When producer John Davis first read the script of 'Life or Something Like It' he responded to its comedic and inspirational elements. "I believed that Lanie was a strong woman who ultimately finds herself, and I was captivated by the story's humour and warmth, as well as the emotional journey Lanie takes in the story," Davis comments.

Lanie's strength and complexities called for an actress who could bring those special qualities, plus the expected star wattage, to the character. Davis and Regency Enterprises executives had their sights set on Angelina Jolie. However, Jolie had planned on taking a break from acting after the rigors of shooting Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. "I didn't want to do another film," she recalls. "I wanted to stay at home and work and focus on family and other important things in life. Then I got this script and somebody said to me it's about everything you've been talking about. So when I read it, I realised it meant so much to me, and I thought it had a beautiful message in it."

"Lanie is very ambitious and takes herself very seriously, but because she's so serious about perfection she's slightly funny," Jolie elaborates. "When she realises she's going to die she kind of flips out and through that somehow is forced to be broken down to be human, much like a very pretty princess falling in the mud."

The film also offered Jolie her first opportunity to star in a comedic role. "I've never done a comedy and when I read it I thought it was a challenge because I was thinking there's no way I could possibly play a woman like this because I'm far too serious," Jolie laughs. "Then I started to play with the ideas of how she'd look, or things she'd do, and I couldn't get the story out of my head."

John Davis, delighted to have Jolie aboard the project, takes special note of what became the perfect convergence of "reel" and real life for the actress. "I think the way Angelina embraced the script and attached herself to the movie is very interesting. She found a piece of material that helped her complete the transition she was going through in life and that's one of the reasons why she is so good as the character."

Director Stephen Herek worked to seamlessly mix and expand upon the story's humour and pathos. "The story is about redemption and saving one's soul," Herek notes. "What we think is important in our lives a lot of times is very superficial and what we find is truly important is finding peace within your inner self."

Herek re-teamed with his Hudson Bay production company partner, producer Toby Jaffe, with whom he had recently worked on the comedy Rock Star. Jaffe offers, "When Steve and I read the script of Life or Something Like It we both immediately fell in love with it and thought it was a very funny cautionary tale about the American Dream. When Lanie is told that she will die in a week, it causes her to turn her whole life upside down and re-evaluate everything, in a comedic way, and get back in touch with who she really is and where she really came from."

Screenwriter John Scott Shepherd drew inspiration for the screenplay from career-driven professionals - including newscasters and attorneys from mid-sized cities - whom he perceived as craving the limelight as much as advancement. "I found myself looking around at celebrity-driven professionals in mid-sized towns who seemed to have decided their life was perfect," says Shepherd, a Kansas City resident. "I pondered what is it they require and decide to declare their life perfect? And then how far beneath the surface did you have to look to find where the heartbreak was? Because it always seemed to be there."

The goal of both Shepherd and co-screenwriter Dana Stevens was to move away from the common situational romantic comedy. Unlike many modern romantic comedies built on the notion that one of the two parties is actively looking for love, Life or Something Like It looks at Lanie, a woman in crisis, and the journey she must take. Love is the reward, not the journey itself.

Dana Stevens comments: "Lanie and Pete, the cameraman played by Edward Burns, represent two sides of the argument about what's the most important thing in life: love, career, work or family? I think that's a more scintillating way to have a relationship than you often see in traditional romantic comedies.

"I think if you were told you were going to die in a week, number one you'd feel in a certain sense incredibly liberated," Stevens adds. "Like you can do anything, because nothing matters anymore. But on the other hand you might also begin to want to make connections and have important moments that maybe you never got to have."

The film also embraces some beloved aspects of classic romantic comedies. Under Herek's direction, the film evolved to interweave unconventional elements with the look and feel of the classic romantic comedies of the forties and fifties, as well as a rollicking rendition, led by an inebriated Lanie at a union rally, of the Rolling Stones' ("I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." "The script has a lot of quick flying banter, lots of insults that Lanie and Pete hurl at each other, and an old-fashioned romantic comedy relationship," Herek explains. "And Lanie has a throwback look of the era."

Davis admired how the director grasped the script and took it to a higher level. "It's the director's sensibility that's going to guide the performance, more comedic, more dramatic and it's his interpretation that is going to elevate the movie. And Steve came in and elevated the entire package. That's what you want a director to do. It's something that doesn't happen very often and when it does it's that magic that makes a movie work."

Herek and Regency assembled an impressive cast and crew. For Pete, Lanie's colleague with whom she has long been at odds following a less than successful one-night fling, Herek put himself in the position of matchmaker. He looked to an actor who would not only complement Lanie but someone who could play the understated romantic lead. He found just that in Edward Burns, an actor who projects the ease and comfort of an old fashioned movie star but also has a caustic, street-smart attitude that Herek knew would fit perfectly for the role of Lanie's love-hate interest.

The two roles are clearly opposites. Lanie craves celebrity and success while Pete has shunned loftier ambitions and a successful New York network job as a cameraman, electing to relocate to Seattle to be near his ex-wife and young son. Burns explains, "Pete's attitude toward life is different than Lanie's in that he has given up the hardcore career aspirations. In the past, he probably focused on being the best in his field, now he's got a different set of priorities such as trying to be a good dad to his son."

Coincidentally, Burns had worked on the assignment desk at a news show in New York after graduating from college. A noted director, producer and screenplay writer himself, Burns offers, "I was first attracted to the script as I am somewhat familiar with the world of local television news. I'm also a big fan of old-style romantic comedies and Steve Herek is taking a genre that has lost a lot of fun in the last couple of years and he played with it in a fun way."

The character Angelina Jolie portrays a woman who sees the world and herself through rose-colored glasses. Her perfectionist personality is revealed through her extensive, expensive wardrobe and accessories. But as she embarks on her personal journey, her style reflects the dramatic changes she at first resists, but then embraces.

Working together closely with Jolie was Academy Award®-nominated costume designer Aggie Rodgers (The Color Purple), who previously collaborated with Herek on Rock Star, Mr. Holland's Opus and Holy Man. Working with Jolie's long-time hair stylist Colin Jamison and personal make-up artist Janeen Schreyer, Rodgers transformed Jolie from a brunette to a stunning platinum blond, complete with a wardrobe and hairstyle that evokes the look of a fifties-era movie star bombshell.

"Angelina was clear from the beginning, that's how she wanted to look," says Rodgers. I also think Angelina's choice to wear the Dolce & Gabbana line was a really good one. They are beautiful suits, strong colors and great textures that fit her just perfectly." The suit's long arms, very narrow ribcage and pencil late-fifties skirt, complemented the actor's enviable figure and the image Jolie envisioned for Lanie Kerrigan.
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