Projects » The Ice Storm

Production Year: 1997
Directed by: Ang Lee
Genre: Drama
Tagline: It was 1973, and the climate was changing
Rating: 7.5/10 (13,628 votes)
Runtime: 112 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Certification: Australia:M / Finland:K-14 / France:U / Germany:12 / Hong Kong:IIB / Italy:T / Norway:11 / Portugal:M/16 / Singapore:R(A) / South Korea:18 / Spain:13 / Sweden:15 / Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) / Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) / UK:15 / USA:R / Canada:R

Plot Outline: 1973, suburban Connecticut: middle class families experimenting with casual sex, drink, etc., find their lives out of control.

Awards

The Ice Storm was nominated for Golden Globe. Another 4 wins & 16 nominations.

Young Artist Awards 1998 - nominated Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor: Elijah Wood
Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress: Christina Ricci

Cast

Kevin Kline .... Ben Hood
Joan Allen .... Elena Hood
Sigourney Weaver .... Janey Carver
Henry Czerny .... George Clair
Tobey Maguire .... Paul Hood
Christina Ricci .... Wendy Hood
Elijah Wood .... Mikey Carver
Adam Hann-Byrd .... Sandy Carver
David Krumholtz .... Francis Davenport
Jamey Sheridan .... Jim Carver
Kate Burton .... Dorothy Franklin
William Cain .... Ted Shackley
Michael Cumpsty .... Philip Edwards
Maia Danziger .... Mrs. Gadd
Katie Holmes .... Libbets Casey

Trivia

To prepare for the film, Ang Lee let the cast members study stacks of magazine cutouts from the early 1970s.
When asked to say grace, Christina Ricci goes into a tirade about the cruelty that is celebrated as Thanksgiving. She makes a similar speech when making the Thanksgiving toast in Addams Family Values (1993).

Goofs

Continuity: Although the exterior of the railway cars shows the Penn Central logo, the interior of the car bears the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) logo.
Anachronisms: The MTA did not exist at the time.
Anachronisms: A mention is made of the Symbionese Liberation Army, which was unknown to the public until the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst in 1974.
Continuity: Mikey's watch at his parents' dinner party.
Anachronisms: There is a six-wheeled G.I. Joe "armored personnel carrier" among the numerous toys in the Carver's rec-room. This plastic toy vehicle was not introduced by Hasbro until 1983, ten years after this film is set.
Continuity: At the beginning the man who gets off the train before Paul Hood slips on the ice. In the end, when this sequence is repeated he does not slip.
Continuity: The zipper on Mikey's coat as he prepares to go out in the storm.
Anachronisms: In 1973 no one used the phrase "parental unit" because this phrase originated in the "Coneheads" sketches on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" (1975) a series which did not debut until 11 October 1975.
Anachronisms: The Tampax box glimpsed in the chemist's is a modern design while the packaging in the medicine cabinet is suitably period.

Quotes

Mikey Carver: "Because of molecules we are connected to the outside world from our bodies. Like when you smell things, because when you smell a smell it's not really a smell, it's a part of the object that has come off of it, molecules. So when you smell something bad, it's like in a way you're eating it. This is why you should not really smell things, in the same way that you don't eat everything in the world around you because as a smell, it gets inside of you. So the next time you go into the bathroom after someone else has been there, remember what kinds of molecules you are in fact eating."

[Stopping by his son's room, momentarily putting down his luggage] Jim Carver: "Hey guys, I'm back!"
Mikey Carver: You were gone?