"Lawrence has deservedly collected an armful of accolades for her performance." Fiona Williams SBS "Four Stars! A riveting thriller. Jennifer Lawrence deserves an Oscar nomination." USA TODAY "Grade A! One of the most true-blooded epics of Americana you're ever likely to see" ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY "Spectacular! A classic." THE WALL STREET JOURNAL "Suspenseful, surprising and subtle with as memorable and vivid a heroine as you are likely to see." THE NEW YORK TIMES "An art house soul inside a B picture body, and that proves to be a potent combination indeed." LOS ANGELES TIMES "Incredibly powerful! The year's most stirring film." NEW YORK MAGAZINE "A masterpiece, and a gem worthy of Oscar gold." CINEMA CRAZED

"There is plenty to admire about Granik's gritty film." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE "Lawrence's performance is a force of nature." ASSOCIATED PRESS "Unforgettable! It means to shake you, and it does." ROLLING STONE "A Director Ever in Search of Surviviors. Breakthrough Performances." THE NEW YORK TIMES "It’s a stunning piece of filmmaking and storytelling" ELLE MAGAZINE "Certain to be one of the year’s very best films" THE ONION A.V. CLUB "What we’ve been waiting for: a work of art that grabs hold and won’t let go." THE NEW YORKER "The story is as much about this culture as it is about 17 year old Ree Dolly." Andrew L Urban URBAN CINEFILE

