About a Boy
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Paul Weitz
Hugh Grant
Nicholas Hoult
Sharon Small
Madison Cook
Jordan Cook
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Will, an immature, self-absorbed, thirty-eight-year-old bachelor, lives in a well-appointed London flat, surrounded by all the latest gadgetry. Will has never worked and lives off the royalties of a popular Christmas song, "Santa's Super Sleigh," the only hit of his late, songwriter father. Although he enjoys seducing many women, Will is incapable of forming any meaningful relationships and fears commitment and parenthood. After his married friend Christine sets him up with one of her co-workers, Angie, the mother of a three-year- old boy, Will begins another temporary relationship. He is surprised, however, when, in a reversal of his normal routine, Angie thinks that Will is sensitive and supportive. After announcing that he is too good for her, she breaks up with him to attempt a reconciliation with her husband. Will then gleefully realizes that there must be many other single mothers who are not looking for a long-term commitment, and after locating a self-help group called SPAT, Single Parents Alone Together, attends one of their meetings, posing as the single father of a two-year-old son. Suzie, one of the mothers, shows an interest in Will, and they arrange to go on a picnic in Regent's Park. Faced with having to create evidence of his caring for a child, Will quickly buys an infant's car seat for his imaginary boy. On the day of the picnic, Will explains to Suzie that his ex-wife has suddenly picked up his son for a visit. Suzie brings along the son of her best friend Fiona, twelve-year-old Marcus, who is not impressed by Will. However, when Marcus accidentally kills one of the park's ducks with Fiona's stone-hard loaf of homemade bread, Will comes to his defense against the park keeper, and Marcus begins to look at him differently. When Will and Suzie drive Marcus home they discover that Fiona, a vegetarian hippie suffering from chronic bouts of depression, has attempted suicide. Later, after Fiona recovers and returns home, she resumes her tentative relationship with her son, who suffers at school due to his unconventional upbringing and nerdy appearance. Marcus, feeling that he cannot cope with his mother's problems by himself, decides he needs a back-up person in his family and phones Will to arrange for the three of them to meet in a restaurant. Will is not remotely interested in Fiona, nor is she interested in him, and the meeting goes badly. Over several days, Marcus follows Will during his aimless, self-indulgent excursions, then goes to his flat, accuses him of not having a son and offers not to tell anyone if Will agrees to date his mother. Will declines but Marcus does not give up and begins, without telling his mother, to visit Will every afternoon after school to watch Countdown , Will's favorite television quiz show. Will begins to soften toward the boy when he learns that he is bullied at school because of his hair and out-of-fashion clothes, and takes him shopping for a pair of stylish sneakers. After paying for the shoes, Will realizes that he feels good about making Marcus happy. When the sneakers are stolen at school and Marcus arrives home shoeless on a stormy day, he is forced to tell Fiona about his visits with Will and that Will is not a father. Fearing the worst about Will's interest in her son, Fiona confronts Will in a restaurant, but he responds by criticizing her for not being aware of the torment Marcus is enduring in school. Fiona suddenly realizes that she has been misguided and asks Will to continue to see Marcus, but he is reluctant. Will, however, does accept Marcus' invitation to join them for a Christmas dinner at their house, where he meets Marcus' father and his current girl friend. Unfortunately for Will, Suzie is also invited and is angry with Will for lying about being a parent. To Will's surprise, Marcus defends