Love & Mercy is a 2014 American biographical drama film directed by Bill Pohlad about the Beach Boys' co-founder and leader Brian Wilson and his struggles with mental illness during the 1960s and 1980s. It stars Paul Dano and John Cusack as the young and older Wilson, respectively, with Elizabeth Banks as his second wife Melinda Ledbetter and Paul Giamatti as his psychologist Dr. Eugene Landy. The title comes from Wilson's 1988 song of the same name.
The film alternates between Wilson's production of the album Pet Sounds (1966) and his treatment under Landy's 24-hour therapy program in the late 1980s. Wilson called the film "very factual", despite containing parts that "weren't actually as factual". He had little involvement with its making, although Ledbetter was relied upon for the 1980s portions. The cast and crew maintained that nothing in the film was a "Hollywood" embellishment and that everything was intended to be as truthful as possible. Conversely, Landy's son Evan felt that his father was unfairly portrayed. Some minor inaccuracies were noted by critics, a number of which relate to the minimal coverage devoted to Wilson's family and collaborators. Ledbetter said that Landy's treatment of Wilson "was even worse" than the film portrays.
Love & Mercy premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2014 and was released by Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions on June5, 2015. It grossed $28.6 million over a $10 million budget and received positive reviews from critics, with Dano's performance garnering significant praise. It was nominated for two Golden Globes: Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture (Paul Dano) and Best Original Song ("One Kind of Love"). A soundtrack album that includes the original score by Atticus Ross was released on August 14, 2015.
Plot
The film alternates between the 1960s and the 1980s. The early timeline begins with a young Brian Wilson suffering a panic attack on an airplane. After recovering, Brian convinces his brothers Carl and Dennis to let him quit touring with the Beach Boys and instead focus on composition and studio work. Despite his father and his cousin Mike Love's criticisms regarding the lyrics and production, Brian completes the Pet Sounds album. It is a critical hit, but sales are underwhelming. LSD is supplied to Wilson by a coterie of hippies who praise him as a "genius", and his mental health subsequently worsens, beginning to hallucinate voices. After the success of a new single, "Good Vibrations", he fails to complete the album Smile, his would-be masterpiece. As Wilson's bandmates are left to finish a simplified version of the album, now titled Smiley Smile, he learns that his father has sold the publishing rights to the Beach Boys' songs without their permission. This timeline ends with Wilson apathetic and detached from life.
In the 1980s, an older and heavily medicated Brian Wilson meets Melinda Ledbetter, a Cadillac saleswoman. She begins a relationship with him, but is disturbed by the controlling influence Wilson's therapist and legal guardian Dr. Eugene Landy has over Wilson's life. Eventually, she disengages from the relationship, but not before, with help from Wilson's housekeeper Gloria Ramos, providing evidence to Wilson's family that Landy has been made a beneficiary in his will. This leads to a restraining order being taken out to prevent Landy from seeing Wilson, who begins a new and more appropriate course of treatment. A few years later, Wilson bumps into Ledbetter again while walking across an intersection. They eventually marry, and Wilson completes Smile as his own solo album.
Cast
John Cusack as Brian Wilson–Future Paul Dano as Brian Wilson–Past Oliver Pohlad as Young Brian Elizabeth Banks as Melinda Ledbetter Paul Giamatti as Dr. Eugene Landy Jake Abel as Mike Love Kenny Wormald as Dennis Wilson Brett Davern as Carl Wilson Graham Rogers as Al Jardine Erin Darke as Marilyn Wilson Bill Camp as Murry Wilson Joanna Going as Audree Wilson Nick Gehlfuss as Bruce Johnston Mark Linett as Chuck Britz Johnny Sneed as Hal Blaine Gary Griffin as Al De Lory Teresa Cowles as Carol Kaye Vince Meghrouni as Woodwind/Brass Player Jeff Meacham as Tony Asher Max Schneider as Van Dyke Parks Diana Maria Riva as Gloria Erik Eidem as Doug Dylan Kenin as Rob Carolyn Stotesbery as Sarah Fred Cross as Cadillac Colleague Tyson Ritter as Hipster #1 Jeff Galfer as Hipster #2 Morgan Phillips as Evan Landy Wayne Basturp as Process Server Jonathan Slavin as Phil Spector
Production
Pre-production
A theatrical film adaptation of Wilson's life, titled Love and Mercy, was first proposed in 1988, and was planned to star William Hurt as Wilson and Richard Dreyfuss as Landy. It derived its title from Wilson's single, "Love and Mercy" (1988), which appeared as the opening track to his debut solo album Brian Wilson. While the project stagnated in development hell, the Beach Boys were eventually featured as the subject of two made-for-TV dramatizations: Summer Dreams: The Story of The Beach Boys (1990) which was widely derided for their historical inaccuracies and The Beach Boys: An American Family (2000) which Brian Wilson harshly criticized. Rolling Stone reported in 1999 that Melinda hoped to organize a Wilson biopic which starred Jeff Bridges.
