ARTICLES AND INTERVIEWS: 1. Synopsis Amanda Woods (Cameron Diaz), the owner of a prospering advertising firm that creates movie trailers, lives in Southern California. Iris Simpkins (Kate Winslet) writes the popular wedding column for London’s Daily Telegraph and resides in a charming cottage in the English countryside. 2. The Initial Spark The Holiday, was ignited a few years ago when screenwriter/director Nancy Meyers was planning a vacation and serendipitously happened upon an internet site that arranges house swapping 3. Leaving Your Baggage Behind and Opening Your Eyes I have the classic male problem of no follow through. Absolutely never remember to call after a date -- but as this wasn’t a date, I guess I am off the hook. — Graham (Jude Law) 4. Casting The wind…it’s what makes it so warm at this time of year. Legend has it, when the Santa Anas blow, anything can happen. — Miles (Jack Black) 5. Leading Ladies and Best Friend Iris, in the movies, we have leading ladies and we have the best friend. You, I can tell, are a leading lady but for some reason, you’re behaving like the best friend. — Arthur (Eli Wallach) 6. Long Distance Relationships & Locations Graham: Long distance relationships can work, you know. Amanda: Really? I can’t make one work when I live in the same house with someone. 7. That’s The ‘Meet Cute' Say a man and a woman both need something to sleep in and both go to the same men’s pajama department. The man says to the salesman, ‘I just need bottoms,’ and the woman says, ‘I just need a top.’ They look at each other and that’s the ‘meet cute. — Arthur

Leaving Your Baggage Behind and Opening Your Eyes

“I have the classic male problem of no follow through. Absolutely never remember to call after a date -- but as this wasn’t a date, I guess I am off the hook.” — Graham (Jude Law)

“The Holiday is about leaving your baggage behind and opening your eyes to what’s in front of you and what you’re really feeling,” observes Jude Law, who plays Graham, Iris’ brother, in the movie.

“When Amanda meets Graham she is attempting to relax and refocus her life,” says Diaz. “And suddenly, she finds herself falling in love, something she truly didn’t expect to happen again so quickly.”

At Amanda’s house in Brentwood, Iris befriends one of her neighbors, Arthur (Eli Wallach), a screenwriter from Hollywood’s Golden Era. It is just the kind of friendship she needs at the moment — someone who is genuinely interested in her. “He’s very good company and his stories about his life, as a screenwriter in Hollywood, fascinate Iris,” says Winslet.

When Iris hosts a Chanukah party for Arthur and his closest friends (played by Bill Macy and Shelley Berman), “I crash the party,” says Jack Black, who plays Miles, a music composer.

Miles is having romantic problems of his own with his girlfriend Maggie, played by Shannyn Sossamon. “Miles is sort of Maggie’s lapdog,” observes Black. “He’s always falling for the heartbreaking hottie. He wants to share his passion for music with her, but she’s not really engaged in his world. It’s Iris who becomes interested in everything Maggie’s been ignoring.”

Music becomes the vehicle through which Miles expresses his growing affection for Iris. “He walks up and down the aisles of the video store singing the themes of all his favorite movies to her,” says Meyers.

Later, when Iris is at his house, Miles plays a piece of music that he wrote for her, telling Iris that it sounds like her. “That was probably my favorite scene,” recalls Black. “I was just sitting at the piano, playing her songs, and we started singing. It was a very romantic idea and a lot of fun.”

Meyers usually puts on music when she writes, and she often creates a mood on set by playing the songs she was listening to when she created a particular scene. On The Holiday, she treated the cast and crew to a wide variety of music.

The effect of a piece of music was especially palpable when she was shooting an exterior sequence with Amanda and Graham in a formal garden in the English countryside. “I’m a big Claude Lelouch fan (the French director whose most famous film was 1966’s A Man and a Woman, with its memorable score by Francis Lai),” says Meyers, “and I shot a ‘60s style montage with Jude and Cameron. We just improvised all day. It was raining on and off, so as soon as the rain would stop, we’d run out and shoot and then huddle back into the tent until it stopped again. It was a really memorable day.”

Indirectly, the effect of music was even felt in the Chanukah party scene in Los Angeles, which Meyers imbued with a realistically celebratory feel. “That was a wild day of shooting,” she recalls. “I decided that in addition to doing coverage for each person, I would just run the camera around the table and let the scene play out in live time. It was very freeing for the actors and turned out to be very effective.”