First Daughter

First Daughter is a 2004 romantic comedy film that revolves around a Presidential daughter who enrolls at a college. It stars Katie Holmes as "First Daughter" Samantha Mackenzie, and Marc Blucas as James Lansome, another student at the college. The film follows Samantha as she is given a new sense of freedom during her time away from the White House, and her life's gradual transformation into something resembling "normal", but also her realisation that she must appreciate the life she already has.

Production

Filming began on June 2, 2003 http://www2.filmjerk.com/new/article474.html, on a budget of US$30 million http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2004/1STDF.php, and continued into July http://www.katieholmespictures.com/enc/enc13.shtml. The film was shot on location in Southern California. For the film's opening scene where Samantha descending a red-carpeted stairway, the lobby of the Los Angeles Theatre in Los Angeles was used, while the auditorium of the building was used for a scene where Samantha and James go to see a movie. The Huntington Library in San Marino stood in for the exterior of the building in the first scene. http://www.seeing-stars.com/Locations/FirstDaughter1.shtml

Related Topics:
June 2 - 2003 - US$ - Southern California - Los Angeles Theatre - Los Angeles - Huntington Library - San Marino

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Writing

The film was in development as far back as March 1999, when actor Jerry O'Connell sold a screenplay he had written to Regency Enterprises for a six figure sum, with O'Connell also intending to star in the film. Originally to shoot in the summer of that year, the project was pushed back to the spring of 2000 (under the direction of Brian Robbins) to allow O'Connell to film Mission to Mars, and then Rob Thomas was hired to rewrite the script http://www.melissajoanhart.net/news/hollywood_reporter/036.shtml http://www.earth62.net/transcripts/oconnell20oct99.htm. For reasons unknown, the film was not produced at that time, although O'Connell later received a "story by" credit for the film from the Writers Guild of America. (The film's original producer, Mike Karz, was also credited as a producer in the final print of the film.)

Related Topics:
1999 - Jerry O'Connell - Regency Enterprises - 2000 - Brian Robbins - Mission to Mars - Rob Thomas - Writers Guild of America - Producer - Mike Karz

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Director Forest Whitaker likened First Daughter to a fairy tale, characterising it as "the story of a princess who leaves the 'castle' to go out in the world to discover who and what she is". http://www.writingstudio.co.za/page718.html

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