Fathers and Daughters is a 2015 U.S.-Italian drama film directed by Gabriele Muccino and starring Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, and Kylie Rogers. It is based on a 2012 script written by Brad Desch, which was included in the 2012 Black List survey. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics while audiences gave it generally favorable reviews. It grossed over $5.1 million against a $22.4 million production budget.
Plot
Jake Davis is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist with a wife and daughter who he loves dearly. However, while they're driving back from a party he argues with his wife over him flirting with a woman. This distracts him, causing their car's collision with a truck. Jake is injured badly, while his wife dies. His injury leaves him with brain damage, causing him seizures. A doctor warns him he needs treatment, since otherwise this might result in psychotic episodes. Jake reluctantly agrees, going to a hospital for treatment over seven months while his daughter Katie stays with her aunt Elizabeth and uncle William. Upon his return, Elizabeth and William, propose to adopt her, an idea Jake flatly rejects. He struggles to cope as a single father however, with his seizures returning. Due to his brain damage Jake's writing suffers, resulting in his next book being panned by critics, with his own publishing company choosing not to market it widely. Due to his difficulties, Elizabeth and William sue him for custody, which Jake fears they can win. He writes an entire book with a burst of inspiration, angering Katie in the process by neglecting her. The suit against him is dropped when William is revealed to have impregnated his secretary and Elizabeth files for divorce. Sadly however after his last book Father's and Daughters. Jake's seizures result in his accidental death due to a head injury when he falls in the bathroom. 25 years later, Katie attends college and is studying psychology. It's shown that she's quite promiscuous, taking a guy she's just met into the bathroom and having sex with him. She rebuffs any more intimate relationship. Katie is shown to become a social worker, and connects with a girl named Lucy who like her has lost her mother, refusing to speak since her death. She continues her pattern of one-night stands before meeting Cameron, a man who has idolized her father's work, and they begin a relationship. With her help, Lucy improves greatly to the point that she's adopted, though Katie is hurt by hearing that they'll have no further contact. Though she grows closer to Cameron, Katie is still dealing with intimacy issues that mean she's afraid of losing him. She cheats on him, and Cameron angrily breaks up with her after learning this. Katie goes to his apartment, declaring her love for him, but she runs away after seeing he's with another woman. When she returns home in dejection though, Cameron is there waiting; they embrace and kiss. The film is told in alternating segments between the past with Katie and Jake then later showing Katie's future.
was hired to direct during the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Russell Crowe was the first cast in October, with Amanda Seyfried joining the same month as Crowe's daughter. Kylie Rogers joining as the younger version of Crowe's daughter.
Casting
In November, Aaron Paul was cast in the film as Seyfried's love interest. Actresses Diane Kruger, Octavia Spencer, and Quvenzhané Wallis were cast in the film during the Berlin Film Festival. The same month, Janet McTeer was cast. In April 2014, it was announced Jane Fonda, and Bruce Greenwood had joined the cast of the film.
Michael Bolton sings and wrote the song to this movie. On May 25, 2014, James Horner was originally hired to compose the music for the film, but on September 26, Paolo Buonvino replaced Horner to score the film.
The film received negative reviews from critics. Review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes reports a rating of 28% based on 50 reviews, with an average rating of 4.24/10; the site's consensus states: "Fathers and Daughters name-brand cast can't cover for a screenplay that makes a half-hearted effort at delving into family dynamics but falls back on melodrama." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 31% from 17 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
