Taglines: Fall in love.* Get married. Have a baby. *Not necessarily in that order.
After years of dating, Zoe has decided waiting for the right one is taking too long. Determined to become a mother, she commits to a plan, makes an appointment and decides to go it alone. On the day of her artificial insemination, Zoe meets Stan – a man with real possibilities. Trying to nurture a budding relationship and hide the early signs of pregnancy becomes a comedy of errors for Zoe and creates confusing signals for Stan.
When Zoe nervously reveals the reason for her unpredictable behavior, Stan commits fully and says he’s in. Never before has love seen a courtship where a wild night of sex involves three in a bed – Stan, Zoe and the ever-present massive pregnancy pillow. Or, where ‘date night’ consists of being the ‘focal point’ at a near-stranger’s water birth which does for kiddie pools what “Jaws” did for swimming in the ocean. The real pregnancy test comes when both of them realize they really don’t know each other outside of hormonal chaos and birth preparations.
With the nine month clock ticking, both begin to experience cold feet. Anyone can fall in love, get married and have a baby but doing it backwards in hyper-drive could be proof positive that they were made for each other.
Zoe has a very full life – great friends, a good job, and a fantastic relationship with the grandmother who raised her. But while staring down her late 30s, she comes to the realization that the one thing that has evaded her, Mr. Right, may never come along. She decides to fulfill her dream to have a family on her own and makes an appointment with a fertility doctor. As luck would have it, mere moments after the procedure she meets Mr. Right.
The arrival of Stan, aka Mr. Right, in Zoe’s life begins her romantic journey in love, in life, and in labor. He throws her plan off course in a way that has wildly comedic repercussions both due to circumstance as well as their contrasting personalities. “Zoe is a planner,” explains Jennifer Lopez who stars as Zoe. “She decides it’s time to have a baby and she sets out to make that happen. Stan, on the other hand, is much more of a free spirit. He’s not living out his dreams (he owns a cheese stand at a NY farmer’s market) but he’s relaxed into his situation. He’s not really thinking about the future, and certainly not looking to be tied down.”
The Back-up Plan (previously known as Plan B) is a 2010 American romantic comedy film, starring Jennifer Lopez and Alex O’Loughlin.[3] It was released theatrically in the U.S. on April 23, 2010, and later in other regions. This was Tom Bosley’s final film before his death in October 2010.
The film was moderately a box office success. The Back-up Plan earned $4,257,676 in 3,280 theaters on its Friday debut, but managed to make #1 at the box office. It dropped to #2 at the weekend box office with a gross of $12,201,710, averaging $3,720 per theater. In its 2nd week it dropped to #4 with $7,255,762, averaging $2,212 per theater. In its 3rd week the film dropped to #5 grossing $5,033,471, averaging $1,676 per theater. The following week it dropped to #6 grossing $2,387,480, averaging $956 per theater. As of July 14, it had grossed $77,237,270 worldwide, and is CBS Films’ highest-grossing film to date. The Back-up Plan reached #1 on Top Ten Hot Movies On Demand.
About the Production
Writer Kate Angelo derived the idea for her first feature from witnessing her close friends dealing with thirtysomething female issues. “There is an undeniable biological ticking clock. And, at some point, if you haven’t met that right guy by a certain age, you have to consider other options in order to have a family.”
Producer Todd Black (who produces alongside his Escape Artists partners Steve Tisch and Jason Blumenthal) brought the script to Amy Baer, President and Chief Executive Officer of CBS Films. He credits the material’s strength on Angelo’s ability to understand where the joke is in a scene but also on her insistence that the script be about something. “It’s 2010 and the way a person’s life unfolds has no rules – you don’t have to get married and then have children,” notes Black. “This project sends that message in a funny and beautiful way.”
“The script definitely rang true to me, having just gone through my own experience of having babies for the first time,” reveals Lopez. “All the little jokes about what it is to be pregnant – being tired, insatiably hungry and the hormonal changes. I could really relate.”
Black recalls his realization after the filmmakers’ first meeting with Lopez that she was the perfect match for Zoe. “She literally embodied Zoe and she completely got the script. She understood the humor involved in this character becoming a new mom, and the humorous and scary nature of her having a new lover in her life at the same time.”
Lopez’s grasp of the material was important but she also had the right chops for a role that requires the ability to play comedy, as well as more tender moments. “Jennifer can convey the perfect amount of emotion and comedy all at the same time,” says Black. “She’s an all around solid actress. Most times you find an actor who can just do the comedy or just the drama. It’s rare to find someone who is strong with both.”
Director Alan Poul, who most recently produced and directed such television hits as “Swingtown” and “Six Feet Under,” was particularly impressed by Lopez’s fearless approach to the physical comedy. “Jennifer has an extraordinary gift; she can go very far with physicality – with slapstick – while still keeping it grounded in the reality of the character.” It’s a talent aptly demonstrated in a scene in which Zoe can’t resist an urge to down beef bourguignon using slices of bread as utensils.
When it came time to cast Stan, the filmmakers set out to find a fresh face – someone sexy, funny, strong, yet also vulnerable. It was going to be a challenge to find someone who had the whole package but when they met Aussie actor Alex O’Loughlin, they knew they had found their Stan.
