Who's Who?

Angelina Jolie Jeffrey Donovan Michael Kelly Jason Butler Harner Eddie Alderson John Malkovich Colm Feore Gattlin Griffith Devon Conti Michelle Gunn Peter Gerety John Harrington Bland Roger Hewlett Denis O'Hare Frank Wood Morgan Eastwood Ric Sarabia Hope Shapiro Reed Birney Peter Breitmayer Phil Van Tee Lily Knight Jeffrey Hutchinson Asher Axe Ryan Cutrona Gabriel Schwalenstocker

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Christine Collins Capt J.J. Jones Detective Lester Ybarra Gordon Northcott Sanford Clark Rev Gustav Briegleb Chief James E Davis Walter Collins Arthur Hutchins Sandy Dr Earl W Tarr Dr John Montgomery Officer Morelli Dr Jonathan Steele Ben Harris Girl on Tricycle Man at Diner Medication Nurse Mayor Cryer Chairman Thorpe Councilman Mrs Leanne Clay Mr Clay David Clay Judge James Nesbitt

What The Critics Say

"It's almost impossible to believe that such things could have happened within recent memory: Eastwood, who was born in northern California in 1930, may well have heard about the sensational events when he was growing up. The film, which is shot in muted colours by Tom Stern, is classical cinema at its finest. The story it tells is compelling, and the no-nonsense approach, augmented by the director's own, fine, music score, provides a gripping two hours plus in the cinema. 4 1/2 STARS." David Stratton THE AUSTRALIAN "This is an Oscar-calibre performance from Angelina Jolie. She conveys a sense of grief, desperation, fear, sadness and determination that is absolutely palpable." Erin Free FILMINK "Quite simply the best drama of the year, and possibly the best film of 2008 too." HEART 106.2 "What a bold, virile, operatic piece of film-making from this 78-year-old director. He is now well into a remarkable late period, and I sense we ain't seen nothing yet. Eastwood's movie starts out as a flapper Erin Brockovich, and then turns into a Silence of the Lambs, by way of LA Confidential." Peter Bradshaw THE GUARDIAN "Invoking such classics as Mildred Pierce and Gaslight with an authentic feeling period recreation, Clint draws a captivating, Oscar-friendly performance from Jolie as a mother trapped in a parent’s worst nightmare. Jolie looks every inch the star, but as with Joan Crawford or Ingrid Bergman, gives a believable and shining performance despite her beauty, while Malkovich hasn’t been this good in years." Rob Daniel SKY MOVIES

"What bowled me over about Jolie was that her grief in A Mighty Heart is distinctly different than her grieving in Changeling. The film is nothing less than riveting. What hooked me above all else was the chance to peer into a different era where trust went a lot further than it does today." Mike McGranaghan AISLE SEAT "Angelina on fire, in a movie resonant with an integrity and uncompromising historical and emotional truth certain to give the best of outsider indies a run for their money. Clint Eastwood's Changeling is about as feminist as Hollywood can get." Prairie Miller NEWSBLAZE "Beautifully made, emotionally gripping drama with a powerful central performance by Angelina Jolie that's sure to attract Oscar buzz." Matthew Turner VIEWLONDON "Set in a masterfully recreated 1920s Los Angeles, "Changeling" is the story of Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie), a single mother whose son, Walter, goes missing. A beautifully measured, well-acted period piece, with a fine performance by Angelina Jolie." Christopher Smith BANGOR DAILY NEWS "Eastwood, meanwhile, has paid close attention to the supporting performances as well. John Malkovich, his old nemesis from "In the Line of Fire", gets a rare good-guy part as a crusading minister; Jason Butler Harner, in a tremendous movie debut, is a loathsome presence as a man with crucial information. Movie where the star really is the star. And delivers a performance of which any actress can be truly proud." Stephen Whitty NEWARK STAR-LEGDER

