Taglines: Don’t hope for a miracle. Make one.
John and his wife Aileen fight to find a cure for their two children that are diagnosed with a fatal disease. They team with a brilliant scientist to form a bio-tech company focused on developing a life-saving drug. Together they battle the medical and business establishments.
Inspired by the true story of John Crowley, a man who defied conventional wisdom and great odds, and risked his family’s future to pursue a cure for his children’s life threatening disease. From his working class roots, John Crowley (Brendan Fraser) has finally begun to taste success in corporate America.
Supported by his beautiful wife Aileen (Keri Russell) and their three children, John is on the fast track. But just as his career is taking off, Crowley walks away from it all when his two youngest children, Megan and Patrick, are diagnosed with a fatal disease. With Aileen by his side, harnessing all of his skill and determination, Crowley teams up with a brilliant, but unappreciated and unconventional scientist, Dr. Robert Stonehill (Harrison Ford).
Together they form a bio-tech company focused on developing a life-saving drug. One driven to prove himself and his theories, the other by a chance to save his children, this unlikely alliance eventually develops into mutual respect as they battle the medical and business establishments in a fight against the system and time. But, at the last minute, when it appears that a solution has been found, the relationship between the two men faces a final test – the outcome of which will affect the fate of John’s children.
Extraordinary Measures is a 2010 American medical drama film starring Brendan Fraser, Harrison Ford, and Keri Russell. It was the first film produced by CBS Films, the film division of CBS Corporation, who released the film on January 22, 2010. The film was shot in St. Paul, Oregon; Portland, Oregon; the Corner Saloon in Tualatin, Oregon; Manzanita, Oregon; Beaverton, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington.
About the Production
For years, Harrison Ford and producers Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher, and Carla Santos Shamberg had been seeking a project on which they could collaborate. Six years ago that search ended, when Ford read Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Geeta Anand’s Wall Street Journal article, and later Anand’s book entitled The Cure: How a Father Raised $100 Million – and Bucked the Medical Establishment – in a Quest to Save His Children), on John Crowley and the Crowley family. Captivated by multiple themes, Ford recognized the makings of a movie in this compelling material.
“I thought Geeta’s book had something to say about personal courage, initiative, parents’ love, and the power to overcome extraordinarily difficult circumstances,” remembers Ford. “If we could wrestle this into the shape of a movie, we would be bringing a story to the screen which would enrich people’s lives.”
The producers agreed. Here was an opportunity to share an engaging, truthful story filled with emotional and physical obstacles – a story framed by one family’s crusade to overcome great adversity. “What struck us about John is that he’s a real-life hero,” says Shamberg. “He went on a courageous journey and risked everything, along with his wife Aileen, to do what was best for their children.”
The Crowley family’s story would be perfectly at home at Double Feature Films, Shamberg and Sher’s production company. A number of successful films inspired by real life subjects adorn the company’s notable filmography including Erin Brockovich, Freedom Writers and World Trade Center.
“The best true stories read like fiction and Geeta’s book was definitely no exception,“ notes Sher. “You think, ‘Nobody would buy this if it wasn’t true or, as with our film, inspired by true events.’”
Though the Crowley family had already grown comfortable relating their story to Anand, there was some initial hesitation when Hollywood came calling.
“My dad was a cop and my mom was a waitress,” says John Crowley. “I didn’t grow up in the Hollywood scene so I was a little skeptical at first. But the producers had done some wonderful films and have some very unique experiences in producing films inspired by real life stories so that made us more comfortable. And also Harrison was involved from day one which made the project all the more attractive.”
With the Crowleys on board, a collaborative effort to bring the story to the screen was about to begin. Turning this family’s journey and The Cure into a two-hour feature presented a delicate balancing act. The timeline of events, which encompassed several years, had to be condensed and yet the story still needed to engage audiences in the arduous, groundbreaking scientific process that saved the Crowley children. The task would indeed be both challenging and rewarding. The producers met with Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Robert Nelson Jacobs and quickly realized they had found the right person to adapt the story.
“He had written Chocolat,” notes Santos Shamberg. “He’s a very sensitive writer. The process of turning Geeta’s book and the Crowleys’ story into a movie would be quite a long process. Robert came up with a good script within a year, which is very lucky.”
“There are several things that moved me creatively and emotionally to tell this story,” says Jacobs. “I was very drawn in by this family. They deal with adversity with a lot of grace and humor. I think that’s an important story to tell.”
Jacobs found Anand’s book to be an invaluable resource and the journalist/author to be “extremely generous with sharing her research.” But Jacobs also immersed himself in his own extensive research of the family.
Though the film’s main emphasis was to capture the family’s extraordinary journey to overcome the odds, Jacobs also felt it important to reinforce that this was a family in a day-to-day routine.
As Jacobs perceives, “The triumph of this family would only be magnified by also showing the chinks in the armor, the same vulnerabilities and frailties and flaws that any other family has. All parents need to make decisions about what’s in the best interest of their kids. For the Crowleys these were literally life and death decisions.”
Compressing the story’s timeline of events included assessing how to best represent the numerous people who assisted John in his development of the drug that would save his children. “There were many people who helped John along the way, from scientists to business men. And there were a number of doctors for whom John raised money,” explains Jacobs. “We composited all of these people into one character – Dr. Robert Stonehill. John is very ‘straight ahead,’ and Dr. Stonehill marches to the beat of his own drum. I realized that putting the two of them together would make sparks fly. It would create a lot of dramatic tension.”
Ford (who both stars and serves as executive producer on the film) saw Dr. Stonehill as an intriguing opportunity both in storytelling and as an actor. “He’s a composite of people who played different parts in the Crowleys’ story but, for me, he’s also a composite of things I’ve observed in my research. He represents aspects of a scientist, and also aspects of a loner, an iconoclast,” explains Ford. “And his relationship with John Crowley is an interesting kind of relationship for me as an actor. Their relationship is sometimes contentious, not at all smooth, but there are also moments of co-joined purpose. It’s a complicated dynamic.”
“It’s two men with a mission; one to save his family, the other to prove he’s right,” elaborates Shamberg. “Two men against the system; I don’t think you can go wrong when you have underdogs fighting for something right. And, given the current health care debate, the public seems particularly primed to root for characters who take control of important issues, such as this one, that affect the fate of their loved ones.”
It is important to understand ‘orphan drugs’ to understand how the work of these two characters progresses. The Orphan Drug Act of 1983 was passed to encourage the development of drugs that have a small market due to their treatment of ‘orphan diseases’ (defined in the U.S. as a disease that (a) affects less than 200,000 persons in the U.S. or (b) affects more than 200,000 persons in the U.S. but for which there is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing and making available in the U.S. a drug for such disease or condition will be recovered from sales in the U.S. of such drug*). Under this law, companies that develop an ‘orphan drug’ may sell it without competition for 7 years (there are also tax incentives).
Pompe Disease is an ‘orphan disease’ and the drug that John Crowley and Dr. Stonehill develop through the course of this story falls under this ‘orphan drug’ status. The market potential for an ‘orphan drug’ can be enormous because of the general high cost of these drugs per patient (individual yearly treatment can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a year), which insurance often covers. This explains how John and Dr. Stonehill are able to raise venture capital and ultimately sell out to a larger pharmaceutical company.
To build Stonehill’s character while authenticating the science in the script overall, Ford and Jacobs turned to experts in the field for help and credibility. “I’ve been gratified by the willingness of the science community to help us work out ways to get the story more correct on a scientific level,” says Ford. “In particular, to work out a way of representing the scientific process which is largely practiced in the head.”
Finding ways to give physical form to this cerebral process was necessary to tell the story, yet the scientific dialogue was important both for accuracy and as a window into Stonehill’s character. “When you see Harrison explaining the science, it’s really the subtext that’s important – you see a scientist who is passionate about what he’s doing,” says Jacobs. It was crucial for Ford and Jacobs to really understand the nuances of the science to then simplify the process for the audience’s understanding.
One scientist who was instrumental in this research was Dr. Hung Do who worked with John Crowley from very early on and continues to work with him to this day. The filmmakers spent a considerable amount of time with Do, who consulted on the film from story development through production. He also shed light on what it was that John Crowley brought to the table for the scientific community that upped the level of motivation for a notoriously stoic (albeit by definition) group of individuals. “He made it about much more than research,” says Do. “This was his kids’ lives. That really brought it to a whole other level for us scientists.”
For all of the factual research and timeline compression, the emotional component and spirit of the family was indeed the foundation of this script. Jacobs worked tirelessly to build a screenplay that conveyed both the physical and spiritual journey for all involved.
“You have to give real credit to Bob Jacobs,” says Shamberg. “He took the essence of what was poured into each juncture over years and years, and made it dramatic by compressing timelines and combining characters.”
Years of success as a screenwriter and positive feedback from the filmmakers did little, however, to ease Jacobs’ nerves once it came time to deliver the script to the Crowleys for their read.
“This film is really the first that I’ve written that’s inspired by a true story and a real family,” says Jacobs. “It was important to honor the spirit of that family. So it meant a lot to me when the Crowleys read the script and said ‘Yeah, you had to fictionalize in places, and you had to change the timeline, but we feel like you’ve captured the spirit of our family.’ That was probably the nicest compliment that I’ve ever received as a screenwriter.”
Extraordinary Measures (2010)
Directed by: Tom Vaughan
Starring: Harrison Ford, Brendan Fraser, Keri Russell, Courtney B. Vance, Dee Wallace, Jared Harris, Patrick Bauchau, Andrea White, Ayanna Berkshire, Meredith Droeger, Diego Velazquez
Screenplay by: Robert Nelson Jacobs
Production Design by: Derek R. Hill
Cinematography by: Andrew Dunn
Film Editing by: Anne V. Coates
Costume Design by: Deena Appel
Set Decoration by: Denise Pizzini
Art Direction by: John Richardson
MPAA Rating: PG for thematic material, language and a mild suggestive moment.
Distributed by: CBS Films
Release Date: January 22, 2010