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Our July
1996 magazine featured the Press Kit for Three Wishes - the film will
touch your heart.
Three Wishes
The Holman family will never forget what happened one incredible summer. They needed a miracle and then they met Jack McCloud.
Patrick Swayze, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Joseph Mazzello and Seth Mumy star in THREE WISHES, a romantic
fantasy directed by Martha Coolidge in which the lives of a mother and her two sons are changed forever when
a mysterious stranger enters their suburban life.
The year was 1955, a time of hope, promise and conformity in America.
Jeanne Holman (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) was on her own, raising two sons, Tom aged 11 (Joseph Mazzello)
and Gunny aged 5 (Seth Mumy), and considering the start of her own business. The boys needed a father and
Jeanne needed a friend, however, she was not convinced that marrying again was the answer after her husband was
lost in Korea.
Jack was a vagabond, roaming the country with his dog, Betty Jane. In a world of conformists,
he dared to be himself, different and free.
They are brought together by an accident in which the car she is driving strikes Jack, breaking his leg, when she
swerves to avoid hitting his dog. She did what she considered to be the right thing to do and insisted that
Jack accepts shelter with her family, at least until his leg healed. The townsfolk regarded the stranger as
nothing more than a tramp but Jeanne saw something else.
She reaps the reward of her kindness in ways no one could have imagined.
"The film is about discovering the magic in everyday life and being true to yourself," say Clifford and Ellen Green,
who originally conceived the story. Inspired by European folklore, they crafted a 30 page story and Elizabeth
Anderson wrote the screenplay. "In essence, the story is a fairy tale in which the character who does a good
deed is granted three wishes," say Clifford.
Jack McCloud and Betty Jane
(Click for larger image)
"That notion, that if you do good, it will come back to you, is something that cannot be said enough," adds Ellen. "It's fundamental."
For the director, Martha Coolidge, THREE WISHES is the story of an unusual man and a remarkable family told with a
flourish of visual imagination. "Jeanne is a woman ahead of her time, courageous enough to think independently
when women did not do that," Coolidge explains. "Jack is a man whose encounter with Jeanne and the boys gives
him pause. Tom is a youngster desperate to fit in and belong to the group of neighbourhood kids but who feels
differently from the others because he doesn't have a father. For him, Jack's presence brings the potential
for acceptance. Gunny, the youngest, possesses every fear a child could imagine and his nightmares and dreams
are amazingly real to him."
Producer Gary Lucchesi says, "The heart and soul of the movie has always been the characters and their journey.
What happens to them and how it happens is magical."
"The thing I love about THREE WISHES is that the movie is magical in a way that's based in reality,"
says Patrick Swayze, whose brush with fantastic in the hit GHOST confirmed his star status.
"Maybe it was just the fact that these people care about each other so much that magic can
happen because of love?" he suggests.
Martha Coolidge, praised for being a great performance director, is careful to walk this fine line.
"There are incidents of magic in the movie that do happen in real life or could happen," she says.
"I play it so that you don't really know whether it is magic or whether it is real. Yet, the experience
of the movie is very magical."
"The movie is about compassion and about loving and caring about your fellow human being," adds Swayze.
"This is a movie about relationships, about people coming into each other's lives and touching and affecting
each other in a beautiful and heartfelt way. It's the kind of movie that you walk out of the theatre feeling
wonderful about yourself, that there is hope, and that we do have dignity as human beings."
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio found herself intrigued by the story's lack of sentimentality. "It's very emotional,"
she says, "but it's not sentimental. These characters don't feel sorry for themselves."
This story of a mother and her son is also the story of an explorer. Like the discovery of the New World,
circumstance, not design, leads Jeanne Holman to forge ahead on her own. She simply does what she feels
she has to do. "There's no time for her to sit back and get worried or angry," notes Mastrantonio, a
mother herself. Jeanne does not view herself as a pioneer and she is not out to make a statement or
prove a point. "She's just busy with the doing."
Then, when she least expects it, a forbidden romance evolves.
"This woman cannot fall in love with this bum with a dog," says Swayze, who unabashedly considers himself
a "Seriously, hopelessly, dyed-in-the-wool romantic." "Yet things start happening," he continues.
"It's about two people connecting on a soul level, like they were meant to be together. The love
story aspect of this film is about soulmates and that soulmates do exist in this world."
