Throughout her remarkable--and remarkably successful--two decade long career as a screenwriter and now, director, Nancy Meyers has insightfully dissected the contemporary struggles between men and women. In an era when movies often sacrifice credible relationships in favour of technological wizardry, Meyers' films remain focused on how human beings relate to each other in love and family. Something's Gotta Give continues this tradition and expands on it.

"Pretty much everything I've written has paralleled something in my own life," notes the filmmaker. "I must confess that I'm a little fascinated with the older-man-younger-woman scenario. "The other thing that interested me," Meyers continues, "was in a way, the opposite of all that: falling in love and emotionally opening up later in life. I just think that people falling in love late in life is as real and powerful as it is when they're 25."

In Something's Gotta Give, Meyers combined both those interests and, in addition, decided to explore the younger-man-older-woman relationship." Dealing with love between men and women beyond middle age wasn't a concern," Meyers states. "There's a universality to what happens between Harry and Erica. Love is love, and it doesn't matter at what age it happens, except maybe it hurts more, the older you get."

As Meyers conceived her story - even before the actual writing process - she decided upon the actors deemed perfect to essay the roles of Harry Sanborn and Erica Barry, respectively the uncommitted playboy and successful, divorced playwright, both of whom embark on an emotional adventure unlike any they imagined. The two actors she envisioned were Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton.

Meyers had not yet worked with Nicholson, a genuine motion picture icon whose career seems to be going even stronger now than when he first became a star more than 30 years ago. But she already had a long history with Keaton, who had starred in several films Meyers co-wrote, including Baby Boom, Father of the Bride and Father of the Bride II.

Keaton recalls the first time she read Meyers' work, the script for Baby Boom. "I loved it. I mean, what's not to love?" she says. "There was some fantastic writing in it. Her writing was always like 'coming home' in a way for me"

"Nancy fought to cast me in Baby Boom," Keaton continues, "and this aspect of her personality is something amazing. It's like a dog with a bone, babe. If she wants to make it happen, it happens. And that's the way it is. Nancy is not only a great writer, she's a 'balls to the floor' producer. I'm not kidding. You don't come any stronger. She knows what she wants."

After Meyers had worked out the first act, "I pitched it to Jack even though I only had a general view of what would happen next," she recalls. "I went up to his house in L.A., and he seemed very interested. Jack liked the subject matter, and he was encouraging, so I went on writing in hopes that he would like the final result. Diane also expressed interest in reading the script when it was completed. It took me about 10 months to write it, and about four or five months into the process I called Jack and Diane and said, 'It'll take about another five months, but I think we may have something here.'"

Keaton has her own humorous memories of the process. "Nancy called me up about two-and-a-half years ago and says, 'Okay, let's have lunch.' So we have lunch, and she tells me that she's going to write this movie about a middle-aged romance, and she wants me to star with Jack Nicholson. And I'm saying 'Yeah, right, Nancy.' Then the next step is … Nancy saying, 'Well, now I'm gonna start writing it.' Uh-huh, OK, Nancy, great. That's wonderful. 'Okay, now I wrote it.' Great, Nancy, that's wonderful. 'Okay, now I gave it to the studio and they want to do it.' Every step of the way, Nancy is like the little train that could. She's unbelievable like that. I've never met a woman like her. And she wrote a great script."

Keaton admired the story's universality, and the fact that it transcends age and generations. "It's the battle of the sexes, which is always the same, in a certain sense. Of course, it gets more pronounced as you get older. I mean, why would a guy who dates a lot of young women, and is so happy and content with his life, fall in love with an older, demanding woman who's every bit his equal?"

When Nicholson read the script, he agreed with Keaton's assessment. And when the script began to fan out to Hollywood, a phalanx of actors were more than willing to follow Nicholson and Keaton into the embrace of the filmmaker's warm, wonderful, funny and touching screenplay. "It seemed to be a very personal work to Nancy," notes Keanu Reeves, who sought the role of Julian Mercer, Harry's Hamptons doctor and Erica's ardent pursuer. "It's a beautiful story, beautiful script, absolutely lovely. I thought it was clever, enjoyable and something that doesn't come around that often."

