Preview Trailers & Clips Movie Reviews Photo Gallery

PRODUCTION NOTES

1. The Dream

The idea took shape when Geert Heetebrij and I met in the January of 1999. Geert was working as a story-editor in Hollywood. I had just sold my Dutch-based production-company. Both of us were looking for new adventures. Making a movie was a dream we both shared. I decided to move to LA as well, bringing my wife and kids. I allowed myself three years to dedicate to this new dream.

Geert had a story about the concept of mail order brides on the Internet that he really wanted to explore. He started working on an outline in the summer of 2000.

Meanwhile I was asked to film a commercial for a winery in Perth, Australia. It would be produced by Bijker Productions, a Dutch production company owned by Dirk Jan Bijker. Dirk-Jan and I had been good friends for many years. I told Dirk-Jan about the 'movie-plans'. He liked the idea, himself having dreamed about making movies for quite some time already. After a few evenings with great wine, Dirk-Jan and his wife Tonneke decided to become an essential part of this adventure. Now there were four people carrying this project, pouring in ideas, time and money.

Conceptualizing the set-up on the farm went pretty smooth. Geert's wife had grown up in the Midwest, spending many a summer around her grandparent's roadside vegetable farm stand. More difficult were the scenes that would happen during the romance tour in Russia.

Now Geert and I had been making some documentaries together in previous years. We had experienced the narrative power and emotional energy of a 'real' story. We figured the only way to get a real 'feel' for the story, was to join a real romance tour. We contacted 'A Foreign Affair', one of the biggest companies that organize these Romance Tours, and they were happy to help us out, and so we joined their romance tour in February (after an explicit 'OK' from our wives).

2. Doing the research

Arriving at the airport of St. Petersburg, Russia was exciting. From now on Geert and I would try to perceive this trip as if we were Jake and Josh. How would these brothers go through all this, was the question we constantly asked ourselves.
On the way out of the bagage claim, we followed a foreign TV crew packed to the hilt with equipment, wondering how they would make their way through Russian customs. Very smoothly, as it turned out, so we immediately introduced ourselves to their local liaison, Sergei. He ended up being Emily Mortimer's location manager during the making of her documentary.
The A Foreign Affair tour company makes your adventures start with a first trip in the bus, the first visit to the AFA office and of course the first night in a Russian hotel.
In the bus we found out how fairytale-like St. Petersburg could be in the winter. There was ice everywhere. Lit by weak blue-ish sunlight it all looked picturesque, unreal almost, until you had to get out of the bus and encountered the icy winds. 'Quite a contrast with the Midwest', Geert concluded with a happy smile. This movie would be something different…
AFA's Russian office manager opened the door at their office in the hotel. In perfect English and smooth smiles he explained to us how to get through the thousands and thousands of profiles with great efficiency. Showing us 'fast tricks' on the computer, and handing us maps with the newest profiles. We got a chance to talk to other tour members. Some had no time to talk, too busy rushing through the countless pictures of beautiful, marriage-minded women. 'Man, this is like being a kid in a candy store', John (54) shared. He was overweight, looked exhausted. His head had turned from red to almost purple. I was a little concerned.
That night we drank Russian beer, chatting with the tour clients. Ken (owner AFA) introduced us to the group, and shared some of his knowledge about the tricks of getting a Russian wife.
Some of the clients wanted to know if we were just researching, or if we were also going to date… As researchers they liked us better.
Back in our hotel room for three minutes, we heard the phone ring. 'Do you want us to send a young lady to your room..?' a friendly voice asked. Geert said 'No thank you'. I asked him 'who was that?' 'Room service' he answered, and started making notes. The first Russian script-pages were born.

3. Angela

The next days were like studying human wildlife. The clients, all with impressive professional resumes, seemed to get a real ego-boost from this adventure. Some told us that they were about to find out who they really were. They had met their deepest drives. From now on they would stop thinking before acting. They would totally trust their instincts, and follow 'the forces' they discovered inside themselves.
Some of them shared with us how for the first time in years they dared to dance again. Without having to get drunk first. A 35-year old American was wondering how his friends back home would react if he brought this beautiful 18-year old redhead back to California with him. But would she even stay? Or would she take off with the first surfer dude she'd meet? Tough questions. "She's like a young colt, charging through life", he concluded to fellow tour clients, "and I need to tame her." An ex-marine explained to us how strategic it was that after losing the cold war, American men were invading Russia to take the elite of the Russian gene pool home. We ran out of notebooks. Already there was too much material to choose from.
The third day we ran into 'Angela', an elegant French journalist, funny and very driven. She'd just spend 6 months undercover in Chechnya, covering the war there. She was also an angry person, and this new assignment wasn't helping; she was deeply offended at the romance tour phenomenon, probably the reason her magazine had sent her to St. Petersburg in the first place.
Strangely enough she seemed to like us, and she was very amused by the idea that we as married men had chosen this path full of potential pitfalls that could destroy the trust that our wives had in us. She admired our wives. Maybe they were just naive. She would keep an eye on us, and saw it as her mission to influence the script in every way possible. 'Men are beasts, and you should show that in your movie…'
She would like to see someone like herself in the movie; she offered to play that part, just in case we would not be able to find someone else.

