Synopsis: When the three Grace children--troubled Jared, his bookish twin, Simon, and their sister, Mallory, a fencing jock--move to the ancient Spiderwick mansion with their great uncle, they are at first none-too-enchanted by the rundown Victorian...until they discover a Brownie, an enchanted creature, living in the walls. They soon find a book--Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You--that will open their eyes to the invisible, odd, and sometimes dangerous world of dragons and boggarts, phookas and fairies, sprites and goblins. When they cross paths with Mulgarath, an ogre, they realize quickly that he will stop at nothing to get his hands on the Field Guide.

Cast:
Sarah Bolger .... Mallory Grace
Freddie Highmore .... Jared Gace/Simon Grace
David Strathairn .... Arthur Spiderwick
Joan Plowright .... Lucinda Spiderwick
Mary-Louise Parker .... Helen Grace
Andrew McCarthy .... Richard Grace
Nick Nolte .... Mulgrath (voice)
Izabella Miko .... Hogsqueal (voice)
Martin Short .... Thimbletack/Bogart (voice)

Notes:
• Filming took place from September 12, 2006 to January, 2007 in Montreal, Canada.
• David plays the children's great-great uncle, Arthur Spiderwick. The adapted screenplay was written by frequent collaborator and long-time friend John Sayles.
• The Spiderwick Chronicles is based on the bestselling series by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black.
• For his role as Arthur Spiderwick, David spent much of his time walking on platform shoes for a computer-generated effect.

Production:
(Excerpts from Warner Bros. Press Release:)

• David Strathairn plays Arthur Spiderwick, a man dedicated to chronicling the Unseen World that so fascinates him, who unwittingly provides the Grace children with entry to the darker forces that inhabit this enchanted place. Once he realizes how dangerous his Field Guide is, he takes great pains to hide and secure it--ultimately, to no avail. "Arthur entrusts the book to Thimbletack, this dear, cherished little house brownie. It remains safe until the kids move into his house, and they discover it. It is bound up, and a sign on it warns 'Do Not Open', but of course Jared does. It's kind of like opening Pandora's Box," Strathairn explains.

The actor says he shares Spiderwick's appreciation of the enchanted world, though Strathairn's interest is more metaphorical than Spiderwick's. He references Bruno Bettelheim's The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales, in which Bettelheim notes "...the imagery of fairy tales helps children better than anything else in their most difficult and yet most important and satisfying task: achieving a more mature consciousness..." He could have been talking about what happens to the Grace children in the story.

"What the Bettelheim book addresses is that in the fairy kingdom of spirits and goblins and weirdness and magic and fear, the simplistic world of good/bad, this is the place where we work out our stuff. The big bad wolf, the dark forest, potions and magic--we use all those things to find our way through our own jungles. And that's what happens in this film, because Jared, Simon and Mallory are trying to figure out what is happening to them and their family, and Arthur's book is, in many ways, not just a guide to a magic world but to their own reality. So that interested me," Strathairn says--as did working on a film populated by creatures created primarily through visual effects.

"I did a lot of work opposite characters who would be animated later, and I'd never done that, so it was a real discovery for me. It's a fascinating process--I guess it's sort of a Hollywood rite of passage," Strathairn comments.

Drawings/Sketches of Arthur Spiderwick

Copyright Tony DiTerlizzi.

Critical Praise & Commentary:
• "For once, the human cast isn't outmatched by the CGI beasties, with a dual performance by Freddie Highmore and spirited turns by Mary-Louise Parker, David Strathairn, Joan Plowright and even Andrew McCarthy." —Shaun Brady, Philadelphia City Paper

• "The Spiderwick Chronicles also benefits from excellent [and] solid supporting performances by David Strathairn..." -Philip Brown, Eye Weekly

• "Strathairn does quiet melancholy better than just about anyone out there, dominating his own brief scenes as the man whose life's work has opened Pandora's Box." -The Canadian Press

• "...these intense sequences are offset by moments of whimsy and humor, by Caleb Deschanel's beautiful cinematography, James Horner's warm score and the benign presence of old pros like Strathairn and Joan Plowright. Incidentally, Strathairn's regular collaborator, indie filmmaker John Sayles, is one of three credited screenwriters." -Tom Charity, CNN

• "David Strathairn lends a wistful tone as the father who devoted his time to his studies at the cost of his family..." -Jean Cress, The Press-Tribune

• "David Strathairn is intriguing as Arthur Spiderwick..." -Nate Deen, Film School Rejects