"The romance between them is definitely more than physical," says Martha Coolidge. "They are smart.
They are perceptive about life, they question things and they are both a little different from the mainstream."
"Jeanne takes Jack into her home because she feels terribly guilty that she has hurt him," explains Coolidge.
"She sees that there is something about him that is okay, and as she says in the movie, 'I wouldn't do this
under any circumstances - except these circumstances.'"
"It was the first script I'd read in a long time about two attractive, single people thrown together whose
first notion isn't having sex," enthuses Mastrantonio. Yet a palpable romantic tension does present each
of them with a star-crossed dilemma.
"Jack is a man who constantly has to travel," says Coolidge. "In a sense he has taken a vow to live a spiritual, unfettered life."
Jeanne is torn. She wants to do what is best for herself and her children. However, according to her sister
and neighbours, this means re-marrying. "But she just can't seem to cotton to those notions," says Mary Elizabeth.
"She's a very intelligent woman who has the passion and the brains to be able to fend for herself and create a
life for her two sons," notes Patrick Swayze. "This woman goes against society, goes against her sister and
follows her heart."
Jack is a man who listens and becomes a caring friend. He validates her feelings.
"He lets her know that whoever she is, is absolutely fine," says Mastrantonio.
At the same time, his relationship with the Holmans opens him up to feelings long submerged.
"This fellow who would probably rather not ever be touched by human beings again is thrown into the
midst of this family," says Mastrantonio. "As the time nears for him to leave, there's a part of him
that does think about staying, as if life taps his heart and says to him, open yourself up to this or
you'll die in some way."
"It's very hard for Jack to move in with this family," adds the director. "He feels that it's an invasion of
his privacy and he's not really interested in getting so involved in their lives. But he really does feel
for Tom. And he really does fall in love with Jeanne. So he has a very full experience and is dragged into
facing some things about his own life that help him grow as a person."
"What Jack brings into her life may not actually be love forever," says Martha Coolidge, "but
an incident and an experience that's going to change her and change her realisation about herself."
"The truth is," allows producer Clifford Green, "Jack doesn't come in and do anything for these people
except to let them see the potential in themselves."
It is this sense of individuality that is poignantly illustrated in the story of Tom Holman.
As he grapples with the early strains of adolescence and the loss of his father, Tom faces a
challenging path. "Tom always thinks that everything is better on the other side of the hill,"
says 11 year-old Joseph Mazzello, the gifted young actor who has triumphed in such films as
JURASSIC PARK, SHADOWLANDS and THE RIVER WILD.
In Tom's eyes, Jack takes on the role of a father and suddenly he feels more
confident and self-assured. "He doesn't feel so left out," Mazzello says.
Jack holds up an objective mirror and lets Tom see himself. "Jack tells Tom," says producer Ellen Green,
"all the other guys and their dads are really not the same - they only think they are. If they stopped to
think about it, they'd realize that they are all different and it is fine to be different. Jack gives Tom
the self-confidence to feel comfortable with himself, which is something that everyone, let alone and adolescent
without a father, dearly needs."
The most magical aspects of the story are embodied in the story of Gunny, the five year-old son
played by newcomer Seth Mumy. "If you believe in magic," Coolidge suggests, "then I think that
there is an acceptable convention to think that a five year-old would be more perceptive, more
honest about the magic in the world than a 25 year-old or a 35 year-old."
Jack tells Gunny magical stories
(Click for larger image)
For Gunny, the magic is real.
Fearful of just about everything and ill with a mysterious ailment, Gunny experiences magic
when he sees something special in the traveller's dog, Betty Jane. The two form a special
bond which transports the youngster - and the audience - to the heart of his imagination.
It is clear from the first moment Betty Jane appears on the screen that this is no ordinary dog.
Scruffy and mutt-like, she nonetheless has a twinkle in her eyes that suggests something more.
"Betty Jane comes into his life and exposes him to his fears in such a way that he conquers them,"
Ellen Green explains. And as he overcomes those fears, the clarity of his five year-old's vision
reveals the magic gift that Jack has brought to this family. In turn, Jack reveals to Gunny the
story of man and a dog who are helped by a wonderful family and in return grant the mother, the
older son and the youngest boy three wishes.
