Susanne Seidman
Style Editor, Local Kicks

Director Neil Burger dazzled us with personal intrigue in The Illusionist. In this latest project, The Lucky Ones, Burger brings us along on the ride of a lifetime with three American soldiers home from the war in Iraq to find their way back to families they left behind.

On Monday, Berger sat down at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Georgetown with Local Kicks Style Editor Susanne Seidman to talk about his latest project.

Starring Tim Robbins, Rachel McAdams and Michael Peña as unlikely traveling companions sharing a mini-van after a canceled flight, the film is about overcoming the disconnect you can feel when returning to even the most familiar of circumstances after a life changing absence.

Burger seeks to bring his audience a story of personal struggle, optimism and resilience to a genre often riddled with agony, misery, and often slanted political objectives.

Burger began writing the screenplay while filming The Illusionist overseas and the project took on a deeper meaning when he returned to the states to feel the pulse of America responding to the strains of life in wartime. His characters struggle with a sense of self as they journey across the country making stops in the Midwest and Vegas.  They form a bond that transcends their shared experience as soldiers in wartime as friends doing the best they can get through life’s inevitable ups and downs.

Burger intended the film to capture the personal struggle of the everyman in Fred Cheever, played by Tim Robbins.

Robbins is a political activist and an outspoken critic of the war, one highly recognizable to servicemen and women.  

Burger explained the casting choice as bringing a highly talented actor to the project, who could portray the plight of a middle age family man facing common marital and financial realities.  Burger also believes politics aside, Robbins’ patriotism as a controversial free speaker in public life would translate onscreen to a believable reservist dealing with the aftermath of fulfilling his service commitment in the midst of personal chaos.  

Rachel McAdams plays a feisty fighter and foul mouthed angel who can land a punch but also remains in some ways naïve and idealistic. Her character Colee is searching for a connection and a family to embrace in an unlikely circumstance.

Michael Peña rounds out the cast as a macho Sergeant, who questions his mojo after an injury threatens his self-defining male prowess before he returns to his fiancée.

The trio brings a fresh perspective on friendship after blockbuster girl power hits like Sex and The City. Berger intended the ensemble to be representative of today’s diverse military, but recognizes he could not begin to cover all the demographics.

Humor is the vehicle for the emotional journey in this film that plays out in classic roadtrip fashion.  The mini-van is really the aspect of American life serving as the backdrop for The Lucky Ones’ realizations about themselves and their lives, not unlike the daily life dramas that unfold in the SUVs, mini-vans, and sedans of many families.

Burger says the filming was not unlike a three ring circus, with no personal assistants and long days spent shooting from the floor of a rigged up family truckster. The addition of a professional driver in a cage welded to the roof of an actual mini-van and a lack of air-conditioning, the fan would interfere with the sound, made for “a real connection” on-screen and off-screen. It was a real honest to goodness eight week road trip for cast and crew.  If your summer driving vacation seemed long imagine this ride.

LocalKicks is proud to sponsor a special screening of The Lucky One’s presented by Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions, written by Neil Burger and Dirk Wittenborn, and directed by Neil Burger. To win two passes to the Monday screening of The Lucky Ones in the District, send your name, address and phone number to selsheikh@localkicks.com.