The Giver (film)

The Giver
Based on	The Giver
Directed by	Phillip Noyce
Produced by	Jeff Bridges Neil Koenigsberg Nikki Silver
Screenplay by	Michael Mitnick Robert B. Weide
Starring	Jeff Bridges Meryl Streep Alexander Skarsgård Brenton Thwaites Katie Holmes Taylor Swift Odeya Rush Cameron Monaghan Emma Tremblay
Music by	Marco Beltrami
Release Date	August 15, 2014
Website	http://thegiverfilm.com/

The Giver is a 3D IMAX film directed by Phillip Noyce. The movie is based on the book of the same name: The Giver. The filming began on October 7, 2013 in Cape Town, South Africa. Meryl Streep shot some of her scenes in England where she was also filming Rob Marshall's Into the Woods. The movie was released on August 15, 2014.

Plot

"As 16 year-old Jonas navigates the community he begins to see the true pain in life: death; warfare; hunger. His drugged, emotionless, dull society's dims are finally taken off his eyes. Jonas becomes a Twelve and is selected by the community to become a Receiver of Memory. The Giver holds all the memories of the past; Jonas must Receive them. There is no turning back."

In a Utopian society where everything is about sameness, a 16-year old boy named Jonas is selected as a Receiver of Memory. After a big war, the community had decided to get rid of color and feelings because it made people feel different and caused conflict. They were ruled by 12 people called the Elders and had ceremonies each year celebrating the age of each child. When the children turned 16 they are assigned a job. Each child was part of a family unit, and adults if they chose to, which consisted of two children, a boy, and a girl. Jonas is part of a family unit with his Mother, Father, and his sister, Lily. His mother works with the Justice Center and his father with the Nurturing, who takes care of babies. As they are eating dinner, Jonas admits that he is terrified for his Ceremony of Growth, when he gets his job, and his parents reassure him. At the ceremony, Jonas’ close friends, Asher and Fiona, are assigned the jobs as Drone Pilot and Nurturer. Jonas is initially confused because the Chief Elder skipped over him. However, she tells him, at the closing of the ceremony, that he was selected for an important job, the Receiver of Memory. Because all the memories from before the community are all erased from their minds, as the Receiver of Memory, Jonas, must receive the only memories of before from the past receiver, The Giver (Character). He is the only one who has them and must advise the Chief Elders on the decisions for the community, who are unaware of the past. Jonas begins to receive more and more memories, eventually learning of the Giver’s past and his child, Rosemary, the previous Receiver of Memory that was so distraught from the memories that she committed suicide by applying for "release", a mysterious concept in the Community, which is actually euthanasia. Jonas begins to share his findings with his friend, Fiona. Fiona is unsure of how she feels about having feelings, but they kiss privately. Jonas also shares his memories to the baby his father brought home to their house, Gabe, and develops a close relationship to him. Jonas decides that everyone should have the memories of the past and eventually, the Giver and Jonas decide that the only way they can help the community is to go past the border of Elsewhere therefore releasing the memories back into the community. Jonas sneaks out at curfew, and decides to get Gabe at the Nurturing Center, who is to be released of weakness. Asher tries to stop him before he leaves the neighborhood, but Jonas quickly punches him. Asher lays on the ground, stunned, and Jonas drives on his bike to the Nurturing Center. He tells Fiona his plan and wants to take her with him, but she refuses and instead helps him get Gabe. Before he leaves, he kissed her on the lips and she helps him escape. Asher and Jonas’ mother, meanwhile, go to the Chief Elder to tell them Jonas is missing. Guards are sent to contain Jonas, who they say has become “Dangerous,” but Jonas gets one of their motorcycles and drives off the cliff near the Giver’s dwelling into Elsewhere. His friend Asher is assigned, by the Chief Elder, to use a drone to find Jonas and kill him but when Asher finds Jonas stumbling through the woods, he captures him with the drone. Having a change of heart, he drops Jonas into a river and lets him go. Meanwhile, Fiona has been condemned to be released for helping Jonas escape. Just as she is about to be released by Jonas’ father, The Giver steps in and stalls the Chief Elder with memories of his daughter, Rosemary. Jonas stumbles past the border into Elsewhere, just in time to release memories back into the community, and saving Fiona because her father realizes what he was doing. Jonas and Gabe find a house where people are singing Christmas carols, and his voiceover says that back in the community, he swears he hears music too, or maybe just an echo.

Production

Jeff Bridges initially wanted to film the movie in the mid-1990s, and a script was written by 1998. Various barriers marred the production of the film, including when Warner Bros. bought the rights in 2007. The rights then ended up at The Weinstein Company and Walden Media.

Bridges's actual vision was that his own father, Lloyd Bridges, would play the character The Giver.

Filming began on October 7, 2013 in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Meryl Streep had some of her scenes shot in England, where she also filmed Rob Marshall's Into the Woods, before doing additional filming two months later in Paarl, a town near Cape Town. The filming was completed on February 13, 2014 in Utah.

Filming Locations Map

Cast

Main

The Giver Main Cast

• Jeff Bridges as The Giver
• Meryl Streep as The Chief Elder
• Alexander Skarsgård as Jonas's Father
• Brenton Thwaites as Jonas
• Emma Tremblay as Lily (Mistakenly credited as Lilly)
• Cameron Monaghan as Asher
• Odeya Rush as Fiona
• Katie Holmes as Jonas's Mother
• Taylor Swift as Rosemary

Supporting

• Katharina Damm as a Nurturer
• Alexander Jillings as Gabe 12 months
• James Jillings as Gabe 12 months
• Saige Fernandes as Gabe 6 months
• Jordan Nicholas Smal as Gabe 3 months
• Renate Stuurman as Dinah
• Vanessa Cooke as an Elder
• John Whitley as an Elder
• Kira Wilkinson as The Chief Elder's assistant
• Meganne Young as a bride
• Thabo Rametsi as Robbie
• Vaughn Lucas as Security Officer
• Jaime Coue as Vietcong Sniper
• Jefferson Mays as Voices of the Community

Uncredited Cast

These roles still appear in deleted and non-deleted scenes but weren't in the end credits of the movie. For example, you can hear Carlotta Brentan's voice in many crowd scenes.

• Irina Miccoli as Fiona's Mother
• Coleman Lannum as an Elder
• Justin Miccoli as The Chief of Security
• Carlotta Brentan as additional voices
• Nick Uhas as the groom

Producers

• Jeff Bridges
• Nikki Silver
• Neil Koenigsberg
• Ralph Winter
• Scooter Braun
• Janine can Assen