Movie News: KEIRA KNIGHTLEY PERSONIFIES LOVE IN “COLLATERAL BEAUTY”

Two-time Oscar-nominee Keira Knightley (Pride and Prejudice, The Imitation Game) is the epitome of Love, in New Line Cinema's heartwarming drama, Collateral Beauty.

In the film, Howard (Will Smith), a successful New York advertising executive retreats from life after suffering a great tragedy. While his concerned friends try desperately to reconnect with him, he seeks answers from the universe by writing letters to Love, Time and Death. But it’s not until his notes bring unexpected personal responses that he begins to understand how these constants interlock in a life fully lived, and how even the deepest loss can reveal moments of meaning and beauty.

Howard’s most recent letter to Love said simply, “Goodbye,” and it’s now incumbent upon Keira Knightley’s character, Amy, to make him realize that giving up on love is not an option. Quite the contrary; this is when love matters most. Says Knightley of the role, “She’s highly empathetic to Howard’s grief, empathy being a part of love, and talks to him in emotional terms that he can feel. But she wants him to understand that love isn’t just the part where everything is great; it’s also the unbelievable pain you feel when something is taken away, and that in no way diminishes it or ends it.”

“It’s such an intriguing idea, and how can you say no to being the personification of love?” she asks.

The actress was enjoying a rare bit of down time and not actively seeking a film role when Collateral Beauty came her way. “I have a very young child and had come to the end of a grueling job and didn’t really want to work at the time,” she remembers. “I gave the script to my mom, mostly so she would say ‘No, don’t do that, stay at home with the baby and chill out.’ But she read it and phoned me in tears. She said nothing had made her feel like that for a long time. I think it speaks to something that we’re all frightened of and yet there’s an incredible feeling of relief and optimism within that. What people will experience individually I don’t know, but I was very moved by it. Plus, I didn’t know where it was going, and that was exciting.”

Opening across the Philippines on January 4, 2017, Collateral Beauty is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company.

Movie News: WILL SMITH, A MAN LOST IN GRIEF IN “COLLATERAL BEAUTY”

Fresh from his success as Deadshot in the blockbuster hit Suicide Squad, Will Smith now stars as Howard, a man lost in grief, in New Line Cinema’s life-affirming drama, Collateral Beauty.

In the film, Howard, a successful New York advertising executive retreats from life after suffering a great tragedy. While his concerned friends try desperately to reconnect with him, he seeks answers from the universe by writing letters to Love, Time and Death. But it’s not until his notes bring unexpected personal responses that he begins to understand how these constants interlock in a life fully lived, and how even the deepest loss can reveal moments of meaning and beauty.

The filmmakers sought an actor who could take on Howard's complexities while remaining relatable and appealing. He had to suggest the promise of warmth and humor, and a great heart, even when those qualities aren’t immediately apparent. As producer Michael Sugar puts it, “Will Smith is a star with unparalleled charisma. The role of Howard had to be played by someone audiences can embrace, and we felt that Will was a perfect fit.”

“He never lost sight of all the nuances, and made sure to highlight the levity within these dramatic scenes,” director David Frankel remarks. “It was a surprise to me how much natural comedy Will found in this character who’s in such pain, and I think that’s part of his natural buoyancy.”

“Howard was a guy who had life figured out, he understood everything there was to know about it,” says Smith. “He considered himself a teacher and a marketing guru. Great guy. He was loving, gave advice, was helpful to all his friends. He knew how to win. But when he lost his daughter, his comprehension of how things work in this world was completely uprooted and overturned.

“Grieving has been a study for him,” Smith continues, referencing the approach his character initially takes by scouring books on philosophy and healing that now litter his apartment. “He’s trying to come to some understanding, some sense of meaning and a reason to go on. He gets it intellectually that death is a part of life and things are impermanent, that you have to accept and let go, but the actual process of putting that into practice is going to require something more.”

Howard’s life, such as it is, has come to revolve around a limited set of activities he repeats daily before falling into bed, where sleep eludes him. He checks in at the office, but instead of working he spends hours stacking dominoes. Days, he sits in the dog park, and nights, he races his bicycle heedlessly through the city streets. Sometimes he stops in the darkness just outside a window through which we see people in a circle of folding chairs, talking and comforting each other over some unknown sorrow. But he never goes in.

“When death happens out of sequence, a child passing before a parent, it’s like the cycle of life gets broken and we’re not genetically programmed for that,” Frankel suggests. “Is Howard mad? I believe grief can take a brilliant, bright person to a place where they never imagined, to some deep, dark low levels they never dreamed they’d be.”

