Endless Love (2014 film)

Endless Love is a 2014 American romantic drama film directed by Shana Feste and co-written by Feste with Joshua Safran. A second adaptation of Scott Spencer's novel, the film stars Alex Pettyfer, Gabriella Wilde, Bruce Greenwood, Joely Richardson, and Robert Patrick.

Endless Love
Theatrical release poster
Directed byShana Feste
Produced byScott Stuber
Pamela Abdy
Josh Schwartz
Stephanie Savage
Written byShana Feste
Joshua Safran
Based onEndless Love
by Scott Spencer
Starring
Music byChristophe Beck
CinematographyAndrew Dunn
Edited byMaryann Brandon
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • February 14, 2014 (2014-02-14)
Running time
105 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million[2]
Box office$34.7 million[3]

The film was released on February 14, 2014 by Universal Pictures in the US and UK, and on February 13, 2014 in Australia.

Plot

Reserved, lovely 17-year-old Jade (Gabriella Wilde) graduates from high school with an impressive college scholarship but few friends, having focused on her studies rather than a social life. David (Alex Pettyfer), another graduating senior, has had a crush on her for years but never acted on it.

Hoping to make some summer memories, Jade asks her parents, Hugh (Bruce Greenwood) and Anne (Joely Richardson), for a graduation party. She invites the entire class, including David. The two hit it off and are caught fooling around in a closet during the party. Hugh worries that David's impulsive and carefree nature will adversely affect his daughter, who is preparing to leave for a medical-school internship.

David, who works at his widower-father Harry's garage, tries to please Hugh by fixing a car which belonged to Jade's brother Chris who died of cancer years ago. Ironically, Hugh is the only one not pleased by David's gesture. Late that night, Jade invites David into her family's study where - at her own urging - they make love. The two strive to make the most of the ten days she has left at home. Ultimately, Jade opts to decline the internship and spend the rest of the summer with David...which infuriates Hugh. Later, Jade invites David to accompany the family to their lake house; he is welcomed with open arms by everybody except Hugh, whom Anne urges to give David a chance. Anne points out that Jade seems truly happy for the first time since Chris passed away.

One night, David sees Hugh cheating on Anne with another woman; the next morning Hugh intimidates David into keeping quiet about the affair. David and Jade, along with Jade's brother Keith and his girlfriend Sabine, sneak into a local zoo after-hours for a night of fun. Jenny, David's jealous ex-girlfriend, calls the police; when they arrive, David allows himself to be caught so the others can escape. Hugh agrees to bail David out, on the condition that he breaks up with Jade and she takes the internship as planned.

Against Hugh's orders, Jade goes to meet David at a restaurant where he's eating with his friend Mace...who, unbeknownst to either David or Jade, has invited Jenny (he figured David could use a sympathetic ear, after being forced to stop seeing Jade). Jade suddenly turns up, and jumps to the obvious-but-wrong conclusion; frustrated, she drives off and gets into an accident. At the hospital, Hugh gives Harry a restraining order to keep David away from Jade...who has suffered only minor injuries. Upon leaving the hospital, she tries to contact David - having realized by now that he was never unfaithful to her and never would be. But Harry won't allow this because it would land his son in prison. Over the next few months, David and Jade each attempt to move on with their lives by seeing other people; still, both are unhappy.

David runs into Anne at a bookstore. She tells him that - despite the tension between her and Hugh - she admires his and Jade's love for each other. Anne arranges for David to meet Jade at the airport when she comes home for the holidays. The couple reaffirm their love, and Jade plans to move in with David that night, while Anne confronts Hugh about his obsession with destroying Jade's life. Anne also learns that Hugh prevented her recommendation letter for David from being sent out to college.

Back at home, Hugh reams Keith and Sabine for listening to records from Chris's collection. Keith seconds his mother's sentiments regarding what losing Chris has done to Hugh. When Keith subsequently announces that he's moving in with Sabine, Anne opts for going with him. Hugh then finds Jade preparing to leave with David, who is waiting outside. Hugh charges outside in a rage, knocking over a burning candle on the way, and furiously attacks David with a baseball bat. Jade rushes to his defense...proclaiming that it was Hugh himself, not David, who tore their family apart. The defeated Hugh goes back inside, and discovers the fire which has started in Chris's room; Jade and David see the house in flames, so David rushes back in to save Jade's father, who is struggling to gather up Chris' possessions. When David falls unconscious, Hugh decides to leave the things and help David to safety instead. Outside, David and Hugh put aside their differences while they wait for medical attention.

Anne and Hugh amicably separate but remain determined to rediscover the love, inspired by Jade and David...who are flying out to California, having been selected as maid of honor and (respectively) best man at Sabine and Keith's wedding. Both couples celebrate on the beach, where they camp for the night. Sharing David's bedroll, Jade fondly recalls how her first love - the relationship she shares with him - was everything all at once, the kind of undying love worth fighting to keep.

