam Nowell	...	Passer-by (uncredited)
Meaghan O'Neill	...	House Party Guest (uncredited)
Cera Rose Pickering	...	Girl On Bus (uncredited)
Kirsty Seager	...	Tourist (uncredited)
Brian P Smith	...	Passer-by (uncredited)
Michelle Somerszaule	...	Staff Nurse (uncredited)
Julie Vollono	...	Mall Shopper (uncredited)
Josh Wichard	...	Pier Visitor (uncredited)

Directed by
Ol Parker

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jenny Downham		novel "Before I Die"
Ol Parker		written by

Produced by
Graham Broadbent	....	producer
Peter Czernin	....	producer (as Pete Czernin)
Malina DeCarlo	....	assistant producer
Jenny Downham	....	associate producer
Peter Hampden	....	executive producer
Sarah Harvey	....	co-producer
Richard Hewitt	....	co-producer
Adam Kulick	....	executive producer
Christine Langan	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Dustin O'Halloran

Cinematography by
Erik Wilson		(director of photography) (as Erik Alexander Wilson)

Film Editing by
Peter Lambert

Casting by
Nina Gold

Production Design by
Amanda McArthur

Art Direction by
John Reid

Set Decoration by
Bridget Menzies

Costume Design by
Suzie Harman

Makeup Department
Roseanna Larner	....	makeup trainee
Daniel Phillips	....	makeup department head

Production Management
Alistair Hopkins	....	post-production supervisor
Elena Zokas	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lindsay Gough	....	additional third assistant director
Mark Hopkins	....	second assistant director
Liam Lock	....	additional third assistant director
Josey McNamara	....	third assistant director
Alex Oakley	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Lucy Bullen	....	graphic artist
Jay Butcher	....	stand-by carpenter
David Cheesman	....	property master
Esmeralda Momferratou	....	art department trainee
Warren Parkinson	....	dressing prop
Dave Reed	....	construction manager
Jon Ziman-Bright	....	art department assistant

Sound Department
Colin Cooper	....	adr mixer
Robert Farr	....	sound re-recording mixer
Paul Hanks	....	foley artist
John Hayes	....	production sound mixer
Nick Roberts	....	adr mixer
Andrew Rowe	....	second boom
Paul Schwartz	....	boom operator
Simon Trundle	....	foley mixer/editor
Ian Waggott	....	foley artist
Ian Wilson	....	supervising sound editor
Yanti Windrich	....	assistant re-recording mixer
Paul Wrightson	....	supervising dialogue editor
Robert Karlsson	....	dolby sound consultant (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Mark Holt	....	special effects supervisor

Visual Effects by
Luke Butler	....	digital compositor
Naomi Butler	....	digital compositor
Lee Clappison	....	digital colourist
James Clarke	....	head of DI
Tom Collier	....	digital compositor
Stefan Drury	....	head of visual effects
James Elster	....	digital compositor
Sean Farrow	....	executive visual effects supervisor
Elysia Greening	....	digital compositor
David Lloyd	....	senior systems engineer
Philippe Ludivig	....	digital compositor
Abigail McKenzie	....	digital lab operator
Dylan Owen	....	digital compositor (as Dylan Wyn Owen)
Jane Paton	....	digital compositor
Antonio Rodríguez Díaz	....	digital compositor
Katie Roehrick	....	visual effects coordinator
Daniel Spain	....	systems engineer
Lucy Tanner	....	visual effects coordinator
Daniel Tomlinson	....	scanning & recording manager
Thomas Waddington	....	digital lab operator

Stunts
Ray De-Haan	....	stunt double
Stephanie Lelievre	....	stunt performer
Arran Topham	....	stunt double: Jeremy Irvine
William Willoughby	....	stunt double

