One of the best original screenplays of recent years, it’s a miracle Eternal Sunshine got made let alone turned out as good as it did. It’s one of those projects that to work on you either knew it was going to be special or had no idea if it would even make sense. Over the course of the 12 week shoot there was time to consider both, especially when the script was being rewritten during filming and Michel Gondry would encourage improvisation with both the cast and his crew, aiming to combine location-shoot authenticity with unpredictable flashes of whimsy. Gondry himself pulled from the experimentation of the French New Wave and his own music video background.
Also, there wasn’t a lot of money. Salaries for a cast that includes Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo and Elijah Wood would make this a very expensive risk. Eternal Sunshine’s total budget was around 20 million, and as far as I could research over half was spent on the cast. Most of the special effects were done in camera and the next biggest expense were the sets by Dan Leigh, especially the house that gets washed away.
Leave A Comment