"There was also a freshness to it," Reeves continues. "A wonderful aspect of the script is the development of these characters who are so alive, searching to know themselves and each other. It's refreshing, and something you don't often see in Hollywood films. It's a shame that in American cinema, knowledge and life experience aren't really respected. Older people are either curmudgeons, or overly wise, or dying. It's nice to see the vitality, the love, the search and the union that can still occur. And with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton in those roles, it's funny, sexy and fun."

For Meyers, Reeves was a dead-on choice to portray the young physician. "What's unexpected is not that Keanu is playing a doctor," she notes. "What's unexpected is that he's the other man."

Frances McDormand - whom Meyers deems "the best possible person" for the role of Zoe, Erica's feminist studies college professor sister was drawn in by a remarkable speech written by Meyers for the character which lays down - as pithily and pungently as possible - what most women over 40 must truly think about older men forever seeking younger women. "It was that dinner table speech that did it for me," admits the Oscar®-winning actress. "And also, I would get to hang out with Diane Keaton, who I adore. She's entered our iconic consciousness as a film actor. I think people really feel like they know her, but what they really know is her comedic genius."

McDormand also appreciated the fact that, in the movie, "There's a certain nod to writers like Preston Sturges and the romantic comedies of the 30s and 40s where everyone is a little wittier than the rest of us and have a little more time to say what they mean."

Amanda Peet, who portrays Marin, Erica's daughter, who is searching for love in all the wrong places, says she was terrified when she first read opposite Nicholson. "I mean, I was shaking like a leaf," she confesses. "But the thing about Jack is that he's so playful, alert and responsive."

What made Peet so determined to win the role was her admiration for the screenplay. "It's very truthful about being single and a bit older, and there aren't a lot of movies out there that address that in a really complex way. Nancy's writing is very funny, and comedy is hard. I also just thought that this script was just incredibly romantic."

The actress also identified strongly with the role of Marin because of the script's tender but candid depiction of the ups and downs of a mother-daughter relationship. "When I first met Nancy, I told her how much the script meant to me in terms of my relationship with my mom. I related to how close Erica and Marin were."

"I met with an enormous number of beautiful young Hollywood women for this part," recalls Meyers, "but when I met Amanda, I knew that she not only had the right pedigree for the kind of girl Harry Sanborn dates, but was also the right kind of person to play Erica's daughter. There were plenty of candidates who looked like they could date Harry, but I didn't believe they were anybody's daughter. There's a lot of resonance to this story for Amanda's personal life, and that really attracted me to her for the part."

In supporting roles, Meyers cast such fine actors as Jon Favreau as Harry's loyal aide-de-camp Leo and, in a rare acting appearance, Starsky and Hutch star-turned-director Paul Michael Glaser as Erica's ex-husband Dave. "The only thing that gets movies made," notes Glaser, "contrary to what the bean counters, attorneys, agents and businessmen think, is passion. Nancy has passion, and is an extraordinarily talented and insightful writer."

Meyers also assembled a first-rate behind-the-scenes team, including producer Bruce A. Block, a longtime creative collaborator, Oscar®-winning director of photography Michael Ballhaus and production designer Jon Hutman (who had previously performed the task on What Women Want). "There's nobody I know better equipped than Nancy to bring a literate script to life in a truly cinematic way," observes Block. "What's on the page goes onto the screen in a smooth, confident road."

filming
Filming began, and would continue for an uninterrupted first eight weeks, in what would become a home away from home for Nancy Meyers and the entire Something's Gotta Give company … a tastefully magnificent Hamptons beach house, built in toto on Stage 26 at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City. This is Erica Barry's stylish Hamptons getaway, in which much of the film's action takes place, and presented the actors with an environment in which to activate their characters that felt absolutely real.

Meyers' films are visually lustrous both in their cinematography and design, and she called upon Michael Ballhaus who had previously brought New York to life on screen in films as diverse as GoodFellas, The Age of Innocence, Gangs of New York, Working Girl and Quiz Show.

"The look of the movie is important to me in terms of design," says Meyers, "because I tend to write movies that take place in bedrooms, kitchens and living rooms rather than on grand landscapes. It's fun for me to continue to define the characters through the places they choose to live."

