'The Last 5 Years' Stars Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan in Big-Screen Adaptation of Off-Broadway Musical for Valentine’s Day

Radius-TWC's The Last 5 Years which made its debut at the Toronto Film Festival will finally be shown in US theaters beginning February 13. Produced, written and directed for the big screen by Richard LaGravenese, it is an adaptation of Jason Robert Brown's hit Off-Broadway musical play of the same name. The story follows the five-year relationship between Jamie Wellerstein, a rising novelist, and Cathy Hiatt, a struggling actress.

LaGravenese's movie adaptation stars Anna Kendrick as Cathy Hiatt and Jeremy Jordan as Jamie Wellerstein. As with Off-Broadway production, the story of the two lovers is told almost entirely through songs. It will also use a storytelling form wherein all of Cathy's songs begin at the end of their marriage and move backwards in time to the beginning of their love affair while Jamie's songs start at the beginning of their affair and move forward to the end of their marriage. They meet in the center when Jamie proposes.

As with the musical, Kendrick's Cathy starts with the song 'Still Hurting,' a lamentation about the end of her marriage, and ends with 'Goodbye Until Tomorrow,' a happy song following her first date with her lover. Jordan's Jamie on the other hand, begins with 'Shiksa Goddess,' a song after his first meeting with Cathy, and concludes with the song 'I Could Never Rescue You' expressing sadness over their failed relationship. In the middle, in a scene in Central Park following Jamie's proposal Cathy, Kendrick and Jordan join together in a duet singing of 'The Next Ten Minutes' following which they get married. However, unlike the Off-Broadway production in which the solos are sung in isolation on the stage, the film allows scenes where the two leads can be seen interacting even if only one of them is doing the singing.

Also in the movie adaptation are Natalie Knepp as Alise Michaels, Betsy Wolfe as Cathy's former stripper roommate, Sherrie Rene Scott as a woman in one of Cathy's auditions, Kurt Deutsch and Jason Robert Brown himself as a pianist in one of Cathy's auditions. Knepp, Wolfe, and Scott all played the role of Cathy in the Off-Broadway productions. The soundtrack for The Last 5 Years will be available beginning February 10 at the movie's website.