In 2006, the Wilson biopic project was briefly revived, and was to have included involvement from producers Mark Gordon, Lawrence Inglee, Jordan Wynn, and David Leaf. Nothing further was reported. As film producer/director Bill Pohlad cultivated an obsession with the 1997 box set The Pet Sounds Sessions, he became interested in Brian Wilson's life while eventual producers John Wells and Claire Rudnick Polstein were attempting to make a Beach Boys film. Love & Mercy is the second feature directed by Pohlad—decades from his previous—and was financed with his own money. After the film was formally announced on June 23, 2011, information about it remained relatively scarce until its unveiling in September 2014.
Writing
Pohlad deemed the original script he received (titled Heroes and Villains, after the Beach Boys' song) unsatisfactory, and so he enlisted writer-director Oren Moverman, who had previously found success with the impressionistic Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There (2007), which Pohlad believed was "an admirable effort ... [but] went too far". Pohlad claimed that Love & Mercy drew significant interest from "pretty big people in all parts of the business ... But a lot of them honestly were such Beach Boys fans that they almost were too close to it. They couldn't see the forest for the trees." Originally, Pohlad intended to produce and have Moverman direct. When Moverman found that Pohlad had a clear vision for the film to be, he suggested that Pohlad direct the movie instead.
Rather than having a conventional story, in June 2011 the biopic was reported to focus on specific elements of Wilson's life. At this stage, Pohlad contemplated focusing on three eras of Wilson's life instead of two: "It was Brian past, which was the 1960s Brian. Brian present, which was the guy in bed. And Brian future, which became the John Cusack era. And kind of by interweaving those we'd show, without having to tell every beat." Philip Seymour Hoffman was considered for the projected "Brian–Present" role. When Moverman was asked about his nontraditional approach to musician's stories, he answered:
In November 2011, Wilson stated that he didn't know when the film would be done, and he was currently "trying to get the script so it's accurate". Though Wilson was consulted on the film, Ledbetter was deeply involved in communications. Wilson later clarified: "I had no control or involvement in the film, but my wife did. She made sure they cast the characters right, you know so they could capture my personality and the records and stuff like that." It was reported that Wilson offered some editing notes after attending a table read and after watching a rough cut of the film by himself. Pohlad explained the purpose of the table read: "[It was] to make sure he would understand what we were doing. He sat there and I wasn't sure if we lost him or if he was still with us. But later, he called with some insightful notes. Not a lot of notes, like three or four, but really insightful comments." Pohlad added during a Q&A: "They [Ledbetter and Wilson] were never all over us about it – 'Don't do that,' or 'I'm funnier than that' ... [His notes] were all very directed to – they weren't like ego things, they were more like how the process worked ... just keeping us on track versus 'make me look better' or something like that." Wilson's veteran collaborator Van Dyke Parks – portrayed by Max Schneider – stated that he had no involvement in the film, and awaited its historical accuracy in what he called "Mrs. Wilson's biopic". On February 8, 2012, Moverman announced that the script was complete.
Casting
Paul Dano was cast as the young Wilson and believed, "I don't think it's a totally traditional biopic. I think it's gonna be a fun and accessible film, and I think it's hopefully going to be interesting, like the man that it's depicting. I think he [Moverman] did an amazing job cracking this story, and I can't imagine anyone else having done it, aside from him. I know they tried to make movies about Brian for a long time, and I think music stories are tough to tell in an interesting way." When asked how familiar he was with Wilson before getting involved, Dano answered that he knew the Beach Boys' music, but was not aware of the extent of Wilson's troubles. He proceeded to immerse himself in Wilson's life by reading, listening, and watching as much information pertinent to Wilson as he could, purposefully abstaining from meeting him in person until he was sure he had absorbed everything in full.
Dano reportedly prepared for the role by "filling up" on Wilson's Pet Sounds while learning how to play piano. He explained, "Without question, learning to play and sing and listening to the music was the most important, because the most true Brian to me is in Pet Sounds. If you want to know him, you go listen to it." He related to Wilson's character adding, "Some of it is frankly deeply personal. Brian talked about trying to make music that would heal people. Knowing that his life was so hard and that was his attitude I felt like that's somebody I want to spend time with. Whether I needed love and mercy at the time or I wanted to give it I'm not sure." Of his musical performances, he recalls, "There are a few scenes where you hear me start a line of a song and by the end of the session, you're hearing Brian's vocals. I have to give credit to the sound people, the transitions are really smooth; you can't tell that one half of it is the real thing and one half is me faking it, so I thank those guys a lot." Dano also prepared for the role by gaining weight.