him, telling his mother that Will understands what kids need. At a New Year's Eve party, Will meets Rachel, another single mother with a boy about Marcus' age, and Will finds himself allowing her to believe that the boy he is speaking about is his son. Because Will is very attracted to Rachel, he is forced to enlist Marcus' help in sustaining the deception when he visits Rachel at her home. Ali, Rachel's maladjusted son, is in the same year at school as Marcus and, when they are alone, menacingly warns Marcus that he does not want his "father" becoming involved with his mother. Marcus suggests to Will that he should tell Rachel the truth about their relationship, and some time later, over dinner, Will begins by telling her that he is not Marcus' natural father, then digs himself into a deeper hole until he is forced to confess the whole scheme and admit to being a "nothing." One day, after Marcus finds his mother crying again, he assumes it is a prelude to another suicide attempt and decides to try to cheer and please her by signing up to perform her favorite song, "Killing Me Softly with His Song," at a school rock concert. Marcus also asks Will to aid his mother, forcing Will, who is depressed over losing Rachel, the only woman he has ever cared about, to admit to him that he is unable to help in any meaningful way. Will begins to realize that his life is shallow and that knowing Marcus is the only thing that means something to him. Will then goes to another SPAT meeting and admits to all the mothers that he attended simply to meet women, whom he thought he could easily seduce. When Fiona tells Will that Marcus is singing in the school concert, Will realizes that the boy, who has no singing talent, will be further humiliated by performing the 1970s ballad in front of his rock- and rap-loving peers, and they both rush to the school to stop him. Even though the naïve Fiona feels that Marcus is simply expressing himself, Will convinces Fiona that Marcus is not expressing himself, but her. Meanwhile, the boy who was to accompany Marcus on a recorder decides not to subject himself to the embarrassment and drops out. When Will and Fiona reach the school, Will hurries backstage and tries to persuade Marcus not to perform, but he insists. Marcus is booed and heckled by his schoolmates, except Ellie, a popular girl on whom Marcus has a crush. Then Will suddenly appears from the wings with a guitar and plays and sings along with Marcus, eliciting a good response from the audience and saving the boy from social suicide. He also impresses Rachel, who is in the audience to watch Ali's performance. After the concert, Fiona thanks Marcus for the song and promises him that she will always be around. A few months later, Will hosts a Christmas dinner at his flat, with Fiona, Marcus, Rachel, Ali, Ellie and Tom, an Amnesty International worker who Will thinks would be perfect for Fiona. They have become a mutually supportive group of parents and children, and Will is considering asking Rachel to marry him. Thanks to Marcus, his twelve-year-old friend, Will has finally matured and come to realize, late in life, the value of friendship and commitment.
Cast
Hugh Grant
Nicholas Hoult
Sharon Small
Madison Cook
Jordan Cook
Nicholas Hutchison
Ryan Speechley
Joseph Speechley
Toni Collette
Nat Gastiain Tena
Laura Kennington
Tanika Swaby
Peter Mcnicholl
Christopher Webster
Ben Ridgeway
Jack Warren
Russell Barr
Isabel Brook
Orlando Thor Newman
Paulette Williams
Fritha Goodey
Susannah Doyle
Delma Walsh
Jonathan Franklin
John Kamal
Tessa Vale
Lorna Dallison
Bethany Muir
Bruce Alexander
Joyce Henderson
Jenny Galloway
Janine Duvitski
Sue Hyams
Maggie Kahal
Lynn Askew
Beverly Millward
Danielle Harvey
Anna Maria Credenzone Philip
Sarah King
Susan Ghamsary
Edna Johnson
Victoria Smurfit
Frog Stone
Buddy Hunter
Kristine Perrin
Nathan Perrin-hunter
Rachael Perrin-hunter
Amy Craven
Rebecca Craven
Sidney Livingstone
Cathy Murphy
Joanne Petitt
Jason Salkey
Annabelle Apsion
Matt Wilkinson
Peter Roy
