In the romantic comedy “Life as We Know It,” Holly Berenson (Katherine Heigl) is an up-and-coming restaurateur and Eric Messer (Josh Duhamel) is a promising network sports director. After a disastrous blind date, the only thing they have in common is their dislike for each other and their love for their goddaughter, Sophie. But when they suddenly become all Sophie has in the world, Holly and Messer are forced to put their differences aside. Juggling career ambitions and competing social calendars, they’ll have to find some common ground while living under one roof.
“Life as We Know It” is directed by Greg Berlanti. The film stars Katherine Heigl, Josh Duhamel, Josh Lucas, Christina Hendricks and Hayes MacArthur.
Check out the movie trailer from Warners Bros. below:
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ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
“They cared about Sophie more than anything—and of everyone else in the world—they picked us.”
~ From Page to Screen ~
Everyone has a different plan for their perfect life. For Holly Berenson, it’s expanding her small, high-end boutique café into a restaurant, maybe even someday in multiple locations. For Eric Messer, it’s moving up from being a broadcast technician to a full-fledged director in national sports television.
But life as we plan it is seldom life as we live it. Such is the case when Holly’s and Messer’s plans are put on hold by the sudden and tragic death of their mutual best friends, Alison and Peter Novack. Holly and Messer have always tolerated, rather than enjoyed, each other’s company, but now they find themselves co-guardians to the Novak’s baby girl, Sophie.
Says Katherine Heigl, who stars as Holly, “These two people are just thrown into this situation, and have to rise to the challenge and do the right thing. But to do so means they have to sacrifice a lot of their own dreams.”
Josh Duhamel, who stars opposite Heigl as Messer, adds, “They both love this little girl, and they both feel obligated to at least try to do what their friends wanted…even though they’re both going in completely different directions in their own lives, and they really don’t like each other.”
Backed into a corner, Holly and Messer will have to make it work…somehow.
“While they may not be able to see it that way at first, raising Peter and Alison’s child is a testament to this couple they both loved,” offers the film’s director, Greg Berlanti.
The idea for the story came from a conversation Deitchman had with his wife while she was pregnant with their daughter, in which the subject of guardianship came up. “We both jokingly said we should leave her to our friends Mike and Clara. Who knows us better?”
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~ Friends and Neighbors
As “Life As We Know It” opens, we meet Holly Berenson and Eric Messer…on a blind date. A horrendous blind date.
Unfortunately, because of their mutual best friends, they’re stuck in each other’s lives and forced to be around one another on numerous occasions. They both tolerate it, for the sake of their friends and their goddaughter, Sophie. But once they’re left to care for the baby girl, the situation seems, well, intolerable.
“Holly and Messer are polar opposites,” Heigl states. “He’s this sort of ‘take it or leave it’ guy—relaxed and kicked back, rolling with the punches—and she’s…not.” Heigl’s character, on the other hand, has a business and a business plan. “She’s responsible, organized, scheduled, a bit obsessive compulsive. In her professional life and her personal life, she needs to know where things are heading; she’s not really a girl who can wing it.”
Josephson says that, in all of Holly’s planning, she had not yet planned for a family, let alone an instant one. “She was not prepared for this at all. As a matter of fact, she was preparing for a completely different life. Now she’s trying to get her feet underneath her, and it’s not that easy.”
“Sam has been coming into Holly’s café, hoping to catch her eye and have a moment to flirt or ask her out,” Lucas says. “But circumstances cause them to keep missing each other.”
While Messer and Holly are making their way through parenthood, they share not only parental duties, but a residence. As part of the arrangement to care for Sophie, they move into Peter and Alison’s house, where they become quite an attraction for their new and fairly nosy neighbors.
Berlanti offers, “I would hope that most young parents have a support group of young parents or couples that are also kind of going through the same experience. With that in my mind I thought ‘Okay, let’s go out and get some real comedians to add to the humor of the situation.’”
~ A ‘Life’ of Its Own ~
For the cast and crew of “Life As We Know It,” both life and storytelling are about feeling connected.
“We all go through so much in our lives—sometimes it’s exhilarating, sometimes tragic, sometimes beautiful,” Katherine Heigl states. “If we can tell those stories honestly, so that people sitting in the audience feel for the characters and their situation, well, I think that’s the point of what we do, and hopefully what we’ve done here.”
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Josh Duhamel adds, “I think that every man who is making that transition from singlehood to fatherhood will be able to relate to this movie.”
Director Greg Berlanti states, “In a lot of ways, I found directing a film a lot like being a first-time parent. For months, you do everything you can to prepare for it, but once it’s happening—once you’re on set or once the baby’s arrived—you really have to go with the flow. That’s what Holly and Messer have to learn. And I think that’s what makes it a very universal story and one that I hope audiences will enjoy.”
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