Keeping the Faith

: The Movies

Comedy and Romance.
Rated PG-13 for some sexuality and language.

Starring: Edward Norton , Eli Wallach , Jenna Elfman , Ron Rifkin , Ben Stiller .
Directed by Edward Norton and Anastas Michos .
Produced by Howard W. "Hawk" Koch Jr. , Edward Norton , Howard Koch and Stuart Blumberg .
Written by Stuart Blumberg .

Distributor: Touchstone Pictures More Credits

Official Site

Release Date: April 14, 2000 Nationwide

Synopsis

IN THEATRES: APRIL 14, 2000 (NATIONAL) A silly comedy in which two best friends, a priest (Norton) and a rabbi (Stiller), fall in love with the same woman (Elfman).

Production Notes
Best friends since they were kids, Jake Schram (BEN STILLER) and Brian Kilkenny Finn (EDWARD NORTON), are single, successful, handsome, and confident young men living on New York’s Upper West Side. When Anna Reilly (JENNA ELFMAN), once their childhood friend and now grown into a beautiful corporate executive, returns to the city, she reenters Jake and Brian’s lives and hearts with a vengeance. Sparks fly and an unusual and complicated love triangle is created because Brian happens to be a Roman Catholic priest and Jake is a rabbi.
Touchstone Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment present, "Keeping the Faith," directed by Edward Norton, from a screenplay written by Stuart Blumberg. The film is produced by Hawk Koch, Norton, and Blumberg. Executive producers are Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum and Jonathan Glickman. Buena Vista Pictures distributes.

