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Pie in the Sky

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Original title

Pie in the Sky (Mr. Traffic)

Year

1996

Running time

95 min.

Country

United States

Director

Bryan Gordon

Screenwriter

Bryan Gordon

Cast

Music

Michael Convertino

Producer

Fine Line Features

Genre

Romance. Comedy | Romantic Comedy

Synopsis

Pie in the Sky (Mr. Traffic) is the saga of a young man, Charlie Dunlap (Josh Charles) whose two life-consuming passions are traffic gridlock and Amy (Anne Heche), a dancer who was once the girl-next-door. Charlie finds out the hard way that life is more like a highway than he could ever imagine, stop and go all the way. Ultimately he learns to throw caution to the wind and follow his dream and, most importantly, to believe in and hold onto his one true love.

PRODUCTION NOTES FROM FINE LINE FEATURES:

Webster's Dictionary defines "pie-in-the-sky" as a "prospect or promise of deferred happiness or prosperity." For writer-director Bryan Gordon, the definition is much simpler than that. "It's about chasing your dreams," he says, "and never letting go."

Charlie Dunlap's dogged pursuit of his "pie-in-the-sky" dream mirrors Gordon's desire to get PIE IN THE SKY made. When he wrote the script almost five years ago, Gordon didn't realize that his road would be as long and as filled with detours as any that Charlie Dunlap had to navigate. "This film was truly a labor of love," says Gordon. While pursuing his quest to get PIE IN THE SKY made the way he wanted, Gordon was also offered scripts to direct.

In 1992 Gordon was invited to develop his script and work on his directing at the writers and filmmakers labs at Robert Redford's Sundance Institute. Once Gordon was ready to roll, he endured a variety of mishaps, including the first film company that greenlit PIE IN THE SKY going under. His perseverance finally paid off when producers Denise Shaw and Allan Mindel came on board, having just finished their first Fine Line Features film Bodies, Rest, and Motion. "We loved the script," says Shaw, "and knew that it would attract a smart cast as well as some of the wonderful talent we had just worked with on Bodies including Oscar-and-Grammy-nominated composer Michael Convertino, and cinematographer Bernd Heinl."

Nearly five years from the time Gordon began the screenplay, PIE IN THE SKY premiered to very enthusiastic audiences at the 1995 Telluride Film Festival. The film will be featured in the American Spectrum section at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival.

"Charlie's obsession with traffic could be about anything," says Gordon, "it could be about my obsession as a writer trying to get this film made the way I wanted. Charlie's whole life," continues Gordon, "is about the constant pursuit of what he wants, or at least what he thinks he wants, at any given stage in his development. Whether it be sex, love, or traffic, Charlie continually moves forward, seeking all the opportunities and hoping for success in these three very vital areas of his life." For Gordon, traffic--and its subsequent gridlock--was a completely natural metaphor for the evolution of Charlie's life. As Gordon points out, "We're with Charlie every time he takes a wrong turn, every time he gets lost, every time he changes lanes. Luckily, too, we're there when he eventually finds his way home."

Cast as Charlie is Josh Charles, who was previously seen in Dead Poets Society and Threesome. "It's the movement, the progression of the story and its characters that really interested me," says Charles. "And I loved the idea that the highway is a character unto itself; it's a friend to Charlie, it's his lifeline. It's what allows Charlie to escape his small town, to pursue his career, and it is eventually what leads him to the woman he loves."

That woman is Amy, an avant-garde dancer, whom Charlie first meets at the age of ten. For actress Anne Heche, who studied and danced with The Bridge, the Los Angeles-based dance company, the role of Amy was an opportunity to explore "the struggle to find the truths about love. I immediately connected with the love between Charlie and Amy," says Heche, "and how we constantly have to fight for things, how we inevitably screw it up, and how we eventually come back together. The big difference in our love story," she continues, "is that we meet when we're ten, not when we're eighteen or twenty. As adults, Charlie and Amy are a perfect match--she's obsessed with her dancing, and he's obsessed with his traffic. I think they have a mutual respect and understanding of each other's all-consuming nature."

The filmmakers' attention to casting is reflected in their choices for the supporting cast as well. "It was essential to the story," says Gordon, "to fill Charlie's life with strong personalities who lay the foundation for his unique perspective on life and love. We got very lucky with the rest of the ensemble cast, in terms of their availability and their sincere interest in the project."

John Goodman portrays "Sky King" Alan Davenport, whom he describes as "a guy at the bottom of the talent pool who lucked his way to the top. "He's kind of a sad figure," says Goodman, "in the fact that he's going through a mid-life crisis and doesn't quite have a handle on it. Being the self-important piece of work that he is, Alan is quite impressed by Charlie only because Charlie knows all about Alan Davenport. It's a big ego stroke for him." For Goodman, working with Josh Charles was something of a family reunion. About fifteen years ago, Goodman was directed by the actor's father in two local car commercials in Baltimore.

Academy Award-nominated actress Christine Lahti portrays Ruby, the hot-blooded landlady who provides Charlie with some life lessons upon his arrival in Los Angeles. "Ruby is such an 'alive' character," Lahti says, "so very passionate. She's a Cuban wannabe who believes in celebrating everything from eating beans, to dancing, to making love in the shower. And I think she recognizes a similar passion in Charlie that makes her want to teach him how to be a man, how to make love, and how to love life."

Charlie's parents are played by Peter Riegert and Christine Ebersole; his best friend is played by Wil Wheaton. For Riegert and Ebersole, it was a chance to play characters who age twenty years over the course of the film. "It's always interesting and challenging to be able to age a character," says Ebersole, "to go backward and forward through time." "Yeah, it's definitely interesting to span twenty years," says Riegert, "but more interesting to me was the drama of the complications of the nuclear family...and the way Charlie learns how to communicate from his parents. Some people might call it hostile arguing; they think it's just loud negotiating. Of course, they also resolve their differences by making love...so it's a truly unique approach."

Principal photography took place in Los Angeles and Ventura counties in California. For a film whose main character is obsessed with traffic, the choice of location was inevitable.

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User history

Pie in the Sky

1996

Bryan Gordon