The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Tells the story of Benjamin Button, a man who starts aging backwards with bizarre consequences.

Director:

David Fincher

Writers:

Eric Roth (screenplay), Eric Roth (story)

Stars:

Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton

Won 3 Oscars. Another 77 wins & 155 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cate Blanchett	...	Daisy
Brad Pitt	...	Benjamin Button
Julia Ormond	...	Caroline
Faune Chambers Watkins	...	Dorothy Baker (as Faune Chambers)
Elias Koteas	...	Monsieur Gateau
Donna Duplantier	...	Blanche Devereux
Jacob Tolano	...	Martin Gateau (as Jacob Wood)
Earl Maddox	...	Man at Train Station
Ed Metzger	...	Teddy Roosevelt
Jason Flemyng	...	Thomas Button
Danny Vinson	...	Priest Giving Last Rites
David Jensen	...	Doctor at Benjamin's Birth
Joeanna Sayler	...	Caroline Button
Taraji P. Henson	...	Queenie
Mahershala Ali	...	Tizzy (as Mahershalalhashbaz Ali)

Storyline

On the day that Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans, elderly Daisy Williams (nee Fuller) is on her deathbed in a New Orleans hospital. At her side is her adult daughter, Caroline. Daisy asks Caroline to read to her aloud the diary of Daisy's lifelong friend, Benjamin Button. Benjamin's diary recounts his entire extraordinary life, the primary unusual aspect of which was his aging backwards, being diagnosed with several aging diseases at birth and thus given little chance of survival, but who does survive and gets younger with time. Abandoned by his biological father, Thomas Button, after Benjamin's biological mother died in childbirth, Benjamin was raised by Queenie, a black woman and caregiver at a seniors home. Daisy's grandmother was a resident at that home, which is where she first met Benjamin. Although separated through the years, Daisy and Benjamin remain in contact throughout their lives, reconnecting in their forties when in age they finally match up. Some of the revelations ...

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Plot Keywords:

premature aging | deformed baby | older man younger woman relationship | medical condition | theodore roosevelt character | 

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Taglines:

Time is passing, even backwards.

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for brief war violence, sexual content, language and smoking

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian French

Release Date:

25 December 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Benjamin Button

Filming Locations:

Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$150,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$26,853,816, 28 December 2008, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$127,509,326

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$333,932,083

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.,Paramount Pictures,The Kennedy/Marshall Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

166 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.40 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Filmmakers worked closely with Levi's to obtain clothing items from their Levi's Vintage Clothing collection to authenticate various time periods captured throughout the film.

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Goofs

When Thomas Button puts newborn Benjamin on the steps of the nursing home he leaves some bills of cash inside the baby blanket, but in the next scene when Queenie pulls back the blanket the money has disappeared. Since the cash was placed inside the fold of the blanket where Benjamin's face is, the bills should have been clearly visible or at least have dropped out of the blanket when Queenie exposes the baby's face.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Daisy: What are you looking at, Caroline?
Caroline: The wind, mom.
[yawns]
Caroline: They say the hurricane is coming.

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Crazy Credits

The Paramount and Warner Bros. logos are in the form of mosaics constructed from several buttons.

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Connections

Referenced in Gossip Girl: You've Got Yale! (2009)

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Soundtracks

There'll Come a Time (Wait and See)
Written by Wingy Manone (as Joe Manone) and Miff Mole
Performed by Frank Trumbauer and His Orchestra featuring Bix Beiderbecke
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By Arrangement with SONY BMG Music Entertainment

User Reviews

A great, worth film

This film is worthy of a 10/10 rating simply because of its imaginative and complex nature, I mean, I couldn't bring myself to know why this simple idea of a man aging backwards hadn't sprouted up before. Set all the way back at the end of the Great War, to New Orlean's meeting with Hurricane Katrina, this movie tells the story of Benjamin Button, a baby born an old man of eighty, destined to die in the mere form of a zero-year-old. I found this movie very emotional and special because there's reeally nothing like it. I honestly thought, when I found out the immense length of the film, it was going to be boring....I was wrong, it gripped me from start to finish. There are many emotional and touching scenes in it, including the end, where it brings forth Benjamin Button's 'younger' years as an old man. Nothing went wrong with the cast, Brad Pitt played a great job as a reverse-aging man, and Cate went well as his childhood friend. Overall, this movie was great and I recommend it to anyone who loves the genre.