Up in the Air is a 2009 American comedy-drama film directed by Jason Reitman. It was written by Reitman and Sheldon Turner from Walter Kirn's 2001 novel. The story is centered on traveling corporate "downsizer" Ryan Bingham (George Clooney). Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, and Jason Bateman also star. Up in the Air was primarily filmed in St. Louis with additional scenes shot in Detroit, Omaha, Las Vegas, and Miami.
Reitman promoted Up in the Air with personal appearances at film festivals, starting with Telluride on September 5, 2009. Following a Los Angeles premiere at the Mann Village Theater in November, Paramount Pictures gave Up in the Air a wide release on December 23, 2009.
Up in the Air was met with critical acclaim, for Reitman's screenplay and direction, and the performances by Clooney, Farmiga, and Kendrick. It was also a box office success, grossing $166 million worldwide against a $25 million budget. The film received several accolades, including six nominations each at the Oscars and the Golden Globes, winning Best Screenplay at the latter. A number of critics and publications included Up in the Air on their lists of the best films of 2009.
Plot Ryan Bingham works for a human resources consultancy firm specializing in employment-termination assistance. His work constantly takes him around the country, conducting company layoffs on behalf of employers. Ryan also gives motivational speeches, using the analogy "What's in Your Backpack?" to extol living free of burdensome relationships and material possessions. A frequent flyer, Ryan aspires to earn ten million frequent flyer miles with American Airlines. While traveling, he meets a woman named Alex Goran, a businesswoman who also flies frequently. They begin a casual relationship, meeting up in various cities as their respective schedules allow.
Ryan is recalled to his company's offices in Omaha. Natalie Keener, a young and ambitious new hire, promotes cutting costs by conducting layoffs via video-conferencing. Ryan raises concerns that the new system is impersonal and undignified, arguing that Natalie lacks understanding about the firing process and how to handle emotionally vulnerable people. His boss, Craig Gregory, has Natalie accompany a reluctant Ryan on his next round of terminations to observe the process.
Ryan tutors Natalie on traveling more efficiently by using smaller luggage and moving quickly through airport security. As they travel together, Natalie challenges Ryan's philosophies on life, particularly regarding relationships and love. During the trip, Natalie's boyfriend unceremoniously dumps her by text message, but Ryan and Alex comfort her. On a video termination test run, Ryan's earlier concerns prove valid when Natalie is unable to properly console a laid-off person who breaks down on camera.
Natalie castigates Ryan for his inability to commit to Alex despite their obvious compatibility, but he dismisses her criticisms and chastises her for lacking empathy and never appreciating her surroundings. Before returning home, Ryan heads to Wisconsin for his sister Julie's wedding, taking Alex as a plus one. He has a strained reunion with his semi-estranged family, who resent his constant absence. When the groom Jim gets cold feet prior to the ceremony, Ryan's older sister Kara asks him to intervene. Although counter to his personal philosophy, Ryan uses his motivational skills to persuade Jim to proceed with the wedding.
Ryan begins questioning his lifestyle and philosophies after the wedding. In Las Vegas for a prestigious speaking engagement, he abruptly walks offstage mid-presentation and impulsively flies to Chicago to see Alex. Arriving at her front door, he is stunned to discover that she is married with children. She later calls him in a fury, bluntly telling him he was just an escape from her real life.
On Ryan's flight home, the crew announces that he has just crossed the ten-million-mile mark. The airline's chief pilot is aboard to personally congratulate Ryan and notes he is the youngest person to achieve the milestone. Back in Omaha, Ryan transfers 500,000 frequent flyer miles to Julie and Jim so they can have a honeymoon world journey.
Craig informs Ryan that an employee he and Natalie had laid-off has taken their own life; upset over the news, Natalie quits via text message upon learning this. The remote-layoff program is stopped and Ryan is sent back on the road.
Natalie applies to the same San Francisco company where she had previously declined a position, due to having followed her now ex-boyfriend to Omaha. Impressed by her qualifications and Ryan's glowing written recommendation, the interviewer hires her. The film concludes with Ryan at the airport, standing in front of a vast destination board, contemplating where he should travel next (something Natalie encouraged him to do earlier). Looking up, he lets go of his luggage.
Cast
George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, "a suave, smartly dressed businessman in his 40s" Vera Farmiga as Alex Goran, a constantly traveling businesswoman Anna Kendrick as Natalie Keener, an ambitious 23-year-old Jason Bateman as Craig Gregory, owner of Career Transition Counseling Danny McBride as Jim Miller, Julie's fiancé Melanie Lynskey as Julie Bingham, Ryan's younger sister Amy Morton as Kara Bingham, Ryan's older sister Sam Elliott as Maynard Finch, Chief Pilot J. K. Simmons as Bob, a fired employee Zach Galifianakis as Steve, a fired employee Chris Lowell as Kevin, Ryan's assistant Tamala Jones as Karen Barnes, a fired employee Adhir Kalyan as a fired IT worker Cut Chemist as a conference DJ Adam Rose as Makeout Dave Art Hill a fired employee
Production
Background Walter Kirn wrote Up in the Air, the book on which the film is based, during a snowbound winter on a ranch in rural Montana, while thinking about airports, airplanes and first-class passengers he had met who would strongly resemble Ryan Bingham. The novel was published in 2001 and, shortly after, Sheldon Turner discovered the book and wrote a screenplay adaptation, which he sold to DreamWorks in 2003. Kirn can be seen in the film sitting beside Ryan at the initial meeting in Omaha.