“The minute we had him read with Jennifer, you could just feel it in the room – their chemistry was undeniable,” says Black. “Alex also came in very prepared. He understood where the comedy was and he wasn’t afraid to take it as far as it could go. It’s so thrilling as a producer to discover someone new. I’m proud and excited. I can’t wait to watch where his career goes; I think he’s going to be a major movie star.”
O’Loughlin cherished his first turn as a feature leading man. “The cast and crew were amazing and the material is really good. Plus, starring opposite Jennifer was awesome. I had a ball.”
With the two leads in place, it was time to cast the many colorful supporting characters. “When you’re making a romantic comedy a lot of screen time is focused on the two leads but it’s important for the audience’s enjoyment to surround them with a company of funny supporting players,” notes Poul. “When you see these characters appear on screen, they should be a welcome diversion.”
One of the most memorable supporting characters in the script is Mona, Zoe’s best friend. As comedian Michaela Watkins, who plays Mona, explains, Mona is a “sassy, straightforward, tell-it-like-it-is friend.” She’s also a mother and very forthcoming with Zoe about what she should expect when she’s expecting.
Watkins, a recent “SNL” alum, admits there was a specific moment in the script that sealed her desire to play the part. “In their first scene together, Mona says to Zoe ‘You don’t want to have kids and I’m going to show you my vagina to prove it’ – well, right there, I knew I wanted in!”
Despite Mona’s testimonials, Zoe still proceeds with her plan to conceive and even tries to recruit as a potential sperm donor her friend and pet store employee Clive, played by Eric Christian Olsen. “Clive passes because he’s young and still has many women to bed,” says Olsen.
Zoe’s other pet store employee, and friend, is Daphne, played by actress Noureen DeWulf (most recently seen in The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past). DeWulf describes her character as “somewhat sassafras.”
Zoe’s friends are like family but the person she’s closest to is her grandmother, Nana, who raised her from an early age after her parents died. The death of Zoe’s mom has held both Zoe and Nana back in many ways but significantly in their love lives. They both have clung to the past for too long. Accomplished theater actress and TV legend (she starred as Alice for 9 years in the hit sitcom of the same name) Linda Lavin plays Nana.
“It is rare to find a script where a woman of age is not a joke, demeaned by other people, or self-demeaning,” says Lavin. “I really love this part. I get to play a straight shooter who is funny and no-nonsense.”
Another TV icon, Tom Bosley (Mr. Cunningham from “Happy Days” fame), also appears in the film. He plays Arthur, Nana’s love interest. Their wedding, after a 22-year engagement, punctuates Nana’s turn and provides one of the film’s biggest comedic set pieces.
New York and A Back-Up
Though electing to shoot the majority of The Back-up Plan in Los Angeles, the production filmed for two weeks in New York. While only in New York a short period of time, Alan Poul and his team utilized those two weeks to the fullest to ensure New York itself was adequately represented on screen. They shot at a wide variety of locations around the city including on Fifth Avenue along Central Park, in the Tribeca Farmer’s Market, on Park Avenue, along the brownstones of Greenwich Village, and at Gray’s Papaya on Sixth Avenue.
Shooting in New York was invaluable and the filmmakers made certain they didn’t lose that quintessential Big Apple look when shooting in Los Angeles. They were determined that the sets wouldn’t read like Los Angeles for New York. “We tried to keep it as authentic as possible so when we ultimately do end up in New York, the look is seamless,” says Black.
The filmmakers traveled to New York a couple times in the preparation process to identify key details of the areas they were about to portray. They, then, strategized on how they would recreate the areas in Los Angeles. “It’s really about choosing locations very carefully,” notes Poul.
The Warner Bros backlot provided the perfect slate on which to build the diverse areas of Manhattan represented in the script. “It’s unique among the backlots around town,” says renowned production designer Alec Hammond. “You can actually look in every direction and see buildings – buildings that have the right amount of eclectic architecture to really feel like New York.”
The Warner Bros backlot’s versatility was due in part to the fact that it was a controlled environment. Lighting could be manipulated, color pallets could be customized and one ‘street block’ could be re-dressed to represent different geographic parts of the city depending on the scene. Creative design detail would also help Poul and Hammond achieve, as Hammond puts it, “a magical look to New York.”
A number of other LA-area locations served as New York including a farm in the Santa Monica mountains that doubled for Stan’s farm in Upstate New York and Pasadena’s Pasadena Elks Lodge which served as the interior of Nana’s Shady Brook Retirement Center in Queens.
The Back-Up Plan (2010)
Directed by: Alan Poul
Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Alex O’Loughlin, Danneel Harris, Eric Christian Olsen, Noureen DeWulf, Melissa McCarthy, Tom Bosley, Maribeth Monroe, Danneel Ackles, Robert Klein, Linda Lavin, Amy Block, Carlease Burke, Jennifer Elise Cox
Screenplay by: Kate Angelo
Production Design by: Alec Hammond
Cinematography by: Xavier Grobet
Film Editing by: Priscilla Nedd-Friendly
Costume Design by: Karen Patch
Set Decoration by: Kathy Lucas
Art Direction by: Scott Dougan
Priscilla Elliott
Music by: Stephen Trask
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for language, sexual content, sexual references, some crude material.
Distributed by: CBS Films
Release Date: April 23, 2010