People have different reactions to loss, different ways of coping and different timetables, as the story suggests. There is no right way and no judgment. But in Howard’s case, he’s not coping at all. “He’s stuck. He’s in a state of permanent stasis and doesn’t know how to get moving again,” producer Bard Dorros says.

Howard’s only consolation seems to be in the letters he writes to Time, to Love and to Death. Says Smith, “It starts out as a catharsis, a way for him to vent his emotions, his anger and disillusionment, which is something everyone can understand.”

But then something wholly unexpected happens.

Opening across the Philippines on January 04, 2017, Collateral Beauty is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company.

Movies: NAOMIE HARRIS, A SYMPATHETIC GRIEF COUNSELOR IN “COLLATERAL BEAUTY”

Fresh from winning Best Supporting Actress of 2016 from the National Board of Review for Moonlight – and predicted to earn an Oscar nomination as well -- Naomie Harris (Skyfall, Pirates of the Caribbean) now stars as sympathetic grief counsellor Madeline in New Line Cinema’s thought-provoking drama,Collateral Beauty.

In the film, Howard (Will Smith), a successful New York advertising executive retreats from life after suffering a great tragedy. While his concerned friends try desperately to reconnect with him, he seeks answers from the universe by writing letters to Love, Time and Death. But it’s not until his notes bring unexpected personal responses that he begins to understand how these constants interlock in a life fully lived, and how even the deepest loss can reveal moments of meaning and beauty.

Even as questions and emotions are being stirred up, there exists a quiet, personal touchstone for Howard. Somewhere in the city after hours, a group of people, diverse in every way except in the pain they share, sit together to talk about lost loved ones, to break out photos and offer one another comfort and community.

Many nights, Howard approaches this meeting place. He peers into the window from a distance, watching the gentle movements and welcoming smile of the woman who leads the group. Sometimes she looks in his direction, and then he turns away.

Madeline is a grief counselor who walks the walk every day with the people in her support group. Like them, and like Howard, she has lost a child. But unlike Howard, Harris says, “I believe that soon after it happened, Madeline began looking for ways to deal and cope, and she gravitated toward these support groups very early on. What I admire about Madeline is how strong she is. She’s full of love and so brave in that she’s willing to face this loss the way she does, determined to learn and grow from it, whereas Howard turns away from that. He can’t face it. He can’t begin to deal with it.”

Madeline’s healing is accomplished through her work. “She’s found a way, through her own grief and loss, to find meaning in life by helping others deal with their own loss, and I really connected to that,” Harris adds. So her glimpses of this haunted figure outside the window make her want very much to reach out to him.”

“Madeline takes a special interest in Howard and feels that with a little bit of coaxing he might become a participant in the group, and then she can really help him,” director David Frankel offers, adding, “Naomie’s chemistry with Will is very specific and powerful. She has a fantastic ability to convey emotion that is deep below the surface.”

One of Madeline’s gifts is her patience. She hopes that one day, when he’s ready, Howard will cross that chasm and come inside. When he does, she will be there for him.

Opening across the Philippines on January 04, 2017, Collateral Beauty is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company.

Movies: MEET LOVE, TIME, DEATH IN THOUGHT-PROVOKING “COLLATERAL BEAUTY”

What would you say to Love, Time, and Death?

In New Line Cinema's thought-provoking drama Collateral Beauty, Howard (Will Smith), a successful New York advertising executive retreats from life after suffering a great tragedy. While his concerned friends try desperately to reconnect with him, he seeks answers from the universe by writing letters to Love, Time and Death. But it’s not until his notes bring unexpected personal responses that he begins to understand how these constants interlock in a life fully lived, and how even the deepest loss can reveal moments of meaning and beauty.

Addressing the basic premise of film, screenwriter Allan Loeb says, “the script was a Trojan Horse of a discourse about what I believe are the three most important elements of all of our existence. And I wanted to talk about it not from a Greek chorus point of view but literally from the mouths of Love, Time and Death.”

Toward this end, he crafted characters whose primary purpose was to take on the defining elements of these concepts and let them boldly challenge Howard’s attitudes and assumptions, face to face, about their purpose in the world and what they mean to him.

“We had some fun with it,” director David Frankel recalls, “with Helen Mirren’s character, Brigitte, confronting Howard about his thoughts on Death, Keira Knightley arguing the case for Love, and Jacob Latimore talking to him about Time.”

