Blue Valentine - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[marc]

Ryan Gosling claimed that his approach to the role of Dean was living the character's life for the duration of production, including working on house paintings. He pointed out that Michelle Williams had the much harder task of leaving character at the end of the day so she could be a mother to her young children.

[harry]

When it came to casting Dean and Cindy's daughter, director Derek Cianfrance asked Michelle Williams whether she could use her daughter, Matilda, to play the role. Williams considered briefly, but after noticing that her child's interest laid beyond acting (she was quoted that Matilda's main hobby was horse riding), Williams declined.

[gerald]

Michelle Williams kept the wedding ring she wore in the film as a souvenir.

[lena]

Cindy tells Dean that he has potential in life because of his artistic talents. The argument about potentiality was based on a talk between director Derek Cianfrance and his wife about getting the film made for many years.

[ella]

The scene when Dean threatens to jump off the bridge while climbing the chain fence was not in the script. Ryan Gosling had to seek a way to make Michelle Williams' character reveal her pregnancy.

[michele]

The tattoo on Dean's upper left arm is from the book "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. The book is about giving and sacrificing everything for another.

[francisco]

Director Derek Cianfrance had set the film in numerous places during script rewrites and redrafts including Florida and Hawaii. He finally decided on New York when Michelle Williams became involved so that she could go home and see her daughter.

[elmer]

Michelle Williams, Ryan Gosling and Faith Wladyka actually lived together in a house in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, for thirty days while filming Blue Valentine (2010). They struggled with the real stresses of having to share a bathroom and do the dishes three times a day. Their grocery budget was based on Dean's salary as a house-painter and Cindy's a nurse, $200 every two weeks. Gosling stated that it was hard for him and Williams to take off their wedding bands when it was over.

[victoria]

Walter's wedding photo can be seen on the wall when Dean and Cindy leave the Justice of the Peace.

[melinda]

The scenes in the "past" when Dean and Cindy are falling in love were shot first, in three weeks. After this, Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams spent a month together in a rented house to age themselves in preparation for the "present" scenes. They spent a lot of their time grocery shopping, cooking dinner and learning to pick fights with each other.

[scarlett]

Steinway Moving and Storage was an actual company and was selected to participate in the film. Ryan Gosling actually worked and conversed with the company's employees. The owner, James "Jamie" Benatti, played himself.

[leo]

Some have speculated that Dean and Cindy ended their marriage. One of the photos during the end credits shows Dean and Cindy running backwards holding a sign with "Is This You?" on it, hinting the upcoming dissolution of their marriage.

[bryan]

Director Derek Cianfrance spent twelve years making the movie; he started working on the script in 1998. During that process, Cianfrance said that he wrote about sixty-seven drafts, mostly each one containing content added/modified based on on-set improvisations, inspirational encounters, etc., while he worked on several documentaries to secure more funding for the movie.