The idea for "Keeping the Faith" came to Stuart Blumberg several years ago, when the young playwright and TV comedy writer was visiting a bookstore as part of a brain-storming session. "I came across a lot of priest-rabbi jokes, and even though it sounded hokey, I thought nobody had ever done a story about that before," says Blumberg.
Having had an ongoing creative partnership with Edward Norton since they attended Yale University together, Blumberg then presented his idea to the acclaimed young actor.
About to begin work on "American History X," for which he received his second Oscar? nomination, Norton was enthusiastic about Blumberg’s idea. By June of 1997, Blumberg had completed the first draft of his story about a priest and a rabbi who are best friends.
"It reminded me of good love triangle films, like ‘Jules and Jim’ and ‘Broadcast News’," Edward Norton says. "It was funny to me, and something I’d never seen before."
While two of the film’s leading characters are clerics, Blumberg’s script presented the two young men not as larger-than-life but as everyday people. "I like characters who people feel, for whatever reason, are outside their realm of experience and show the common humanity that links them," he says.
Edward Norton himself identified with the script’s depiction of three successful young people. "It explored the phenomenon I can relate to of people who have gotten a long way on ambition and youthful energy and idealism, and achieved a lot, and maybe in the process of it, gotten a little bit overconfident.
"They’ve started to take certain things for granted about themselves," continues Norton. "And for me the story is about the collision of these three people, and how they, ironically, even as they get closer, all throw each other off their comfortable assumptions."
Blumberg and Norton then worked on the script, deciding to produce the film together, with Norton playing the role of the priest, Father Brian Finn. While he is perhaps best known for his intense roles in such films as "Primal Fear," his film debut which garnered the actor his first Academy Award? nomination, Norton jumped at the chance to play a lead in a romantic comedy.
"I thought it was a different kind of a role than I’d played before," says Norton, who had wrapped David Fincher’s "Fight Club" not long before taking on the role of a Catholic priest. When considering a role, Norton says he doesn’t choose characters like himself. "I look for as many things as I can find that are different from my own experience," he explains. "So that I have to go and root around a while and try to understand."
"Ever since I’ve known him, he’s been really great at comedy," adds Blumberg, who once directed an evening of sketch comedy which they both wrote and acted in. Blumberg also thought Norton was perfect to play the role of the gifted, yet somewhat naive and lovable Brian.
"Edward’s character of Brian is a priest who maintains this amazing commitment to a calling which is very pressing and very, very challenging," says Blumberg. "When Anna comes back into his life, he has to confront temptation as opposed to skirting it.
"Edward is also just this guy who you can’t help but like," Blumberg adds. "I think he’s our Jimmy Stewart in many ways."
It was later, while developing the script with Blumberg, that Norton decided to direct as well. Having directed theater in the past, Norton felt ready for the creative challenge of film. "I’ve worked with an incredible crop of directors in an very short time and had good teachers in all of them," explains Norton. Having acted in only six films, Norton had already worked with such legends as Woody Allen, Milos Forman, and David Fincher, among others.
"They all said the same thing, that if you think you might want to direct a movie at any point, the first time you get a chance to, just jump at it," says Norton. Norton felt he knew the world that was depicted in the script, that of young people living in New York, a city where he had lived for ten years.
Norton then approached his friend Hawk Koch, someone who had practically grown up in the film business with over fifty movies under his belt, about producing the film with himself and Blumberg. "We agreed that we needed an experienced producer to partner up with us," says Norton. "Hawk is one of the very few people who can still function in both sides of producing—creatively, in helping us develop the script, and then the second half, line producing the movie."
As for Koch, the script’s resemblance to classic screwball comedies of the 1930s and ’40s, with its sophisticated, snappy dialogue and characters of depth impressed the veteran producer. "Edward and Stuart wanted to do a movie a la some of the great old films that we all loved," says Koch. "The overall vision for the tone of the film has always been ‘The Philadelphia Story.’
"I love romantic comedies," the producer adds. "It’s kind of the universal story—two guys in love with the same woman and why neither can be with her."
A producer of Norton’s film debut, "Primal Fear," Koch had befriended the young actor and watched his career take off. "When I first met Edward, he was a nervous kid in a trailer about to do a screen test for ‘Primal Fear,’" says Koch. "While he was green, he was also extremely talented and knowledgeable about film. He’s just so curious, asks every question, wants to know everything."
With a history of working with first-time directors such as Warren Beatty, Paul Mazursky, and Peter Fonda, Hawk Koch was certain that Norton would be up to directing, starring in, and producing "Keeping the Faith." "He was more prepared than most first-time directors I’ve worked with," Koch says.
Koch then sent the script to Roger Birnbaum and Gary Barber. Birnbaum, after having run Caravan Pictures for years, had recently founded Spyglass Entertainment with partner Gary Barber, lately of Morgan Creek Productions.
"We sent it out on a Wednesday, and Thursday morning Roger and Gary called Edward and me and said, ‘We love it; we want to make this movie,’" says Koch. "We thought first and foremost, it was very funny," explains Birnbaum. "And secondly, we felt it was quite emotional and believe that people go to the movies to feel something. This movie delivered big time on both an emotional, as well as on a comedic, level."
"This movie has a global appeal," adds Barber. "And we were the first to commit and say we’ll make this movie now, not just develop it."
The Spyglass partners had little doubt that Norton was ready to direct. "You had to put aside the fact that he is a consummate actor," says Birnbaum. "What was most telling was that Edward developed the script, and when he talked about it, we could tell he had a complete grasp of the entire story and had a specific point of view of how to tell the story. And we enjoy working with young filmmakers."
As far as casting the film, Birnbaum and Barber had all the confidence in the world in Norton, Koch and Blumberg. "This is Edward, arguably the finest young American actor working today, hand-picking other people whom he thinks are very, very talented actors." says Birnbaum. "Every choice that he and Hawk and Stuart came up with, we never questioned. They made sense."
For the lead role of Rabbi Jacob Schram, a driven yet charming and eligible Upper West Side rabbi who is a perfectionist in both his work and personal life, the filmmakers’ first choice was Ben Stiller, a popular young actor hot off the success of the smash comedy "There’s Something About Mary."
"The role of Jake covers both some very serious dramatic moments and some very broad physical comedy," says Norton. "In my peer group of actors that I’m aware of right now, I couldn’t think of anyone else who could marry the comedic aspect with the dramatic leading man qualities in this role."
"Ben brings intelligence and an amazing wealth of comic knowledge," to the role of a rabbi who’s torn between his religious calling and a nascent love for a non-Jewish girl," says Blumberg.
Edward Norton then called Ben Stiller and sent him the script. "Ben read it, called Edward, and said, ‘yeah, I’m in’. It was that easy," says producer Koch. "I think one of the reasons it was that easy is that there isn’t an actor who doesn’t recognize Edward’s talent and want to work with him."
Stiller also saw a little-known side to Edward Norton. "People see Edward as a very serious actor," says Stiller. "But he’s a fan of comedy and sees very clearly what he wants to do with this film."
In addition, Stiller liked the script’s depiction of a friendship between two young men, and was especially interested in portraying a rabbi. "I’ve never played a rabbi before," he tells it. "Except in ‘The Chosen’ and ‘A Stranger Among Us,’" he jests. "But in both of those I was under heavy beards so you can’t really tell it’s me."