4. Socials

Ken had promised us that attending socials would be the highlight of our time with AFA. And so we were sitting in the bus, heading for the Hollywood Nightclub, joined by 13 giggling men, joking and bragging to each other on how they were going to score big tonight. Ken warned the men about 'players'; women who looked great, acted nice, and tell whatever you wanted to hear, but were just interested in the game; getting a free date with a westerner. For these women catching the men was the most interesting part…
Entering the Hollywood Nightclub was like entering another world. None of the men had been in such a great position before. About 200 women were waiting, totally dedicated to the 13 tour clients. Some of the men became a little nervous. They huddled in packs near the bar, staring at the beauties around them. Some warned each other of the danger of walking the long dark hallway to the bathroom. 'Maybe this is how women feel in clubs back home', Nolan (a computer programmer from Seattle) giggled.
Geert and I decided to split up and talk with women. After all, we also needed to get their side of the story. Disappointed we weren't really looking for a wife, they still got a kick out of the idea for a film, and were very eager to tell us about themselves. But others would just try to drag us to the dance floor. We figured that dancing with a few ladies would also be research.

The days of our research trip went by very fast. If we weren't talking to tour clients or would-be brides, we did some pre-production scouting around St. Petersburg, finding and photographing scene locations; we visited the city's Theatrical Institute looking for actresses, sat in on acting classes. We went to Lenin Film Studios looking for an experienced local line-producer, and visited film schools looking for crew and affordable equipment.
By trip's end, the majority of the men had had a fantastic time. Some had forgotten everything about their original mission. They went home alone. Ken assured them that they could always come back and try again. Others left engaged.
We said goodbye to our French colleague, and left with more than enough facts and wisdom to make this script unique.

5. Preproduction

Once home we realized that this movie would be at its best if it became something like a documentary with actors. It would be great to use real environments as backgrounds, real 'clients' as extras. It would have a big impact on the scheduling, but the energy in the scenes would be much more intense.
Geert started writing. During that time Dirk-Jan and Tonneke flew in quite a few times to go through the story, and to try to add layers to the script. We hoped that this would become a unique piece of work, for an international audience. The arena seemed to have endless possibilities.
In late July the script was at a stage in which we could present it to people.
Initially we intended on making this with unknown actors, but Hollywood veterans we talked to urged us to having at least one 'name' actor; it would dramatically increase chances to get distribution. We decided to test our luck by sending the script to some agencies.
It worked. In August we got a call from UTA. Tim Blake Nelson wanted to meet us.
Tim turned out to be a very energetic man, a passionate moviemaker, a fast mind pouring out ideas. It was clear to us that with Tim we would add another powerful engine to our little project.
We had left open to him which of the two brothers to play, and Tim was interested in playing the role of the older brother. Already during that first meeting he mentioned his friend David Arquette as a possibility for the younger brother. At the same time, Tim was trying to size us up, wondering if these Dutch documentary makers had it in them to pull off a first feature.

Following our meeting with Tim, we found our line-producer Amy Segal on the Internet. Amy liked the story and loved Russia. Being energetic, and very experienced with film-production overseas (involved with productions as James Bond, Anna and the King, etc.), Amy turned out to be the ideal candidate to pull off the practical aspects of this adventure.

6. Nightmares

Come September, Tim Blake Nelson said he was 'in' as Jake Adams, and it was almost sure that David Arquette would play the part of Josh. David's manager Steven Siebert loved the project. He and Howard Cohen (UTA) became great resources whenever we encountered complex legal issues.
We kept updating Dirk-Jan and Tonneke about all the things that happened. Many weekends, they came over from Holland. We had a lot of ideas. It looked like we were close to realizing our dream. Then, the events of September 11th hit. Instantly, our dream became an absurd little thought in that context. Maybe this was no longer something worth to pursue.
A few days later Tim called from the Toronto film festival where he and David Arquette had gotten stuck. Chances were very slim that he or David would still fly to Russia. He would talk it over with David, but wasn't very optimistic.
I called Dirk-Jan to update him about the situation. He still wanted to pursue the project, and started to brainstorm about the options left. 'If they still decide to fly, there is nothing that can stop us anymore…' he concluded.
A few weeks later Tim called with good news. He and David were still planning to go with us to St Petersburg. We would leave in December.
I called Dirk-Jan. He was excited. We brainstormed a few hours about the latest version of the script. He wanted to plan a meeting with everybody involved. This would happen in LA. A couple days later his wife called. Dirk-Jan had passed away that night, from a heart attack.
Again the dream we shared became unimportant, almost ridiculous. It was hard to realize how life would be without this friend I had known for almost my whole life. Dirk-Jan was this Dutch giant (standing at almost 7 feet tall), who had been struggling with heart disease for many years, yet he had an unbeatably positive outlook on live. He had already survived 3 major heart surgeries. His illness was still there but it seemed like it would never really get to him.
He was a main power that embraced and carried this project from its conception. Quitting the project seemed to be our only logical option. A few days later, we attended the funeral in Holland. It all seemed very unreal.

