Synopsis

Amanda Woods, the owner of a prospering advertising firm, lives in Southern California. Iris Simpkins the wedding column writer for London's Daily Telegraph, resides in a charming cottage in the English countryside. Though Iris and Amanda live 6,000 miles apart, they are both unlucky in love and in need of a break. Amanda, wanting to get out of town for the holidays, stumbles onto an internet site that specializes in home exchanges, and finds Iris' English cottage to be the perfect antidote to her troubles. On impulse, Amanda and Iris agree to crisscross continents and move into each other's homes for a two week period. Iris lands in Los Angeles on a spectacularly clear day warmed by the gusts of the seasonal Santa Ana winds. Not long after she arrives at Amanda's Brentwood home, she is befriended by Arthur Abbott, a noted screenwriter from Hollywood's Golden Era, and Miles, a film composer who works with Amanda's ex-boyfriend. In England, where it is anything but balmy, Amanda is just settling into the cozy solitude of the snow-covered Rose Hill Cottage, when Iris' handsome brother Graham comes knocking at the cottage door. In an unexpected turn of events, Amanda and Iris discover that the best trips are the ones where you leave your baggage behind.

What The Critics Say

"Lusciously crafted at every level, from Dean Cundey's flattering cinematography to the even more flattering selection of L.A. and U.K. locations." Justin Chang VARIETY "It is a fizzy champagne cocktail that provides a pleasant buzz, many smiles, and Jude Law with the role of his career." Carrie Rickey PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER "A movie so loaded with charm that it makes you glow all over and puts a smile in your heart." Rex Reed NEW YORK OBSERVER "The Holiday is a fun, warm, and lighthearted romantic comedy that's easy to settle into." Diana Saenger REELTALK MOVIE REVIEWS "Running away from a broken heart has never been so much fun as in "The Holiday", a delightful romantic comedy about love, life and making a change. Writer director Nancy Meyers skilfully builds the scenarios of the two women living an ocean apart, whose only common point is their inability to manage their love lives. It's an attractive cast with Jude Law, Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet and Jack Black, who stumble their way into happiness when they least expect it." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE

"The deliberately drawn differences between the English and American characters are amusing. "The Holiday works its magic because Meyers invests time in the characters instead of the scenarios." Georgia Sholl BRISBANE WHAT'S ON "Like 'Love, Actually,' it's the Christmas comedy you've been waiting for." Susan Granger SUSANGRANGER.COM "A romantic comedy with a whole lot of warm, fuzzy Christmas-time appeal. "The Holiday" achieves its goals and is complete with cute children, attractive couples, yuletide warmth and a happy ending." Mark Pfeiffer REEL TIMES: REFLECTIONS ON CINEMA "Romantic comedies have been a bit of a dying breed in recent years. Perhaps that's why it's so delightful to see "The Holiday" tucked amidst all the war and gore at the cineplex." Camerin Courtney CHRISTIANITY TODAY "Lusciously crafted at every level, from Dean Cundey's flattering cinematography to the even more flattering selection of L.A. and U.K. locations." Justin Chang VARIETY "A finely polished piece of romantic cinema, with a generosity of spirit so all-encompassing that it's easy to forgive its occasional excesses." Matt Brunson CREATIVE LOAFING

