Did You Know This About…Her
Spoiler phrases: “Annie” and “Samantha Morton”
Spike Jonze’s film centred as a metaphor for how we are in an age where society is falling in love with the sophistication of technology. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore Twombly, a man who falls in love with an artificially intelligent virtual assistant voiced by Scarlett Johansson.
Released in 2013, the film was favourable amongst critics and was nominated various awards, winning Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards and Best Fantasy Film at the Saturn Awards for example. But, what are the stories behind the making of the film? We have thrown together a list of facts that you may or may not have known…
Samantha Morton was originally the voice of Samantha
Before Scarlett Johansson was in the recording booth, there was actually someone else in her place. Samantha Morton was originally in the role and and was on set with Joaquin Phoenix every day. Once filming had wrapped, director Spike Jonze was editing and felt there was something not quite right.
After speaking to Morton and getting her blessing, the role was recast and all dialogue was re-recorded by Johansson.
Amy Adams and Joaquin Phoenix would be locked in a room together
Spike Jonze felt it was important that Amy Adams and Joaquin Phoenix had as much chemistry as possible. He would essentially lock them both in a room together every one or two days for a couple of hours and make them talk.
As unethical as it sounds, Adams actually credits this technique for her close relationship with Phoenix.
Steven Soderbergh helped during the editing process
Spike Jonze’s cut of the film ran for 150 minutes, and so he needed help in cutting this down. To help, he brought in Steven Soderbergh to help in cutting it down and told him to just use his instincts as a filmmaker.
Within 24 hours, Soderbergh came back with a 90 minute cut, which helped Jonze to land on his final cut of 126 minutes.
Amy Adams would cheer herself up with musical numbers when filming emotional scenes
When it came to filming some of the more emotional scenes, Adams would need some pick-me-ups to boost the mood. She would listen to musical numbers from the likes of Annie and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Eventually, Joaquin Phoenix would join in with her, but this ended once they noticed Spike Jonze filming them. Nice one, Jonze, we now know that somewhere there is footage of Lois Lane and The Joker singing Time Warp.
Carey Mulligan was originally cast in the film
Rooney Mara was actually not the first choice for the role of Catherine. The Great Gatsby‘s Carey Mulligan was actually originally cast in the role. However, as usual, scheduling conflicts got in the way and she had to drop out.
Mara was then cast and from there, we have our final fact…
Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix met during filming
Mara and Phoenix became close friends off the back of filming Her. From there they started dating in 2016 and became engaged in 2019. Mara fell pregnant in 2020 and gave birth in September of that year to their son River, named after Phoenix’s late brother of course.
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