Paige and Leo are a happy newlywed couple whose lives are changed by a car accident that puts Paige in a coma. Waking up with severe memory loss, Paige has no memory of Leo, a confusing relationship with her parents, and an ex-fiancé she may still have feelings for. Despite these complications, Leo endeavors to win her heart again and rebuild their marriage. When Paige’s memory recovery appears to be a hopeless cause, Leo begins to confront his worst fear – that he’s lost the love of his life and his only family. Refusing to give up, he decides to start fresh and court Paige as if they’ve just met, with the hope that since they fell in love once, they can do it again. It’s a challenge that will test everything he’s ever believed about love and about being true to oneself.
Information
| Rachel as: | Paige |
| Other cast: | Channing Tatum (Leo), Jessica Lange (Rita Thornton), Sam Neil (Bill Thornton), Jessica McNamee (Gwen), Wendy Crewson (Dr. Fishman), Tatiana Maslany (Lily), Lucas Bryant (Kyle), Scott Speedman (Jeremy) |
| Alternative Title: | None |
| Directed by: | Michael Sucsy |
| Written by: | Jason Katims, Abby Kohn (screenplay), Stuart Sender (story), Marc Silverstein (screenplay) |
| Production Status: | Available on DVD/Blu-Ray/Digital HD |
| World Premiere: | February 6, 2012 in Los Angeles at the World premiere |
| Theatrical Release: | February 10, 2012 (US & UK) |
| Genre: | Drama/Romance |
| Rated: | Rated PG-13 for an accident scene, sexual content, partial nudity and some language. |
| Distributor: | Screen Gems (US) |
| Run time: | 104 min |
| Production budget: | $30.000.000 (Estimated) |
| Box office: | $125,014,030 (US) | $196,114,570 (World Wide) |
| Producers: | Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Susan Cooper, J. Miles Dale, Jonathan Glickman, Austin Hearst, Cassidy Lange, Rebekah Rudd, Paul Taublieb |
| Original Music by: | Michael Brook, Rachel Portman |
| Cinematography by: | Rogier Stoffers |
Related Media
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Production Notes
For Sucsy, casting Paige was tricky, because it was important for the character not to come off as too distant when adjusting to her post-coma world. “The difficult thing for an actress in approaching the role of Paige is that she comes out and she doesn’t have any connection to her husband. He’s a stranger to her. If she’s too off-putting, it’s hard to root for her. And in the case of Rachel McAdams, she’s the perfect actress to play the role, because she can tread that line of being likeable, but being convincing that she’s going through this process of having lost her memory.”
McAdams connected with the script and her character from the beginning: “I loved the way the script unfolded. When we first meet Paige, she is a much more actualized version of herself than we see later on in the film, which is kind of a backwards way to go but exactly what I found so interesting.” She explains, “Paige has embraced the life she’s made with Leo. They’re clearly free and comfortable and supportive of each other; she appreciates his music and he encourages her sculpting. But then we find out that she’s cut off from her family and denying a big part of her life.”
Channing Tatum is a self-proclaimed hopeless romantic, and felt the script told an authentic story about a once in a lifetime love and what people will do to hold on to that. “Falling in love is the easy part!” notes Tatum. “Getting on with your life together and making sure you stay in touch and connected because life can get in the way sometimes, that’s the tough part. I think that a huge part of Leo and Paige’s journey is based on the fact that not only do they make each other intensely happy and support each other, but that they pushed each other to grow and when you do that it really does take you to the next level in a relationship and in life.”
It’s been said that a common reaction for people with brain trauma and memory loss is for them feel inadequate and frustrated. The people and things they can’t remember become associated with anxiety, frustration and confusion. This aspect also intrigued McAdams. “It stands to reason that a person would feel overwhelmed by it all and want to avoid what is making them feel bad about themselves even though others are trying to help,” she says. “It must be so frustrating for everyone in this situation! So often people have to take a stand about who they are, but then they lose important people in their life. Paige feels inadequate and frustrated by her memory loss and at one point just finds it easier to be away from Leo. This is about bridging the gap between those two things and so many of us can relate to that.”
Production Process
Mid-June 2010 it was reported that Rachel and Channing Tatum were set to star in “The Vow”, with production set to start at the end of August in Chicago and Toronto. The filming began, as schedule, late August 2010 in Toronto and the film wrapped in Chicago late October 2010. Because of the no photo policy on set we did not get that many photos of Rachel.
