Synopsis: Gifted 18-year-old Meghan Dunning has been abandoned by her father and neglected by her hardworking mother. Left to care for her emotionally disturbed younger sister, Lily, her world slowly begins to unravel. She finds an outlet in writing poetry and receives support from her English teacher, Mr. Auster. But what started out as a mentoring relationship becomes more complex and, the consequences, life-changing.

Cast:
David Strathairn .... Auster
Agnus Bruckner .... Meghan Dunning
Margaret Colin .... Diane
Frances Fisher .... Delia
A.J. Buckley .... Pat
Regan Arnold .... Lily
Sarah Buehler .... Georgia
Dustin Sterling .... Rob
Mike Ward .... Dad
Wayne Armstrong .... Don
Michael Raysses .... Mr. Kastran

Favorite Quotes:
• "A whole world emerges from little details. For example, when we buried my son, I had forgotten to put in my contact lenses, and I stood over him before they closed the coffin, trying to fix him in my memory. I could see the red from his sweater and his blue pants, and there was a scab on his forehead that hadn't healed. It was from a bicycle accident, and I could feel that scab when I kissed him, but when I looked at him...he was, well, he was out of focus." - Auster

• Auster: [after looking over her poem] "Okay...you tell me."
Meg: "I don't know."
Auster: "Why not?"
Meg: [Laughs]
Auster: "What's so funny?"
Meg: "Nothing."
Auster: "Well, why did you laugh?"
Meg: "I-I don't know."
Auster: "Are you afraid I'm going to tell you your work stinks?"
Meg: "...Does it?"
Auster: "What do you think?"
Meg: "Probably. I don't know."
Auster: "Come back when you do." [rises & starts to leave]
Meg: "It doesn't stink. There's a line that I like."
Auster: "Which one?"
Meg: "'Lost leaves spin past the glass, but the trees don't go. They stay by my window.'"
Auster: "What about the rest of it?"
Meg: "I could go deeper."
Auster: "Good for you."

• Meg: "What's your book about?"
Auster: "It's about an old man who falls for a young girl."
Meg: "Really?"
Auster: "You don't believe me?"
Meg: "How does it end?"
Auster: "They make love, and he is transformed."

Notes:
• Director and screenwriter Karen Moncrieff actually wrote the character of Auster with David in mind--so much so, that she based the character of Auster after a writer with the same last name who resembled David.
• Ten seconds of the "sex scene" between Auster and Meg was cut out. Although the entire scene is rather horrifying to watch, there was a split ten second section that--in early screenings with audiences--was most troubling to them. The uncut version is on the DVD. As for shooting the scene, David and co-star Agnes were only able to do the scene a couple times, due to the content and uncomfortable demands of the actors.
• Blue Car won an honorable mention of Best Feature Film for director and screenwriter Karen Moncrieff at the 2002 Woodstock Film Festival.
• If you look closely, the application form that Meg fills out for the poetry contest says her poem is entitled "Blue Car", even though at that point in the film she had not yet written the poem or given it a title.
• Poem that David Strathairn chose for a scene in the film:

Critical Praise & Commentary:
• "On the other hand, Bruckner and Strathairn give nakedly emotional performances and the momentum of Blue Car is propulsive, as well as always vaguely dangerous." -John Anderson, Newsday

• "As for the 40-ish Mr. Auster, David Strathairn does a magnificent job of portrayal. It's uncomfortably obvious from the start that his interest in Meg can't be purely advisoral, but as the Auster/Meg relationship becomes central to the plot, Strathairn gives Auster enough reserve and discomfort to make him likeable... David's awkwardness and distance, and the cold wisdom of Mr. Auster's advice, set up hope." -Brian Block, Movie Round Table

• "Strathairn's role is even trickier, because Moncrieff doesn't want to make him into a stereotyped molester, but to show how he is about to manipulate himself into a situation where it seems, because he wants it to seem, that the girl accepts him. He is rotten in an everyday way, not in a horror movie way--and that makes him much more frightening." -Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

• "Praise is due to every actor in this surprisingly polished gem, and especially to writer-director Karen Moncrieff." -Guy Flatley, Moviecrazed

• "With his dark, secretive gaze and clenched voice that always seems to be choking back an explosion, David Strathairn is a master at conveying the desperate, self-enforced repression of a man whose excess of feeling clashes with his innate stoicism. But this gifted actor is no one-trick pony. The range of what is held back can extend from an aching tenderness that threatens to melt into a sobbing puddle to the violent red-eyed fury he unleashed in Dolores Claiborne, which found him delivering one of the scariest portrayals of a drunken wife-batterer ever etched on celluloid.

