By: debbie lynn elias
Sweeping one up in the magic and awe of hope, imagination and miracles, powerfully filling the heart, THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN is a story filled with the heart and magic of a classic Disney fairy tale. Directed by Peter Hedges and written by Hedges and Ahmet Zappa, THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN has a classic timeless quality to it that captures magical elements of life in its concept , grounds them with contemporary issues – infertility, the recession, “Made in America” economics and pride, Small Town U.S.A., family – and surrounds those elements with natural, free-flowing familial humor.
Jim and Cindy Green are desperate for a child. Living in the small town of Stanleyville, close-knit families and friends are what life is all about. The only industry is the Stanleyville Pencil Factory where Jim is a supervisor while Cindy is curator of the Stanleyville Pencil Museum. And while Jim and Cindy have a happy life, they feel the absence of a child every day. On learning that they can never have a child of their own, they vow to accept what Fate has handed them, but not before they allow themselves one night, one night to dream; to dream of the perfect child. And so one by one, they scribble down all the traits that their child would have and placing the little slips of paper into a box, they bury it in the garden as a child would bury a hidden treasure box.
But what happens when Jim and Cindy awaken in the night and find a mud covered little boy named Timothy sitting in a cardboard box in the spare bedroom in the house? It seems that Fate wasn’t quite finished with the Greens as this living, breathing 10 year old boy is like a gift from the gods. Timothy is their little bit of heaven, their little piece of magic, their son. And he has leaves growing out of his legs.
With a touch of pixie dust (and some Disney magic) glistening over the Greens, Timothy becomes not only a part of the Green family, but an integral part of the community, touching the lives of all like the warmth of a noon day sun.
There is no one who can better portray Cindy Green than Jennifer Garner. Bringing an over-protective and enthusiastic sensibility laced with giddy innocence to Cindy that only a real-life mom can do, Garner makes Cindy resonate with reality and warmth. “I loved that Cindy packs [Timothy’s] backpack for the first day of school because she never had that ‘diaper bag moment’, so that is her diaper bag. The first time you pack a diaper bag and it’s so stuffed full you can’t find anything! Now I stick a diaper in my purse and figure the rest will take care of itself. I love how over-invested she is in her son playing soccer. I love her telling her sister he can do things he can’t.” Yes, Garner makes Cindy more than a real mom.
Similarly, Joel Edgerton, although not a real-life dad, gives Jim that Jimmy Stewart everyman “dad” persona doing all the father-son things that are so “Americana” but while adding a level of flummox that seems inherent to first-time dads. Drawing on the strength of his own memories of his relationship with his own father and recalling dad working and the silent stoicism that came with the job, resonated with Edgerton and the family theme of THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN. “I keep getting drawn to the same stuff. You could say Warrior and Animal Kingdom are all so much about family. It drew me in. The word unconditional really resonates for me with family. I was thinking no matter what a child does, there’s an in built thing where we just want to stay connected. That’s pretty rare. The older they get, the interest level from the parent doesn’t die. People are glued to their kids. There’s a pride, but at the same time, an inherent forgiveness.”
But the real joy is CJ Adams who steals the show as Timothy. According to director Peter Hedges, “There are a lot of amazing child actors but there aren’t that many that could play Timothy that have that kind of innate wisdom, be odd enough, unique enough, smart enough. He’s not precocious at all. As Joel [Edgerton] says in the script, ‘I don’t want one of those annoying perfect kids.’ Well, you don’t want one of those annoying overacting kids. He knows more about Timothy Green than I do. He’s a remarkable kid!” Hedges instincts are spot on as the more you watch Adams both in character and in person, the more you watch him, the more you just ant to wrap your arms around him and bask in the glow of him the way Timothy lifts his arms to the sun. An old soul with all the wide-eyed innocence, honesty and charm of a child, he is beyond a delight. Exacting, simple, organic flow to his dialogue delivery, physical expressions and movements. Very minimalist, almost as if director Peter Hedges likens him to nature and how one can just appreciate it without forcing anything.
Adams sees a lot of similarities between himself and Timothy which aided in bringing Timothy to life. “We look a lot alike. I noticed that. [laughing] Timothy would always inspire people the keep going. If anyone was in trouble, he would be there for them. And that’s what I try my best to do. I don’t lie that much, but if there was something serious I had to lie about, I would. Most of the time I try not to.” Of course, playing Timothy did present its own unique set of challenges for Adams. “There’s a couple of scenes of me drawing and I’m really not that good.” But the most difficult scenes for Adams definitely involved soccer. An avid and skilled soccer player in real life, when it came to Timothy’s less then stellar abilities, Adams found “It was hard doing bad moves. Whenever I had to do the scenes where I would have to act bad, I’d think back to when I first started. I remembered doing a move where I’d roll my foot over the ball but I would trip over the ball and fall.”
I would be remiss not to mention my friend, veteran “working actor” M. Emmet Walsh who brings his own patented banter, charm and laughter to the role of Uncle Bub. While more often than not cast as somewhat curmudgeonly, here as Uncle Bub, Walsh is anything but. I spoke with him not too long after filming was completed and without even seeing a cut of the film, he raved about its “sweetness” and “nice family quality.” He was right. And his praises for his young co-star CJ Adams were unending. Describing Adams as a “real trooper”, “a fine young man” and a “pleasure to work with”, Adams reciprocated the compliments and more during our exclusive interview during the press junket. Just wait until you see Adams and Walsh go toe-to-toe! Talk about magic!
Not to be missed are Dianne Wiest and Shohreh Aghdashloo who, although with minimal screen time, bring their own magic to the film. Wiest is delicious as town matriarch and owner of the Stanleyville Pencil Museum, Ms. Crudstaff, and is as perfect as a brand new #2 pencil (and as rigid)! On the other hand, as adoption agency/social worker, Evette Onat, Aghdashloo serves as the audience for Cindy Green’s tale and with a mere syllable or look, easily conveys what each of us may be thinking in the theater, be it shock, mouth-adape-surprise, arched eyebrow disbelief…she is masterful.
As Timothy’s best friend, Joni, Odeya Rush brings her own brand of magic to the mix with a cutting edge, offbeat silent sweetness that is the perfect compliment to the joy of CJ Adams.
Written by Peter Hedges and Ahmet Zappa (based on a story envisioned by Zappa while in the shower), and directed by Hedges, the narrative technique of flashback in the form of telling a fairy tale works brilliantly…and thankfully, it is consistently told in one voice – that of Cindy, so we have a constant POV for the storyteller. For Hedges, whose scripts and films always center around and gravitate towards family, THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN is perhaps of the most personal films, Hedges has done to date. “Some times it’s the family we’re born into and some times it’s the family you find – that you create. For me, family is always interesting. I like stories of families that are particularly well intended, but are broken. They are doing the best they can and it’s never good enough.” To capture this element, Hedges “[W]anted to have the magical element but not rely on it; or let it be implied that magic is possible. If you long and yearn, and if there’s love, maybe the implication is magic is possible. If you don’t give up and your intentions are good, maybe magic can happen.”
While I can appreciate the need to establish basic serious plot points at the get-go, the initial scenes, while they may be appreciated by the adults, will try the patience of children, starting with a depressing “hackneyed” doctor’s office visit as part of “a real life fairy tale” being told to an adoption agency worker. Trust me that if you just sit tight through these few minutes, then the story and charm of CJ Adams will take hold and carry you all the way to the end. Carrying the theme of family into generations, a sub-plot of Jim Green and his father, Jim Sr. (A great turn by David Morse) gets lost and adds an unevenness to the film. While one can easily see where Hedges and Zappa are going with the multi-generational father-son theme and how Jim Jr. is not going to repeat the way he was treated by Jim Sr. when it comes to his parenting of Timothy, the concept falls short. We see Jim Sr. engaging with Timothy and other kids playing dodge ball, albeit a bit violently, and he does show up at Timothy’s soccer games, although he leaves when Timothy isn’t put in the game, but we don’t see the “horrible” failure that Jim Jr. alludes to.
Embracing the beauty of nature to the point of being celebratory, visuals are exquisitely captured in John Toll’s cinematography. Beyond the visual beauty, the lighting and framing showcase and embrace the golden glow of fall with its rich deep colors and warmth, adding textured emotional layers through the images to create a hominess which just furthers the film’s overall embracing quaintness and charm. The vibrancy of color juxtapositioned against a softening yet warming noon sun is simply beautiful.
Production design of Wynn Thomas and art direction of James Hegedus integrate the colors and concept of nature with such attention to detail and thematic cohesion so as to add to the magic of the story. Leaves play a big part in the film’s design, extending into the small throw rug by the kitchen island, wallpaper and even carried through with costuming, such as a dark blue dress with leaf pattern flocking worn by Cindy. Breathtakingly beautiful is a secret garden built by Timothy and his friend Joni. Disappointingly, very little time is spent showcasing this masterful creation that is not only visually stunning, but emotionally heart-stopping.
While there was some behind the scenes pixie dust used to help create the magic that is THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN, when it Timothy himself, good old fashioned make-up methods were used for not only creating the leaves on his legs, but the mud on his body. For Adams, while fun having leaves on his legs, the application and removal process left much to be desired. “It wasn’t fake. They had plastic leaves on my legs. It wasn’t computer generated. It was all real. They made it seem real. I noticed when they had the clear pad. I would always look in the scene, but couldn’t find it – where they would put the glue on to stick it to my leg. Probably what took the longest amount of time was they had to put veins on my legs. That took awhile. But the leaves, you’d stick a little glue on and slap it on – you’re good.” Of course removing the leaves was a bit more difficult with scrubbing and Band-Aid like quick removal.
Although the film’s ending loses some of the oomph and magical charm that CJ and his storyline of Timothy brings throughout the film, and lacks the sweet surprise that continually unfolds earlier, THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN is still “oddly” wonderful and magically charming.
Timothy Green – CJ Adams
Cindy Green – Jennifer Garner
Jim Green – Joel Edgerton
Uncle Bub – M. Emmet Walsh
Ms. Crudstaff – Dianne Wiest
Evette Onat – Shohreh Aghdashloo
Jim Green, Sr. – David Morse
Joni Jerome – Odeya Rush
Directed by Peter Hedges. Written by Hedges and Ahmet Zappa.