Camera and Electrical Department
Sam Alberg	....	rigging gaffer
Alex Brown	....	lighting technician
Robbie Chapman	....	camera trainee
Hamish Doyne-Ditmas	....	camera operator: b cam
Christian Hayes	....	lighting technician
Nick Kenealy	....	second video assist operator
Andy Lowe	....	gaffer
Ian Murray	....	standby rigger
Louise Purvis	....	video tape operator
Barry Quibell	....	camera truck driver
Iwan Prys Reynolds	....	focus puller
James Shovlar	....	video assist operator
Laurie Sparham	....	still photographer
Trevor Speed	....	clapper loader
Chris Stones	....	best boy
Del Strachan	....	key grip
Nick C. Teulon	....	trainee grip (as Nick Teulon)

Casting Department
Vanessa Baker	....	adr voice casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Rebecca Gore	....	costume assistant

Editorial Department
Rob Ackerman	....	technical support
Linden Brownbill	....	digital intermediate technical support
Luke Carey	....	delivery coordinator
Lee Clappison	....	digital colourist
Ritchie Ferguson	....	technical support
Stuart Fyvie	....	digital colourist
Scott Macbeth	....	technical support
Jerry Ramsbottom	....	assistant editor
Diana Vasquez	....	assistant on-line editor
Rick White	....	technical support

Music Department
Liz Gallacher	....	music supervisor
Kathleen Hasay	....	music supervision assistant

Transportation Department
Simon Burgess	....	facilities department
Barrie Williams	....	transportation captain
Dave Williams	....	facilities transport captain

Other crew
Tom Ackerley	....	floor runner
Kim Armitage	....	script supervisor
Craig Barwick	....	production accountant
Barbara Berkery	....	voice and dialogue coach
Harry Bott	....	production runner
Matt Brothers	....	additional production runner
Ian Buckley	....	tutor
Anna Burns	....	production assistant
Jessica Corlett	....	floor runner
Daniel Cox	....	additional floor runner
Dave Curtis	....	technical supporter
Sandra Frieze	....	dialogue coach
Linda Gamble	....	unit publicist
Ian Hutchinson	....	co-location manager
Chris Johnston	....	unit manager
Pat Karam	....	location manager
Ben Knight	....	development executive
Jen Lambert	....	unit medic (as Jennifer Lambert)
Thomas Mann	....	representative: Goldcrest (as Tom Mann)
Rachel Martin	....	assistant coordinator
Richard Morrison	....	titles designer
James Panting	....	additional floor runner
Thomas Pook	....	floor runner
Amelia Price	....	production coordinator
Mark Rowan	....	health & safety advisor
Ewan Taylor	....	APATS trainee
Dean Wares	....	titles drawn by

Production Companies

• Goldcrest Pictures (in association with)
• BBC Films
• Blueprint Pictures
• Lipsync Productions
• UK Film Council

Distributors

• Solopan (2011) (Poland) (all media)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2012) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Kino Films (2013) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions (SPWA) (2012) (USA) (theatrical)
• TF1 (2012) (France) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (2012) (UK) (theatrical)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2013) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2013) (Netherlands) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Falcon Films (2013) (Lebanon) (all media) (Middle East)
• Shoval Film Production (2012) (Israel) (all media)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2013) (USA) (DVD)
• Universum Film (UFA) (2013) (Germany) (DVD)
• Vértigo Films (2013) (Spain) (all media)
• Zon Audiovisuais (2012) (Portugal) (all media)

Special Effects

• Lipsync Post (visual effects)

Other Companies

• ARRI Lighting Rental  lighting equipment
• ARRI Media  camera equipment provided by
• Audiolink Radio Communications  walkie talkies
• HireWorks  HD Avid equipment rental
• I'm Rigging  rigging services
• Kodak  filmstock supplied by
• Mediacom 24-7  accommodation and travel
• Sapex Scripts  post production script services

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material involving illness, sexuality, and drugs, and for brief strong language

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Ireland:15A | UK:12A | Netherlands:12 | South Korea:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Japan:PG12 | Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Goldcrest Pictures

Trivia:

The character of Tessa has brown hair in the novel the film is based on. Olivia Williams, who plays Tessa's mother wore a blonde wig so Dakota Fanning could stay blonde for the role.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Tessa Scott:Moments. This is one. This right here, right now, is definitely a moment.
Zoey:Tessa?
Tessa Scott:Anything could happen next.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Projector: Now Is Good (#2.44)" (2012)

Soundtrack:

Grey Shirt and Tie

Cuts through the clichés with fantastic performance and style…

"Our life is a series of moments… let them go…"

I don't need to go into my decreasing expectation of Dakota Fanning movies as I tend to do it with each of her movies since around 2007… needless to say, I likely wouldn't have been rushing to see this one – which from the outside appears as yet another not-even-Oscar-baiting cancer pity porn story (if you'll excuse the extreme shorthand) with the added "oh no…" factor of Fanning doing her best English accent to boot*. But I got free tickets, and who was I to pass up my first chance to see one of my (despite everything, still) favourite actresses on the big screen for the first time since 2005?

The by-the-numbers story here has Fanning as Tessa, who is dying of leukaemia, has passed the point of expecting treatment to help, and wants to get a few things done before she goes. This in itself, of course, does not an enriching 90 minutes make (not for me, anyway). But while there's certainly a few bad clichés of this kind of story in here (and one particularly awful moment – I shall just say "sweetcorn"…), the reason Now Is Good continued to pull me in is because of this light of a character at its core.

As I said I was worried I'd be adding this movie to a long list of recent Dakota Fanning movies (okay, mainly the Twilight movies) that lead me to ask, frustrated, "what are you doing, Dakota?" – but you can see why she was drawn to this one, despite any of its leanings toward cliché. Tessa responds to the generic way the world usually deals with terminal illness in the same way I always imagine I would (yes – I'll it admit it – I imagine it enough to be able to say such a thing, lol, now who's pitying?), and I connected to her fast – the way her face lights up the moment she spots a hint of mischief in a person, such as when her brother asks at the breakfast table (much to their father's dismay), "when Tessa dies can we go on holiday?" or how she talks back to her doctor ("Good girl." "Would you like to slap my rump? …then stop talking to me like a horse…") She really doesn't want any pity, for herself or anyone (as she says to her love towards the end, "Don't you dare expect me to feel sorry for you because you get left behind, don't you f-ing dare!") but she certainly doesn't deny the creeping darkness of her imminent death either.

There's a ropey segment in which Tessa and her friend go on an attempted crime spree in a shopping centre that smacks awfully of a teen movie cliché I thought long-since past, and the aforementioned unbelievable attempt to cut through one of the movie's most horrific glimpses of disease with the comedy of "sweetcorn" – but even these lows are ultimately countered by terrific performance, not just from Fanning but from the support cast including Paddy Considine and Olivia Williams (both of whom, post-sweetcorn scene, share the best non-Fanning scene in the movie, as she asks him, "Can I stay?"). There are lesser clichés that also ring less hokey for the same reasons, such as Fanning enjoying an air tunnel type ride (her face in this scene is too beautiful to even consider being cynical), a stolen kiss under fireworks, and the horses that ride past at the end – but by that point I was so in love with Tessa they could have played in "This Woman's Work" or "Fields of Gold" over such imagery and still not offended me… it really is her most unforgettable role since Man on Fire for me.

* the accent work is fantastic, if you must know – I really didn't want to mention it in my review though, because everybody will… it's the flawless, clipped, but not necessarily authentic to the character, kind most American actresses manage …but like those minor clichés, by around midway it's the last thing on your mind.

** PS. There's some interesting use of Nine Lives footage (at least I think it's that movie), of a younger Fanning climbing a tree, that I just found interesting and felt worth mentioning – it was slightly jarring to me but I imagine even fewer people saw that movie than will see this one lol. At least it connects to something in this movie, anyway, another beautiful scene of tree climbing. ** EDIT I asked the director about this and he said they shot all of the stuff at the end themselves so I guess I was wrong, it just looked very familiar to me :)