Trivia & Facts
Quotes from Rachel
“I loved the way the script unfolded. When we first meet Paige, she is a much more actualized version of herself than we see later on in the film, which is kind of a backwards way to go but exactly what I found so interesting.”
–On why she got involved (Rezrib.com)
“Paige has embraced the life she’s made with Leo. They’re clearly free and comfortable and supportive of each other; she appreciates his music and he encourages her sculpting. But then we find out that she’s cut off from her family and denying a big part of her life.”
–On her character paige (Rezrib.com)
“It’s a great romantic love story but also about familial love too. When Paige wakes up and doesn’t recognize her husband and learns that she’s estranged from her family, she sees big holes in her life that need to be filled in. I find that idea of not knowing if you will find your way back to your destiny so interesting.”
–On the story (Rezrib.com)
“Not at all. I really try to do things I haven’t done before, and this character goes on such a roller coaster. Just when she’s beginning to really come into her own, everything is erased.”
–On if she thought about “The Notebook” while reading the script (Glamour)
“I was worried we might not, because we were more like brother and sister, like buds. Channing is very outgoing, very kind and a lot of fun to work with.”
–On her chemistry with Channing Tatum (Glamour)
“He’s the perfect guy for this role. He’s so chivalrous and such a man of his word. He’s a real renaissance man that way. He’s real gentleman. He added such lovely little touches to Leo; that he always offers his hand to me when I was getting out of a car. He has such nice manners. So he really plays that heroic type. He is going to do anything to win back his wife’s hart. And that’s very much, I think, who Channing is. He is a very heroic kind of guy.”
–On Channing Tatum being the perfect Leo (Sony Pictures)
Quotes from Cast & Crew
“You gotta do the Dear Johns. You gotta do The Vow. I’m conscious about why I did those parts, those movies, I wanted to learn from Rachel on The Vow […] I didn’t go to acting school, so my knowledge of story, filmmaking, and character comes from just being on set and doing it. I know I’m not the best actor But I hope my characters are getting better.”
–Channing Tatum, co-star (Details Magazine)
“Look, she [Rachel McAdams] is one of the most brilliant and beautifulpeople that I’ve ever met. Not just as an actor, but as a person. She cares. She has the true talent to be able to make any line work – and we’ve got some serious big lines in this movie – which can be hard to pull off, but she just does. She has an uncanny ability to make anything sound real and amazing because she commits and believes in it. I’m in awe of her and I’ve learned so much from her.”
–Channing Tatum, co-star (Rezrib.com)
“We joked that she has the curse on being able to make any line work. And this movie got some lines in it! We got some serious big line in the movie which are hard to pull off sometimes but she just does. She has the uncanny ability to make anything sound real and amazing. She really commits, and believes in it. I don’t know, I’m in awe by her. She’s a shining little thing.”
–Channing Tatum, co-star (Sony Pictures)
“The difficult thing for an actress in approaching the role of Paige is that she comes out and she doesn’t have any connection to her husband. He’s a stranger to her. If she’s too off-putting, it’s hard to root for her. And in the case of Rachel McAdams, she’s the perfect actress to play the role, because she can tread that line of being likeable, but being convincing that she’s going through this process of having lost her memory.”
–Michael Sucsy, director (Rezrib.com)
“She is gorgeous. Just darling. Both of them [Rachel & Channing Tatum] are great.”
-Krickitt Carpenter, author of “The Vow: The Kim and Krickitt Carpenter Story” (Unknown)
“My character in The Vow is I’m Rachel McAdams’ ex-fiancee. She loses her memory in the movie and she can’t remember her current husband, Channing Tatum, but she remembers me, so she goes back to her old life and we kind of spark things up a little bit. It’s a good character, a bit different than the stuff I’ve usually done, which was interesting for me to do. It was great to work with all those people.”
-Scott Speedman, co-star (Movie web)
“Anytime you get to work with Rachel McAdams it’s kind of good. She was really the reason I wanted to do this. She’s very shy, but I think that’s part of it [people liking her]. She’s just a very real girl from Canada, which is where I am from so it’s nice. She is just sort of a timeless actress, she is a real through back that way. She is great.”
