Secret Window (2004)

A successful writer in the midst of a painful divorce is stalked at his remote lake house by a would-be scribe who accuses him of plagiarism.

Director:

David Koepp

Writers:

Stephen King (novel), David Koepp (screenplay)

Stars:

Johnny Depp, Maria Bello, John Turturro

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Johnny Depp	...	Mort Rainey
John Turturro	...	John Shooter
Maria Bello	...	Amy Rainey
Timothy Hutton	...	Ted Milner
Charles S. Dutton	...	Ken Karsch
Len Cariou	...	Sheriff Dave Newsome
Joan Heney	...	Mrs. Garvey
John Dunn-Hill	...	Tom Greenleaf (as John Dunn Hill)
Vlasta Vrana	...	Fire Chief Wickersham
Matt Holland	...	Detective Bradley
Gillian Ferrabee	...	Fran Evans
Bronwen Mantel	...	Greta Bowie
Elizabeth Marleau	...	Juliet Stoker
Kyle Allatt	...	Busboy
Richard Jutras	...	Motel Manager

Storyline

Mort Rainey is a successful writer going through a rather unfriendly divorce from his wife of ten years, Amy. Alone and bitter in his cabin, he continues to work on his writing when a stranger named John Shooter shows up on his doorstep, claiming Rainey stole his story. Mort says he can prove the story belongs to him and not Shooter, but while Mort digs around for the magazine which published the story in question years ago, things begin to happen around Shooter. Mort's dog dies, people begin to die, and his divorce proceedings with Amy continue to get uglier. It seems that Shooter has Mort over a barrel, but perhaps Mort has his own ideas on how to resolve all the problems that plague him lately.

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Plot Keywords:

bloody violence | writer | cabin | investigator | stranger | 

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Taglines:

The most important part of a story is the ending.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence/terror, sexual content and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the book "Secret Window Secret Garden" the titles written by John Shooter and Mort Rainy are the opposite way around to how they are shown in the film. Mort Rainy's book was called "Sowing Season" and John Shooters book was "Secret Window, Secret Garden"

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Goofs

When Mort's wife starts to leave for his house, she puts her purse on her left shoulder and has the divorce papers in her right. When she is at the door, the papers are in the left hand and the purse on the right.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Mort: [voiceover] Turn around. Turn around. Turn the car around and get the hell out of here. Right now. Don't go back. Do not go back there.

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the credits Johnny Depp can be briefly heard singing "Shortnin' Bread".

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Alternate Versions

The camera pans down to the garden, fading to black when it reaches the dirt. The alternate ending continues underground to the roots of the cornstalks, where Ted and Amy's bodies lay.

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Connections

Featured in Cinemania: Stephen King: O vasilias tou tromou (2009)

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Soundtracks

Get Down
Written by Ali Dee, Vincent Alfieri and Zach Danziger
Performed by Cham Pain
Courtesy of Deetown Productions
Under license from Spirit Music Group

User Reviews

A Writer With Problems

Johnny Depp plays Mort Rainey, a writer with wife problems. Mort secludes himself in a wilderness cabin to write. Soon, he gets a visit from a strange Southern mountain man named John Shooter (John Turturro). Throughout most of the plot, Mort tries to deal with this threatening man who won't go away, and confronts his wife and her new lover.

"Secret Window" is a moody, Hitchcockian thriller with a major story twist. Pacing is slow. There's lots of waiting for something to happen, which enhances a sense of foreboding. And Depp's performance is terrific.

With hair that looks like a mop, and a delightfully slovenly appearance, Mort mopes around the cabin, talks to his nearly blind dog, and tries to placate Mr. Shooter. He also spends a lot of time on the phone, mostly with Shooter and with his disconsolate wife.

Casting and acting are fine. Production design is great; love that cabin where Mort lives. Camera work, lighting, special effects, CGI, and editing are all quite good.

Although I liked the film's twist, some viewers will be disappointed with it, perhaps because the underlying idea is not terribly original. The risk for the director is that the entire story hinges on this one twist. If a viewer discovers the twist ahead of time, or finds it unsatisfying for any reason, the viewer likely will render a negative verdict on the entire film.

My only serious complaint with the film is that, at times, the plot discards logic so as to maximize gratuitous violence, the result no doubt of the film's source material, a horror story by Stephen King.

Overall, "Secret Window" is a generally fine thriller, enhanced especially by the splendid performance of Johnny Depp. Just be aware that one's reaction to this film likely will depend on one's perception of the story's major plot twist.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 March 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Secret Window, Secret Garden

Filming Locations:

New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$18,237,568, 14 March 2004

Gross USA:

$48,022,900

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$92,913,171

Company Credits

Production Co:

Grand Slam Productions, Columbia Pictures, Mel's Cite du Cinema

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1