RETURN TO ME Destined to meet
The X-Files star David Duchovny pairs up with the exuberant Minnie Driver in this light and sensitive romantic caper. The film also marks the directorial debut of actress Bonnie Hunt
Destiny plays a very important role in our lives, and you almost worship destiny when love comes into the picture. Sometime, somewhere, we all hope to stumble onto the woman or man of dreams, and establish a long-lasting relationship. The romantic comedy Return To Me starring Minnie Driver and David Duchovny is based on this theme.

The setting for this tale is a whimsical Chicago rooted in offbeat Italian, Irish and Polish traditions. Duchovny stars as a widowed architect Bob Rueland, who is trying to put together his life back. But his wife’s memory continues to haunt him and he buries himself in work, hoping to complete the project that meant more to his wife than anything else. Driver plays Grace Briggs, a waitress, who has received a new lease of life through a heart transplant. She lives above O’Reilly’s Italian restaurant, considered the best and perhaps the only, Irish-Italian joint in the city, owned by her grandfather. Fate intervenes here as Bob happens to visit the restaurant, and bumps into Grace. This chance meeting leaves him flummoxed, but feeling something for the first time in long time. Circumstances push Bob and Grace towards one another, kindling the flame of love, but they come together only after overcoming obstacles.

Return To Me is a contemporary fairy tale, directed and co-written by Bonnie Hunt, which effectively merges heartache and humour, bitter-sweet yearning and bewitching romance. Hunt makes her debut here as feature director and writer, and for her it’s a labour of love. She says she deliberately set out to create a love story which was at once timeless and timely, comeic and tragic. “This is a film about everyday life,” notes Hunt, “rooted in real characters with average lives, who are almost supernaturally touched by the events of the story.”

It was certain that Hunt would choose to set the story against the backdrop of the city in which the filmmaker has her roots - Chicago. The production team decided that the entire film (save the final two days in Rome) would be shot in Chicago on “practical” locations - real settings rather than studio sets - that would lend complete verisimilitude to the story without any Hollywood artifice. “Chicago is a character in itself,” Hunt opines, “There’s a certain kindness that permeates the story, and a lot of the characters in the film are from my childhood.. especially the older folks who populate O’Reilly’s restaurant.”

Hunt knew that romantic stories succeed only when the charisma and chemistry of the leading players works out. So the writer-director was on a look-out for stars who could pull off the twists and turns of the story, and keep the audience with them every step of the way. Hunt decided that David Duchovny and Minnie Driver were perfect for the lead roles. “David and I had acted in Beethoven a few years ago,” she recalls, “We had a scene together that didn’t have a lot written into it, and the director encouraged us to add something of our own. So David and I quickly worked something else out, and it became a really funny scene in the movie. I could see David’s potential. He’s funny, wry, charming and debonair, and right to play Bob.”

Hunt wrote the role for Duchovny in such a way that it would certainly call on his dramatic skills apparent to viewers of The X-Files, but at the same time also showcase the actor’s comic abilities as well. Duchovny’s occasional appearances on late night talk shows reveal that he possesses a dry and smart sense of humour.

Duchovny was charmed by the script of the film, and wanted to do the film as soon as he had finished reading the script. “The script of Return To Me was so simple and direct, and it wasn’t tainted with the kind of cynicism which seems to affect everythig else these days. It had a kind of simple inevitability to it, beautiful, emotional and funny. The script earns its sentimentality through truth, honesty and integrity.”

For the demanding role of Grace, who undergoes a physical and psychological transformation in the film, Hunt says she chose her star in a “somewhat orthodox way.” Says she, “I called her, we had lunch and she loved the role of Grace. She was on board soon after that first lunch.”

Driver was as enthusiastic as fellow star Duchovny, when she read the screenplay. “Return To Me isn’t solely a romantic comedy, because there are some very serious and dramatic moments in it. It’s very, very real and honest, and funny and sad, and there’s a twist at the centre of it all, which makes for good cinema,” opines the actress.

According to Driver “there’s a magical element to the entire movie, which you must give yourself over to.” She further explains, “What happens between Bob and Grace is a little father over from coincidence, but in the spirit of the film, it’s not unbelievable. You like these characters so much, you want them to be together... and the film allows the audience to fulfill their wishes.”