Yesterday, Roger Ebert gave the film four stars and announced, “Her performance clearly deserves an Oscar nomination.” Monaghan clearly remains a longshot in the category, but if nothing else a little buzz might tempt a few more viewers to check out the spare, finely-drawn, understated drama, which opens in a few theaters today and rolls out to more over the next few weeks. Considering that the film has been making the festival route for much of the last two years, the actress welcomes the attention.

It’s been a long haul for this movie already, hasn’t it?
Yeah, the film has had a hell of a journey. I attached myself to it in 2006, and it took about a year to get financing. We made it in the summer of 2007, and the following April it went to Tribeca, and then we found distribution in 2008. So it’s taken a lot of dedication on the part of a lot of people to see it through to this point.

What attracted you to the part?
Honestly, this is the role of a lifetime for me. She’s a very honest woman, a real woman, very unsentimental. She’s not a victim, and she’s not a one-dimensional character.

The director, James Mottern, came from documentary films and had never made a feature before. Were you comfortable with him from the start?
I was. I’ve worked with a lot of first time writer directors. Somebody might say I was taking a risk working with him, but I looked at him as taking a risk on me. And more importantly, we just had the same vision for the film. He was real clear about how he wanted to make the film, which was exactly my sensibility.

What is that sensibility?
He wanted to have an early ‘70s quality to the film. Also, there are certain scenes you could really play up and make the obvious choice. She could play the victim, the character could be really sentimental, there were moments where there could be a lot of melodrama. And James didn’t want to do that. In fact, he wanted to do the exact opposite. And he really wanted to allow the camera to linger a lot. Most directors today don’t give you a chance to watch the actors act, because they’re always cutting to the dialogue. In this movie there are some real quiet moments, solitude, with all the characters.

He may have wanted the camera to linger – but it strikes me that on the kind of shooting schedule you had, there was certainly no time at all to linger between shots.
That’s a very good call. You’re exactly right. We couldn’t have been more pressed for time. You let the camera linger once a scene is over, you’d see dollar signs ticking. It’s a testament to James. It’s not easy to direct a feature film in 19 days, and yet he managed to do it.

Did you ever wish you had more time to prepare, or did the schedule help immerse you in that world?
It was an immense benefit. Initially, I thought, how on earth am I gonna be able to make this in 19 days? But we were so immersed in it that everything was on the surface, and every day the feelings and emotions were so palpable. We ate, breathed and slept it. And after we finished, it was so sad, really. I wish I could shoot more films like that, even though it probably took about six months to come down from it afterwards.

When the movie was in the very early stages, I understand that you and your husband sent James a montage of photos you’d shot in the desert.
That’s right. My husband and I were on our way to Palm Springs for the weekend, and I saw an exit for highway 60, which runs through Riverside. My husbands a great photographer, and I said, “Why don’t we cruise through Riverside, take some photos and capture (the character) Diane?” It was really just fun for my husband and me. But then I put some music to it, and thought, Should we sent this to James, or is that really lame? He might think, This isn’t Diane at all—screw you, I don’t want you in my film.

I didn’t realize it when I sent it, but it ended up coming to him on a day he found out they’d lost their producers and there was no money. So I think it gave him some hope.

Why was it important to you to take truck driving lessons and do the driving yourself?
Her job is so integral to who she is as a person, and why she is the way she is, that I knew that spending time in that culture and learning her job would inform me so much as an actor.

And it was such an honest character that I really felt it deserved to be played with all the honesty it could be. There was no question that if I couldn’t get my (truck) license I wasn’t going to make the movie.

Was it touch-and-go when you were learning?
For sure. Are you kidding me? Believe me, nobody was more surprised than I was when I got my license. I called James nearly in tears, saying, “I got it I got it, we can make a movie!” And he was like, “Of course you got it. Why do you think we’re in pre-production?” I guess he had a little bit more faith in me than I had in myself.

What were the biggest surprises you learned from spending time with real truckers?
I went on short hauls with them, and I was completely shocked by how dangerous a job it really is, especially for women. Also, I think people have a misconception that truckers may have a lack of intellect, or they’re truckers because they don’t have anything better to do. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Most of the truckers I met had creative backgrounds, and all of them had degrees. They just loved being on the open road, so they chose to be truckers. And the women aren’t all butch, like people think they are. They’re all very strong, independent, fierce women, but they’re all feminine, too.