The Inside Story From Director Debra Granik What drew you to want to adapt WINTER’S BONE and direct it as a film? I read "Winter's Bone" in one sitting. I had not done that with any book in a long time. I wanted to see how this girl, Ree, was going to survive. It felt like an old fashioned type of tale, with a character I couldn’t help but root for, and with an atmosphere my mind was actively trying to conjure. It also felt fresh in that I do not often get a chance to imagine life like Ree’s, whose circumstances lie outside the confines of my own. How did you work with the Author, Daniel Woodrell, in the making of this movie? To launch this project, Anne Rosellini, the producer, and I met with Daniel Woodrell in his home base in Southern Missouri and embarked on our first scout with him. We looked at creeks, caves, and homes of all kinds. We photographed yards, roads, and woods. Katie Woodrell, Daniel's wife, arranged for us to meet singers, storytellers, folklorists, and all manner of scholars and practitioners steeped in Ozark culture: past and present. Also, we had an informative and heartbreaking discussion with the sheriff about what the meth problem has been like over the last two decades. After this visit, we were very enthused. We had also learned that to move forward we would need a guide, a local person who could carefully and respectfully introduce us to a community that might, over time, be persuaded to work with us. Tell us about working with Jennifer Lawrence. Jen took this role into her heart and worked very hard to enter Ree's world. She used what she's got from her Kentucky roots: family that could help her with hunting, wood chopping, and other skills she wanted to have for the shoot. And to my ear, she already had a beautiful way of pronouncing American English that seemed right for Ree. Though the script had some very foreign phrases for us, Jen was familiar with some of them, having heard similar phrasing growing up. When she arrived in Missouri before the shoot, she worked closely with the life models and the family on whose property we shot the film. She learned how to operate the equipment, learned all the dog's names, and bonded with their children. In her role, she plays an older sister to a boy and a girl. Jen developed her own way of working with the kids. She made things real for them. She could also improvise and rehearse with them to put them at ease. Jen is very invested in working with her fellow actors and crew, which means she is always learning, absorbing, and challenging herself. I feel very lucky that we had the chance to make this film together. How do you see Ree as a character? Ree is focused on her commitment to see her brother and sister through their childhoods. She is willing to fight to keep her family from falling apart. I see her as a lioness trying to protect her pride. She is also a teenager who experiences helpless feelings when adults around her make deadly choices, and are drawn down into a way of life that destroys them. She can’t do much to get her dad out of the meth world or help her uncle with his chemical dependency and nihilism, yet she still cares about them. That is wrenching for any young person. The only thing left for her is to try to be different. Like many a movie hero, Ree must struggle. We don't get to see much of her teenage side. We never really get to see her have a good time with her friend Gail or flirt with boys. Throughout the story she is single-minded in what she needs to do. The search for her father is all-consuming. There is a deadline. In this heightened context, we see that Ree does not take "no" for an answer. In matters of justice, I love characters who don't take no. How did you come to know these characters and what did you to try to create a realistic, natural feeling environment in which to tell this story? We started by doing a search for a family living in a setting close to the one described in the book. We knew we had to find a family who would let us see their house, their clothes, their objects, their dinner, who would let us see them hunt, take care of their animals, and fix day to-day problems as they arose. We ultimately found this family and neighbors who were willing to answer our questions and show us their day to day lives. In order to create the feeling of a natural environment, we shot entirely on location on a real family's property. The costume department exchanged garments with local people who were willing to trade new Carharts for well-used ones. Real life is frayed, frugal, dusted with soot from stoves, heavy dust from the hardscrabble surface of the earth in these Southern Missouri counties. We had to work with these potent forces of the environment. Also, by casting many roles with people from the area, we had people correcting dialect and watching our backs in general, making sure we didn't go down any misguided paths. What were some of the challenges faced, given the subject matter? There are challenges inherent in working far from home. First, ways of communicating differ. It is not always possible to roll into a new place and use film crew jargon. It’s easy to make faux pas. There are different protocols, different ways of asking and answering. We needed a liaison, and the community needed an advocate, so we did not inadvertently overlook certain issues or antagonize people. We needed help on every front that city people need when thrust into a rural setting. Mountain regions have a history of outsiders representing them monolithically. Will people assume that "Winter's Bone" is therefore another Hillbilly film?. The term hillbilly is often used against hill culture, and usually doesn't allow for much nuance. References to bootlegging and feuds come up pretty fast after the term hillbilly. The questions that pressed on us while researching this story and scouting for it centered around certain indelible stereotypes: what is a hillbilly, versus a person who lives in mountain country? What is the significance of debris in a yard? What is the reason, and what assumptions do we make about the person living in the house of that yard? We had to get to know that person. If the viewer doesn't meet that person and only sees the yard, we perpetuate an image of a landscape that looks 'trashy'. Now, a yard filled with objects is photographically rich: endless depth of field, great colors and textures, memorable. But what about the tidy yard down the road? If we don't show both, have we just re-presented the region as a place with junky yards? These are the questions that we had to confront. Knowing the soul behind the yard helped a great deal. This is just one family, trying to make a go of it. And the banjo does play it's part in the storytelling? You can’t go to an area with such an intense history and lore and not lock horns with symbols, cliches, stereotypes, and sensitivities. And it's an ongoing challenge to navigate to some form of storytelling that chips away at the stereotypes and adds some new details to what's gone before. Thirty-five years after "Deliverance", even a banjo can still be a loaded symbol. But through our trips down to Southern Missouri, banjos kept popping up in the most lyrical and alluring ways. Ultimately the banjo found its way into the film, offering notes of hope and perseverance. And what did that inevitably lead you to think. I came to think of it as a fresh start for that image. Why did you choose to shoot this film on the RED camera? The details of the Ozark landscape called out for a beautiful, high-resolution instrument of photography, which is not easily managed on a small budget. Michael was challenged by having no lookup table, but he's such a freakin' good D.O.P that I knew he could go without it. To me the RED is the democratic breakthrough we've needed on the camera front for years, like Final Cut Pro was when it broke out and changed access to editing forever. FCP in my mind stood for editing access For the Common People, and RED could be Really Execute Dreams or Rogue Encouragement Daily. Besides the fact that a Tax Break was offered, did you ever consider not shooting in Missouri? We never wavered from this dream. The story was so deeply set in Missouri that to try to simulate or recreate it would only weaken our confidence. For author Daniel Woodrell, his region is his muse. We needed to 'stay close to the willows'. We needed the actors who played Ree’s relatives, etc. to be of this place. We wanted the accents to be 'bread and buttered', as Ree says. Early on, trying to be cooperative and good sports with production companies, we contemplated selecting a shooting location by shopping for the best tax incentive programs. Woodrell gave us his blessing to shoot in the craggy foothills of upstate NY, a region he felt could from certain angles resemble Ozark terrain. And while we did get interested in remote areas of Pennsylvania and other states, all ripe for great photography, Southern Missouri kept calling us. And ultimately the State of Missouri came through with a very decent incentive, which enabled us to film on the story’s home turf. Cast Bytes Jennifer Lawrence (REE) (named one of the New York Times '50 People to Watch' in 2010) was most recently seen in Guillermo Arriaga’s directorial debut "The Burning Plain", opposite Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger. The film premiered at the 65th Venice Film Festival where Jennifer won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actress or Actor. In 2011 she appeared with Anton Yelchin, in the Drake Doremus film "Like Crazy". She recently wrapped production on "The Beaver", directed and starring Jodie Foster, Mel Gibson and Anton Yelchin. Her other film credits include the lead role in Lori Petty's "Poker House" opposite Selma Blair and Bokeem Woodbine, for which she was awarded the prize of Outstanding Performance in the Narrative Competition at the 2008 Los Angeles Film Festival; Jason Freeland's "Garden Party" opposite Vinessa Shaw; with Rosamund Pike and Lena Olin in James Oakley's mystery thriller "Devil You Know" (as Young Zoe) and, TV'S "The Bill Engvall Show".Lawrence will next be seen with James McAvoy in "X-Men First Class" playing the role of Raven/Mystique. Lauren Sweetser (GAIL) hails from Fayetteville, Arkansas and has always had a passion for the arts. At age three she began dancing and continued that all the way through college. She began theatre at Fayetteville High School and eventually decided to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. While in Springfield she also studied with the Creative Actor’s Workshop, a professional film acting class. Garret Dillahunt (SHERIFF BASKIN) was born in California and raised in Washington State. He studied Journalism at the University of Washington and went on to earn his MFA at New York University's renowned graduate acting program. Garret is probably best known for his work on the critically acclaimed HBO series "Deadwood", where he portrayed two characters: the assassin Jack McCall and the complex and deadly Francis Wolcott. He also portrayed Jesus Christ in the controversial NBC series, "Book of Daniel". Sheryl Lee (APRIL) came onto the scene as Laura Palmer, the doomed homecoming queen on the cult TV series "Twin Peaks". Born April 27th 1967 in Germany, Lee grew up in Boulder, Colorado, spending much of her youth studying dance before knee injuries ended her hope of becoming a dancer. She began acting in school plays, graduated from Fairview High School and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena, California. Lee also spent time at the North Carolina School of Arts, the National Conservatory Theatre in Denver, and Colorado University before pursuing stage work in Seattle, Washington. She has appeared in over a dozen feature films including "Backbeat"; Wesley Strick’s TV movie "Hitched"; and, in 1988, Roger Young’s "Kiss The Sky" and John Carpenter’s "Vampires". What It's All About

