'The Odd Life of Timothy Green' Director Peter Hedges on Bringing His Baby to Life (Video)
The director and writer of Disney's film talks to THR about making the drama film and casting Jennifer Garner and CJ Adams.
Screenwriter and director Peter Hedges wasn't sure where the story of Disney’s The Odd Life of Timothy Green would take him.
The comedy-fantasy-drama follows a couple, played by Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton, who can’t have kids of their own. One night, the couple writes down all the qualities they wanted in their child, places that paper in a box and buries it in the garden. A 10-year-old boy (played by CJ Adams) appears.
“The first thing I did was try to invent unusual qualities, or qualities that I could imagine me, or you, or people like us would want our kid to have," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "Because the question became, how those qualities will manifest in this boy? How they are going to play out? And that’s why I loved writing the script because I didn’t know what was going to happen."
In the film, Cindy and Jim Green (Garner and Edgerton) make mistakes trying to raise Timothy Green (Adams). “When you are a parent, you make a lot of mistakes, but you stretch those mistakes over for a long period of time," Hedges said. "I thought 'What happens if all those mistakes would happen in a short period of time?' -- they are well intended people, but they just keep messing up."
STORY: 'The Odd Life of Timothy Green' Director Peter Hedges Hits Hamptons Screening
Hedgers was thrilled that A-lister Jennifer Garner signed on to the film, as well.
“I just hoped that what I put on the page would attracted great actors, when Jennifer read the script and said ‘I wanna do the film’ I was delighted,” said the Oscar-nominated screenwriter.
The hardest part of the process was to cast the role of Timothy Green. But after an exhaustive search, Hedgers said Adams - whom he knew from his earlier film, 2007's Dan in Real Life. - was the perfect fit.
“That felt it was meant to be,” said the director. “He understood the character of Timothy so well and many ways better than me.”
VIDEO: The Odd Life Of Timothy Green: Trailer
The Odd Life of Timothy Green hits theaters on Wednesday, August 15.
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