Blue Valentine presents a devastating love story, but there are a lot of details that fans may not know. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams play Dean Pereira and Cynthia “Cindy” Heller, two lovers whose relationship falls victim to the passage of time. The 2010 film was a critical hit, with both Gosling and Williams receiving major award nominations for their performances, but its creation was far from a steady process.
Viewers might note that the movie’s accolades speak for themselves, and Blue Valentine gives Michelle Williams one of her highest-rated films. Audiences say much of the feature’s emotional weight comes from its performances but they might be interested to learn how its heartwrenching moments came to screen. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams went above and beyond behind the scenes of Blue Valentine to immerse themselves in their characters to prepare for the film.
Michelle Williams Got The Script 6 Years Before Filming
Blue Valentine didn’t come together quickly, but rather with the labor of years like its main characters give to their marriage. It was reported that Michelle Williams first received the script for the film when she was only 21 years old and wouldn’t end up shooting scenes for the movie until she was 27 (via Backstage).
Gosling committed to appearing in Blue Valentine in 2006, but it still took another three years for filming to begin. Initially, Cianfrance wanted Williams and Gosling almost shot the scenes in which Dean and Cindy first meet prior to the rest of the production, with the plan to shoot their breakup scenes years later, but the production couldn’t finance filming yet.
It Was Supposed To Shoot In California
To many fans, the gritty exciting backdrop of New York City and the dreary Pennsylvania suburbs presented in Blue Valentine are important to the film’s themes. However, the movie was originally planned to be filmed in California, with the change coming as a result of Blue Valentine‘s behind the scenes complication.
Production was moved to Brooklyn shortly after Heath Ledger’s death. Williams, who was in a relationship with the actor a year before his passing, wanted to be close to her Brooklyn home for her and Ledger’s daughter. As a result, the director changed the location to New York City and nearby Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Cianfrance describes picking the location as such: “I took a compass and (…) literally put one point of the compass on her house, and I drew a circle, an hour diameter around her house, and it just touched Scranton, Pennsylvania. So the next day I drove to Scranton (…) and we said, ‘We’re shooting here’.”
There Was Lots Of Improvised Dialogue
Director Derek Cianfrance co-wrote the Blue Valentine script with Cami Delavigne and Joey Curtis. However, the movie ended up straying far from what appears directly on the page. Gosling told said that one of the movie’s most authentic scenes comes from Cianfrance’s insistence on improvisation (via Backstage).
In filming the scene where Dean and Cindy walk around New York City getting to know each other, Cianfrance followed the actors “from sunup to sundown.” The result is footage of Williams and Gosling getting to know each other while “acting” as their characters.
There Is No Production Lighting
Blue Valentine was shot on a tight budget of about $1 million. The movie took years to come together, and Cianfrance had to make allowances in terms of funding to achieve what he wanted for the film.
In an interview about Blue Valentine‘s BTS process, Ryan Gosling told Backstage that it was interesting to see what the director chose to use his money on. He opted out of using a lighting truck, and Gosling claims he only used natural and practical light sources for the film. Gosling explains this change as a sacrifice to allow for a longer shooting schedule: “He was hell-bent on having a month off between the younger and older scenes. To afford that, he gave up some luxuries—like a lighting truck.”
Williams And Gosling Played House To Prepare
The movie can be hard to watch, and Cianfrance went to war with the ratings board for Blue Valentine to keep some of its uncomfortable sex scenes intact. Viewers might say Dean and Cindy’s arguments and conflicts often feel eerily realistic.
To prepare Gosling and Williams for scenes in which their marriage is beaten down, Cianfrance has the two live like a real married couple behind the scenes of Blue Valentine. HuffPost revealed that the actors lived in a suburban house in Pennsylvania with the actress who plays their daughter. They bought groceries on a budget based on their characters’ jobs and lived like them for a month between shoots. Cianfrance had the two actors engage in long unfilmed arguments to put them in the right frame of mind for their characters
Different Types Of Film Were Used For Each Time Period
There is a clear duality presented in Blue Valentine. Audiences see Dean and Cindy meet with excited innocence, and watch them fall in love in ethereal and pleasant moments. Later, their romance has been crushed under the weight of time and viewers watch their apparent resentment and disgust for one another unfold.
It was revealed that the characters’ initial romantic entanglement is filmed on Super 16mm, while the events leading to their divorce were shot with a Red One digital camera (via Film Detail). The result adds a visual element to the shift in mood and makes it appear as if the past was truly a different world.
Ryan Gosling Wrote Music For The Movie
Blue Valentine is one of Ryan Gosling’s best movies. Fans might say he gives an emotional performance in the film and shows his range during heated argument scenes with Michelle Williams. Viewers might be surprised to know one piece of Blue Valentine trivia: how much Gosling added to the film’s score on his own. He wrote his own songs and performed them in the picture. He is credited on the official soundtrack for composing and playing “Unicorn Tears” and “Smoking Gun Bleeding Knives.”
The Director Used His Payment To Fund The Movie
Blue Valentine became a cult success following its release. As a result, director Derek Cianfrance went on to make other celebrated films like The Place Beyond The Pines, which some say will be seen as a classic in 20 years. However, with a budget of just $1 million, money was surely tight throughout the production of Blue Valentine behind the scenes. At one point it appeared there wasn’t enough budget left to finish the movie.
Things were so dire with money that Cianfrance says he had to use his fee for the film to continue to fund it. He said the film’s budget was just about his payment short, so he just put it right back into the movie (via The Hollywood Reporter). It was a risky investment, but it paid off, with Blue Valentine grossing over $15 million and securing future projects for Cianfrance.