“Love has been pondered endlessly,” Will Smith, who plays Howard, notes. “Death, people tend to avoid, but everybody has to confront it, and when you confront death it burns away all the foolishness. You can only see the things that are important. And to me, the idea of time was the most difficult philosophical concept to figure out in the context of a funny scene, but I think Jacob Latimore did a great job with it. It was so interesting to sit around and ponder all of these ideas and develop the point and counterpoint, because, in the end, nobody really has an answer.”

Howard’s most recent letter to Love said simply, “Goodbye,” and it’s now incumbent upon Keira Knightley’s character, Amy, to make him realize that giving up on love is not an option. Quite the contrary; this is when love matters most. Says Knightley of the role, “She’s highly empathetic to Howard’s grief, empathy being a part of love, and talks to him in emotional terms that he can feel. But she wants him to understand that love isn’t just the part where everything is great; it’s also the unbelievable pain you feel when something is taken away, and that in no way diminishes it or ends it.”

In his letters, Howard has been especially harsh toward Time, and receives a response in kind, as similar accusations are thrown right back at him. “Howard writes what any father might say to Time, if he could,” Jacob Latimore concedes. “‘You’re dead tissue; you’re petrified; you kill beauty; you ruin things.’ All in all, he just wants to be with his child forever and, unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. I skate up next to him to get his attention and get through his head, by telling him flat-out that he’s wrong. Time is a gift and he’s squandering it by doing nothing and letting it all go. There’s more to live for. Our conversations are frustrating, but I have to believe they’re helping him in ways he doesn’t understand until later.”

But it might be the conversations between Howard and the woman who speaks for Death that unsettle him the most – firstly, perhaps, because she isn’t at all what he might have pictured.

Consequently, her strategy was to surprise him in every conceivable way. “Helen decided that Death has this great sense of humor and so, when she interacts with Will, starting with their first meeting, she took an almost playful approach, which she balances later with a show of compassion, equally deep,” Frankel recounts.

In so doing, Mirren feels, the character is consistent with the story’s main theme, “that there can be something positive, beautiful and unexpected to be found in the most difficult circumstances. It’s very often in the humanity and the way people respond to one another. The essential center of the story is that idea of collateral beauty, and it’s my hope that people will come away from it with a sense of optimism and engagement in life.”

Opening across the Philippines on Sunday, January 8, 2017, Collateral Beauty is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company.

Movies: NORTON, WINSLET, PENA: TRUE FRIENDS CONSPIRE IN “COLLATERAL BEAUTY”

Howard (Will Smith) was a highly successful and dynamic advertising executive, the head of his own company. But when his six-year-old daughter succumbs to a fatal illness, Howard is cast emotionally adrift. Increasingly withdrawn from human contact, the only communication Howard now initiates are the angry, accusatory letters he writes to Love, Time, and Death. But even if Howard has given up on himself…his friends have not given up on him.

Edward Norton, Kate Winslet and Michael Pena join Will Smith as Howard's loyal friends in New Line Cinema's thought-provoking drama, Collateral Beauty.

While Howard built his career and business through the years, it was with the talent and dedication of his closest associates: Whit (Norton), the idea-guy, whose name appears alongside Howard’s on the company masthead; Claire (Winslet), their savvy account director; and Simon (Pena), the agency’s stalwart general counsel. Having grown up together in a sense, from hungry young staffers to full partners, their lives have become intertwined as friends, colleagues and family.

Together they have tried many ways to pull Howard from the abyss, to no avail. Simultaneously, they have struggled to keep the company afloat in his absence. Without his contacts and creative spark, though, accounts have fallen off and prospects run dry to the point where, now, their only option is to sell. There’s an offer on the table…but Howard holds the majority shares and he’s not taking the call.

“It’s implicit, I think, from the first scene, the closeness of their relationship,” says Edward Norton. “You know immediately that these two guys are best friends, and that’s what makes the reveal of what’s befallen them, this fracture, so painful.”

It’s arguably Whit who misses the old Howard most of all, and it’s Whit who comes up with an inspired and unorthodox idea to try to get him to reconnect. “At first Claire thinks it’s a joke,” says Kate Winslet of her character. “She’s used to Whit being kind of crazy, but still, this is never going to work. As soon as she realizes he’s being serious and that they could do this together, I think she believes they can genuinely help Howard.”

The truth is, beyond their heartfelt concern for Howard, each of them has his or her own challenges, which they are not fully understanding or addressing, and which naturally come into play as the story unfolds.

Whit, for example, initially appears as he wants people to see him: confident, creative and charming, without a care in the world and ever hopeful that his next great romance will be the one. “However,” says director David Frankel, “he’s made a lot of mistakes along the way and just can’t believe what’s happened to his life.”

