The Lovely Bones is a 2009 supernatural drama film directed by Peter Jackson from a screenplay he co-wrote with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. It is based on Alice Sebold's 2002 novel. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, Michael Imperioli, and Saoirse Ronan. The plot follows a girl who was murdered and watches over her family from heaven. She is torn between seeking vengeance on her killer and allowing her family to heal.
A co-production between the United States, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand, The Lovely Bones was produced by Carolynne Cunningham, Walsh, Jackson, and Aimee Peyronnet, with Steven Spielberg, Tessa Ross, Ken Kamins, and James Wilson as executive producers. Principal photography began in October 2007 in New Zealand and Pennsylvania. The film's score was composed by Brian Eno.
The Lovely Bones premiered in London on November 24, 2009, and was wide released in New Zealand on December 26, 2009 and in the United States on January 15, 2010. It received mixed-negative reviews from critics; while the visual effects, the direction, and the performances of Ronan and Tucci were praised, its story and message were generally criticized. At the world box office, The Lovely Bones grossed $93.6 million on a $65 million production budget. Tucci was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs, where Ronan also received a Best Actress nomination.
Plot In 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon dreams of becoming a photographer. One day, Ray, a boy she has a crush on, asks her out. As Susie walks home through a cornfield, she runs into her neighbor, George Harvey, who coaxes her into an underground "kid's hideout" he has built. Inside, Susie grows uncomfortable and attempts to leave; Harvey grabs her and the scene fades until she is seen rushing past her alarmed classmate Ruth Connors, fleeing Harvey's den.
When Susie fails to return home from school, her father, Jack, searches for her, while her mother, Abigail, waits for the police. In town, Susie sees Jack, who does not respond to her when she calls. Susie runs home to find Harvey soaking in a bathtub. After seeing the bloody bathroom and her bracelet hanging on the sink faucet, Susie realizes she never actually escaped the hideout and Harvey murdered her. She is pulled into the "In-Between", which is neither Heaven nor Earth. From there, Susie watches over her family. Holly, a friend she makes, urges her to let go but she resists.
Jack believes Susie was murdered by someone she knew. He researches neighbors and eventually suspects Harvey is the killer. Detective Fenerman is unable to find proof, as Harvey has carefully concealed the evidence. Susie's sister, Lindsey, agrees with Jack's suspicions, but their casework takes a toll on Abigail. Abigail's alcoholic mother, Lynn, moves into the house. Feeling alienated from her husband, Abigail goes to California.
Susie, in her afterlife, learns that Harvey, who has targeted Lindsey as his next victim, has murdered six other girls, including Holly. Harvey has stuffed Susie's body into a large safe in his basement.
One night, Jack, carrying a baseball bat, trails Harvey into the cornfield. However, Jack accidentally stumbles across a teen couple named Clarissa and Brian. Brian, thinking they will be assaulted, bludgeons Jack nearly to death while Clarissa begs him to stop, and Harvey watches nearby. As Jack recuperates, Lindsey breaks into Harvey's house looking for evidence that he killed Susie. Upstairs, she finds a notebook containing a sketch of the underground den, a lock of Susie's hair, and news articles about Susie's disappearance.
Harvey returns and almost catches Lindsey, but she escapes and rushes home to discover that her mother has returned. She gives the notebook to her grandmother, who contacts the police. Harvey has already fled his home – taking the safe containing Susie's body with him.
Susie's afterlife begins expanding into a larger heaven, and she is greeted by Harvey's other victims. She resists Holly's urging her to enter Heaven along with the others, claiming she has one final thing to do. Meanwhile, Susie's classmates Ruth and Ray are present when Harvey drives up to dispose of the safe at a sinkhole dump site on the Connors' property. Susie returns to Earth and enters Ruth's body, causing Ruth to faint. Ray rushes to Ruth's aid only to realize she has become Susie. They kiss, completing Susie's last wish, and she returns to Heaven. Meanwhile, Harvey dumps the safe in the sinkhole, leaving it to disappear in the muddy water as he drives away.
Later, Harvey meets a young woman outside a diner and offers her a ride, but instead is insulted when she tells him to “piss off”. As she leaves him, an icicle drops on his shoulder and a piece gets inside the collar of his jacket. While attempting to get the ice out of his jacket, he slips backwards on the icy ground and plummets off the side of a steep cliff to his death.
Time passes, and Susie sees that her family is healing, which Susie refers to as "the lovely bones" that grew around her absence. Susie finally enters Heaven, saying, "My name is Salmon, like the fish; first name Susie. I was 14 years old when I was murdered on December 6, 1973. I was here for a moment and then I was gone. I wish you all a long and happy life".