7. Production St. Petersburg

A couple days after the funeral, his wife Tonneke let me know that she still wanted to pursue the project. Their sons David J. and Esli Bijker, who have experience in television with documentairies and drama, agreed with this and got involved in the production. Esli Bijker was the 2nd unit DP. David J. Bijker became the production coordinator.
Late November, we and the Bijker brothers left for St. Petersburg. Amy Segal was already there. She had prepared locations etc. and got us in touch with St. Petersburg production company Globus films.
They told us that our schedules were too ambitious. Many locations, for almost free in a very short time, seemed unrealistic. We had to use all our negotiating skills, earned during all these years of making documentaries under similar conditions, with even smaller budgets. We would also be dependent on weather conditions, and willingness of the local police (and Mafia). Again we crossed our fingers.
The highlight of these days was the arrival of the actors: David Arquette, Tim Blake Nelson, Emily Mortimer and Larry Pine. Everybody arrived on schedule. We shared rented apartments with the crew in the center of the city. The actors stayed at the Sheraton Hotel.
It had already become clear that, surrounded by such a great cast and crew, this should become less of a 'documentary' and more of a film.
The documentary aspect was retained in having changed the character of Angela Beck (Emily Mortimer) from a newspaper correspondent to a TV reporter. On the days that she wasn't scheduled to shoot in St. Petersburg, she was roaming around the city to make a real documentary featuring actual tour clients and would-be brides. Her cameraman, also featured in the film, is Dutch cameraman and documentary maker Esli Bijker, also one of the producers on A Foreign Affair. Their documentary featuring actual tour clients is woven through the film.
Thanks to our inventive and very flexible DP David Mullen, the schedule worked great, and so did working with real 'sets' and 'real' extras. The crew also liked working with the Russian beauties as extras; over the course of the production, we ran into several of them in the hallways of our apartments.
The farm portion of the film was shot in and around Nuevo Casas Grandes, Mexico during the last week of February 2002. The interior of the Adams' brothers' house was filmed inside the house of American immigrants. This family was part of a Mormon group who left Utah over a 100 years ago to start a colony in Mexico, but they have retained a distinct American identity. The house we filmed in belonged to a lady in her 80's who had lived there all her life, and who now shared it with one of her grown children. The moment we walked in there, we realized this should be the Adams kitchen. It wouldn't even need set dressing.
The outside of the farm was filmed on a remote Mennonite colony, about one hour North in a valley dotted with Mennonite farms.

8. Postproduction

"Once everything was taped we started editing. I like to do the off-line myself on my Lightworks. It's old equipment but I still like it because of its intuitive interface.
"At the end of April we hired Avid editor, Hans van Riet, a fellow Dutchman who moved to America the same time I did. We imported my off-line EDL into the Avid, smoothed everything out, had some test screenings and a lot of input from the actors and their agents. By the end of May we were ready to on-line the movie.
"At this point we had heard a lot of horror stories about editing HD-CAM. Prices could be sky-high, and the results were not always great. Many issues with sync sound could occur…, everybody warned us. Now, as Dutchmen we were ready to go anywhere on this planet to do this as efficiently as possible. David Bijker (producer) was in touch with HD-postproduction houses in the US, England, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan and even Hong Kong. Interesting were the differences in price for the same job. These differences would make a long flight more than worthwhile.
"One difficulty with all of these promising options was the fact that we recorded everything in 25P. Many of the post-houses we talked to did not know how to work with this 'odd' frame rate. Predicted complications would occur in Color correction and sound layback. Then Hans van Riet showed me an article written by the founder of APS/Victory Studios, Conrad Denke. The article was on frame rates. I read it with great interest. I called their offices in LA and got in touch with Marianne Nassour. I told her about our project. She asked me for an EDL, which I e-mailed to her. Within a few hours we were talking on the phone again. Marianne asked me to send her an off-line version of the movie, which I did. She liked it, and with an absolute 'Can Do' attitude she told me what the options were.
"APS (the Victory Studios) seemed to be a story too good to be true. Not only could they handle almost every frame rate the HD cameras offered, they also proved to have very competitive rates. We decided to use their facilities in Seattle, because of the Da Vinci 2K color corrector and sound facilities they could offer us there.
"Once we arrived in Seattle, the whole process went smoothly. Much of that was due to the 'post-team' Victory Studios offers. The sound and picture department really work as a team, which prevents a lot of the problems one could encounter by using separate facilities for these tasks.
"Right now the movie is being submitted to a few international film festivals. We hold our fingers crossed and keep dreaming, an attitude we learned so well during this unpredictable process of making a first feature."