With an absent father and a withdrawn and depressed mother, seventeen year old Ree Dolly keeps her family together in a dirt poor rural area in the Ozark Mountains. She's taken aback however when the local Sheriff tells her that her father put up their house as collateral for his bail bond and, unless he shows up for his trial in a week's time, they will lose it all. Desperate to retain the house and her family, Ree sets out to track him down. Because her fathers involved in the local drug trade and manufactures crystal meth, everywhere she goes the message is the same: drop it and stop poking your nose in other people's business. She refuses to listen, even after her father's brother, Teardrop, tells her he's probably been killed. When her fathers vehicle is found abandoned, Ree pushes on: putting her own life in danger for the sake of her family: until the truth, or enough of it, is revealed.

The Verdict "Jennifer Lawrence (who will soon be seen in the prequel "X-Men First Class") already has a long list of credits to her name including last years "The Burning Plain" so it will come as no surprise to those who have followed her career so far, that her role as Ree Dolly is her most outstanding to date. In fact, the twenty year old actress gives what many will see, as an Oscar worthy performance. "Winter's Bone" is a riveting film: about family, survival, tenacity and never taking no for an answer. From its opening scene: which features a poignant rendition of the "Missouri Waltz", to the revelation of what became of Ree's father; this in many way, somewhat simple film, will keep your attention. The support cast, the cinematography and the storyline is complimented by a worthy soundtrack. Shot on location in the Ozark Mountains, Missouri, a genuine feel of authenticity permeates the film, thanks to the generous contribution of the local folk. Recommended. 4 STARS." Who's Playing Who?

Jennifer Lawrence John Hawkes Kevin Breznahan Dale Dickey Garret Dillahunt Shelley Waggener Lauren Sweetser Ashlee Thompson William White Casey MacLaren Isaiah Stone Valerie Richards Beth Domann Tate Taylor Cody Brown Ronnie Hall Sheryl Lee Cinnamon Schultz

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Ree Dolly Teardrop Little Arthur Merab Sheriff Baskin Sonya Gail Ashlee Blond Milton Megan Sonny Connie Alice Satterfield Floyd Thump Milton April Victoria

The Crew Directed by Debra Granik Screenplay by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini From the novel by Daniel Woodrell Produced by Kathryn Dean & Anne Rosellini Original Music by Dickon Hinchliffe Cinematography by Michael McDonough Film Editing by Affonso Gonçalves Casting by Kerry Barden & Paul Schnee Local casting director Heather Laird Production Design by Mark White Set Decoration by Rebecca Brown Costume Design by Rebecca Hofherr Run Time 100 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2011 - Curious Film - All Rights Reserved ©1999-2011 - The Movie Pages & Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved. Protected by Australian & International Copyright, Trademark Laws & Intellectual Property Rights.