Oscar winning director Ron Howard (Happy Days) teams up with Steve Martin to create a hilarious, touching and unforgettable portrait of life’s most rewarding occupation: Parenthood. Oscar winner Mary Steenburgen (Back To The Future 3), Rick Moranis (Ghostbusters), double Oscar winner Jason Robards (All The Presidents Men), double Oscar winner Dianne Wiest (Bullets Over Broadway), Martha Plimpton (the older sister in The Goonies), Joaquin Phoenix (Walk The Line) and Keanu Reeves (Ted Theodore Logan) are part of the ensemble cast that add vibrant performances to this heart-warming comedy.
The film is based on Ron Howard, producer Brian Grazer and screenwriters Lowell Ganz, and Babaloo Mandel’s experiences as parents (they have 17 children between the four of them). On a trip to Argentina for the filming of Gung Ho, the four men, along with their wives, devised lists of 20 experiences or feelings about their kids, and the story went from there. According to Ron Howard the scene where Helen discovers the nude pictures of her daughter and the daughter’s boyfriend, was actually an incident that happened to producer Brian Grazer.
The film opened at #1 in its opening weekend, earning $10 million. It eventually grossed over $100 million domestically and $126 million worldwide. It was nominated for two Academy Awards: Dianne Wiest for Best Supporting Actress and Randy Newman for Best Song for “I Love to See You Smile”. It has a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Produced by Imagine Entertainment, set up by Howard and Grazer in 1986. It went public, initially selling 1.7 million shares at eight dollars each. By the end of it’s first day on the market, the price jumped to $18.25. They have produced films such as Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Frost/Nixon, The Da Vinci Code and TV programmes 24, Arrested Development and Friday Night Lights among others.
Parenthood was made into two different television series: Parenthood (1990), which starred a young Leonardo Di Caprio and was cancelled after only 12 episodes; and Parenthood (2010) which ran until 2015.
Synopsis: The Buckmans are a modern day family facing the age-old dilemma of trying to raise children the “right” way. At the centre of the storm is Gil (Steve Martin), who manages to keep his unique sense of humour while attempting to maintain a successful career and be a loving husband and parent, all at the same time. As Gil and the rest of the Buckmans discover, being the “perfect” parent often means just letting children be themselves.
Parenthood is available on Blu-ray from Monday 20th June 2016.