Director Jason Reitman later came upon the novel (initially attracted by the Christopher Buckley blurb on the cover) while browsing in the Los Angeles bookstore Book Soup. Reitman persuaded his father, Ivan Reitman, to purchase the book's film rights, and the elder Reitman commissioned a screenplay from Ted Griffin and Nicholas Griffin, who used some elements from Turner's script in their work. Jason Reitman then developed his own screenplay, incorporating some of the original script that was (unbeknownst to Reitman) written by Turner. Some Turner inventions that were used in the film include Ryan's boilerplate termination speech ("Anyone who ever built an empire or changed the world sat where you're sitting right now ..."), a key plot point involving a suicide, and the character of Ryan's partner (written by Turner as a man). Reitman initially attempted to claim sole credit for writing the film, then later admitted to confusion when the Writers Guild of America ruled that he should share credit with Turner, whose script Reitman claimed to have never read. He and Turner later appeared at a WGA event where both said they were happy to share credit, after Turner's contribution to the final product was made clear. At a press screening, Reitman also said that his father Ivan had written "the best line in the movie."
Casting Reitman repeatedly stated that he wrote parts specifically for George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Danny McBride, Melanie Lynskey, Amy Morton, Sam Elliott, and Zach Galifianakis. On the part played by Farmiga, he cited her ability to walk a fine line between aggressiveness and femininity. On Kendrick, Reitman cited that he was inspired by her performance in Rocket Science. On Clooney, he said, "If you're going to make a movie about a guy who fires people for a living and you still want to like him, that actor better be damn charming and I don't think there's a more charming actor alive than George Clooney. I was very lucky he said yes." Reitman said, on the B.S. Report with Bill Simmons, that he considered Steve Martin for the part if Clooney declined the role. Reitman said that he would have changed the movie with Martin and given Martin "his Lost in Translation." Duration: 1:04:34
Approximately 500 people applied to be extras in the film during the open call on January 24 and 25, 2009, in Crestwood Court in St. Louis, Missouri. Up in the Air cast 2,000 extras with 15 to 25 Missouri actors in minor speaking roles. About 250 extras were used from the Omaha, Nebraska, area. They were used for filming inside and outside the terminal at Eppley Airfield, while Clooney acted out most of his scenes inside the terminal.
While filming in St. Louis and Detroit, Reitman placed an ad in the paper asking if people who recently lost their job wanted to be in a documentary about job loss. He specified "documentary" in the ad so that actors would not respond. Reitman was amazed by how many people of different age, race, and gender were willing to speak frankly about what happened and what a cathartic experience it had been. The film crew received a startling 100 responses, including 60 people filmed (30 in Detroit and 30 in St. Louis). Twenty-two are seen in the film. The interviews ran for about ten minutes on what it was like to lose their job in a poor economy, and after that the interviewer would "fire" them on camera and ask them to either respond the way they did the day they lost their job or, if they preferred, the way they wished they had responded.
Filming Filming was mostly done in the St. Louis area. Several scenes were filmed at the Berry and McNamara Terminals at Detroit Metro Airport in late February 2009 with minimal filming in Omaha, in Las Vegas and in Miami, Florida. Missouri and St. Louis leaders provided $4.1 million in tax credits for the $25 million film. Producers set up a St. Louis production office on January 5, 2009. Filming began in St. Louis on March 3, 2009, and continued through the end of April. The film includes 80 different sets at 50 locations throughout the St. Louis area, including St. Louis Lambert International Airport Concourse C and Concourse D (which played the part of several airports across America), the Mansion House apartments in downtown St. Louis, Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark, Hilton St. Louis Airport, DHR International building (8000 Maryland Ave.), the Cheshire Inn, the GenAmerica building (700 Market), Renaissance Grand Hotel, Maplewood United Methodist Church, and Affton High School. The film shot at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport for five days, twenty hours each day.
In October 2008, Production Services of Omaha scouted locations for three days of filming in late April with Clooney. Some of the scenes were shot inside the Visitor's Bureau and in a condo in the Old Market area of downtown Omaha and at the south end of the main terminal at Eppley Airfield.
Reitman needed fifty days to film Up in the Air, eight of which were devoted to aerial shooting. The aerial shots turned out to be more difficult than expected. He was unable to use material from three days of the aerial filming. Many aerial shots, such as the crop circle on fire, are seen in the Paramount trailer, but are not used in the film. The pilot who flies the Boeing 747 that carried the Space Shuttle flew the aircraft for the aerial shots.