Melinda and Melinda
| Melinda and Melinda | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Woody Allen |
| Produced by | Letty Aronson |
| Written by | Woody Allen |
| Starring |
Radha Mitchell Chiwetel Ejiofor Will Ferrell Jonny Lee Miller Amanda Peet Chloë Sevigny Wallace Shawn |
| Music by |
Johann Sebastian Bach Johannes Brahms Igor Stravinsky Béla Bartók |
| Cinematography | Vilmos Zsigmond |
| Edited by | Alisa Lepselter |
| Distributed by | Fox Searchlight Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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99 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $20.1 million |
Melinda and Melinda is a 2004 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. It premiered at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. The film is set in Manhattan and stars Radha Mitchell as the protagonist Melinda, in two storylines; one comic, one tragic. The film began a limited release in the United States on March 18, 2005.
The premise of the film is stated by a group of four writers conversing over dinner at the beginning of the film. The question arises: Is life naturally comic or tragic? One of the four proposes a simple story (a distraught woman knocks on a door and disrupts a dinner party) and the two prominent playwrights in the group begin telling their versions of this story, one being comic and one tragic.
Woody Allen said in Conversations with Woody Allen that he wanted to cast Winona Ryder in the title role. He had to replace her with Radha Mitchell because no one would insure Ryder due to her arrest for shoplifting – this would have made it impossible to obtain a film completion bond. Allen stated he was sad because he had written the part for Ryder after working with her on Celebrity. In the same interview, he also claimed to have intended Ferrell's part for Robert Downey, Jr., but, again, insurance got in the way due to Downey's history of arrests and drug abuse.
Radha Mitchell plays Melinda in both versions. Chloë Sevigny, Jonny Lee Miller, and Chiwetel Ejiofor star with her in the tragedy, while Will Ferrell and Amanda Peet star with her in the comedy. Steve Carell has a small part as Ferrell's character's friend.
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