But Stiller truly liked the opportunity to reconnect with the Jewish side of his heritage. "I always had good memories of going to a synagogue when I was a kid, of the atmosphere of going into a temple or a church and being removed from everyday life into that feeling of a sanctuary.
"But at the end of the day," Stiller continues, "The story is still about human relationships."
For the role of the woman who was Brian and Jake’s close pal when they were thirteen and with whom they both find themselves falling in love when she reappears in New York, the filmmakers considered many young actresses before casting Jenna Elfman, the star of ABC’s "Dharma and Greg."
Like Stiller, the young actress was very eager to work with Norton on his directorial debut. "Edward is brilliant," Elfman says. "And I knew I could learn a lot from working with him."
"When Jenna walked into the room, we said, ‘wow, that’s really Anna,’" says Blumberg. "Jenna embodies this kind of dazzling charisma that draws you to her. She’s really sassy, funny, whip smart, and yet can be really vulnerable and tender."
Norton was equally impressed by the young actress. "She reminded me of Carole Lombard, Lucille Ball, and Kate Hepburn," he says. "They’re all beautiful leading women who are true comediennes."
"The script had the feeling of old classic movies, which are my favorite," says Elfman, explaining why she wanted to play Anna. "And Anna has a beautiful blend of timelessness and contemporary qualities which really appealed to me."
As Anna, Elfman would play a role very different from "Dharma," the television character for which she is widely known, and for which she has won a Golden Globe Award and two Emmy nominations.
"Anna is the kind of role that Jenna’s never gotten to play and on a film level, she hasn’t been widely seen," explains Norton. "So she’s someone the audience can be meeting for the first time along with these two guys," who haven’t seen Anna since they were thirteen.
"Anna is a very confident girl, very able and good at what she does," adds Jenna Elfman. "Edward had this sort of Young Turk philosophy about our three characters—we’re young, at the top of our game and there’s sort of a cockiness that comes with that."
"I think a lot of people will say, ‘I know people like that, in that she’s a very driven and talented woman trying to make it in the corporate world," adds Blumberg of Anna. "I think when she comes to New York, she starts to understand that if she’s going to have other things in her life—friends, love, a spiritual life—she’s got to work for them."
For the story’s supporting roles, the filmmakers were able to cast some of film’s most acclaimed actors, such as Anne Bancroft as Ruth Schram, Jake’s protective Upper West Side mother. "She’s great. We were lucky to get her," says Norton.
"It was important that we like Ruth but also on a certain level be a little bit intimidated by her. And we were all a little bit intimidated by her," adds the first-time director about the Academy Award?-winning actress.
"Keeping the Faith" also reunited Anne Bancroft with Eli Wallach, with whom she hadn’t worked since they had their first screen test together. Wallach was cast as Rabbi Lewis, the elder rabbi at Jake’s synagogue. "Rabbi Lewis is the peacemaker," says Wallach of his character, who runs interference between the young, unconventional rabbi and the more traditional members of the temple. "I brought Jake in, I had some decision in selecting him as the new associate rabbi and I feel responsible for him."
Ben Stiller especially looked forward to acting with Eli Wallach, whom he had known as a family friend since his boyhood. "To work with someone who’s been in so many great movies and is such a good actor is really exciting," says Stiller. "It gives you a really nice sense of continuity and makes you feel good about the business you’re in."
Others who joined the film’s impressive cast included Tony Award-winning actor Ron Rifkin as a member of Jake’s temple who objects most to Jake’s rather un-Kosher ways, and Holland Taylor, who recently won an Emmy for her role on "The Practice," as a high-powered member of the temple eager for Jake to date her celebrity daughter.
For several roles, the filmmakers also cast performers with whom Norton had previously worked. Donna Hanover, known to New Yorkers as a local television personality and as the wife of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and who had acted with Norton in "The People vs. Larry Flynt," appears in a cameo as a rather uncharitable church-goer. The director of the same film, Academy Award?-winner Milos Forman, plays Father Havel, Brian’s boss and confidante. "We essentially wrote the part for him," Norton tells it. "I was thinking of who’s been a mentor in my life, and Milos has been that. I showed him the scenes, told him it would take only four days and gave him no choice."
Even screenwriter Stuart Blumberg appears in the comic role of Len, Anna’s co-worker and fawning admirer. With his background in stage and television comedy and also having worked for a few years as an investment banker when just out of college, it was agreed Blumberg was perfect for the part.
For the behind-the-scenes team, producers Koch, Norton and Blumberg also called upon those they knew and respected such as young director of photography Anastas Michos. Norton had known Michos from "The People vs. Larry Flynt," and the cameraman had gone on to shoot Forman’s "Man on the Moon." The producers also hired famed costume designer Michael Kaplan, of "Flashdance" and "Blade Runner," who had designed the wardrobe for "Fight Club," Norton’s recent film for director David Fincher. For production designer, they hired New York-based Wynn P. Thomas, whose work on Spike Lee’s films is greatly admired.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