"I think that all of us believe secretly in our hearts that there is something magic in life,"
says Coolidge. "At least, that there is something bigger than we are or who knows more than we
do. Betty Jane represents that."
There was never any question that Patrick Swayze would play Jack McCloud. Patrick Swayze was the
immediate and first choice. "His interest in spiritual matters, his physicality and the kind
of probing intelligence and need to learn that goes with this character," says Coolidge, all led them to Patrick.
Producer Clifford Green was excited by all that Patrick brought to the project. "Patrick not only
brought a charisma but he brought a knowledge. When we started talking about the character and the
Zen philosophy, for every resource book we knew, Patrick mentioned four more!"
"With Patrick, you have an actor who expresses deep regard for humanity and his fellow man," adds Gary Lucchesi.
"He suggests a character who has great determination and his belief in the goodness of people can overcome some
of his own self-doubts."
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in THE COLOUR OF MONEY,
has always been a personal favourite of director Martha Coolidge. But it wasn't until she started to focus on
the actress that Coolidge recognised how right she was for this part. "It was so obvious," remembers Coolidge,
"that she would bring the strength, the fragility, the femininity and the intelligence that Jeanne needed.
Plus, she is a new mother and the whole feeling toward motherhood is very powerful."
"It was one of those moments when producers and director look at one another and know," recounts Lucchesi.
Her warmth and charm coupled with an inner strength to produce what Lucchesi observed as a "quite profound,
sensational chemistry" between her and Patrick Swayze.
Jack and Jeanne
(Click for larger image)
First and foremost a story about people, the basic premise to all of Coolidge's films, THREE WISHES also
afforded her the opportunity to pursue her fascination with visual effects. "Every kid is afraid of monsters
coming out of their closet or wall. We actually have it happen," says Coolidge. "It is a realisation of the
kind of fantasy life that a child who is five years-old might have."
A four-legged variety of magic is Jack's dog, Betty Jane. A mongrel by description, the real Betty Jane
is named Rosa and is actually a Portuguese pedigree known as the Podengo. "I wanted a dog that looked
like a mutt, a real doggy dog," describes Coolidge. "She was so utterly perfect," says Coolidge.
"Not only her look, which was exactly the colour I had seen in my head but the kind of shape, tail,
ears and fur. She looks like an old matted-up rug."
The decision to set THREE WISHES in 1955 was to emphasise the issue of conformity. The post-War boom was in
full swing in 1955, the backdrop of THREE WISHES. "The fifties was an era," notes Coolidge, "where the notion
was 'design will improve your life.' But it was a conformist dream, not one of individuality. Everyone's
dreams were coming true except for those people who dared to be a little different. My mother was a widow
in 1955 and I was a young child who had lost my father. I remember very well what it was like for a woman
alone in a society that really didn't encourage women to be independent."
Principal photography began on November 15, 1994 and was completed in March, 1995.
The location shoots were mostly in and around Los Angeles. The suburban neighbourhood where Jeanne and her family
live was constructed from the ground up in Agua Dulce, a distant Los Angeles suburb. To film the scenes on the
baseball field, the filmmakers enlisted the championship Northridge, California Little League team. The Fourth
of July sequence and a preceding Memorial Day picnic were shot at Lake Castaic, about an hours drive north of Los Angeles.
Locations were scouted extensively in Arizona and Hawaii before everything the filmmakers needed was ultimately
found within the Los Angeles area. The production made use of a variety of Los Angeles locations including the
previously mentioned Lake Castaic and Agua Dulce locales, the Los Angeles National Cemetery, a thoroughfare in
downtown San Pedro, a vintage bowling alley in Montrose, a city park in Monrovia and a picturesque baseball field
in the shadow of the Santa Susana mountains on the rim of Simi Valley.
Patrick Swayze had found his greatest success in films that have worked on a variety of levels, appealing
to different people for different reason. "I seem to be attracted to movies that go beyond just telling
some silly love story," he observes. "Our job as filmmakers is to find a way to tell a story in a different way,
in a more insightful way or in a way that the audience can identify on a level greater than they ever have before."
"We need movies like THREE WISHES where magic can happen in anyone's life at any given moment."
says Swayze. "We just have to believe."
Adapted from material produced by Entertainment Film Distribution Ltd.
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