The Inside Story "Mrs Collins told her story clearly, stating that from the first she was convinced the boy was not her missing son. She was subjected to an exhaustive examination by President Schweitzer, who wound up asking her what happened shortly before she was taken to the County Hospital. "I was requested to appear before Captain Jones," she said. "In the presence of several others, he said: 'What are you trying to do, make a lot of fools out of us all? Are you trying to shirk your duty as a mother and have the State provide for your son? You are just a fool.'" Los Angeles Times October 17th 1928 reporting on Mrs Christine Collins at Police Commission Hearings. The history of Los Angeles is marked by sensational tales of corruption, cover-ups and murder during the city’s formative years. From the Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle rape and murder trial of young starlet Virginia Rappe in 1921 and the kidnapping of evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson in 1926 to the Black Dahlia murder in 1947, scandal has long permeated the city and shone unfavorable light upon her political operatives. But it was the little-remembered story of one working-class woman’s struggle, amidst insurmountable odds, to find her missing son that would, almost eighty years later, forge a partnership between several of Hollywood’s most highly regarded filmmakers. The incredible tale of Christine Collins was one that almost vanished to obscurity before a former journalist stumbled upon her sensational, poignant story. Within the subterranean halls of Los Angeles City Hall, the dusty archives of city business dating back almost one hundred years are housed. Among these tens of thousands of pages of documents lies the public record of Christine Collins and the City Council welfare hearings from the late 1920s. They tell a patchwork tale of the disappearance of her young nine year old son, Walter, and the corrupt machinations of the Los Angeles Police Department during and after the flawed investigation of the case. Several years ago, screenwriter J Michael Straczynski, a former journalist who has written for Los Angeles Times, The Herald Examiner and Time, among other publications, stumbled across this astonishing story of a working-class woman who brought down a political machine. As the adage is written, a reporter is only as good as his sources, and Straczynski knew he had a lead when a longtime contact phoned him up."A source I had at City Hall called one day and said they were burning old records and that there was something I should take a look at before they put it into the incinerator. So I zoomed down to City Hall, and they had a transcript of a City Council welfare hearing in the case of Christine Collins. I began reading the testimony and thought, 'This can’t actually have happened. This has got to be a mistake.' But it was enough for me to get hooked before the book went into the fire." Los Angeles in 1928 was in the grips of a despotic political infrastructure, led by Mayor George E Cryer and enforced by Police Chief James E 'Two Guns' Davis (often photographed in a gunslinger pose with his weapons) and his sanctioned gun squad that terrorized the city at will. That despotic rule began to unravel when Collins, a single mother raising a son in a working-class neighborhood in Los Angeles, reported her nine year old missing. Months of fruitless searching followed, and the police had nothing to show, save an onslaught of negative publicity and mounting public pressure to find a solid lead in the kidnapping. When a boy claiming to be Walter was discovered in DeKalb, Illinois, Christine Collins, and all involved in the search: waited with bated breath. Problem was, the child who arrived home wasn't Walter. "My intention was very simple: to honor what Christine Collins did. My job was to tell the story as honestly as I could and honor the fight she waged and how she never once lost faith and kept looking for her son," screenwriter J Michael Straczynski said. Screenplay finished, Straczynski would begin the search for filmmakers and a Christine Collins who could honor the story of not only this pioneer in victim’s rights, but a champion of the people. He would find that in Clint Eastwood, Imagine Entertainment and Oscar ® winning actress Angelina Jolie. It was a proud moment for Straczynski, whose previous script work had been predominantly in the genre of television science fiction. "Changeling" would be his first produced feature film. The shocking "based on actual events" story caught the attention of Academy Award ® winning "A Beautiful Mind" producers Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, who have excelled at bringing real-life stories to the big screen. "There is an excitement for me when drawing from a true story," Grazer ("Bra Boys" & "Inside Man") remarked. "I liked the subject matter of Changeling, found the culture surrounding this incident to be fascinating, and in some ways appalling, but it captivated me." Oscar ® winning director Clint Eastwood ("Unforgiven" & "Million Dollar Baby") had a similar sensibility when it came to fact-based material. Grazer and Howard called the filmmaker to discuss the script they had optioned. "I took it with me on a trip to Berlin," Eastwood recalls. "On the way back on the plane, I read it and I liked it a lot." As soon as he arrived in Berlin, Eastwood rang the producers to tell them he was happy to take on the directing role. The producers then told him: "Angelina Jolie liked the script and wants to do this." "And that’s how it came about: very quick