The Inside Story I don't know what it is about critics in the U.S.A and Nancy Meyers latest film "The Holiday". This wonderful, talented, writer/director/producer has provided countless cinemagoers with some delightful experiences, as she does yet again with "The Holiday", a romantic comedy about two women, unlucky in love, who swap houses to get away from it all. The idea for "The Holiday" came about thanks to the internet, when acclaimed director/writer and producer Nancy Meyer was planning a vacation some years ago. Meyers happened upon an internet site that arranges house swapping across cities, across countries, across continents. "I had no idea this kind of thing ever existed," she confessed. "On the website, I read about all these fantastic houses. Eventually, I realized I would have to trade mine to get one." The idea of house swapping intrigue her. "I thought it would be a wonderful starting point for two women who are both running away from something," says Meyers. "Amanda and Iris are both down in the dumps and realize they must do something about it. Swapping houses becomes the first step in taking their lives back." The two women in Meyers story are: Amanda Woods who lives in Brentwood, on the Westside of Los Angeles and, Iris Simpkins who has a very charming cottage in Shere, a quaint village in the English countryside that dates back to the 11th century. Amanda runs a thriving L.A. marketing business, but is unsuccessful when it comes to a lasting romance. "Her most recent break-up has caught her totally off-guard," says Diaz. "She decides she has to get away, and that getting some distance may help her cope better." Iris has been in a one-sided, unrequited romance for three years only to find out (at the office Christmas party), that the man she loves, Jasper, to whom she has just given a christmas present of a limited edition first release novel, is getting married to Sarah Smith-Alcott. "It’s like a colossal smack in the mouth," says four-time Oscar® nominee Kate Winslett. "Iris is vulnerable and naïve when it comes to love and she needs to find a way to get over this man." And so the two women swap houses, retreating from an environment filled with familiarity to somewhere they can hopefully heal the wounds of lost love. "I think Amanda and Iris are secretly hoping that the change will help them fix something about themselves, help them address issues they’ve been dealing with for a long time," says Meyers. "Leaving their environments helps them do that." What both women discover is that changing locations will change their luck when it comes to finally finding true love. "The Holiday is about leaving your baggage behind and opening your eyes to what’s in front of you and what you’re really feeling," observes Jude Law, who plays Iris's brother Graham in the movie. "When Amanda meets Graham she is attempting to relax and refocus her life," says Diaz. "And suddenly, she finds herself falling in love, something she truly didn’t expect to happen again so quickly." Meanwhile, a continent away, Iris befriends one of her neighbors, Arthur, a screenwriter from Hollywood’s Golden Era. They immediately become great friends. "He’s very good company and his stories about his life, as a screenwriter in Hollywood, fascinate Iris," says Winslet. Iris hosts a Chanukah party for Arthur and his closest friends and it is here that she meets Miles, a music composer. That was a wild day of shooting," she recalls. "I decided that in addition to doing coverage for each person, I would just run the camera around the table and let the scene play out in live time. It was very freeing for the actors and turned out to be very effective." "I crash the party," says Jack Black who plays Miles, who just happens to be having romance problems of his own with his girlfriend Maggie. "Miles is sort of Maggie’s lapdog," observes Black. "He's always falling for the heartbreaking hottie. He wants to share his passion for music with her, but she’s not really engaged in his world. It's Iris who becomes interested in everything Maggie’s been ignoring." Miles eventually wins Iris over through music. "He walks up and down the aisles of the video store singing the themes of all his favorite movies to her," says Meyers. Meyers also revealled she took great care in choosing their romantic interests for both Iris and Amanda. "I wanted Graham to be complicated, but not in the normal way. Hopefully, his issues are unexpected," she says. "Jude is very right for this part. He is also wonderful with Cameron, and the work he does in this film is quite different from anything I’ve seen him do before." So what rule did she apply to the actor who would play the character Miles? Meyers says it was a stroke of bold casting and a film named "School Of Rock". "When I saw Jack in School of Rock, I fell in love with him," she says. "I wrote this part for him because I adored him so much from that movie. But I never thought he would say yes because it's a very different role for him. It's a love story." And Black's reaction? "When I first heard that Nancy had written a part with me in mind, I thought, really? Have you heard my band Tenacious D?", he says laughing, "because I’ve got a lot of raunchy humour in my film history. But Nancy said, 'I know what you do and I like it.' So I was like, 'all right, good, let’s do it.' I can’t believe I actually got paid to stare at Kate Winslet from really close up and watch her kick-ass acting." And, just like in real life, just as Iris and Miles get together, in walks the one man Iris doesn't want to see, Jasper. Rufus Sewell, who plays Jasper, and Kate Winslett who plays Iris, have been good friends for over a decade have never worked together. Acting opposite his longtime friend was all he had hoped for. "One of the best things about getting to play Jasper is the fact that all my scenes are with Kate," says Sewell. "All you have to do is look at her and you have the scene." Meet The Director - Nancy Meyers Nancy Meyers spent two decades writing and producing hit films before making her directing debut in 1998 with a witty update of a classic comedy "The Parent Trap", starring Dennis Quaid, Natasha Richardson and Lindsay Lohan in her first feature film. For her second outing as a director, the romantic comedy "What Women Want", Meyers told the story of a man who could hear the inner thoughts of women. Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt starred as professional rivals who become lovers in the worldwide critical and box office hit. Meyers next wrote and directed 2003’s "Something’s Gotta Give", a sophisticated comedy about unexpected love starring Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton and Keanu Reeves. Keaton earned an Oscar® and SAG nomination, and won the Golden Globe Award and the National Board of Review award for her work, while Nicholson was honored with a Golden Globe nomination. Meyers’ first credit as co-writer and producer was "Private Benjamin", the groundbreaking comedy starring Goldie Hawn as a privileged young widow who impulsively joins the Army. Meyers received an Academy Award® nomination as well as the Writers Guild Award for best original screenplay. The movie was a huge box office hit and Hawn received an Oscar® nomination for Best Actress, while Eileen Brennan was nominated as Best Supporting Actress. Meyers then co-wrote and produced the critically acclaimed "Irreconcilable Differences", a cautionary tale about a family damaged by success. The 1984 film starred Ryan O’Neal, Shelley Long and eight-year-old Drew Barrymore. Next came the 1987 romantic comedy "Baby Boom", which Meyers also co-wrote and produced. "Baby Boom" was her first collaboration with Diane Keaton, who starred as a management consultant with a latent maternal side. In 1991, Meyers and Keaton were reunited for "Father of the Bride", with Meyers again a co-writer and producer. Keaton starred opposite Steve Martin in this remake of the 1950 comedy. A box office hit, Father of the Bride spawned a 1995 sequel, which also starred Martin and Keaton. A Pennsylvania native, Meyers settled in Los Angeles after graduating from American University in Washington, D.C. She is also the mother of two daughters, Annie and Hallie. In 2007, Meyers received the Dorothy Arzner Directors Award at the Women in Film Crystal Awards. The Verdict "A couple of years ago, "Love Actually" won the hearts of cinemagoers over the annual Christmas Holiday break. Now "The Holiday" is set to do the same. If you love happy endings. If you are a romantic at heart. If you like a laugh. If you love storylines where everything is schmaultzy, feel goodie, snogging good fun, then get your slice of the romance flowing from "The Holiday". Sure to be a hit with moviegoers, "The Holiday" is just the thing for couples, marrieds, girlfriends, teen girls and, single guys who are into Cameron Diaz. Very Recommended. 4 1/2 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "THE HOLIDAY" stars .......
BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Award winner Kate Winslet ["Heavenly Creatures", "Titanic", "Iris", "Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "Neverland"]; 1996 ShoWest Female Star of Tomorrow Award & Blockbuster Entertainment Award winner Cameron Diaz ["My Best Friends Wedding", "She’s the One", "There’s Something About Mary" and "Any Given Sunday"]; BAFTA Award winner Jude Law ["Road to Perdition", "The Talented Mr Ripley" and "Cold Mountain"]; Jack Black ["Shallow Hal", "King Kong", "Nacho Libre" and "School of Rock"]; Edward Burns ["Saving Private Ryan", "She's The One", "Confidence" and "Fifteen Minutes"], Rufus Sewell ["Cold Comfort Farm", "A Knight's Tale", "The legend Of Zorro" and "Tristan & Isolde"] and Eli Wallach ["Baby Doll", "The Magnificent Seven", "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", "The Godfather" and "The Deep"] as Arthur.
"THE HOLIDAY" was .......
directed by Nancy Meyers ["The Parent Trap", "What Women Want", "Something's Gotta Give" and "The Holiday"]; screenplay by Writers Guild Award winner Nancy Meyers ["Private Benjamin", "Father of the Bride I & II", "Something's Gotta Give" and "The Holiday"]; production design by Jon Hutman ["Little Man Tate", "Lolita", "The Horse Whisperer", "What Women Want" and "The Interpreter"]; costume design by Marlene Stewart ["True Lies", "Enemy of the State", "21 Grams" and "Hitch"]; director of photography by Dean Cundey ["Back To The Future I, II & III", "Death Becomes Her", "Apollo 13", "The Parent Trap" and "What Women Want"]; edited by Two-time Academy Award ® winner Joe Hutshing A.C.E. ["Born on the Fourth of July" and "JFK"]; original music by Academy Award ® and Golden Globe Award winner Hans Zimmer ["The Ring I & II", "Something's Gotta Give", "Spanglish", "Batman Begins" and "The Da Vinci Code"] produced by Bruce A Block ["Baby Boom", "America's Sweethearts", "Something's Gotta Give" and "Christmas with the Kranks"] and Nancy Meyers ["Baby Boom", "I Love Trouble", "What Women Want" and "The Holiday"]. Run Time 135 minutes Rated M [AUST] Copyright ©2006 - Sony Pictures Entertainment - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2006 - Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved