No Reservations

Official Movie Production Notes


Introduction

It might be easier to deal with this turbulence at work if Kate wasn't already off-balance at home, struggling to connect with her nine-year-old niece, Zoe (ABIGAIL BRESLIN), who has recently-and very unexpectedly-come to live with her. A bright, perceptive child, more comfortable with fish sticks than foie gras, Zoe is clearly out of place in Kate's routine but Kate is determined to make a home for her...just as soon as she figures out how.

As the weeks progress, Kate is not sure what steams her more-that Nick's talent scores big points with 22 Bleecker's owner, Paula (PATRICIA CLARKSON), and its discriminating clientele, or that his easygoing charm quickly wins over the shy Zoe, who finds it easier to open up to him than to her aunt. But when he challenges the boundary between rivalry and romance, Kate finds herself questioning, for the first time in years, some of the choices and beliefs that have made her so self-sufficient and so safe.
If she wants to forge a real bond with Zoe, find happiness with Nick and rediscover her appetite for life, Kate will have to try something bold and new, and learn to express herself outside the realm of her kitchen.

That would be like trying to cook without a recipe. But, as Kate discovers, sometimes the best recipes are the ones you create yourself.

Castle Rock Entertainment presents, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, a Scott Hicks Film, "No Reservations," starring Academy Award winner Catherine Zeta-Jones ("Chicago"), Golden Globe nominee Aaron Eckhart ("Thank You for Smoking"), Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin ("Little Miss Sunshine") and Oscar nominee Patricia Clarkson ("Pieces of April").

Life isn't always made to order

While Nick challenges her domain at the restaurant, the arrival of Kate's newly orphaned niece, Zoe, seriously disrupts her home life.

Says Hicks, "The child turns everything upside down, not only emotionally but on a practical level. There's simply no room for a nine year old in the world of a busy chef with a tight schedule, late hours and such precise habits. Kate is not maternal. Her heart is in the right place, but she has absolutely no idea what to do with this child who won't even eat her food. Meanwhile, at the restaurant, this new chef in the kitchen is making sparks fly."
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"Food has its own power and symbolic presence in the film," the director offers. "All the communication and seduction begins with food. The connection between Kate and Nick begins with their shared love of cuisine, and it also plays a role in bringing Zoe out of her shell. In Zoe's case, as a child whose grief has suppressed her appetite, the fact that she finally takes the spaghetti Nick offers her is a sign that she trusts him and is warming up to him.


Casting

Eckhart enjoyed his scenes with Abigail Breslin, who turned 10 years old during production. "It's fun to have that kind of youthful spirit around. She taught me some cheerleading cheers, and we would practice together in the kitchen between takes."

Unlike her buoyant personality off-camera, Breslin's portrayal of Zoe-at least in the film's initial scenes-was necessarily more subdued. As the young actress describes her, "Zoe is sort of quiet in the beginning. She's not really hostile towards Kate, not mean to her or rude, but just not really friendly or open either. She doesn't know how this living arrangement is going to work. She's feeling kind of lost and on her own."

Hicks, who proclaims Breslin "delightful," says, "She's not caught up in the business of it all; she simply enjoys acting. I love working with children. Although they may not bring a wealth of experience or technique to a role, they can, like Abigail, bring tremendous honesty and access to their emotions. If I explain the context and situation of a scene to her, Abigail can sense precisely where to take her character. She's extremely resourceful and absolutely the real deal as an actress."

Illustrating this, Heysen relates a scenario that Breslin's mother offered. "It was right before we shot the scene in which Zoe first sees where she's going to live with her aunt after her mother has died. Abigail's mother said that she had been preparing for the scene at home and had remarked to her, 'When that little girl walks up the steps into that house her life is never going to be the same again.' She really thinks it through and that's why she is so convincing on screen."

May I take your order

Even Abigail Breslin learned to flip pancakes and pare vegetables under the tutelage of French Culinary Institute chef Lee Anne Wong and recounts how, during one scene, she got a little carried away with her newfound skill. "I was peeling asparagus. I got down to the part where it becomes white and just kept going until it got really skinny and Scott started laughing. He said, 'You don't have to turn it into a toothpick; it's still asparagus.'"

Production Design

Aaron Eckhart, whose character samples a plate of risotto, proclaims "No Reservations" to have "the best-tasting props ever," and admits that he couldn't resist polishing off the entire plate between scenes. Adds Abigail Breslin, whose character is offered a bowl of spaghetti, "It was so delicious, I tried to get a big mouthful in before the director said 'cut.'"

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