Matthew Thomas
Aaron Keeling
Scott Charles
Claire Harman
Sian Martin
Mark Drewry
Denise Stephenson
Rosalind Knight
Rachel Weisz
Murray Lachlan Young
Augustus Prew
Alex Kew
Mark Heap
Sunanda Biswas
James Marshall-gunn
Jamie Mayer
Korede Obashju
Roger Brierley
Steffan Pejic
Crew
John Adefarasin
Remi Adefarasin
Rene Adefarasin
Vicki Allen
Harry Alley
Joseph Alley
Julian Andraus
Nick Angel
Barry Arnold
John Arnold
Devina Artley
Badly Drawn Boy
Vanessa Baker
Guy Barker
Nicky Kentish Barnes
Sam Barnes
Jimmy Batchelor
Kellie Belle
Bernard Bellew
Tim Bevan
Roy Biggs
John Bohan
John Botton
Christian Bourne
Steve Boyd
Pete Brewis
Andy Brown
Stuart Bunting
Alan Burrows
John Bush
Paul Cafferty
Richard Cain
Chris Carpenter
Daryl Carter
Neil Chaplin
Roy Chapman
James Chasey
Liza Chasin
Martin Chitty
Nikki Clapp
Jo Mclaren Clark
Phil Clark
Tania Clarke
Jim Clay
Adam Clayton
Paul Clegg
John Cloke
Andre Cooper
Colin Cooper
David Cozens
Simon Cozens
Manuela Cripps
Graham Crowther
Norval Crutcher Iii
Sara Curran
Tony Dawe
Robert De Niro
Peter Devlin
Laura Dickens
Wayne Docksey
Brendan Donnison
Ian Drinkwater
Paul Duff
Peter Duffy
Kevin Early
Matt Eddy
Andy Edridge
Louise Egan
Paul Englishby
Brad Epstein
Dave Evans
Jules Faiers
José Feliciano
Eric Fellner
Louise Fernandez
Claire Finlay
Michael Finlay
Steve Fletcher
Charles Fox
Eric Francks
Ian Franklin
Mike Frasers
Gary Freeman
Maestro Garofalo
Michael Gaster
Peter Gathard
Gary Gerlich
Shefali Ghosh
Heidi Gibb
Barry Gibbs
Pauline Gill
Lee Gilmore
Norman Gimbel
Tom Glaisyer
Nicholas Goodall
Damon Gough
Marilyn Graf
Charlie Grainger
David Haberfield
Ruth Halliday
Gordon Hampton
Imran Hanif
Rosie Hardwick
Bill Hargreaves
Robert Harper
Tarn Harper
Lynn Harris
Deborah Harry
Steve Hart
Peter Hawkins
Debra Hayward
Peter Hedges
Paul Hewson
Dennis Holiday
William Hooper
Nick Hornsby
Glenis Hoult
Ben Howarth
Nigel Hughes
Charles E. Hugo
James Hunt
Charles Martin Inouye
Carmel Jackson
Jake Jackson
Paul Jackson
Aliza James
Priscilla John
Ian Johnson
Graham Johnston
Joanna Johnston
Michael Johnstone
David Jones
Hardy Justice
Townley Knott
Andy Koyama
Lays Transport
Richard Legrand Jr.
Sara Lineberger
Jaime Lunn
Ann Lynch
Meghan Lyvers
Joti Mangat
Steve Manger
Stacy Mann
Helen Mattocks
Jill Mccullough
Lorna Mcgowan
Laura Mcintosh
Steve Mclaughlin
Steve Mclaughlin At North Pole Studio
Rod Mclean
Eamon Mcloughlin
Robert Mcnabb
Bill Meadows
Callum Metcalfe
Jamie Mills
Steve Mitchel
Theresa Repola Mohammed
Paul Monaghan
Nick Moore
Barrie More
Angela Morrison
David Moss
Larry Mullen
Ronald Narduzzo
Rob Nash
Kathy Nelson
Chris Newman
Roger Nichols
Patrick O'sullivan
Jay Jay Odedra
Harriet Orman
Catherine Oxley-mcleod
Graham Pamment
Jim Passon
Darryl Patterson
Bryan Pennington
David Pinnington
Joy Pollard
Sam Pollit
Jason Potter
Terry Reece
Ron Rinaldi
Nora Robertson
Peter Robertson
Jane Rosenthal
Tom Rothrock
Renee Ryel
Victor Santiago
Chris Seddon
Len Serpent
Patrick Seymour
Sheeraz Shah
Emma Short
Tony Smith
Laurie Sparham
Walter Spencer
Guy Speranza
Mike Standish
Jack Steed
Film Details
Technical Specs
Award Nominations
Best Adapted Screenplay
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
A 20 October 1997 Daily Variety article stated that Tribeca Productions, headed by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal, and New Line Cinema had bought the rights to Nick Hornby's about-to-be published novel Father Figure (earlier known as Odd Numbers) for $2.75 million, outbidding Miramax and Warner Bros. According to the film's pressbook, Hornby's subsequently published novel sold more than one million copies in the UK alone, and rights were sold in more than twenty countries. Two other novels by Hornby, Fever Pitch and High Fidelity were made into feature films by Working Title Films, in 1999 and 2000, respectively. Tribeca entered into a partnership with Working Title, which had earlier produced three highly successful films with Hugh Grant, whose own company had considered buying Hornby's novel, and he committed to the project.