"The whole house is meant to be Erica's dream house," observes production designer Jon Hutman. The idea is that this is the house which Erica Barry, a very successful New York playwright, has built for herself after her divorce - a haven to write in. It's essentially a two-bedroom shingle-style house for Erica and her daughter Marin, or a guest who wants to come out to the ideal getaway from Manhattan, where space is at a premium. It not only reflects Erica's taste and my taste, but Nancy's taste probably most of all, because the story is very much from her heart and all of her films are beautiful to look at. Nancy is very involved with the specifics, and she and I discuss every color, every piece of furniture, every fabric. It's very much a reflection of her aesthetic.

"But one thing that was very important to us," continues Hutman, "was that the house still felt like it was a strong reflection of Erica's character, and that it was a house that someone lived in, not generic or sterile in any way."

Erica's beach house was inspired not only by a real house in Southampton - at which the company would film exteriors later in the production schedule - but by several others which Meyers, Hutman and their team saw when they visited the Hamptons. Every detail in the house, from the fabric on the sofas to the paintings, photographs and framed memorabilia on the walls, to the dishes and crockery in the kitchen pantry, looked and seemed real, because they were real.

"Nancy wanted the house to reflect a woman living alone for the first time in her 50s," adds set decorator Beth Rubino. "We fabricated a great deal of what you see in the house. We made or augmented most of the furnishings. Nancy truly appreciates patina and quality. She enjoyed the fact that some of the pieces in the kitchen were 19th century originals from Provence, while others were purchased from e-Bay for $1.99. And still they looked great next to one another."

Because of Erica's position as a major figure in New York theatre, Rubino created Playbills bearing the fictitious titles of her plays, bound copies of the plays, framed letters from stage luminaries (such as an original from George S. Kaufman) and even Tony and Drama Desk Awards for her office in the beach house. Another extraordinary feature is Erica's personal library, displayed in the vast living room. "I'm passionate about books and passionate about detail," notes Rubino, "and I really think that what defines a person is what's on their bookshelf. So I sat down and did a breakdown of subjects that I thought would be applicable for Erica Barry: travel, theatre, finance, divorce, photography, architecture and design. Then I rented 300 feet of books from the Strand Bookstore in New York City, which is the only vendor who can supply on that type of scale."

Every day, bundles of fresh flowers and greens were carted into Stage 26 to lend the beach house even greater verisimilitude. "When you live in the Hamptons, extremely manicured landscaping and constant fresh flowers can be typical in these homes," says Rubino. "On camera there's a subtle difference between fresh and artificial flowers. I tried to use fresh cut flowers exclusively. There was the added bonus of their scent, which Diane appreciated and complimented."

Adds Hutman, "It feels like we're in a real house. It's easy to forget that we're in fact on a set, other than all of the equipment, and looking up to see the soundstage ceiling."

Throughout the shoot, all agreed that bringing Something's Gotta Give to cinematic life was a joy. "I felt that Jack and Diane were part of the process with me early on, because I was writing the script with them in mind," says Meyers. "I felt bonded to them because I put myself out there in thinking, and hoping, that they would be in the movie. Jack took direction as well as any actor I've ever worked with. I already had a relationship with Diane stretching back many years where I felt I could say anything, and she would be okay with it. There was a certain looseness on the set and mutual respect that allowed us all to be ourselves."

On the set, Meyers often plays appropriate music between scenes, and even takes, to help establish a mood (much of it eventually finding its way into the final version). Diane Keaton also believes in music as a mood-setter, and could often be seen walking to and from set with her personal CD player, getting into the spirit of things. Notes Meyers, "Sometimes, instead of going up to Jack and Diane and saying something, I'll play a song with a certain kind of feeling that sets the mood and the tone. I think music is such a big part of movies. It seems sort of crazy that it's usually added afterwards. So the more I could find it up front and fill the actors in on what the feeling of the scene was going to be, the more I felt they could feel it."

After the completion of West Coast filming, Meyers and Company packed up their crates and headed east, disembarking at that blessed tip of eastern Long Island known as The Hamptons, where much of the action of Something's Gotta Give takes place. Meyers proceeded to film three weeks of exterior sequences.