Between the action in the film and the skimpy outfits the put you in, it must have been a pretty physical movie for you.
Yeah. While I was going to truck driving school, I would also go to the gym and lift weights, because you have to have some muscle to shift those gears. I pumped some iron, so to speak. I’m pretty gangly, but there’s some muscle in there somewhere. I just had to get it to come to the surface.

How are you reacting to the awards talk these days?
It’s incredibly exciting, obviously, to hear that buzz. But I’m waiting for people to go see the movie. (laughs) I’ll reserve an opinion until people have actually seen it.

Michelle Monaghan has been confirmed to star in the upcoming comedy “Due Date.”

She will join Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis in the movie which will be directed by Todd Phillips (”The Hangover“).

Monaghan will portray the pregnant wife of a guy (Robert Downey Jr.) who races home in hopes of arriving before she delivers their first child. He takes on a mismatched traveling companion (Zach Galifianakis).

“Due Date” was written by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland, with a revision by Adam Sztykiel.

Production on the film begins this month in Atlanta, Arizona and Los Angeles.

Monaghan next stars in “Trucker,” a film that opens October 9, 2009. She most recently completed “Somewhere” for director Sofia Coppola.

Gallery Links:
- Public Appearances > Events from 2009 > Fenton/Fallon Boutique Opening (08-09-2009)
– Public Appearances > Events from 2009 > Saks Fifth Avenue & Vogue’s 3rd Floor DesignersLaunch Party (09-09-2009)
– Public Appearances > Events from 2009 > Calvin Klein Collection Celebration At Madison Avenue Boutique (10-09-2009)
– Public Appearances > Events from 2009 > Moves Magazine’s Design Meets Fashion Event (11-09-2009)

Gallery Links:
- Public Appearances > Events from 2009 > Fenton/Fallon Boutique Opening (08-09-2009)
– Public Appearances > Events from 2009 > Saks Fifth Avenue & Vogue’s 3rd Floor Designers Launch Party (09-09-2009)
– Public Appearances > Events from 2009 > Calvin Klein Collection Celebration At Madison Avenue Boutique (10-09-2009)

A small indie drama getting released in the fall isn’t really news. But when the very press release for that film shouts “Nominate me for an Oscar!”, it’s at least an oddity. The Michelle Monaghan drama Trucker hit the festival circuit last year, and now has been picked up by Monterey Media, which will release the film October 9.

The press release crows that the date puts the film “right into the middle of the fall awards season,” which is a pretty clever way of getting people to say “Could Michelle Monaghan be nominated?” before most people have even seen the film. To be fair, the pulled press quotes in the release are positive; the words “unforgettable” and “star-making are tossed around freely.” Looking at Erik Davis’ full review at Cinematical, you may notice they conveniently left out the part where he suggests that “I’m not sure there’s enough hurt and dirt in the part to get her a[n Oscar] nod.”

Still, it looks like they’ll be doing their damnedest to get her there anyway, starting the Oscar talk now and seeing how far it can get them. There’s the Melissa Leo in Frozen River precedent suggesting that such a long-shot nod is possible, but… I’m skeptical until a solid amount of rave reviews start supporting this cause.

Read the full press release below:

New York (NY) (August 24, 2009) – California based-Monterey Media, which acquired U.S. rights to writer/director James Mottern’s TRUCKER starring Michelle Monaghan, has set an October 9 release date for the film, putting it right into the middle of the Fall awards season. Produced by Plum Pictures (The Great World of Sound, Grace is Gone) and Scott Hanson, and executive produced by Hart-Lunsford Pictures and Monaghan, the film also stars Nathan Fillion, Benjamin Bratt, Jimmy Bennett and Joey Lauren Adams. The film will open exclusively in New York theaters and then roll out nationally.

TRUCKER tells the story of Diane Ford (Monaghan), a vivacious young truck driver, who leads a carefree life of long-haul trucking, one night stands and all-night drinking until the evening her estranged 11-year-old son shows up at her door.

“I tried to make Trucker for a few years..one problem I was always faced with was finding a lead actress that really spoke to me on a gut level. I looked for a long time,” says Mottern. “Then I saw Michelle Monaghan in a movie called North Country. Her performance in that film is outstanding. But there’s this one scene where the character she plays is standing outside her trailer saying good bye to Charlize Theron’s character and the camera holds on Michelle for a beat, not saying a word; I saw that and it hit me like a freight train – “There she is. Diane.”

