It’s one of the most highly anticipated films of the fall, and it has already done incredibly well in the film-festival season, the second trailer for ‘Charlie Countryman’ reminds us all what we have been waiting for.
In the film, Charlie’s late mother appears in a vision and tells him to go to Bucharest. Charlie immediately boards a plane across the Atlantic. But when he meets a fellow passenger, Charlie finds himself with another promise to fulfill. Charlie does so – and falls head over heels in love with Gabi, (played by Evan Rachel Wood) who is a beautiful musician. However, a vicious gangster has already laid claim to Gabi, and has no intention of letting her go. Determined to protect her, Charlie enters into the hallucinatory, Romanian underworld filled with violence and, strangely enough, love.
First time feature filmmaker and 6-time DGA nominee, the acclaimed Fredrik Bond, creates a genre defying romantic adventure filled with mystery, comedy, drama and violent tension. Evoking the unforgettable films such as True Romance, Wild at Heart, Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting, and Pulp Fiction, CHARLIE COUNTRYMAN is a playful, exhilarating, fast paced journey about loss and love conquering all.
The screenplay was written by Matt Drake. The screenplay was featured on the marquee 2007 Blacklist and quickly attracted attention from top filmmakers within Hollywood. Bond notes when he first read the script “It had been already taken by another director, but I loved it so much I kept track of its progress until one day there was an opportunity. From there I spent about 6 months pitching for the project.”
LaBeouf describes Charlie “As a kid who is just chasing the dream; he’s chasing love. Nothing in life really had substance for him until he meets Gabi, whom he quickly realizes is worth fighting for, even if it means giving up everything he has. It’s incredibly surreal in reflection, but for Charlie it’s very, very real and he makes a conscious choice to be courageous, despite the dangers. He’s living in the moment and after playing that character it made me realize that at any moment, you could meet a stranger who could change the course of your life. Love is worth giving everything for.”
“Shia has an amazing energy in this film. He came onto the set like a hurricane, and was immediately ready to start bringing his character to life,” recounts Wood. D’Onofrio who plays Charlie’s father said, “These are colors we haven’t seen in him before” when referring to LaBeouf’s performance. Leo remembers when she brought family photographs to the story for the art department: She recalls, “It took my breath away, when I saw him study those photographs. He came to a particular one and absorbed everything in it. He totally immersed himself into his character. It was a photograph before I was a mother, holding my niece, and he just took it into his system.”
