FILM 1956: A SIMPLE FAVOUR

FILM 1956: A SIMPLE FAVOUR

TRIVIA: The gin used in the martinis shared by Anna and Blake's charaters is Aviation (American) Gin, a company owned by Blake Lively's husband, Ryan Reynolds.

One of the reasons that Blake Lively wanted Emily to wear suits was because she wanted to differentiate Emily from the character she played on "Gossip Girl." Both characters are women in fashion from the Upper East Side. "I wanted it to be a very different look and vibe," she says.

Blake Lively wanted to create an iconic look for her character. She drew inspiration from Paul Feig's style in real life - "the buttoned up, three piece suit, bow tie, pocket square, cuff link wearing version."

The most prominent part of the soundtrack consists of French songs from the '60s.

In an interview, Anna Kendrick recalled the scene where Stephanie goes to Emily's house as being particularly fun to film. She says, "we found a way to kind of flirt with each other that was really fun, even though the things we're saying don't necessarily have that element."

Director of photography John Schwartzman was inspired by the "brightly lit, poppy colors" of David Lynch's "Blue Velvet." He says, "The idea was to not try to hide things in the shadows on this movie. Let's put it all out there in plain sight and let the audience figure out all the information."

The theme that screenwriter Jessica Sharzer was most interested in exploring was how society often forces women to choose one role to play in life, then penalizes them for breaking out of that role. "I like that this story looks at how different women decide between career and children."

Costume designer Renee Ehrlich Kalfus researched real mommy vloggers on Instagram for inspiration in creating Stephanie's look. The sweater that she wears with the pom poms was inspired by one vlog that was very "This is how you DIY kitty cats on your collar," as Kalfus puts it. (Stephanie actually does wear cats on her collar earlier in the film when she gets in touch with Sean in London.)

In order to help the audience feel as though they were really following Stephanie's vlogs, director of photography John Schwartzman chose to re-film the vlog scenes as they played back on a very high-resolution monitor. The technique allowed him to incorporate the detailed texture of the pixels on screen.

Director Paul Feig worked with Linda Cardellini, who plays Diana Hyland, on "Freaks and Geeks". He was thrilled to get another chance to work with her after 17 years.

The director of photography, John Schwartzman, previously worked on major motion pictures like "The Rock," "Jurassic World," and "Pearl Harbor." Schwartzman went to film school with Feig, but this is the first time they have worked on a film together.