With sly humor and an intensity of feeling, THE SPECTACULAR NOW (directed by James Ponsoldt) creates a vivid, three-dimensional portrait of youth confronting the funny, thrilling and perilous business of modern love and adulthood. This is the tale of Sutter Keely (Miles Teller), a high school senior and effortless charmer, and of how he unexpectedly falls in love with "the good girl" Aimee Finecky (Shailene Woodley). What starts as an unlikely romance becomes a sharp-eyed, straight-up snapshot of the heady confusion and haunting passion of youth - one that doesn't look for tidy truths. The film was written by Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber (500) DAYS OF SUMMER and also features wonderful supporting turns from Brie Larson, Kyle Chandler, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
The clip features the first kiss between Aimee (Shailene Woodley) and Sutter (Miles Teller), highlighting the end of a sequence filmed in one long take. Below, director James Ponsoldt provides a quote about shooting one of his favorite scenes in the film.
"This is one of my favorite scenes in the entire movie. I always knew I wanted to film in it one long, continuous, unedited take, walking and talking with Aimee and Sutter, feeling like we -- the audience -- are part of a natural conversation that ebbs and flows from goofy and awkward to serious to emotional to flirtatious and nervous to...a first kiss. I wanted the scene to feel as natural as life. Of course, it meant that the burden was on Shailene and Miles to nail the scene (in a long take, everything has to come together perfectly -- or else the shot is useless) -- and our camera operator had to back-pedal for 5 minutes on a muddy, slippery path.
What Shailene and Miles ultimately did in this scene is so casual and unguarded and spontaneous that some people think the scene was improvised. It wasn't. Shailene and Miles are just that great as actors -- so present, so connected to their roles, and so willing to embrace whatever happens in the moment (bumping into a tree branch or swatting a pesky mosquito, hearing rumbling storm clouds, etc.).
To put it simply, here's why this scene is one of my favorites: it actually feels like two people falling for each other.
I've seen this scene over a thousand times and I still get chills when Miles and Shailene kiss. I'm so, so inspired by their beautiful work." - director James Ponsoldt
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