Cast Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon, the main character and narrator. She is a 14-year-old girl who is killed by a male neighbor. Ronan was 14 years old at the time of her casting and filming. Ronan and her family were originally reluctant for her to accept the role because of the subject matter, but agreed after meeting with Jackson. Evelyn Lennon as Susie at age 3 Mark Wahlberg as Jack Salmon, Susie's father, who becomes obsessed with his daughter's murder case. Wahlberg said that his role in the film encouraged him to be a more cautious parent with his three children and to talk to them more about "not talking to strangers." Rachel Weisz as Abigail Salmon, Susie's mother. After Susie's murder, Abigail despairs and abandons the family. Weisz stated that playing the character and the film and novel's "uplifting theme" made her look at life as a "treasure". She said the film gave her a "positive feeling" in total, rather than a "depressed" one. Susan Sarandon as Grandma Lynn, Susie's maternal grandmother. Sarandon said that her character is like a "comic relief" and that her character deals with the pain of Susie's death by drinking, smoking and shooting guns. Stanley Tucci as George Harvey, a serial killer who murdered Susie. Tucci said that he had researched his role by watching documentaries and reading books by criminal profiler John E. Douglas about catching serial killers. His wife Kate had urged him against taking the role. After having read the novel, she felt that the subject matter was "too harrowing." Michael Imperioli as Detective Len Fenerman, the detective in charge of investigating Susie's death. Rose McIver as Lindsey Salmon, Susie's 13-year-old younger sister. She is the first to suspect that Harvey was involved in Susie's death. Jackson cast McIver particularly because she was an unknown actress. McIver said that she had read and been a fan of the novel before having been cast in the film. Christian Thomas Ashdale as Buckley Salmon, Susie's 4-year-old younger brother. Reece Ritchie as Ray Singh, Susie's love interest and friend who is strongly affected by Susie's death. Carolyn Dando as Ruth Connors, a classmate of Susie's. Jackson said that, after he had searched all over the world for the role, he ultimately chose to cast Dando, a relatively unknown New Zealand actress, who was working as a waitress. Charlie Saxton as Ronald Drake, one of the murder suspects. AJ Michalka as Clarissa, Susie's best friend, who is dating Brian Nelson. Michalka was better known as a musician prior to this role. Nikki SooHoo as Denise "Holly" Le Ang, Susie's best friend in Heaven and another of Harvey's victims. Jake Abel as Brian Nelson, Clarissa's boyfriend. He beats up Jack, believing he would assault him and Clarissa. Thomas McCarthy as Principal Caden.
Production Development In May 2000, Film4 Productions acquired feature film rights to Alice Sebold's novel The Lovely Bones, before the manuscript was completed. Producer Aimee Peyronnet had sought to attract studio interest to the manuscript, and an insider informed Film4's deputy head of production, Jim Wilson, of the project. The company attached Luc Besson and Peyronnet's production company Seaside to the project, two years before the novel's publication. By February 2001, Lynne Ramsay was hired to write and direct the film adaptation of the novel. In July 2002, Channel 4 shut down Film4, causing Hollywood studios and producers to pursue acquisition of feature film rights to The Lovely Bones, which had spent multiple weeks at the top of the New York Times Best Seller list.
The film adaptation, which had been estimated at a budget of $15 million, remained with Channel 4 under its newly developed inhouse film unit, with Ramsay still contracted to write and direct. By October 2002, Ramsay was writing the script with fellow screenwriter Liana Dognini, with filming planned for summer 2003. Author Sebold was invited by the producers to provide input on the project.
In July 2003, the studio DreamWorks negotiated a first-look deal with producer Peyronnet, after DreamWorks co-founder Steven Spielberg expressed interest in the project. DreamWorks did not acquire the rights to the novel, and Ramsay was eventually detached from the project. She says that FilmFour wanted a version more faithful to the novel.
In April 2004, producers Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens entered negotiations to develop the project. Jackson described the book as "a wonderfully emotional and powerful story. Like all the best fantasy, it has a solid grounding in the real world". By January 2005, Jackson and Walsh planned to independently purchase film rights and to seek studio financing after a script had been developed. The producers sought to begin adapting a spec script for The Lovely Bones in January 2006, with the goal of script completion and budget estimation by the following May.
Jackson explained he enjoyed the novel because he found it "curiously optimistic" and uplifting because of the narrator's sense of humor, adding there was a difference between its tone and subject matter. He felt very few films dealt with the loss of a loved one. Jackson foresaw the most challenging element in the novel to adapt was the portrayal of Susie, the protagonist, in her heaven, and making it "ethereal and emotional but not hokey". Saoirse Ronan later said that Jackson chose to depict the afterlife as depending on Susie's emotions. "Whenever Susie feels happy, Heaven is sunny and there's birds and everything. Whenever it's not so great, it's raining or she's in the middle of an ocean". Jackson described the book's description of "heaven" as being an "In-Between" rather than a true heaven and said that he was not trying to paint a definitive picture of heaven itself. "[W]hen Jackson created Susie's heaven, in a 1973 world, he went through the Partridge Family television show archives as a reference".