"Mr. Strathairn's complex, exquisitely nuanced portrayal of a man who goes over the line allows his character to be both hero and villain, sometimes at once... Mr. Strathairn's performance is matched in complexity by Ms. Bruckner's Meg..." -Stephen Holden, The New York Times

• "Actor David Strathairn has almost as impeccable a track record... So it's no surprise to find Strathairn excelling in the brilliant and disturbing Blue Car." -Marc Levinson, ITEN

• "Strathairn, as nonthreatening an actor as Moncrieff might have cast, is convincing as what Meg thinks he is, and seems to morph into a sleazy hustler. It's not a performance he'll want to watch." -Jack Mathews, The New York Daily News

• "The girl takes solace in writing, and her talent for poetry is encouraged by her handsome, kindly English teacher (David Strathairn, in the year's bravest performance)." -Mary F. Pols, Contra Costa Times

• "Strathairn's portrayal of a flawed man is so moving and Bruckner's Meg so painfully true--a breakthrough performance--that thoughts of Lolita are left far behind..." -Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

• "Strathairn works miracles by finding the humanity in a deeply flawed man." -Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

(David On His Role:)
• "As an actor you try to find as many facets to the guy to make him as potentially redeemable in a realistic human scale as possible. Certain events may tip the audience's appreciation of that one way or the other. In terms of Megan Denning's journey, certain things happen that might derail the audience's sympathy for him. But the attempt is to make him not a predator, but also a vulnerable and complicated and fallible person who just happens to maybe make the wrong choices at the wrong time." -David Strathairn, 2001

• [on the low-budget scale] "I like the balance between independent (films) like this and theater. That's sort of now where I've been pigeonholed. This film has all the characteristics of an earnest low-budget film." -David Strathairn, 2001

• [on director Karen Moncrieff] "In terms of teaching literature and poetry to anyone, that's a huge challenge. And then to do a film about it and get people to appreciate it is yet again a huge challenge. But I hope (Moncrieff) is successful with it and that it leads to other things for her. I think she's written a very sincere and very relevant story." -David Strathairn, 2001

• [on the sex scene] "It was really grungy and brutally hot. We were all creeped out going in there." -David Strathairn, 2002

• "We had the luck of the draw because Agnus liked me and I liked her. So I felt there was a certain amount of trust already. And Karen was always there to be a conduit for Agnus. She was stronger than me. I mean, who knows (what happened) when she went home that night. ...If she was freaking out, she was being quite gracious not to say so. You get to a point of 'Oh God, you gotta do it.' You've got to enter that dark, odd place. You sort of drop out of yourself a little bit and you become the character as much as possible, and you put your trust in the director and cinematographer." -David Strathairn, 2002

• [about Auster's actions] "His gears have slipped. We're all fallible to our passions. ...And I wanted to show that desperate grasping for an affirmation of his manhood--as well as this odd, twisted, romantic notion of wanting to teach this girl something." -David Strathairn, 2002

• "She [director Karen Moncrieff] wanted Auster to be vulnerable, not a predator. You see his complications. He's a crippled person, but there is a potential for redemption. He tried to help this girl but fell prey to his own desires." -David Strathairn, 2002

• "I thought Karen had done something very interesting in this story: using the lens of poetry, she explores how a person discovers the meaning not just of their words, but of their life. It was also obvious to me that we were headed into sticky terrain. But Karen's approach was so confident and so contagiously positive that I felt together we were ready for whatever lay ahead. The challenge to playing Auster was never to sentimentalise him--to avoid the trap of making his love of poetry in any way cloying or melodramatic, and also to not undermine his ultimately irresponsible actions, while at the same time to validate them as sincere, best-intended and heartfelt." -David Strathairn, 2002

• "Blue Car-–I feel pretty good about the outcome of that. The creation of the character was in sync with the film and that is always a main concern–-that the character can stand on its own but still disappear into the fabric of the film and serve as a indication of what the film is about." -David Strathairn, 2006

(Agnus On David:)
• [on filming the sex scene] "I was creeped out by the whole thing. But David and I were really close by that time. And Karen, David, the cameraman, the boom guy, and the camera assistant all wore boxer shorts [in solidarity with her while shooting the scene]. So, that made me feel more comfortable." -Agnus Bruckner, co-star (Meg)

(Rob Sweeney On David:)
• "On Blue Car there were a couple of moments when I knew we were on to something good. The first was when David Strathairn agreed to do the film. The role had so many layers and such complexity and I knew he would bring great depth to it. Plus I'd worked with him and knew him to be a trooper who could deal with the low budget hassles, put them aside and do good work." -Rob Sweeney, cinematographer