Claire, meanwhile, has been avoiding the truth for a long time. In many respects a classic nurturer – she leaves take-out dinners for Howard night after night, despite his perpetually closed door – Claire has postponed some aspects of her personal life, while pouring all her energy and commitment into the company and her career.

Finally, there’s something going on with Simon, something that could significantly affect his family, and he doesn’t know how to tell them, or even if he should.

“Overall,” says screenwriter Allan Loeb, “we wanted these to be real, flawed characters. Howard isn’t the only one who needs perspective, who needs to be healed through this piece; it’s the three of them also. It becomes their journey and their lesson too.”

Opening across the Philippines on January 8, 2017, Collateral Beauty is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company.

Movies: FIND YOUR WAY BACK TO LIFE, LOVE WITH “COLLATERAL BEAUTY”

New Line Cinema's upcoming inspirational drama “Collateral Beauty” is about finding your way back to life and love in the wake of unspeakable loss, and about those unexpected moments of hope, meaning and connection – the proverbial silver linings – that light the path through even the darkest times.

“It’s those things we sometimes take for granted or don’t notice all the time, but that might be there every day, like a sunset…or fleeting, like a child’s smile,” says director David Frankel. “There are millions of examples of collateral beauty; they’re unique, and we all have different ideas about what they could be. They’re the reason that we go on, and I think what’s really compelling about this story is that it reminds us to take notice of those brilliant fragments of life that make it worth living.”

Discovering those moments illuminated by every tragic event is an emotional and spiritual journey profoundly personal to each individual, yet something that we all share. Set amidst the warmth, energy and often bittersweet notes of the holiday season in New York City, “Collateral Beauty” tells the life-affirming story of one man’s progress through the landscape of loss and what he ultimately finds – with heart, candor, a thread of humor and the recognition that there will always be some things beyond our understanding.

“The way you see the world, the way your heart opens and the way you relate to people after a tragedy can be very beautiful,” observes screenwriter Allan Loeb, who is also one of the film’s producers. “It can be transformative.”

For Loeb, it began as the germ of a concept that grew to capture his imagination until it could not be denied. “It came together piece by piece over a long period of time as I wrote other movies and worked on other things,” he recounts. “It was a little story in my head that kept nagging at me, about a man who writes letters to abstractions like time, love and death, and why would he do that?”

Howard (played by Will Smith) was a highly successful and dynamic advertising executive, the head of his own company, for whom those words once represented powerful marketing tools. They were great motivators. In an early scene evoking his former passion, he is seen addressing a rapt crowd with the statement: “These three things connect every single human being on Earth. We long for love. We wish we had more time. And we fear death.”

But after his six-year-old daughter succumbs to a fatal illness, casting Howard emotionally adrift, these concepts take on a larger meaning. Increasingly withdrawn from human contact, the only communication Howard now initiates are the angry, accusatory letters he writes to Love, Time, and Death.

“He’s struggling with big, philosophic questions and looking to the universe for answers,” Frankel says. “Like a modern-day King Lear, you might say, he’s howling at the gods.”

Eventually, Howard’s fixation gives his friends an idea to possibly break him out of his endless malaise by somehow allowing him to confront these very concepts. They’ve tried every other means of help from traditional grief counseling to shamanistic rituals, offered comfort and patience, and nothing has worked.

Howard’s friends are also his closest colleagues and long-time business partners: Whit, played by Edward Norton, Claire, played by Kate Winslet, and Simon, played by Michael Peña. Though their concern for him is genuine, their plan has a practical side, too, as Howard’s disconnection from the daily functions has brought the company to the brink of insolvency and they must quickly affect a sale to save it.

Thus one day, while at his usual bench in the dog park, Howard is approached by a self-assured woman smartly dressed in vivid blue, who sits beside him. She holds a letter he recently posted to Death. Taking him completely off-guard, she introduces herself as the recipient of that letter. When Howard recoils, she reminds him that people are forever seeking answers from the universe but not many are granted a direct response. And so it begins…

Opening across the Philippines on January 8, 2017, Collateral Beauty is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company.

Movies: “COLLATERAL BEAUTY” MAIN TRAILER SETS UP POWERFUL STORY OF LOSS, RECOVERY

Pack the tissues for this one! 

 “Be sure to notice the collateral beauty – it’s the profound connection to everything,” a character implores a depressed father who lost a child in the main trailer of New Line Cinema’s upcoming thought-provoking drama, Collateral Beauty.

            Check out the main trailer at https://youtu.be/Mlksura_ER4 and watch Collateral Beauty when it opens across the Philippines on Jan. 8, 2017.

