The Holiday | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Nancy Meyers |
Produced by | Nancy Meyers Bruce A. Block |
Written by | Nancy Meyers |
Starring | |
Music by | Hans Zimmer |
Cinematography | Dean Cundey |
Edited by | Joe Hutshing |
Production
company |
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Distributed by |
Columbia Pictures (United States) Universal Pictures (International) |
Release date
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December 8, 2006 |
Running time
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136 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $85 million |
Box office | $205.1 million |
The Holiday | |
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Soundtrack album by Hans Zimmer, Heitor Pereira, various artists | |
Released | December 5, 2006 |
Recorded | September 2006 |
Genre | Film soundtrack |
Length | 48:12 |
Label | Varèse Sarabande |
Producer | Hans Zimmer, Nancy Meyers, Robert Townson |
The Holiday is a 2006 American romantic comedy film written, produced and directed by Nancy Meyers. Co-produced by Bruce A. Block, it was filmed in both California and England, and stars Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet as Amanda and Iris, two lovelorn women from opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, who temporarily exchange homes to escape heartbreak during the holiday season. Jude Law and Jack Black were cast as the film's leading men Graham and Miles, with Eli Wallach, Shannyn Sossamon, Edward Burns and Rufus Sewell playing key supporting roles.
Distributed by Columbia Pictures and Universal Pictures, The Holiday was first released on December 6, 2006, in Spain and on December 8, 2006, in North America and the United Kingdom. It grossed over $205 million worldwide. Critics praised the film's visual aesthetic design and the cast's performances, though criticized its plot as predictable.
Iris Simpkins (Kate Winslet), a society columnist for The Daily Telegraph in London, has been in love with Jasper Bloom (Rufus Sewell) for over three years, despite his infidelities and the fact they have broken up some time previously. When she learns at a company Christmas party that he is engaged to be married, Iris despairs over the state of affairs in her life. Meanwhile, Amanda Woods (Cameron Diaz), a workaholic in Los Angeles who owns a company that produces movie trailers, discovers that her boyfriend, Ethan Ebbers (Edward Burns), has been cheating on her with his 24-year-old secretary. On the spur of the moment she decides to get away for the Christmas holidays and visits a home-exchange website on which Iris has listed her "quaint cottage in Surrey." Amanda contacts Iris, and the two women quickly agree to swap homes for two weeks.