• "The movie is distinguished by its acting... Strathairn is completely credible as a spirit-world investigator, although exactly where the sparkling points of light take him, and what he does there, is a little murky." -Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

• "And the movie gets a little grown-up ballast from Strathairn..." -Robert Horton, HeraldNet

• "The supporting characters, as performed by Strathairn and Joan Plowright, give a few levels to their performances that lesser actors would not have been able to pull off. They are both completely believable as who they are." -Peterson Hill, The Crimson White

• "David Strathairn is about perfect as the long lost Uncle Arthur." -Journal Newspapers Online

• "Thanks to solid performances by Strathairn, Parker and Bolger...The Spiderwick Chronicles proves why all great films start with a great story." -Tim Lammers, icFlorida.com

• "It's also nice to see David Strathairn, the actor who gave us a career-defining performance as Edward R. Murrow, shout lines like 'you must protect the book from the ogre!'" -Ken Lowery, K-L.com

• "The rest of the cast is better than it has to be, from David Strathairn to Joan Plowright..." -Daniel Neman, In Rich

• "That finely tuned balance also can be found among the live-action castmembers, especially old pros Plowright and Strathairn..." -Michael Rechtshaffen, The Hollywood Reporter

• "The on-screen actors are game, too, and unexpectedly touching in many moments (Plowright and David Strathairn as Spiderwick are, true to their reputations, great)." -Katey Rich, CinemaBlend.com

• "The ever-reliable David Strathairn brings Arthur Spiderwick a sort of charming, baffled dignity..." -Tasha Robinson, Austin Texas News

• "The solid cast (David Strathairn and Joan Plowright on camera, voice work by Seth Rogen and Martin Short) elevates the proceedings." -StarTribune.com

• "With Nolte, Strathairn and Joan Plowright, who plays Strathairn’s now elderly daughter, Spiderwick boasts a caliber of supporting players unusual for a kids' film." -Jeffrey Westhoff, Northwest Herald

• "Veterans Plowright and Strathairn are equally fine, although, like all the adult roles, their screen time is relatively brief. Strathairn brings a compelling sense of mystery and longing to the role of Arthur Spiderwick." -David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle

• "Will it take off? With a contemporary attitude, a wild sense of humor and a cast that also boasts David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck) and Joan Plowright, there should be something for everyone." -Susan Wloszczyna, News Leader

(David On His Role:)
• "It's going to be completed in the near future. I play Arthur Spiderwick, the man who has written a field guide to the magical kingdom of trolls and goblins and fairies and sprites, which he's locked away because it has all these dangerous secrets, it's kind of a Pandora's Box with the fairy kingdom. He's gone off into the world to contact them because he really believes that the world is full of them. Maybe he's eaten too many mushrooms, I don't know. But he believes that there are things we cannot see." -David Strathairn, 2007

• "I play Arthur Spiderwick, the man who discovered the magical world of fairies and sprites and goblins and trolls and recorded it down into this secret tome. This tome has been latched and you open it to your detriment. The kids [Freddy Highmore and Sarah Bolger] find it releases all the secrets. There is this big battle for the power of the magical world." -David Strathairn, 2007

• [on the series] "It's a lot different, well, at least in the books I read. I don't think it's going to be the next Harry Potter." -David Strathairn, 2007

(Mark Waters On David:)
• [on the actors he's worked with] "There are actors who are like David Strathairn who are just...incredible." -Mark Waters, director

• "Like we just said, shouldn't it be great if David Strathairn [played] Dr. Spiderwick and Tony and Holly's [the writers] like 'I always pictured David Strathairn.' It's like you call him up and he's like, 'Yeah, I'll do it.' And you're like what? Really? And on down the line. We just kind of got the first person we asked for almost every time." -Mark Waters, director

(Mark Canton On David:)
• "And you don't find actors much better than David Strathairn." -Mark Canton, producer

(Maggie Renzi On David:)
• [on partner/writer John Sayles's involvement in the project, which he helped adapt for the screen] "David Strathairn is in it. He plays Arthur Spiderwick and he's our next door neighbor, so we were comparing you know, what he learned." -Maggie Renzi, producer

Related Links:
Official U.S. Site
Official U.S. Novels Site (off site)
Nickelodeon - The Spiderwick Chronicles (off site)
MySpace.com - The Spiderwick Chronicles (off site)
Facebook.com - The Spiderwick Chronicles (off site)