and simple," Eastwood says. Eastwood’s longtime production partner and two time Directors Guild of America DGA Award winner Robert Lorenz ("Million Dollar Baby" & TV'S "The Late Shift"), was just as awestruck as others who had read Straczynski’s tale. "I was about fifteen pages into the script, and I had to flip back to see if it was really a true story; it was just so amazing to mes. Joe Straczynski had done something very clever. He stuck photocopies of news clippings every fifteen or twenty pages in the script, just to remind you it was true." Eastwood and Lorenz agreed with the Imagine Entertainment team that the unbelievable events would make a captivating film, as long as Academy Award ® winner Angelina Jolie took the role as the working-class single mother who made it her life’s mission to find her boy. "Angelina is unique. She reminds me a lot of the actresses from the Golden Age of movies in the ’40s: Katharine Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis, Susan Hayward, all of them. They were all very distinctive, and they all had a lot of presence. She’s a tremendous actress," Eastwood notes. Like Jolie, all the women Eastwood mentions, were Oscar winners: Hepburn won four (1934, 1968, 1969 & 1982); Bergman won three (1945, 1957 & 1975); Bette Davis won two (1936 & 1939), and Hayward one (1959). "It’s an extraordinary story," Jolie reflects. "I couldn’t stop reading it. When she faced a setback and would get back up, I’d think, 'Good, you’re back up.' Christine Collins is a woman whom I came to admire but, as an actor, there was a lot about the story I didn’t want to do. I didn’t want to do a film about a child being kidnapped. But ultimately, it was her strength when faced with such odds that swayed me." With the director, producers and lead actor in place, Eastwood and the other filmmakers began their search for the other players in Christine Collins's late 1920s and early ’30s world: the men and women who would shape the story of "Changeling". From activist Reverend Gustav Briegleb, the pastor of St. Paul’s and Westlake Presbyterian churches in Los Angeles, and attorney S.S. Hahn, a defense attorney known for high-profile criminal cases, to Police Captain J.J. Jones, the stalwart adversary who would continue to be a presence throughout Collins’ seven-year quest for answers, the screenwriter kept the actual names of players in Collins’ world whenever possible. 1993 Jury Coup de Chapeau winner John Malkovich ("Jennifer Eight") was cast as the Reverend Briegleb, a fearless activist who positioned himself as a watchdog against the unbridled corruption in city government, and even the film industry. "I’ve liked John’s acting for a long time," says Eastwood, who worked with Malkovich on the 1993 film, "In The Line Of Fire". "I thought that he would be an interesting casting choice for the role. John brings a little edge, a little quirkiness to the table; he’s a chameleon." "It’s probably a fairly early example of the kind of pressure that can be brought to bear by the media," Malkovich notes. "He really put a spotlight on the L.A.P.D. and on what he perceived to be their horrendous practices. Character actor Geoff Pierson (Captain Tom Matthews in TV's "Dexter") was chosen for the role of legendary attorney Sammy S.S. Hahn (Hahn committed suicide in 1957). Jeffrey Donovan (Michael Westen in "Burn Notice") was cast as the merciless, by the book Police Captain J.J. Jones, the head of LAPD’s juvenile division who bullies the traumatized Collins into accepting the young boy as hers. Research shows in real life, Jones was as portrayed in the film. "It’s unfathomable what he did to this woman. I talked to Angelina about the scenes when I’m committing her to the insane asylum; what I’m saying is actually in public record. I couldn’t believe that another human being: without warrant and without regard of any facts; could actually commit someone with such a quick snap of his fingers." Eastwood was shocked by a similarity in look between the infamous, charismatic, child predator and convicted murderer Gordon Stewart Northcott, and performer Jason Butler Harner. "Ironically, he has a certain resemblance to our serial killer. He has a certain look, and when he was fixed up, he looked very much like Northcott. Jason’s a terrific actor." Gattlin Griffith ("Reckoning") was cast as nine year old Walter Collins and actor Devon Conti debuts as his doppelganger, Arthur Hutchens, the manipulative 12 year old who simply wants to escape life in the Midwest. The filmmakers faced a huge challenge reconstructing a 1928 L.A., as so much had changed or vanished including the red streetcars. "I have the advantage because I’m senior to Rob and the others," Eastwood said with a laugh. "So, I remember a lot of those things growing up. When I first came to L.A. in the '50s, it was quite a bit different. Even then, the red streetcars were everywhere. They were very popular at the time." Like the case itself, what happened to Christine Collins; the real facts as to what happened on the day Walter disappeared and even when and how Christine died have deepened the mystery surrounding the true story that would be adapted for the screen by Straczynski and become "Changeling". Searching the internet for all the facts on the Walter Collins Case is best left until after you have seen the film, otherwise it will totally destroy the experience of what is a fascinating film. The L.A. Times and "Changeling": Fact Behind The Fiction are good starting points. But heed my warning: "See the film first because despite it's changes, it is a remarkable story." Synopsis