            When a successful New York advertising executive suffers a great tragedy he retreats from life.  While his concerned friends try desperately to reconnect with him, he seeks answers from the universe by writing letters to Love, Time and Death.  But it’s not until his notes bring unexpected personal responses that he begins to understand how these constants interlock in a life fully lived, and how even the deepest loss can reveal moments of meaning and beauty. 

From Oscar-winning director David Frankel, Collateral Beauty features an all-star cast, including Will Smith, Edward Norton, Keira Knightley, Michael Peña, Naomie Harris, Jacob Latimore with Oscar winners Kate Winslet and Helen Mirren.

            David Frankel (Dear Diary, Marley & Me, The Devil Wears Prada) directs from a screenplay written by Allan Loeb (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, 21). 

            The behind-the-scenes creative team included director of photography Maryse Alberti (Creed), production designer Beth Mickle (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot), editor Andrew Marcus (American Ultra) and costume designer Leah Katznelson (How to Be Single).  The music was composed by Theodore Shapiro (Trumbo).  

            Playing over end credits is a special version of the new song “Let’s Hurt Tonight,” performed by platinum-selling Grammy nominees OneRepublic.

Collateral Beauty is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company.

Movies: NEW “COLLATERAL BEAUTY” POSTER SAYS `WE ARE ALL CONNECTED

I can't help but feel that this is another take on the "Ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Future" but we have "Death" "Love" and "Time" instead. 

New Line Cinema has just rolled out the new international poster for its inspiring and emotional drama “Collateral Beauty” featuring the faces of the star-studded cast and with a reassuring tagline, “We are all connected.”

From Oscar-winning director David Frankel, “Collateral Beauty” is a thought-provoking drama that explores how even the deepest loss can reveal moments of beauty, and how the constants of love, time and death interlock in a life fully lived.

When a successful New York ad executive suffers a personal tragedy and retreats from life, his friends devise a drastic plan to reach him before he loses everything. Pushing him to the very edge, they force him to confront the truth in surprising and profoundly human ways.

“Collateral Beauty” features an all-star cast, including Will Smith, Edward Norton, Keira Knightley, Michael Peña, Naomie Harris, Jacob Latimore with Oscar winners Kate Winslet and Helen Mirren.

David Frankel (“Dear Diary,” “Marley & Me,” “The Devil Wears Prada”) directs from a screenplay written by Allan Loeb (“Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” “21”).

Opening across the Philippines on January 8, 2017, “Collateral Beauty” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company.

Movies: FIRST “COLLATERAL BEAUTY” TRAILER SUMMONS DEATH, TIME, LOVE

The first trailer of New Line Cinema's inspiring and emotional drama “Collateral Beauty” has just been released and may be viewed at http://youtu.be/I5OrwjiTvww.

From Oscar-winning director David Frankel, “Collateral Beauty” is a thought-provoking drama that explores how even the deepest loss can reveal moments of beauty, and how the constants of love, time and death interlock in a life fully lived.

When a successful New York ad executive suffers a personal tragedy and retreats from life, his friends devise a drastic plan to reach him before he loses everything. Pushing him to the very edge, they force him to confront the truth in surprising and profoundly human ways.

“Collateral Beauty” features an all-star cast, including Will Smith, Edward Norton, Keira Knightley, Michael Peña, Naomie Harris, Jacob Latimore with Oscar winners Kate Winslet and Helen Mirren.

David Frankel (“Dear Diary,” “Marley & Me,” “The Devil Wears Prada”) directs from a screenplay written by Allan Loeb (“Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” “21”). The film is produced by Bard Dorros (“Triple 9”), Michael Sugar (Oscar-nominated Best Picture “Spotlight”), Allan Loeb, Anthony Bregman (“Foxcatcher”), and Kevin Frakes (“John Wick”). Serving as executive producers are Toby Emmerich, Richard Brener, Michael Disco, Michael Bederman, Peter Cron, and Bruce Berman.

Frankel’s behind-the-scenes creative team includes director of photography Maryse Alberti (“Creed”), production designer Beth Mickle (“Whiskey Tango Foxtrot”), editor Andrew Marcus (“American Ultra”) and costume designer Leah Katznelson (“How to Be Single”). The music is composed by Theodore Shapiro (“Trumbo”).

New Line Cinema presents, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, an Anonymous Content/an Overbrook Entertainment Production, a PalmStar Media and Likely Story Production: “Collateral Beauty.” It will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.

Opening across the Philippines on January 8, 2017, “Collateral Beauty” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company.