• "...And if they are pleasant and constructive as well as talented, as David is, you are doubly blessed... A lot of David's work was in 'his' High School English class. It was great to watch him make the room his own. He would pick up all the stuff on the desk (much of it left over from the teacher in whose class we were shooting). If it worked for his character, he put it somewhere specific on the desk, if not, he stuck it in a drawer. He puttered around, rearranged, and pretty soon it looked and felt like his space. One extremely charged and difficult scene was shot in a truly horrible motel room. The kind where your feet stick to the shag carpet and you really don't want to know why... It was covered with black dubateen to create 'night,' with poor ventilation, about 120 degrees. Under these grueling circumstances our actors delivered stunning performances with no complaints." -Rob Sweeney, cinematographer

(Karen Moncrieff On David:)
• "I think he's an actor who's not afraid of playing characters that other people would say are unsympathetic. But he also has a tremendous amount of charisma and he infuses all of his characters with such humanity and sympathy that you can't help but understand them, even if they're as evil as the man he played in Dolores Claiborne." -Karen Moncrieff, director

• "He [David Strathairn] makes it all about the work and not about him. He's such a generous and courageous actor. I can't think of another actor of his caliber who would take on a part like this, because most of them would say the character was too unsympathetic and wouldn't let themselves be seen in some of the lights David is seen in. There are scenes where he's very dashing and scenes where he's almost pathetic, and David allows himself to reveal parts of himself most actors would never reveal." -Karen Moncrieff, director

• "I don't know any other actor who would be brave enough to take on the role. So many actors are primarily concerned with how sympathetic they are (onscreen). But David loved the script and allowed himself to play a supporting role to a 16-year-old actress because he thought the story deserved to be told." -Karen Moncrieff, director

• [on David's non-stardom] "Maybe that's why he's in some ways been overlooked, because he doesn't seek out the limelight. He just comes in and applies himself to the work." -Karen Moncrieff, director

• "I'd been a fan of David's work for years and when he agreed to do the movie, I was thrilled. It is such a tricky part and I knew I needed an actor who could invest it with humanity and warmth, yet who would be fearless in going to where Auster ultimately goes. I think David peels back the darkest layers of a man's heart in this role. His performance was ultimately very subtle but also brave, generous and, despite Auster's choices, beautiful." -Karen Moncrieff, director, Writers Studio

• [on preparing David for the part] "What I ended up writing was Auster's inner monologue, his 3 a.m. rumination on fading youth, isolation and longing. If you engage a great actor's imagination, he'll usually come up with great things, and David did not disappoint." -Karen Moncrieff, director, Writers Studio

• "We had shot a scene there in front of the apartment and then we were trying to rush to rap up our equipment and move to the next shot before the sun completely went down, and David was there helping move sandbags, and we'll always think of him as the consumate, generous, kind actor who is really in it because he cares about the work and not because, you know--he makes it all about the character and the work and not about himself. And he really just seems to have no ego, if you can imagine that, and really was just a joy to work with." -Karen Moncrieff, director, DVD commentary

• "David, again, is such a sweetheart. This school was so hot. It was boiling in there; it was probably one hundred degrees. There was no air conditioning, and we were filming in Ohio in June and he'd be blotting his own forehead, you know. Very low maintanence! And also, it's interesting to know that the two of them--Agnus and David--got along famously on set. So, they would often be sitting at this desk while we were setting up shots, cracking each other up, telling jokes, being silly. So, despite the sort of somber tone of the movie, they found some things to laugh about." -Karen Moncrieff, director, DVD commentary

• [regarding a scene where students are reading a poem outside the school] "David actually found this poem. This snippet that we're reading here is from 'Birds', and it's a beautiful poem. I think the poet might be a friend or an acquaintance of David's, but I was very excited when he gave us permission to use it because it seemed to really fit the moment, and it was really beautifully lyrical." -Karen Moncrieff, director, DVD commentary (Note: See poem above for reference)

• "This is, of course, a quote from Letters to a Young Poet that he's reading. Meg, of course, doesn't recognize it and seems quite enamored. I just like the fact that he's alluding to something sexual, but then David brings it around to that he's actually talking about a coming poet." -Karen Moncrieff, director, DVD commentary

• [regarding scene where Meg cries to Auster] "I also feel like both of these actors [David Strathairn and Agnus Bruckner] played the scene with such humanity and complexity that it's also one of my favorites, if not maybe my favorite, in the movie... And David is, as Auster, so struggling to keep his distance from this very alluring, compelling, sad and beautiful girl." -Karen Moncrieff, director, DVD commentary

