"Even though he gets last billing, it's Clive Owen who really shines. This is is a role that will get him noticed." Cherryl and Leigh Ann THEMOVIECHICKS.COM "Three interesting performances and one stellar one (Owen)" Laura Clifford REELING REVIEWS "Closer has clever dialogue and scenes that are alive to all the treachery and nuance of sexual intrigue." Mick LaSalle SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE "It's written and filmed with great intelligence, and performed fearlessly." Moira MacDonald SEATTLE TIMES "Everything about Closer: from its four wonderful performances to Nichols' stunning work; looks and feels perfect." Bruce Newman SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS

"Very adult, and very clever." Jon Popick PLANET SICK-BOY "Underneath the hard-hitting wordplay lurks a crafty relationship drama. Complex and challenging, it plays out like a game of championship chess." Larry Ratliff SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS "Sex, lies and betrayal form a high-stakes game of love in Mike Nichols' Closer." John Wirt ADVOCATE "The sumptuous performances and tantalizing dialogue make even the most detestable of human behavior uncontrollably fascinating." Dustin Putman THEMOVIEBOY.COM "One of 2004's best, this unpredictable shell game dazzles with savage truth, its harsh, ugly discourse reminiscent of Neil LaBute." Nick Rogers SPRINGFIELD STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER

The Inside Story

"One of the most viciously insightful relationship films this side of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" ... Richard Roeper EBERT & ROEPER