On December 7, 1998, Variety reported that Peter Hedges had written a screenplay for the project, now titled About a Boy, and that Iain Softley had been signed to direct. Hedges's screenplay retained the London setting but portrayed the principal character, "Will," as an American. A Daily Variety article of November 28, 2000 stated that Softley had left the project over casting disagreements and that the writing-directing team of Chris and Paul Weitz, who had previously tried to acquire film rights to the novel, had been signed to direct. On January 24, 2001, Daily Variety reported that due to corporate restructuring at New Line, About a Boy had been "put into turnaround," although the Weitz brothers had just completed a rewrite of the screenplay and Grant was still attached to the project. Two days later, on January 26, 2001, a Daily Variety article indicated that Universal Pictures, which had a new pact with Tribeca, was about to conclude negotiations to acquire the property budgeted at $30 million. Other contenders included Fox 2000, Miramax and DreamWorks.
Shooting began in mid-April 2001 with London exteriors in St. James's Walk, Clerkenwell Green ("Will's" flat), in Kentish Town ("Fiona's" house), Notting Hill ("Rachel's" home) and Finsbury ("Marcus's" school). Other locations included Regent's Park and London Zoo. After seven weeks on location, the production moved to Shepperton Studios, where the interior of Will's flat and Fiona's house were built.
Throughout the film Will and Marcus, in inner monologue voice-overs, comment upon the developments. The film's musical score was created by Badly Drawn Boy, the stage name of Damon Gough. The film's opening credits list Hugh Grant, Toni Collette and Rachel Weisz above the main title and include the following supporting actors: Isabel Brook, Sharon Small, Victoria Smurfit "and introducing Nicholas Hoult as Marcus." Although he had never appeared in a motion picture before, Hoult had previously worked on various British television productions.
The film's closing credits include the following acknowledgments: "Scene from Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, courtesy of Celador Productions; Scenes from Countdown, courtesy of Yorkshire TV; Scene from Xena: Warrior Princess, courtesy of Studios USA Television Distribution LLC; Scene from Pet Rescue, courtesy of Endemol Entertainment UK Pic and Channel 4 Television; Scene from Bride of Frankenstein, courtesy of Universal Studios Licensing, Inc.; Scene from Billy Elliot, courtesy of Universal Studios Licensing, Inc." The credits also include a number of acknowledgments of thanks to various individuals and organizations, and to companies that provided products for the film.
In addition to being selected by AFI as one of the top ten films of 2002, About a Boy received Golden Globe nominations for Best Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy and for Hugh Grant as Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film was also selected as one of Newsweeks' Top 15 films of 2002 and was nominated by the London Film Critics Circle Awards for British Film of the Year and Best British Actor (Grant). Collette received the Best Supporting Actress Award from the Boston Society of Film Critics and Hoult was nominated as Best Young Actor by the Critics Choice Awards.
Miscellaneous Notes
Voted one of the 10 best films of 2002 by the American Film Institute (AFI).
Nominated for the 2002 award for Best British Actor (Hugh Grant) by the London Film Critics Circle.
Nominated for the 2002 award for Best Adapted Screenplay by the Writer's Guild of America (WGA).
Released in United States Spring May 17, 2002
Expanded Release in United States May 24, 2002
Released in United States on Video December 10, 2002
Released in United States on Video January 14, 2003
Released in United States May 2002
Shown at Tribeca Film Festival in New York City May 8-12, 2002.
Catherine Zeta-Jones was previously mentioned to star.
Iain Softley was previously attached to direct.
George Clooney was previously mentioned to star.
Project was previously in development at New Line.
Nick Hornby reportedly received $2.75 million for the motion picture rights to this novel.
Nick Hornby reportedly received $2.75 million for the motion picture rights to this novel.
Released in United States Spring May 17, 2002
Expanded Release in United States May 24, 2002
Released in United States on Video December 10, 2002
Released in United States on Video January 14, 2003
Released in United States May 2002 (Shown at Tribeca Film Festival in New York City May 8-12, 2002.)
