Love & Mercy - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Love & Mercy or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Love & Mercy

[albert]

The script was a major overhaul of a rejected screenplay written by Michael Alen Lerner. In this version entitled 'Heroes and Villlains', the film would have focused largely on Wilson's life between 1982 and 1993 with intermittent flashbacks to the '60s, and ending with Wilson completing Smile in 2004.

[jim]

The real Brian Wilson had minimal creative input on the film. He believed that it was "very factual", but focused too much on the dark aspects of his life. Bill Pohlad later claimed that Wilson thought some characters' depictions were treated too fairly.

[kristina]

Discounting montages and contextually ambiguous scenes, the film's "past" begins on December 23, 1964 (the real life date of Wilson's fateful panic attack while on a plane) and ends sometime after April 1968 following the birth of his first child. The "future" begins in mid-1986 and ends sometime after Landy was barred from contacting Wilson on February 6, 1992.

[tamara]

Surviving footage from 1966 of Brian Wilson and the The Beach Boys recording "Good Vibrations", "The Elements: Fire", and a solo performance of "Surf's Up" is directly referenced.

[brent]

The Beatles song referenced by Wilson's brothers was John Lennon's "Girl" from the album "Rubber Soul". It was one example where the Beatles began displaying prominent The Beach Boys influence in their music. Taking inspiration from the cohesiveness of "Rubber Soul", Brian then set out to make "Pet Sounds" an album with no filler tracks. The Beatles then responded to "Pet Sounds" with "Revolver" and, more famously, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" after Brian failed to complete "Smile".

[willard]

During the heavily symbolic pool scene, each Beach Boy is as close to the metaphorical "deep end" as they were in real life. Farthest away is Al Jardine, who was the "cleanest" band member. Closer is Mike Love (who partook in some vices), Mike Love (entered rehab for alcoholism, cocaine, heroin), Mike Love (ditto; died from alcohol-related circumstances), and Brian Wilson (alcohol, cocaine, psychedelics, amphetamines, and others).

[wallace]

"Love and Mercy" is the title of a song written by Brian Wilson. It is the opening track of his solo album "Brian Wilson', released July 1988. Eugene Landy was originally credited as the song's co-writer. After the state of California barred Landy from contacting Wilson, all of Landy's songwriting credits were removed from Wilson's songs.

[kyle]

The real Wilson reported having a mild dissociative experience while watching the film. He started to believe that Paul Giamatti was the actual Eugene Landy and felt "absolutely in fear" for several minutes.

[miriam]

Atticus Ross's original score, composed almost entirely from original The Beach Boys multi-track recording stems, was inspired by The Beatles' experimental sound collage "Revolution 9" and Danger Mouse's The Beatles/Jay-Z mash-up "The Grey Album".

[richard]

Engineer Mark Linett performs the role of Chuck Britz, the engineer who often collaborated with Wilson in the 1960s. Linett mixed and engineered many The Beach Boys-related albums and compilations, including The Pet Sounds Sessions box set and Wilson's solo album Brian Wilson Presents Smile.

[dustin]

The film avoided taking creative liberties as much as possible.

[lena]

Some parts of Wilson's life were so outlandish that the filmmakers briefly considered falsifying events or downplaying character performances in order to make it all appear less clichéd and grandstanding. In the end, Pohlad says, "We tried to make it as genuine as we could and to be straightforward about it and not back away."

[nora]

The studio scenes were improvised in a live, unrehearsed pseudo-documentary style with two 16mm handheld cameras. Paul Dano, who once played in a band, was really directing the actors on how to play their instruments, who themselves were also real life musicians. While these scenes were mostly unscripted, Dano directly quoted some lines spoken by Wilson from the original session tapes.

[tammy]

Screenwriter Oren Moverman has said that about 20 minutes of footage was excised from the film before its theatrical cut.

[addison]

To play Brian Wilson, Paul Dano first had to learn to play the piano. So he learned to do so before filming began.

[stephanie]

Bill Pohlad said that real footage of Brian Wilson was included in the film to prove to doubting audiences that Wilson really does act the way he is played by John Cusack and Paul Dano.

[janice]

A third era which focused on Brian Wilson's infamous bed period in the 1970s was considered, but ultimately discarded, leaving some of his most troubled years to the viewer's imagination. When asked who would have filled the third Wilson role, Pohlad responded that he had considered Philip Seymour Hoffman.

[kristina]

The film omits the cataclysmic "Cabin Essence" studio session which caused Van Dyke Parks to leave the "Smile" project. Instead, the event (and numerous others of "Smile" lore) were combined into one single scene located at Brian's pool, and rather than "Cabin Essence", the lyrics for "Heroes and Villains" are derided by Mike Love. His dialogue in this scene was based on an actual vintage recording where the real Mike Love refers to the song as a "nuclear disaster".

[lena]

During the Q&A at the film's premier at SXSW '15, Brian Wilson stated that his favorite scene in the movie was the intimate scene between Cusack and Banks, reflecting a happy moment between his real life wife and himself.