"Closer concerns itself with the fact that, in love, we remember beginnings and endings and tend to edit out the middles. It asks interesting questions like 'how do we really remember things and how does life really look to us?'" Director Mike Nichols. When it comes to cutting powerful adult drama's, "Closer" is about as good as they get. It's path to the screen was not an easy one. Producer John Calley had tried to get the play on the big screen but had no luck with its author Patrick Marber. "He was appropriately dismissive and wouldn't sell it to us because he wanted a more fulfilled sense of who would be making the movie." He'd given up on the idea until Mike Nichols approached him to finance a big screen production. "When Mike came to me, I told him I was always crazy about the play, and of course, I've always been crazy about Mike," he recalls. "On stage and on screen, he has always had the marvelous ability to transmute the written word into drama in a way that can stop your heart." A film about four people and their relationship to each other both personally and sexually, "Closer" is driven by raw emotion generated by a fine ensemble cast comprising Hollywood's hottest property. While Julia Roberts and Jude Law are touted as the leading Actor and Actress in "Closer" it is in fact both Clive Owen and the remarkable Natalie Portman who produce the most powerful performances on screen. This fact has also been recognized by the Foreign Press Association at the 2005 Golden Globe Awards with both 'support' stars taking out the categories of Best Supporting Actor and Actress in a Drama. It is a deserved reward for such consummate acting. Owen, who was last seen on screen in the medieval classic tale "King Arthur" and who, by the way played Dan in the original London stage production of "Closer" had this to say about his role. "I loved playing Dan, but going back and playing Larry was a real treat," Owen says. "It was like starting all over again because when you play a part you see the whole thing through that character's perspective. Now I had to re-evaluate everything that I thought when I originally did it, switch everything around and see it from Larry's point of view." Owen admits he's always admired writer Patrick Marber's material. "You don't often get dialogue like this in movies. It's wonderful to be able to get your teeth into some fantastic dialogue. It's so meaty with four fantastic parts. Playing any of them would be great. What's important," he continues, "is that you like all four characters. All the scenes are intense and for it to really work you have to keep swapping your allegiances. You have to keep empathizing and sympathizing with both sides." Portman plays Alice. Newly arrived in London, the American meets Obituary writer Dan after she steps off the footpath and is hit by a vehicle. Her role, on top of a blinder of a performance in the film ""Garden State" has garnered further acclaim for her acting abilities. Portman took the role very seriously and even took pole dancing lesson for her 'infamously intriguing' scenes in a London Strip Club. "It was fun. I have a whole new respect for pole dancers because it takes a lot of skill and is physically very demanding, a combination of dance and acrobatics," she said. And she believes there is a moral to the story and it isn't all just about sexual attraction. "It examines the way people have relationships with each other and how they sometimes get so lost in them that they are sometimes insensitive to the other person's feelings. It's kind of like 'I'm in love. I can be irrational now. It doesn't matter who I hurt.' So love becomes this weird excuse for doing a lot of hurtful things to other people," she notes. Marber underscores the complexity of contemporary relationships in which the beginnings are so highly charged and exciting that the process of falling in love can become addictive. People can become falling-in-love junkies and find that habit difficult to kick. Throughout the play, Marber makes acute comments that are both witty and fun. The humor is always informed and sometimes heartbreaking." Producer John Calley. Julia Roberts role is that of Anna, a photographer who becomes the focus of both Dan and Larry. While Roberts has not been a huge force onscreen in some of her more recent roles, she returns to her best for this challenging role. Her performance has all the hallmarks of her best performances such as "Pretty Woman" and "Erin Brockovich". Producer John Calley agrees. "Julia is an astonishing actress who always does what she does wonderfully. But in this case, she challenged herself to explore issues about a strong, intelligent woman in a way that beautifully demonstrates how her considerable talent has evolved over the years." Roberts says she found her character interesting. "I had a great amount of trouble with letting her be this incredibly flawed woman. I think she does some really awful things that even at my worst moments, I look like an amateur compared to this woman. She's very devious, but I don't think it's really calculated." The final actor in the foursome is a man whose face seems to be in 'Farrell Mode'. Like Colin Farrell was in recent years, Jude Law appears to be in something every time you get a press release. Australian cinemagoers are about to get a rush of Law with three films opening: "Closer", "Alfie" and "Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow". Not that there's anything wrong with that! I've been impressed [like many Law fans] with him ever since he made his mark in "Gattaca", "Enemy At The Gate" and his Oscar® nominated role in "The Talented Mr Ripley". Law admits he's seen "Closer" on the stage a number of times and that like Clive Owen, he too admires "Marber's extraordinary dialogue and its concentrated focus on these four characters who are the heart of the play." When asked for his thoughts on his character he says "Dan is someone who's really living in a sort of cocoon, a frustrated novelist, until he meets Alice, who becomes his muse. Through her, he blossoms. The relationship is really responsible for him coming out of himself, encouraging him to be confident enough to find the woman he really thinks he loves, Anna. Unfortunately, that relationship seems to be doomed from the get-go, and though it gives him some of the happiest days of his life, he eventually throws himself away by pouring himself so wholeheartedly into it." Some of the most magic moments come from the interaction between Dan and Larry. They are both humorous and bitingly cutting. He puts it all down to ego. "There's a certain amount of ego going on between them. You could argue that for them it is almost more important that they're screwing over the other guy than getting the girl they're in love with." Helmed by Mike Nichols, "Closer" is as masterful a piece of work as his 1966 film "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" which saw another powerful Hollywood actress of her day, Elizabeth Taylor receive the Best Actress Academy Award®. So how does the legendary director describe what makes "Closer" tick? This way; "the dynamic between men and women that the playwright addresses is the center of our lives on earth. It's what most jokes are about, what most novels are about, what most music touches on. It is, for want of a better word, life. And it's endlessly interesting." But "endlessly interesting" as Nichol thinks it is, I'd like to add "endlessly beguiling" for "Closer" is charming, witty and above all it's a film which seduces an audience. Which makes ""Closer" very entertaining and very recommendable. Crew Bytes "CLOSER" was .......
directed by Academy Award® winner, Directors Guild of America Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, EMMY Award and SEVEN time Tony Award winner Mike Nichols ["Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", "The Graduate", "Carnal Knowledge" and "Remains of the Day"]; screenplay and the original play by BAFTA Award, Laurence Olivier Award and New York Critics Circle Award winner Patrick Marber ["Dealer's Choice", "Closer", "Blue Remembered Hills" and "The Old Neighborhood"]; costume design by Academy Award® winner Ann Roth ["The English Patient", "The Talented Mr. Ripley", "Cold Mountain" and "The Hours"]; production design by Tony Award & Laurence Olivier Theatre Award winner Tim Hatley ["Stage Beauty"]; edited by John Bloom ["Shaft", "The First Wives Club", "Air America" and "Dracula"] and Antonia Van Drimmelen ["Thelma & Louise", "Nobody's Fool", "The First Wives Club" and "The Deep End of the Ocean"]; director of photograhpy Stephen Goldblatt ASC BSC ["Batman and Robin", "Joe Versus the Volcano", "Leathal Weapon I & II" and "The Pelican Brief"]; original music by John Bush ["Purely Belter", "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" and "De-Lovely"]; produced by John Calley ["Postcards from the Edge", "Remains of the Day", "The Birdcage", "Leaving Las Vegas" and "Goldeneye"] and EMMY Award winner Cary Brokaw ["Finding Graceland ", "Drugstore Cowboy", "Short Cuts" and "Mindhunters"]. Casting About "CLOSER" stars .......
Clive Owen ["Croupier", "Gosford Park", "Greenfinger", "The Bourne Identity", "Beyond Borders" and "King Arthur"]; Theater World Award winner Jude Law ["The Crane", "Road to Perdition", "Artificial Intelligence: AI" and "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"]; Academy Award® and Golden Globe Award winner Julia Roberts ["Mystic Pizza", "Everyone Says I Love You", "Notting Hill", "Runaway Bride", "The Mexican", "Mona Lisa Smile" and "Ocean's Eleven"] and Natalie Portman ["The Professional", "Heat", "Everyone Says I Love You", "Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace", "Cold Mountain" and "Garden State"] as Alice. What It's All About

