Taglines: They’re not just living the American dream, they’e selling it.
The story, a social commentary, centers on a picture-perfect family that moves into a suburban neighborhood and immediately becomes the toast of the town, loved and envied by all. But the reality is they are a commissioned fake family put together by a marketing company as a way to introduce new luxury-level products to neighborhoods around the world.
David Duchovny plays the fake father, a man undergoing a crisis of confidence because he is living a lie. Demi Moore is the mother, a career-driven woman who struggles with her growing feelings toward her fake husband. Amber Heard plays the fake daughter who is trying to seduce her fake dad while looking for a rich man.
Demi Moore and David Duchovny star as a seemingly perfect couple who, along with their equally perfect teenagers — Amber Heard (“Zombieland,” “Pineapple Express”) and Ben Hollingsworth (“The Beautiful Life”) — move into an upscale gated community. The Joneses have better goods and game than any other family in town. The only problem is they’re not a family -they are employees of a stealth marketing organization, and they know how to make everyone else want what they’ve got.
Writer / director / producer Derrick Borte explains the genesis of THE JONESES in this way: “I used to work (and still do) in the commercial world. I am fascinated by the resourceful ways advertisers use to get products into people’s minds. Many people know about the models hired to sit at bars to smoke certain brands of cigarettes. I was very curious about how far advertisers might go to sneak their product into our brains. Instead of the girl at the bar, I placed a family in a McMansion setting, and the Joneses were born.”
One of the first people who read the script was producer Kristi Zea, an award-winning producer, production designer, costume designer, and director. Zea was given THE JONESES script by a friend, who also happened to be Borte’s uncle. Zea read it and called Borte and told him she thought it was a wonderful project. They started developing the script together – he would send a draft, she would give notes. They spent hours on the phone collaborating, until the script was ready to be shown to a few choice friends in the business.
Borte recalls that there was enormous interest in the project by many in Hollywood. “I was flooded with phone calls. Absolutely flooded every night from agents wanting to pitch actors to me, to actors themselves calling who had read it. It just got out there unbelievably fast. And the biggest challenge was figuring out whom to make this film with. It’s like a Rubik’s cube where you feel like you got it done by looking at one side and then you turn it over and it’s completely screwed up on the back. I went through the process many times, thinking it was there, only to realize that it wasn’t and then everything just kind of fell into place and we were working before I knew it,” Borte describes.
In the end, Los Angeles-based production company Echo Lake Productions came onboard to put the film together. Echo Lake has helped produce and finance nearly twenty films including double Oscar nominee AWAY FROM HER, written and directed by Sara Polley and starring Julie Christie, WATER written and directed by Deepa Mehta and Oscar nominated for best foreign film and TSOTSI, best foreign film Oscar winner.
Producer and Echo Lake president Doug Mankoff says he was drawn to THE JONESES script because it was both entertaining and about something that matters. He explains, “The Joneses came to Echo Lake at a time when we were transitioning from the artistic films like WATER and AWAY FROM HER. While we, and our investors, want to make films that matter, we all realized that we needed to make films that could have a bigger footprint on the world. When we read THE JONESES, we felt we had found a needle in a haystack—a story that matters and yet is fun and entertaining.”
Meet the Joneses – Casting the Family
Once the film was greenlit, Borte needed to cast the film. Most critical in casting were the film’s leads, Kate and Steve Jones, played by Demi Moore and David Duchovny. Writer/director Borte recalls that he was looking for chemistry between his lead actors, “I met David a few years ago…we were talking about the role, he was interested and I got to know him a little bit and as soon as I met Demi, I knew there would be chemistry between them. The first time the three of us got together in a room, it was unbelievable; they played off each other so perfectly.”
Zea notes, “Both of these actors are perfect for their roles because they both represent and exude an appeal that is really important. The population that sees this movie can identify with them.” Mankoff adds, “We wanted to find actors that were well-known, who people would be drawn to because we do see this as being a commercial film that will have international appeal. Both David and Demi have that; they are well known, both here and abroad.”