• [regarding scene where Auster puts the star on Meg's forehead] "I just feel like they both really captured the essence of this scene. The kind of uncertainty and longing that they each feel. And David, in this moment, when he puts the star on her forehead, it's the 'Will he kiss her? Won't he kiss her?' moment and he did it beautifully." -Karen Moncrieff, director, DVD commentary

• "You know, every time I see anything that--every shot of David--I'm so thankful that he did the movie. I wrote the movie with David in mind. As a matter of fact, I named the character Auster because I'd seen--in a book store--I'd seen a book jacket of one of Paul Auster's novels, and I thought that Paul Auster looked a lot like David Strathairn and didn't want to name the character Strathairn, so I thought Auster sort of evoked that literary world and also reminded me of David. So, I always meant to change the name again, too, so that people wouldn't think I was saying anything negative about Paul Auster, because I've never met the man and I'm just a fan of his work, but I have no reason to think that there are any similarities between Mr. Auster and Paul Auster other than the fact that they both look like David Strathairn. But David, when we sent the script to him, he just responded to it immediately and really, very generously said that it was a story he really wanted to have out in the world and that he felt like it was an important story to tell and that he thought that Meg's journey was one that needed to be out there. So, he was willing to, essentially, be a supporting player to her journey, and I just think that that's amazingly generous. He's just such a great actor that, especially in the scenes that are upcoming, you see him changing before our eyes, and you see he goes from being this kind of knight-in-shining-armor, the perfect father surgorate, to a really human, sad and slightly pathetic figure. And he allows himself [David Strathairn] to be seen, you know, he's doing that. The actor is sort of showing those colors." -Karen Moncrieff, director, DVD commentary

• "David and I didn't have a lot of time to rehearse together. I actually went to meet him in New York, and we spent the day going over the script scene-by-scene. I wanted to make sure he felt really comfortable with everything that we're going to be doing, and I wanted him to know my intentions for all of it. And also [I] wanted to find out how he liked to work, because I feel like--as a director--its my job to adapt my style to each of the actors so that they feel like they have the kind of support that they need that will help them spark their creativity, unlock their imagination. So, David, it turns out really likes to discuss character; likes to talk about back story, and he told me that in past experiences working with John Sayles that John often would write a page of character description, back story, that David found really useful. So, I went back to L.A. I composed a stream of consciousness, three a.m. roomination in the voice of Auster--sort of what he was thinking about, what were the issues in his life, just where he was at emotionally so that David would have sort of something to hang on to in addition to the script, and I think he found that helpful. And all along, initially, it was a little intimidating to me to work with him because I had been a fan of his work for so long, but very soon after starting working with him, it just was clear that he really thrives on having close contact with the director; really likes having something coming back. So, it was great to work with him. He's somebody who, because he's so accomplished, you give him a little something and he just flies." -Karen Moncrieff, director, DVD commentary

• [regarding the sex scene] "David and I talked about it after we sort of saw what Agnus was doing with this scene, that it seemed impossible that Auster would completely go through with consumating the act. And, so, we felt like was more appropriate that at a certain point, he's trying to get her to participate with him, he so wants this to happen--for it to be a good thing, for them to connect in this way as if it's going to make all his problems go away as well--and when it becomes so clear that that's not going to happen, then he [David Strathairn] felt that like we really needed to have a moment where it's clear that he sees that she's just tramatized by this and that he pulls back. And, so, that's what we went with... And this moment for David is (where he puts his hand up and you see his wedding ring and the look of, 'Oh, shit' on his face) I think it's just one of the most brilliant moments in the movie. And even just the little details where it's a place he's unfamiliar with, he's searching for the light and finds it outside the door..." -Karen Moncrieff, director, DVD commentary

• [regarding the drawings in Auster's book] "David actually wrote--he did those doodles and did them beautifully, I think. Unfortunately, we didn't quite get a clearer glimpse of the inverted hearts that she refers to later on in her poem, though they were there..." -Karen Moncrieff, director, DVD commentary

• [regarding scene following Meg seeing Auster's book] "This, again, is probably one of my favorite scenes in the movie, especially for David but really for both of them, because in this scene I feel like she really looks at him and sees him for who he is. Unfortunately, at this moment she's seeing him for the imposter that he is, and he's trying very, very hard to keep her from seeing that. But I feel like he, David the actor, here allows his character Auster to fall off the pedestal in front of her and even just in his physicality of the character, there's something about him that looks sad and pathetic as he looks at her. He lets it all sort of show in his eyes, and I just feel like that's, you know, both of them have it all happening in their eyes." -Karen Moncrieff, director, DVD commentary

Related Links:
Official U.S. Site (off site)
The TFL-Approved Blue Car Fanlisting (off site)