"What is so alluring about Patrick Marber's script, adapted from his award-winning stage play, is that it mimics the way we remember love affairs." ... Annlee Ellingson BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE

When visiting American Alice is hit by a London cab, Dan rushes to her aid. An immediate bond forms between the young stripper and the journalist who writes the obituaries for a leading London newspaper. All goes well until a year later when Dan meets professional photographer Anna. The very attractive American has been hired by the newspaper to produce a head shot for his new column. He finds her fascinating and they kiss. Initially Anna is drawn to him but rejects his advances when Dan introduces Alice to her. Dan's obsession with Anna soon turns to anger and then revenge. Later in an on-line chatroom Dan uses Anna's identity and seduces an unknown male, even going so far as to arrange a meeting at a London aquarium he knows Anna will be visiting. It backfires when Anna and Larry become a couple. For all that Dan is not about to give up. His actions will have a profound effect on Alice, Larry, Anna and himself. Someone is about to get hurt. The Verdict "Another brilliantly helmed production from legendary director Mike Nichols that will provide excellent entertainment for cinema audiences who love a cutting adult drama and a superb cast headed by Julia Roberts and Jude Law but starring Clive Owen and Natalie Portman who are simply superb. Portman shows why she will be a star of the future. Her performance is an Oscar worthy one indeed. A must see movie that is very recommended viewing. 4 1/2 STARS." The Cast

Natalie Portman Jude Law Julia Roberts Clive Owen Nick Hobbs Colin Stinton

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Alice Dan Anna Larry Taxi Driver Customs Officer

The Crew Directed by Mike Nichols Original stage play written by Patrick Marber Screenplay written by Patrick Marber Produced by Cary Brokaw/John Calley/Robert Fox/Mike Nichols & Scott Rudin Cinematography by Stephen Goldblatt Film Editing by John Bloom & Antonia Van Drimmelen Production Design by Tim Hatley Set Decoration by John Bush Costume Design by Ann Roth Unit Production Manager Rachel Neale Special Effects Supervisor Stuart Brisdon Run Time 100 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2005 - Columbia TriStar Films - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2005 - The Movie Pages & Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved