THE GENESIS
When screenwriter, essayist and novelist Mark Spragg completed his award-winning memoir, Where Rivers Change Direction, he and his co-writer wife Virginia, discussed writing a film about forgiveness. The team talked over ideas on extended eight-hour road trips from their wilderness home outside Yellowstone National Park.
"We're both exceedingly captivated by older men, their essential wisdom and their having carried the burden of a very long life. So we started there," recalls Mark. A former therapist, Virginia notes, "We did an enormous amount of research to legitimize the motivations for women in an abusive or battered situation. We learned that a woman will leave five times before she quits her abuser for good. And the following six months are when she'll most likely be killed by him." The statistics were startling.
The couple researched grizzly bear attacks in their area and talked with several people with first-hand knowledge of maulings. "The grizzlies have made a comeback here," says Mark, who quizzed a doctor to authenticate Mitch's critical wounds. "We based the action in the screenplay on actual events we've seen around here."
The writers sent the screenplay to their agent where it came to the attention of Producer Kelliann Ladd, who'd already established a relationship with the Spraggs and was an avid admirer of Mark Spragg's memoir. "The screenplay is very poetic, it's from another time. It's about characters, emotion and feeling. Mark touches a place that's common in all of us," says Ladd who was so passionate about the project, she joined forces with her father, Alan Ladd Jr. to help produce the picture.
"When Laddie asked us to make a wish list for a director, Lasse Hallström was at the top of our list," says Mark Spragg. Producer Alan Ladd Jr. concurs, "I think it's a strong family drama about forgiveness. How a family can be so torn apart by a tragedy and then brought back together again is a very appealing theme," says Ladd. "Lasse was the perfect choice to direct this movie."
Hallström, who hails from Sweden, responds, "what most of my films have in common is that they are character driven stories and AN UNFINISHED LIFE is one of them. I'm drawn to movies that deal with original characters and dysfunctional families." When he received the script, he was intrigued by the tone and range of the story. "It's not only a family drama--it's got elements of suspense and deals with things I've never dealt with before like big bears and people with guns," explains the Oscar-nominated director.
"It's the characters I relate to and recognize even if this is the Wild West--at least to a Swede. I know these people. I've met them, despite the fact that the culture is so far off from where I came from. And I think I know their emotions and their shortcomings. I think I know this kid and how she feels about her situation. So it's a universal story on an emotional level. Even a Swede can understand it."
"This is the kind of story Lasse knows how to tell," says Leslie Holleran, Hallström's long-time producer. "Lasse and I look for things that are familiar and different in stories. What was different about this tale was the relationship of Einar and Mitch. It is the love story of the movie. It looks at very powerful, very masculine men, and we see nurturing and care--an intimacy that isn't usually seen. I thought this was the most unique part of this story." Hallström agrees. "I think the relationship between these two men, Einar and Mitch, is the most original part of the story."

THE CAST
"I couldn't be happier about the cast," states Hallström. We got our first choices with Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez and Morgan Freeman. We found a great girl in Becca Gardner. So I feel it's the right people at the right time with the right kind of story."
Hallström's gentle approach to directing generated a congenial atmosphere on set. During a scene one day, Josh Lucas commented to Jennifer Lopez, "Jen, look. There's about 70 crew members standing in front of us behind the camera, and every single person has a beaming smile on their face. Have you ever seen that before?" "Never," responded Lopez.

EINER AND MITCH
Says Holleran, "Einar is a man of the land, a man who chooses to live in a big environment and it defines him; a man who is probably a little bit uncomfortable with the political correctness of a modern world, but was a man that could be so wounded and tortured by the death of somebody that he loved, it would result in the complete ruination of his land and family."
Redford speaks about his role and the film. "The life of ranchers has now become almost obsolete, and agriculture, a foundation of our culture, is being pushed aside by things like technology and real estate. Characters like the one I play are characters I grew up understanding pretty well. The other attraction was Lasse who I wanted to work with. I liked his sensitivity and sensibility as a filmmaker. I had faith that Lasse would leave a lot to be played between the lines which is really also customary in Western life. It's a life with not a lot of words about families because the work is so hard. You live by your word and a code of honor. Einar goes into a retreat where he can't grow or forgive, which creates a wall around him. Forgiving in this case means admitting that you might be wrong, and that's tough for certain people."
Kelliann Ladd remarks, "Einar's son was his life and when he lost him, he shut down. He doesn't tend to his ranch anymore. He let it go to seed. The only companionship he has is Mitch. It's not until his granddaughter comes into his life that he's given a reason to open up again."
Morgan Freeman was the perfect choice to play Mitch Bradley. Says Redford, "I have such fondness for Morgan as an actor. I worked with him once before (on BRUBAKER) and wanted to do it again. He has been very, very generous about his time coming to Sundance to help new talent there. So there was already a kind of bond between us. I saw this as a natural because of the characters we would be playing."
Freeman responds: "I worked with Robert years ago, probably the first feature I ever did and here we are again, 25 years later. There are certain people you know that you're just going to click with. It was easy working with him the first time, and we've been friends since then, so it was a match made in heaven."
Adds Hallström, "there is a chemistry there, they know each other so well. It's just fantastic to watch them work together."
Jennifer Lopez points out that Mitch and Einar's relationship is very special, because of its longevity. "They've become brothers, like family."
Freeman talks about the mauling by the bear. "A physical trauma like that creates a change in you. A very vigorous hard-working man all of a sudden is very close to useless. After a year of reflection, he's probably not the same guy he used to be. He's had a lot of time to think and put things into perspective. My feelings were that he just had sort of mellowed way down and watched his friend sort of deteriorate along with him."
Says Damien Lewis, "Mitch is the conscience of the movie. In spite of being savaged by a bear, he wants to release the bear through some sort of redemption. By doing this he's encouraging Einar to release himself from his grief."

JEAN
First to sign up was Jennifer Lopez, who was totally captivated by the project. "When she read the script, she fell in love with it. She has great depth and has brought a lot to the role," says Kelliann Ladd.
"A Lasse Hallström film is world-class," enthuses Lopez. "He's just a top level, cream-of-the-crop director. It doesn't get any better than him. When you work with him you know why. He has such an eye and you get this total trust."
Relates Holleran, "We were looking for a Jean who would feel completely comfortable walking on the edge between somebody who was sexual and flawed, felt vulnerable and guilty, was clearly self-punishing, yet vigilant, and desiring to maintain a decent life for her child--a good mom making bad choices. There were a lot of different layers. She's not the good girl in a bad circumstance. She's a real human being, a real woman--Jennifer has all of that to her."
Lopez replies, "Jean is a very guilty, grief-stricken character. When she decides to go back to the place where the best and worst all happened, she's just so desperate and has no place else to go. Though she can't quite get her own life together, she knows that she has to do something right for her daughter. So she picks herself up and goes back to her father-in-law's ranch."

GRIFF
On her thirteenth birthday Becca Gardner received some exciting news - she learned she had won the role of Griff over thousands of hopefuls who sent in their audition tapes from every major city in the United States and Canada.
Holleran explains, "When Becca Gardner first walked into our casting session, she was an absolute light. We needed an actor more child than woman, a gutsy tomboy, clearly resilient, because she starts everything in motion."
Gardner says she can relate to her character. "Griff is really tough. I look up to her 'cause she's so cool and I like her a lot and that's really important in acting. You have to love your character. I learned a lot from Griff. She has been through really hard times with her mom, but that just made her stronger. Even though Griff and I are different, we have a lot in common too."