"Keeping the Faith" filmed in New York, mainly on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where Stuart Blumberg’s screenplay about two young clerics and a beautiful businesswoman was set.
"I think New York is at the vanguard in terms of confronting the kinds of questions that are getting asked in the movie," says Norton. "Because you have everybody living together in New York and everybody is in essence a mutt."
In order to satisfy the filmmakers’ desire to present New York in all its summer glory, moreover, "Keeping the Faith" had almost twice as many locations as the average film of the same shooting schedule. "We wanted it to be real and celebrate as many of the textures of New York as possible," explains Norton.
"We’re shooting New York in a way that the city is as major a character as anybody else," adds producer Hawk Koch. While a few years ago, many films only

shot their exteriors in New York with studio work filmed elsewhere, "Keeping the Faith" shot exclusively in the city and close by.
"New York is much more flexible and facilitative to filmmaking than in the past," says executive producer Gary Barber.
For the look of the film, production designer Wynn P. Thomas’ goal was to present a world that reflected the two main characters who inhabited it: Ben Stiller’s Rabbi Jacob Schram and Edward Norton’s Father Brian Finn. "Edward Norton’s major concern was that the film have a contemporary look because the two religious men are still very vibrant and alive young people," says Thomas, who has designed many films shot in New York.
As part of their research into the two religions, the production team solicited the aid of two technical advisors, one from each faith, themselves representative of the modern cleric: Rabbi Hillel Norry and Father John Duffell.
While the rabbi helped the production team in their research, he was especially helpful to actor Ben Stiller as, like the character of Jake Schram, Rabbi Norry is himself an Upper West Side bachelor. Stiller, who grew up on the Upper West Side, spent some time with the rabbi at the synagogue to research his role.
"It’s interesting, because I had no idea what a day in a rabbi’s life is like," says Stiller. "Can he go out with a non-Jewish girl? Can he go out with a girl in his congregation? Does he have to be Kosher?"
Similarly, Edward Norton spent time with Father John Duffell, attending his masses and learning about the priest’s life as a community activist.
While New York affords hundreds of beautiful churches and synagogues, the production team stuck to the script for their locations.

"This film is an Upper West Side story," says production designer Wynn P. Thomas. "We intentionally picked churches and synagogues in that neighborhood so that they would be true to the spirit of the Upper West Side," an area known for its rich culture and ethnic mix.
The sanctuary and exterior of Jake’s temple, for example, was filmed at B’nai Jeshurun on West 88th, where Thomas and Edward Norton attended Friday night services early in pre-production. The exotic Byzantine/Romanesque style of the interior, fashionable for well-to-do temples when it was built in 1918, impressed the director, as did the lively services he witnessed that night.
Indeed the temple is famous for attracting capacity crowds on Friday nights, much like the script’s B’nai Ezra, the synagogue where Jake increases attendance with rather unorthodox techniques, including group meditation and gospel choirs.
For Brian’s church, Edward Norton chose the Church of the Ascension on West 107th Street for its location as much as for its beautiful Gothic interior. "We felt that it was a church in a working neighborhood with a wide variety of people," explains designer Thomas. "That appealed to Edward’s thoughts about the character of Brian working closely with different ethnic groups, trying to make a change in the neighborhood."
Ironically, but in keeping with Jake’s and Brian’s attempts to promote cooperation between their synagogue and church, some of the scenes in Jake’s temple were shot inside a church.
"For some reason most synagogues have very small what we called ‘support spaces’," says Thomas. The production team instead found some space in the Church of SS Paul and Andrew, around the corner from B’nai Jeshurun, where they built a set for Jake’s office that was inspired by that of Rabbi Norry.
"There were a lot of playful elements in Rabbi Norry’s office that showed that all types of people came there. He had children’s toys, for example, for kids to play with in his office."
Also filmed on the Upper West Side were many of the characters’ apartments, both interiors and exteriors, and several of the restaurants the characters frequent: Carmine’s, Delphini, and Boulevard. Flashbacks to the three characters’ childhoods were also mainly filmed in the area, which included P.S. 87 on West 78th Street and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Riverside Drive.
The production also filmed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art off Fifth Avenue, the Cloisters Museum in Fort Tryon Park, the Church of the Ascension and Riverbank State Park in Upper Manhattan, in Chelsea at Peter MacManus Cafe, at the Barnes and Noble on Union Square, in Central Park, and on Irving Place.
For Anna’s office, the filmmakers built a set on a high floor in an office building overlooking Battery Park. Located on the lower tip of Manhattan, the space offered a spectacular view of New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty.
"The location gave a sense of being on top of the world," says Thomas, much in the way that Elfman’s high-powered Anna finds herself. "Plus it had another building right next to it, which the script required," as Anna finds herself watching the saga of an office lothario in the building across the way.
While Wynn Thomas presented Anna’s corporate world with a sleek and monochromatic office, costume designer Michael Kaplan similarly dressed Jenna Elfman in muted colors and greys and in a style far removed from the actress’s TV persona. Even Anna’s hairstyle through much of the film is a simple, no-nonsense ponytail.