Differences between the novel and the film
  • The general plot of the film differs from the novel. In the novel, David and Jade are young lovers whose feelings turn into obsession and mental instability, particularly in David's case. In the film, the lovers' romance is threatened by Hugh, who is overprotective of Jade.
  • In the novel, Keith introduces David and Jade to each other. In the film, the lovers meet by a twist of fate.
  • In the novel, David purposely starts the fire which destroys the Butterfield residence. In the film, Hugh starts the fire by accident.
  • Hugh does not die in the film; in fact, he and David save each other's lives during the climactic fire scene.
  • In the novel, Hugh divorces Anne but never cheats on her, as he does in the film. Moreover, Jade never accuses David of cheating on her.
  • The novel begins with David, Jade, and Keith still in high school. The film begins with David and Jade's high school graduation.
  • In the novel, David's last name was Axelrod, and both of his parents were alive. In the film, his last name is Elliot, and his father is widowed.
  • Jenny, Mace, Sabine, and Chris Butterfield are never mentioned in the novel. Sam Butterfield is never mentioned in the film.
  • In the novel, David is sent to prison and a mental hospital for several years. In the film, he is arrested for breaking and entering but released after a few hours.
  • In the film, David and Jade are separated but ultimately get back together...which they never do in the novel.

Cast

Production

Emma Roberts was originally offered the role of Jade, but turned it down. Sophie Lowe, Gabriella Wilde, Sarah Bolger, and Olivia Cooke were on the final shortlist for the role; Wilde was ultimately cast.

Principal photography began in May 2013 in Georgia.[4] Filming wrapped in July 2013. Scenes were shot in Savannah, Georgia, Fayette County, Georgia, Butts County, Georgia at Lake Jackson, and at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.[5]

Release

The first trailer was released on December 23, 2013.[6]

Reception

Endless Love has received negative reviews from film critics. Criticism was mainly made towards the many liberties taken with the original source material. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 16% based on 93 reviews, with the consensus:[7] "Blander than the original Endless Love and even less faithful to the source material, this remake is clichéd and unintentionally silly." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 30 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews" from critics.[8] The film was not a box office success, earning a domestic gross of $23,438,250, barely over its estimated production budget of $20 million.

In 2013, after reading the screenplay for the film, Scott Spencer - the author of the novel on which the film was based - wrote that "It’s about one hundred pages, and the only ones that were not dreary were sciatica inducing".[9] In 2014 he wrote that his novel "has been even more egregiously and ridiculously misunderstood" in making the remake than in the 1981 film.[10]

Film historian Leonard Maltin was actually kinder to the remake, giving it two out of a possible four stars (he declared its 1981 predecessor a "BOMB"). Yet he also described the newer film as "Mediocre...This is sure to connect with its target audience - and it's Oscarworthy compared to the 1981 version - yet it remains overwrought and pointless for fans of the novel. Moreover, Lionel Richie's title tune - the only memorable aspect of the original - is sorely missed here."

Soundtrack

End title track "Don't Find Another Love" was sung by Tegan and Sara and written by Golden Globe award-winning composer Julie Frost. Singer/songwriter Skylar Grey's cover of Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" was used for the trailer of the film.[11] In addition, the song "Explosions" by Ellie Goulding was used in trailers adapted as television commercials.[12] Another song which was taken is the track "Pumpin Blood" by the Swedish dance-pop group NoNoNo.[13]

Director Shana Feste had considered using the original film's iconic theme song in one scene but eventually decided against it.[14]

gollark: If I've learned anything from this, it's to avoid triangle grids since hexagons have much more elegant indexing.
gollark: I did the first thing and one of the written questions there (but not the one which wasn't doable by computer since I have no idea how that can actually be answered), and spent ages working out how to implement the second but ran out of time.
gollark: [REDACTED]
gollark: I didn't really practice and have almost zero experience/knowledge of competitive programming so something.
gollark: I did it and got an amazing* 26% or so.

See also

References
  1. "ENDLESS LOVE (12A)". Universal Pictures. British Board of Film Classification. January 27, 2014. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  2. "'RoboCop,' 'About Last Night' likely no match for 'Lego Movie' - Los Angeles Times". Latimes.com. 2014-02-13. Retrieved 2014-06-07.
  3. "Endless Love (2014) (2014)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2015-11-28.
  4. "'Endless Love', starring Alex Pettyfer, filming in Georgia". OnLocationVacations.com. Retrieved May 30, 2013.
  5. Brett, Jennifer (July 17, 2013). ""Endless Love" wraps with scene at Atlanta Botanical Garden". AccessAtlanta.com. Archived from the original on July 31, 2013. Retrieved August 13, 2013.
  6. "Endless Love Official International Trailer (2014) - Alex Pettyfer Romantic Drama HD". YouTube. 2013-12-23. Retrieved 2014-02-11.
  7. "Endless Love (2014) Release". rottentomatoes.com. 15 February 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
  8. "Endless Love Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  9. Spencer, Scott (September 10, 2013). "Spoiler Alert". The Paris Review. Paris. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
  10. Appelo, Tim (February 14, 2014). "'Endless Love' Author Trashes Remake: 'Stick With the Paperback'". The Hollywood Reporter. Hollywood. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
  11. 10/17/13 (2013-10-17). ""'Endless Love'" | Movie Trailer". MTV. Retrieved 2014-02-11.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. "Endless Love - Trailer". YouTube. 2014-01-07. Retrieved 2014-02-11.
  13. Soundtrack on iTunes
  14. IAR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: DIRECTOR SHANA FESTE TALKS 'ENDLESS LOVE'
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