'The Vow' Cast Talks Love, Marriage, and the Romantic Movie of the Year
This week audiences everywhere can celebrate Valentine's Day with the inspirational new romantic movie "The Vow" starring Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum.
The Michael Sucsy-directed film sees an A-list cast that also includes Scott Speedman and Jessica Lange. As the story unfolds, the audience is taken on a remarkable journey of true love.
Paige, portrayed by McAdams, suffers severe head injuries in a near-fatal accident within the first five minutes of the film. As a result, she has no recollection of the past five years of her life, including falling in love and marrying her husband, Leo, played by Tatum.
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Through infinite patience and a profoundly deep love, Leo remains confident that his wife will find her way back to loving him. Paige is resistant and doubtful as the couple find themselves in awkward, funny, and painful moments together.
The Christian Post spoke to members of the cast and crew of "The Vow" ahead of the film's Feb. 10 release.
"If you really believe in the greater love … hopefully it will find its place again; that's what I believe in," said the male lead, Tatum.
"[Love] can survive a lot," agreed the film's leading actress, McAdams, who portrays the amnesia-laden wife.
When asked about the value of marriage in today's society, Tatum spoke of his own marriage to actress Jenna Dewan. The former "Step Up" co-stars married in 2009 after dating for five years.
"I don't think people take enough time to get to know each other on a lot of different levels, and I did," said Tatum. "I don't think people go at it in the right way anymore. It's such a culture about right now: everything is instant, texting, and everything is so far away from each other."
"These things are made for communication," he continued, pointing to his cell phone. "[But] I feel like they bring each other farther and farther away."
"The Vow" follows insurmountable feats of love, revealing a refreshing and awe-inspiring take on romantic films.
The film's director, Sucsy, told CP that forming the cast and picking actors for the film was an easy process.
Sucsy, who also helmed 2009's film "Grey Gardens," immediately thought of the McAdams to play Paige, saying the Canadian actress was "perfect" for the role.
"The script makes the character witchy, you're rooting for them to get back together and she's estranged from Leo and she's cold and she's snapping," said Sucsy, noting that McAdams is able to capture the audience's goodwill despite the character's earlier behavior.
"It was really important to find an actress that the audience couldn't help but love and I think Rachel has that with her fan base," explained the director. "So that was why I thought Rachel was perfect."
Considering Tatum for the role of Leo, the director admitted he was uncertain at first.
"Channing, I thought to myself 'I don't know, he's a big hunky guy but he kinda plays military,' but I met him in NY and his heart was so big … His heart is bigger than his chest cavity," Sucsy joked. "And that's who Leo is."
Supporting actor Scott Speedman, who plays Jeremy in the film, explained his entrance to the cast of "The Vow" as well.
"I read it and liked it, and someone gave me an audition and I got it," said the actor. "I wanted to be the 'jerk,'" he quipped.
Referring to his character as the film's antagonist, Speedman said Jeremy was just like every other human being: he had faults. As Paige's ex-fiancee in the film, Jeremy and Leo had serious confrontations.
"He had his heart broken but I think we all know that even if we've had our heart broken we still hold something for that person and the feeling of love doesn't really go away," explained Speedman of his character's contempt for Leo in "The Vow."
" When [Paige] came back into his life he's still in love with her," added the actor.
Speedman then revealed: "People have weaker moments, and Jeremy had a weaker moment, a meltdown, under pressure that's what he did, and sort of showed his true colors; he's a human being and makes mistakes."
"The Vow" is based off of real-life events that happened to the married couple Kim and Krickett Carpenter who were involved in a car accident over 16 years ago. The story reached hundreds of media outlets worldwide, and the moment for their story to reach the big screen has finally arrived.
The script writers for the film, Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein, told CP that they were given the creative freedom to make the most of the Carpenters' experience by adding characters and backgrounds.
"We were free to create whatever we think would best serve their situation," explained Kohn.
Kohn and Silverstein admitted that writing some of the film's scenes proved to be difficult, and where the Carpenters' story included a strong faith, the script follows fate. Despite the changes made for the film, the writers agreed that the script pleased the real couple.
"Emotionally they felt like we captured what happened to them," said Silverstein of the Carpenters' reaction to the film.
With the tagline "Can a once-in-a-lifetime love have a second chance?" and in time for Valentine's Day, "The Vow" hits theaters everywhere this Friday.