Moore explains, “I was sent the script, and the general concept was fascinating.” Moore says everyone she describes the movie’s premise to says, “Oh my god, that’s genius.” About her role in THE JONESES, Moore adds, “I love the role of Kate, but I love the dynamics probably even more.” Borte describes Demi as a true pro. “She notices things that you would not believe. After a take, she’ll say that extra over there, around the corner over there, behind the other 50 extras, was doing this and she wasn’t doing that on the last take. She sees everything.” Duchovny compliments his co-star, “Demi is really energetic…on the ball at all times and has a lot of great ideas.”
Duchovny also has great enthusiasm for the film. The iconic star states that he liked the concept of THE JONESES and thought it was a clever idea interestingly laid into a black comedy. When describing his character of Steve Jones, Duchovny says, “Steve is a guy that discovers his humanity over the course of the film…. by the end of the movie he discovers there is more to life than things.” Moore describes her co-star as fantastic, and notes “David has a great sense of humor, extremely smart, very giving. He has such an unbelievably easy going way and it really is just a pleasure.” Borte adds, “David is really great…he really keeps things light…but when the camera rolls, he’s on, 100 percent. He’s given me things I wasn’t expecting, showing a side of himself I don’t think people have seen yet.”
Rounding out The Joneses family are their teenage children, Jenn & Mick, played by actors Amber Heard and Ben Hollingsworth.
Borte met with Heard two years before casting the young actress, “Once we started auditioning girls for the role, Amber’s name kept coming back up and I kept thinking she would probably be great for it, so I had another meeting with her and she really knew the character…got the role in a way that nobody else did. And I think that you’ll see on screen that she really is perfect, she just nails it.”
Heard explains why she was drawn to her character Jenn: “I try to pick characters that have something interesting, a quirk, some sort of kink in them…and there is something really off about Jenn.” Heard describes working with Demi Moore as an “inspiration” and formed an unexpected relationship with the veteran actress while on set. Heard explains, “She’s helped me quite a bit in developing decisions that later would become who Jenn is in the story.” Heard, who has also worked with Duchovny on the acclaimed television series “Californication,” says about her co-star, “He’s a really great guy…this is quite a different set up, but as always, I enjoy being around him.”
For the role of Mick Jones, Borte auditioned over 100 actors and didn’t find anyone who embodied what he wanted until he saw Hollingsworth’s tape. Borte explains, “As soon as I saw his tape, it wasn’t even over yet and I knew he was the guy.” Unfortunately, there was a major obstacle — Hollingsworth lives in Canada and at the time of his audition did not yet have a work visa. Borte continues, “I wanted to hire him and they said we have seven days left until we shoot and he doesn’t have a visa, so it’s probably not going to work…luckily we were able to find the right immigration lawyer who could make it happen and I think that his visa might have gone through the day before we needed him.”
About his role, Hollingsworth states, “I feel that Mick is somewhat of a moral center to the script. I think it has a lot do with the fact that he makes some choices and struggles with some issues that are very real to the human condition and real to a lot of teenagers growing up.” About his co-stars, Hollingsworth describes his on-set experiences with Duchovny, “David’s great. We have had a blast goofing and tormenting the cast and crew on set with some fun stuff. It just keeps everyone on their toes.” About Moore, he adds, “She’s got a very youthful and soulful spirit about her which I love, it’s great.”
Producer Doug Mankoff reflects, “We wanted to find a family that seemed like the perfect American family and they needed to look good, they needed to respond well with each other. We needed to find a family people could look to and say, ‘Wow, we want to be like them’….they had to be charming and they had to have a kind of energy that people would want to be around. And luckily we found that.”
The Joneses (2010)
Directed by: Derrick Borte
Starring by: David Duchovny, Demi Moore, Amber Heard, Gary Cole, Chris Williams, Lauren Hutton, Glenne Headly, Tiffany Morgan, Joe Narciso, Hayes Mercure, Christine Evangelista, Lauren Hutton
Screenplay by: Derrick Borte
Production Design by: Kristi Zea
Cinematography by: Yaron Orbach
Film Editing by: Janice Hampton
Costume Design by: Renee Ehrlich Kalfus
Set Decoration by: Frank Galline
Art Direction by: Paul Kelly
Music by: Nick Urata
MPAA Rating: R for language, some sexual content, teen drinking and drug use.
Distributed by: Roadside Attractions
Release Date: April 16, 2010