THE LOOK AND THE PRODUCTION DESIGN
Over the years, Hallström has generated loyalty with key crew members. "It's really important to me to have a family atmosphere on the set. To work with the Director of Photography Oliver Stapleton again is just wonderful. We have a real shorthand communication, which is great, and his taste is impeccable. He frames everything exactly as I imagine it. The same goes for Production Designer David Gropman who has similar instincts and tastes."
Director of Photography Oliver Stapleton, working on his third film with Hallström, stresses, "my responsibility is to construct images that have to translate the drama into pictures. It isn't about prettiness, or about even composition, but about lighting composition.
"In AN UNFINISHED LIFE, the film moves from tension and bleakness to a brighter ending. So the lighting moves from being dramatic and foreboding to lighter and more pleasant." Notes Stapleton, "Dramatic lighting is sometimes about what you don't see. In trying to make out what someone is feeling, you get a better sense of what's going on in their head. I think it was very important that this film feel rooted on the farm--farms are about animals and the land and about the attachment to the land. I avoided a postcard look so that it feels like a real place."
Holleran observes, "Oliver's always very story-driven and psychological in his approach. The way you see the characters in an anamorphic lens and Oliver's use of shadows and space adds a dimension and sense of clarity to the story."
AN UNFINISHED LIFE marks Production Designer David Gropman's fifth film with Hallström. "I think it just comes from a lucky coincidence--we share a lot of the same instincts, aesthetics and style. Lasse is able to give me a few words and ideas to start with and I seem to be able to fulfill his dream for the story. When I first read the script, I was touched by the relationships of the characters and their search for family and sense of home."

THE RANCH
The ranch was located in a valley 45 minutes outside Kamloops in the interior of British Columbia where the landscape closely resembles Wyoming. "The ranch owner was the perfect embodiment of Einar's character," says Gropman, who made some physical changes to the buildings by removing the contemporary roof on the house to reveal the original, adding a certain amount of age and distress and planting weeds around the house. In keeping with the spirit of the story, Gropman purchased and reassembled a log cabin at the ranch for Mitch's house. The town of Ashcroft, which doubled for Ishawooa, Wyoming, was set against a beautiful and dramatic high desert landscape, perfect for the mood of the story.
When Hallström first saw the ranch, he discovered that a Swedish ranch hand had built and lived in the old log barn there for 60 years, dying three days before his 100th birthday. He found a songbook in Swedish that had been left behind in the barn, which he thought was a good sign. "I thought I have to get this film right," mused the director.
"It's always great to have the challenge of the real world, and the limitations of the real location. You have to come up with spur-of-the-moment solutions that actually fit the locations. I tend to thrive in chaos," admits Hallström.
The ranch is one of the last family-owned cattle ranches in the area, covering approximately 250 square miles. The fourth-generation ranchers moved nearly 1,000 cattle and all their horses to give the production empty corrals to maintain the unkempt and desolate look of Einar's ranch.
One lone cow did make an appearance in the film--Fiona, a Jersey cow. Fiona and Bart the bear became so popular, they were added to the crew shot.
To make the ranch, town and zoo all reflect the character of the story, Hallström and Gropman were inspired by a collection of black and white photographs of ranches and small town life in Wyoming. "We were both so taken by the simplicity and directness of the black and white photography, we returned to those images and try to find the equivalent in color," explains Gropman, who describes the film's color palette as subdued.
No details were overlooked to authenticate the sets. For the opening sequences in Iowa, the town of Marion supplied local calendars, posters and logos. Items from Wyoming ranged from milk cartons, local newspapers, and rancher's periodicals to Native American beadwork specific to the area for Einar's house. Even the grizzly claws were imprinted in the ground using a mold made by bear trainer Doug Seus which he took from the original Bart, the famous bear.

THE BEAR, BART II
Three-year-old Bart II (named in honor of his late predecessor, veteran actor bear Bart I), makes his feature film debut in AN UNFINISHED LIFE. His trainer, Doug Seus, comments, "Bart is effusive. He sees life as pretty much a situation comedy. The passion for my work comes from being emotionally involved with the Grizzlies. The bear to me is the spirit representing the raw, untamed beauty of our planet."
Ladd Jr. points out, "The bear was always a symbolic and integral part of the story. He's well trained and did his part well."
Jennifer Lopez observes, "The bear is what we all wrestle with. Everybody has their bear in life. It's about conquering that bear and letting him go." Lasse Hallström adds: "The story is about forgiveness first and foremost. But it's also a story about nature--the need to be free and follow your instincts."
Says Seus, "everyone has a different comfort levels around this big wild animal. Some people are more comfortable than others, but preparation is the first step. Preparation time is incredibly important. Bart's rehearsal and preparation include taking him to where he will perform in advance, and checking out the area, either an echo in an alley or his zoo cage, so when the director comes to get the shot, Bart knows where he is and what he's supposed to do. He's smelled all the corners, and we're ready to go into action and hit the mark."
Smiles Redford: "We don't know who's crazier, Doug or the bear. He's got a wonderful operation and he's a perfectionist." Redford gamely worked with the bear, even though some years earlier he had been chased by a grizzly up a tree who took a swipe at the back of his leg and tore his pants. At the time, he decided never to work with bears again. It's a tribute to the trainer that he agreed to work one more time with a grizzly.
Morgan Freeman admitted to feeling a little unnerved by the size of the bear. "Doug instructed me to talk to the bear if he comes too close. Just don't look him in the eye and talk to him in a monotone. I said, 'well I can do that. I've faced down some critters in my day'."

LASSE HALLSTRÖM (DIRECTOR) earned a Golden Berlin Bear nomination for THE SHIPPING NEWS in 2002, which starred Kevin Spacey and Julianne Moore, and was based on E. Annie Proulx's Pulitzer-Prize winning novel. Hallström's acclaimed adaptation of Joanna Harris' CHOCOLAT starring Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp and Judi Dench, earned five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Hallström received a second Oscar nomination for Best Director for his work on THE CIDER HOUSE RULES, starring Tobey Maguire, Charlize Theron and Michael Caine
The Swedish director first came to the attention of American audiences in 1985 with the release of MY LIFE AS A DOG, for which Hallström received Academy Award nominations for both Best Director and Best Screenplay. The picture won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film in addition to being cited as Best Foreign Film by The New York Film Critics, among other accolades. Next up for Hallström was ONCE AROUND, a romantic comedy starring Holly Hunter as a repressed Boston woman who is swept off her feet by an obnoxious salesman/millionaire played by Richard Dreyfuss. In 1993, Hallström directed WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE, the offbeat tale of a young man who holds the troubled Grape family together. The film brought recognition to a young Leonardo DiCaprio, who earned an Oscar nomination for his role as the autistic younger brother of Johnny Depp. SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT followed, starring Julia Roberts, Dennis Quaid, Gena Rowlands, Robert Duvall and Kyra Sedgewick in a story of two generations of a tumultuous Southern family.
Hallström began his career in his native Sweden, working in television on shorts such as SHALL WE GO TO MY PLACE OR TO YOUR PLACE OR EACH GO HOME ALONE? In addition, he directed music videos, most notably for the famed Swedish band ABBA. In 1997, he directed and edited ABBA: THE MOVIE. He subsequently wrote and directed several films in his homeland, including the dramatic comedies A LOVER AND HIS LASS, FATHER TO BE, HAPPY WE, and THE CHILDREN OF BULLERBY VILLAGE based on the books by Astrid Lindgren.

MARK AND VIRGINIA SPRAGG (SCREENWRITERS) co-wrote the script of AN UNFINISHED LIFE. The picture is his first screenplay written with his wife, Virginia Korus Spragg, a former therapist, and marks her feature film debut.
Mark Spragg has written films for Warner Brothers, Carolco, Tri-Star and Disney. His most recent film, EVERYTHING THAT RISES, aired in the summer of 1998 on TNT and was selected as a finalist for the 1999 PEN Center USA West Literary Award for teleplay.
His memoir, Where Rivers Change Direction, received the 2000 Mountains and plans Book Award for nonfiction, and the 2001 Literary Contribution Award from the Mountain Plains Library Association.
His most recent book, a novel, The Fruit of Stone, was published in August 2002 by Penguin/Putnam. The Fruit of Stone was selected as an American Library Association Booklist Editor's Choice 2002 for best adult fiction and one of ALA's Booklist Top Ten First Novels of 2002.
Mark Spragg was born and raised in Wyoming. Virginia Spragg was born in Bangor, Maine, and attended college in Montana, where they met.