High Fidelity (film)
Directed by Stephen Frears
Produced by Tim Bevan, Rudd Simmons
Written by Nick Hornby (book),D.V. DeVincentis,Steve Pink,John Cusack,Scott Rosenberg
Starring John CusackIben, HjejleJack Black,Todd Louiso,Joan Cusack,Catherine Zeta-Jones,Lisa Bonet
Music by Howard Shore
Cinematography Seamus McGarvey
Editing by Mick Audsley
Studio Working Title Films
Distributed by Touchstone Pictures
Release date(s) March 28, 2000
Running time 113 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $20,000,000 (est.)
Gross revenue $27,277,055 (USA)
High Fidelity is a 2000 film directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Cusack. The film is based on the 1995 British novel of the same name by Nick Hornby. After seeing the film, Hornby expressed his happiness with John Cusack’s performance as Rob Gordon (changed from Rob Fleming in the book), saying, “At times, it appears to be a film in which John Cusack reads my book”.
Production
Nick Hornby’s book was optioned by Disney’s Touchstone Pictures in 1995 where it went into development for three years.[1] Disney boss Joe Roth had a conversation with recording executive Kathy Nelson who recommended John Cusack and his writing and producing partners D.V. DeVincentis and Steve Pink adapt the book. She had worked previously with them on Grosse Pointe Blank and felt that they had the right sensibilities for the material.[2] According to Cusack, DeVincentis is the closest to the record-obsessive characters in the film, owning 1,000 vinyl records and thousands of CDs and tapes.[3] They wrote a treatment that was immediately greenlit by Roth.[2]
Screenplay
The writers decided to change the book’s setting from London to Chicago because they were more familiar with the city and it also had a “great alternative music scene”, according to Pink.[4] Cusack said, “When I read the book I knew where everything was in Chicago. I knew where the American Rob went to school and dropped out, where he used to spin records, I knew two or three different record shops when I was growing up that had a Rob, a Dick and a Barry in them”.[5] Charlotte Tudor, of the film’s distributor, Buena Vista, said: “Chicago has the same feel as north London, there is a vibrant music scene, a lot of the action is set in smoky bars and, of course, there is the climate. But everyone, including Nick, felt that geography was not the central issue. It has a universal appeal”.[6]
Cusack found that the greatest challenge adapting the novel was pulling off Rob Gordon’s frequent breaking of the fourth wall and talking directly to the audience.[1] The screenwriters did this in order to convey Rob’s inner confessional thoughts and were influenced by a similar technique in the Michael Caine film, Alfie.[1] Cusack rejected this approach because he thought that “there’d just be too much of me”.[1] Once director Stephen Frears signed on to direct, he suggested using this technique and everyone agreed to use it.[1]
Cusack and the other writers thought of the idea to have Rob have a conversation with Bruce Springsteen in his head, inspired by a reference in Hornby’s book where the narrator wishes he could handle his past girlfriends as well as the musician does in the song, “Bobby Jean” on Born in the U.S.A..[7] They never thought that they would actually get the musician to be in the film but that putting him in the script would get the studio excited about it.[1] Cusack knew Springsteen socially and called the musician up and pitched the idea. Springsteen asked for a copy of the script and afterwards agreed to do it.[1]
Casting
The filmmakers read with a lot of actresses for the role of Laura. Frears was at the Berlin Film Festival and saw Mifune’s Last Song starring Iben Hjejle and realized that he had found the actress for the role.
Frears read Hornby’s book and enjoyed it but did not connect with the material because it was not about his generation.[8] He accepted the job because he wanted to work with Cusack again (they had worked together previously on The Grifters) and liked the idea of changing the setting from London to Chicago.[8] The director was also responsible for insisting on keeping Jack Black on as Barry.[8] Frears has said that many people from the studio would come to watch his rushes.[9]



![Sweet Memories....274/365 [Explore] #1 Sweet Memories....274/365 [Explore] #1](http://static.flickr.com/7047/6948702431_7b0dc74f21_t.jpg)