"I wanted her to be more streamlined and serious and to the point," explains Kaplan, who dressed Elfman in a variety of beautiful clothes from Costume Nationale and Helmut Lang, among others. "Her deal is simplicity; Anna doesn’t have a lot of time to be concerned with accessories and shopping. Her main accessory is her cell phone.
"Jenna was a pleasure to dress," Kaplan continues. "She has a great figure—nothing needs camoflaging. I just got a note from her saying she thinks she’s never looked better."
Kaplan also dressed Anne Bancroft, who plays Jake’s mother Ruth, in very elegant clothes, all by Calvin Klein. Bancroft wanted Ruth to wear black, as a true New Yorker would. "As I talked to each actor, they all said, ‘I want to wear black,’ with the exception of Edward," says Michael Kaplan. "And he had to wear black whenever he was a priest. All of the actors needed to compromise—I didn’t want this comedy to look like a funeral!"
Kaplan conferred with the film’s advisors in choosing appropriate wardrobe for Jake and Brian. "Things have changed so much," says. "When I first met Father Duffell, he had just come back from jogging and he was wearing the latest Nike clothes. I realized that these people are totally integrated into society."
"Whenever Brian was doing something that was part of the ceremony in the church, he would be dressed appropriately," explains Kaplan, who found the ceremonial clothes in catalogues and stores that cater to clergy. "The same thing for Ben Stiller playing a rabbi. Aside from that, there are no rules."
But how far the ceremony reaches into the clerics’ personal lives was a question for the film’s advisors. "There’s a scene where Ben Stiller is putting on the teffilin and saying his morning prayers," says Kaplan. "I thought since he had just gotten out of bed, he might just do it in his underwear, and Rabbi Norry said no, definitely not. He would be dressed."
When Brian dons his civilian clothes, on the other hand, Kaplan dressed Norton in lighter summer colors, in clothes of priest-like simplicity. Stiller’s rabbi, on the other hand, is dressed almost exclusively in New York City black.
Interestingly, Kaplan found that working with Edward Norton as a director was much the same as when they worked together on "Fight Club," in which Norton acted. "I kind of knew he would be a director in the way he had talked about his wardrobe during ‘Fight Club,’" says Kaplan. "He has a vision, and very definite ideas."
"Edward is very thorough, open to ideas and incredibly focused," adds Hawk Koch. "He’s also really good at communicating to actors and pushing them to their limits to get the performance that they have inside them."
"He has this great ability to create an environment where the actors feel safe enough to try new things and take risks," adds Blumberg. "And there are these great unexpected moments that came out of improv that add to the scene." Ben Stiller in particular added to each and every scene in which he appeared.
"Ben always comes up with funny things, and it’s really fun to watch because he’s different every time," notes Jenna Elfman. "He’s extremely talented with comedy—like nothing I’ve ever seen."
Indeed, the chemistry between the three leading characters—friends since childhood—was key. "The three actors riff wonderfully," says producer Hawk Koch. "The chemistry is so good, and I think they had a lot of fun together."

"Edward is so charming, and very funny," says Jenna Elfman of her co-star and director. "In a scene, it doesn’t feel like we’re acting. It’s that easy, it’s like a dance.
"I have a great relationship with one, and a great relationship with the other, and when the three of us are together, there are all these little chemical reactions going on," says Elfman. In fact, half the fun in the movie is trying to figure out what’s going to happen between the three. "Plus it’s me and two boys, which has been great."
"I haven’t seen a love triangle between a rabbi, a priest, and a non-Jewish woman before," says Ben Stiller. "But it’s about real people, to whom we can all relate." While the filmmakers expect to make audiences laugh, they also hope "Keeping the Faith" will stay with them a long while after leaving the cinema.
"I think there’s a very nice message in the film about trust and faith," concludes producer Hawk Koch. "And a lot time we can tell the truth about our lives with a little humor better than we can when it’s hit over our heads in a serious way."

Official Site

If you want to receive these updates via E-mail please send me an E-mail : au@joanmail.zzn.com

and inform your E-mail address.

Back to Top