The film, which had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, received a strong response with Roger Friedman calling it “a star-making performance for Monaghan, much the same as “Working Girl” once put Melanie Griffith on the map;” Ed Douglas at Coming Soon noted an “unforgettable performance” by Monaghan; and Erik Davis at Cinematical said that “the performances (specifically Monaghan and Bennett) are so good that you almost forget where, how and when you’ve seen this story before.…Trucker is like Sherrybaby-lite; this is quite obviously Monaghan’s ‘Oscar’ role.”

“We bought this film because we just fell in love with it, with Michelle’s amazing performance, and with the beauty of James’ script,” says CFO and Managing Partner Jere Rae-Mansfield. “Our hope is that both audiences and voters will fall in love all the same.”

Monaghan’s previous credits include Ben Affleck’s Gone Baby Gone with Casey Affleck and Amy Ryan, Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer, Niki Caro’s North Country with Charlize Theron and Sissy Spacek.

Source: CinemaBlend

I was completely honest with actress Michelle Monaghan yesterday when I told her, right at the beginning of a one-on-one interview, that I’d been waiting a long time to watch her come alive in a role. In her relatively short career, Monaghan has already racked up quite the resume — appearing in films like Mission Impossible III, Gone Baby Gone, The Bourne Supremacy, The Heartbreak Kid and the soon-to-be-released Made of Honor. She’s got a great, girl-next-door quality about her, but is she memorable? The good news here is that Monaghan finally delivered the sort of performance I’ve known was trapped somewhere inside her, hidden behind a variety of big, flashy Hollywood films. Make no mistake, this is her film. She owns it. But is that enough to convince you to see it?

In Trucker, she plays Diane, a female truck driver with one helluva edge — not to mention a knack for drinking lots of hard liquor and taking part in more than a few unhealthy one-night-stands. She’s a selfish woman with not many friends; she knows just what she needs to keep on truckin’, and she knows just how to get it. Thing is, you’ll never see her give anything back. These personality traits become a problem when Diane’s 11-year-old estranged son (Jimmy Bennett) shows up on her doorstep one day — brought by his soon-to-be stepmother (Joey Lauren Adams) when colon cancer forces the kid’s dad (Benjamin Bratt) into the hospital. These two, mother and son, don’t care for one another, nor are they interested in getting better acquainted. He needs a place to crash for three weeks, and she needs to find a way to let that happen.

What follows is somewhat of a familiar story; the young child is dropped off on the doorstep of the selfish, non-existent parent and, together, both learn to appreciate — and possibly love — the other. On paper, the whole thing might make you roll your eyes — but the performances (specifically Monaghan and Bennett) are so good that you almost forget where, how and when you’ve seen this story before. It’s also welcoming to find this sort of premise told from the perspective of mother and son, instead of the recycled father-meets-estranged-daughter storyline. There’s a different connection between mother and child right off the bat, and tension is at an even higher level when both mother and son have the vocabulary of a, well, truck driver. (When Diane first asks her son why he isn’t speaking to her, he shouts back: “I don’t like to talk to bitches.”)

Written and directed by first-timer James Mottern, Trucker has a warm, comfortable ’70s vibe to it. Mottern populates his film with soft, country acoustics set against a backdrop that includes hot, California freeways and just-about-middle-class neighborhoods. Monaghan takes it one step further by injecting a bit of Sally Field and Ellen Burstyn into her performance, which luckily pays off for her and definitely shows this girl is destined for bigger things and better roles. Fan favorite Nathan Fillion also turns in a fairly by-the-books performance as Runner, Diane’s one, trustworthy male friend — and the only one who hasn’t tried to sleep with her … yet. Their relationship lacks an extra touch of development, but it’s also not as important to the story; Runner’s used more as an everyman to show Diane’s growth in the self-respect department.

The film’s best moments come wrapped in the communication struggle between Diane and her son. Mottern makes a point to not let either character call the other by their name (in order to clearly illustrate the distance between them), and so a good majority of their mother-son conversations feature the words ‘bitch’ and ‘dude.’ The loose script also allows for a nice, natural story to unfold minus all that cookie-cutter plot crap Hollywood shoves down our throats. Trucker is like Sherrybaby-lite; this is quite obviously Monaghan’s “Oscar” role, though I’m not sure there’s enough hurt and dirt in the part to get her a nod. That said, it’s still a performance you don’t want a miss. Michelle Monaghan is memorable … and I’m damn happy to write that.

Source: Cinematical