Los Angeles, March 1928: On a beautiful Saturday morning in a working-class suburb, single mother and telephone operator Christine Collins, says goodbye to her nine year old son Walter, and leaves him alone in the house after she is called in to work. Returning home from work, she is confronted with every parent’s worst nightmare: her son has gone. An exhaustive and fruitless search ensues, but Walter has disappeared without a trace, until five months later, when her boy is found. But is he? Dazed by the swirl of cops, reporters, photographers and her own conflicted emotions, Christine is persuaded to take the boy home. But in her heart, Christine knows he is not Walter. And when she pushes the L.A.P.D to find her real son, Capt J.J. Jones has her thrown into a psychiatric ward. An ally, in the shape of community activist Reverend Gustav Briegleb, helps her fight the city to look for her missing boy. She becomes an unlikely heroine for the poor and downtrodden who have been swept aside by the L.A. police.

The Verdict "Unless one has been unfortunate enough to have suffered the loss of a child in the horrific circumstances Christine Collins did, it would be near impossible to recreate the true grief a parent would be drowned in. I don't believe any actor or actress could fully create the emotion required to pull off a role such as this one in the Clint Eastwoods latest film, "Changeling". But, like many who have seen the film, I take my hat off to 2000 Oscar ® winning actress Angelina Jolie (Lisa Rowe in "Girl, Interrupted"), because like a magician pulling a rabbit from his top-hat, she manages to pull off this most demanding role. Jolie's performance (like her fellow 2009 Oscar ® nominees) is exceptional, casting a shadow of doubt over those who criticise her as being nothing more than a 'pretty face and a hot bodY'. The story (arguabley not 100% factual) is based on the disappearance of Christine Collins's son Walter and her subsequent fight to not accept the child the L.A.P.D presented as her own flesh and blood. "Changeling" is gripping and heart-wrenching right to the end. The period in which the story is set is recreated so convincingly it's as though one has stepped back in time. One film you shouldn't miss in the lead up to this years Academy ® Awards. Very recommended. 4 1/2 STARS." Crew Bytes "CHANGELING" was .......
directed by three time Western Heritage 'Bronze Wrangler' Award winner Clint Eastwood ["Unforgiven", "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" and "Gran Torino"]; casting by 2008 Artios Award winner Ellen Chenoweth ["Good Night, and Good Luck"Michael Clayton", "Burn After Reading" and "No Country For Old Men"]; art direction by 2006 Excellence in Production Design Award winner Patrick M Sullivan Jr ["Letters from Iwo Jima" and "Gran Torino"]; costume design by 1998 Emmy Award winner Deborah Hopper ["Space Cowboys", "Blood Work" and "Flags of Our Fathers"]; production design by 2005 Emmy Award winner James J Murakami ["National Lampoon's The Joy of Sex" "Beverly Hills Cop II" and "Crimson Tide"]; set decoration by Gary Fettis ["The Longest Yard", "Click" and "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry"]; director of photography 2006 Satellite Award winner Tom Stern ["Blood Work", "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" and "Flags of Our Fathers"]; original music by Clint Eastwood ["The Bridges of Madison County", "Mystic River" and "Flags of Our Fathers"]. Run Time 141 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2009 - Universal Pictures - All Rights Reserved ©2009 All Rights Reserved The Movie Pages - Protected by Australian & International Copyright. Trademark Laws Apply.