-Scott Speedman, co-star (Extra TV)
“I met her the day before we started shooting this. A big reason why I wanted to do this was to get to work with her. I think she’s one of our best. This is a not a lead, lead role or anything like that but when there’s incredible people to work with you really want to jump at it. She can handle a lot of material. She’s a very technically good actress. She’s not one of these girls who you feel is going to be around for two years when she’s 20 just ’cause she’s at that moment where it’s interesting to shoot (her). She’s a very, very good actress. She’s always present. She’s just always somebody that’s had that classical throwback vibe to her. It’s a rarity now, actually, for her talent.”
-Scott Speedman, co-star (Canoe)
“I’ve been around the block. Yes, I’ve done quite a few things, including a movie that was No. 1 at the box office, “The Vow.” That was a bit of a surprise. You never know what people are going to see, but there’s no denying the pulling power of Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum. They’re hot and they’re not grizzled.”
-Sam Neill, co-star (Huffington Post)
“I was just nervous talking to (McAdams), I think I asked her what her favourite movie was that she did and she’s like, ‘Are you serious?’. When you’re working with all these people you just have to convince yourself or just believe that you deserve to be there. You can’t just walk around and be a fan”
–Dillon Casey, co-star (My Town Crier)
“Rachel McAdams plays my older sister, Sam Neill is my dad and Jessica Lange plays my mum. It was a crazy, surreal experience and everyone was so sweet. Rachel has this really wicked sense of humour. Sam totally had my back and Rachel and I just gushed about him”
–Jessica McNamee, co-star (Herald Sun)
Critical Reception
“This is McAdams’s third unabashedly romantic movie, a formula that works for her, even though she’s a much more versatile and clever actress than projects like The Notebook and The Time Traveler’s Wife would suggest. She is as deft at projecting adorable vulnerability as Julia Roberts ever was. There’s a grin cradled in the parenthesis of deep dimples. Then there is a look I like to think of as her debutante’s delight, a sideways glance accompanied by a dip of her eyelashes. She’s obviously aware of the effect, and McAdams is still coasting along in that happiest stage in a rom com queen’s career, when the audience loves her grins and gimmicks unreservedly. They don’t seem like a crutch. Not yet anyway.”
–Mary Pols (Time)
“The best thing in the film is McAdams, who moves through her post-amnesia scenes with a plausible mix of good humor and wariness. Her character retains our sympathy even when she’s making other people’s lives difficult, and you can see why Tatum’s Leo clings to her for dear life. He’s well cast as a burly lug who married far above his station. Despite that ‘nobody’s home’ air of his, he projects an uncomplicated decency, and you feel for him when McAdams’ disapproving parents (the underutilized Sam Neill and Jessica Lange) show him no love.”
–Colin Covert (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
“McAdams is excellent as a woman struggling to recognise anything of herself in her marriage […] The few weaknesses in the plot can be overlooked as The Vow makes for a wonderful – if a bit teary – romance that is brilliantly acted.”
–Helen O’Hara (Empire Magazine)
“Much of the appeal is down to McAdams, on such charming form that it’s just plain enjoyable to watch her, despite the broad strokes her internal struggle is painted in. […] For all its clunky scripting there’s an essential sweetness at work here, thanks partly to McAdams and partly to an unusually chaste love story that ultimately keeps melodrama at bay.”
–Emma Dibdin (Total Film)
Awards & Nominations
☆ 2013 People’s Choice Awards as Favorite On-Screen Chemistry (Rachel McAdams & Channing Tatum)
☆ 2013 Rembrandt Awards as Best International Actress
☆ 2012 MTV Movie Awards as Best Kiss (Rachel McAdams & Channing Tatum)
☆ 2012 Teen Choice Awards as Choice Movie Actress: Drama
☆ 2012 Teen Choice Awards as Choice Movie Actress: Romance
☆ 2012 Teen Choice Awards as Choice Movie Liplock (Rachel McAdams & Channing Tatum)
Promotional Tour
| January 11th | 2012 BBC Radio Interview | Inside | Outside Audio |
| January 18th | 2012 This Morning | Inside | Outside Videos |
| January 20th | 2012 Munich Photocall | Images Videos |
| January 26th | 2012 Los Angeles Press Conference | Images Videos |
| January 31st | 2012 Live with Kelly! | Inisde | Outside Videos |
| January 31st | 2012 Good Morning America | Inside | Outside Videos |
| February 6th | 2012 Los Angeles Premiere | Arrivals | After Party Videos |
| February 7th | 2012 The Ellen DeGeneres Show | Images Videos |
| February 10th | 2012 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno | Images Videos |
