film directed by brothers Chris Weitz
and Paul Weitz
, based on the novel of the same name by Nick Hornby
. The film stars Golden Globe winner Hugh Grant
as Will, Nicholas Hoult
as Marcus, Academy Award nominee Toni Collette
as Fiona, and Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz
as Rachel. The film at times uses double voice-over
narration, where the audience hears both Will's and Marcus's thoughts.
It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Will Freeman (Hugh Grant
) lives a very comfortable and leisurely lifestyle in London thanks to substantial royalties
left to him from the successful Christmas song that his father composed.
He fancies you. He told me.
You don't give a shit about anyone and no one gives a shit about you!
I think I killed a duck!
I wanna be with her more, I wanna be with her all the time, and I wanna tell her things I don't even tell you or mum. And I don't want her to have another boyfriend. I suppose if I could have all those things, I wouldn't really mind if I touched her or not.
Suddenly I realized - two people isn't enough. You need backup. If there are only two people, and someone drops off the edge, then you're on your own. Two isn't a large enough number. You need three at least.
[Thinking] I used to think two was not enough. But now things are great; there are loads of people... I don't know what Will was so pissed off about. I don't think couples are the future. The way I see it now, we both got back-up now. It's like that thing Jon Bon Jovi said: 'No man is an island.'
The thing is, a person's life is like a TV show. I was the star of The Will Show. And The Will Show wasn't an ensemble drama. Guests came and went, but I was the regular. It came down to me and me alone. If Marcus' mum couldn't manage her own show, if her ratings were falling, it was sad, but that was her problem. Ultimately, the whole single mum plotline was a bit complicated for me.
This crying in the morning thing, this depression, let's get that fixed.
I was in some strange territory. Was I frightened? I was petrified.
In my opinion, all men are islands. And what's more, now's the time to be one. This is an island age.