My Fair Hayley

My Fair Hayley (Japanese: マイ・フェア・ヘイリー, Mai fea Heirī) is a 2008 anime romance fantasy film directed by Shin Onuma and Akiyuki Shinbo from a screenplay by Bill Condon and Jeremy Leven. It stars Drew Tyler Bell, Amanda Seyfried, Elle Fanning, Jason Earles, John Goodman, Bonnie Hunt, Katherine Heigl and Dane Cook and is about a boy named Robin Slater (Tyler Bell), who in his childhood knew a girl named Harley Thomason (Fanning) before she passed away from a terminal illness. Some years later as a teenager, a student (Seyfried) enrolls in his high school class, who not only looks like a near dead-ringer for Harley, but even has a similar name: Hayley Tomlinson, causing Robin to believe she and Harley may be the same person.
Initially, the concept started as a pitch pilot for an anime style sitcom series called Slater, which was created by Roger Haynes and Hart Hanson and produced by Regency Television, Far Field Productions and Shaft for Fox Broadcasting Company. After the pilot wasn't ordered for a full series, Regency decided to retool the series as a feature film and Bill Condon was brought on to develop the story, with him ultimately changing the concept from a comedic sitcom into a romantic fantasy drama film.
My Fair Hayley was animated by Shaft (in the company's first feature film), produced by Fox 2000 Pictures, Regency Enterprises, Sunswept Entertainment and Dune Entertainment and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was released in Japan on September 6, 2008 and in the United States on September 19, 2008. It grossed $108 million worldwide and received generally favorable reviews from critics.
==Plot==
Coming soon!
==Cast==
*Drew Tyler Bell as Robin Slater
**Max Neuwirth as younger Robin
*Amanda Seyfried as Hayley Tomlinson
*Elle Fanning as Harley Thomason
*Jason Earles as Freddie Graves
*John Goodman as Neil Slater
*Bonnie Hunt as Violet Slater
*Katherine Heigl as Eileen Lambert
*Dane Cook as Bennett Mathews
*Daniel Curtis Lee as Rufus McGee
*Alexa Nikolas as Skye Hoffman
*Scott Menville as Joshua Nicholson
*Rob Paulsen as Kit Bowen
*Kath Soucie as Myra Bishop and Hayley's mother
*Alan Rosenberg as the school principal
*Crispin Freeman as Hayley's father
*Tom Kenny as a school announcer
*G.K. Bowes, Dee Bradley Baker, Sam Riegel, Kari Wahlgren, Hynden Walch and Zach Shada as other students
*Grey DeLisle as a woman's voice
*Jim Cummings as a radio voice
=== Additional Voices ===
* Kirk Baily
* Steve Blum
* Richard Cansino
* Doug Erholtz
* Melissa Fahn
* Tom Fahn
* Nicholas Guest
* Kyle Hebert
* Bridget Hoffman
* Jason Harris Katz
* Patricia Ja Lee
* Dave Mallow
* Stephanie Sheh
* Keith Silverstein
* Roger Craig Smith
* Kirk Thornton
* Kari Wahlgren
* David Vincent
== Production ==
=== Development ===
After the success of The Boy from the Blue: Adventures of Poloi, co-producer 20th Century Fox Television started to take an interest in creating another anime-related project, believing that there could potentially be a market for them to produce similar content. In 2003, a pitch for an anime style teen sitcom was given by Roger Haynes and Hart Hanson, which Fox decided to produce a pilot for. Anime studio Shaft was contracted to do the animation, whilst Far Field Productions, Regency Television and 20th Century Fox Television produced it. A pilot episode that featured the voices of Frankie Muniz, John Goodman, Bonnie Hunt, Amanda Seyfried and Harland Williams would ultimately be created in September of 2004 and presented to the Fox Broadcasting Company under the name Slater. Ultimately, it was not picked up for a full series due to creative differences between the network and the producers, with a full series never coming to be. Despite this, there was still plenty of interest in the idea at 20th Century Fox and Regency Enterprises, and ultimately, they decided to instead rework the concept into a feature film.
Initially, there was a bit of difficulty trying to figure out a storyline based on the pilot that could suit a feature film narrative. Around this time, Kinsey director and writer Bill Condon was brought on as a potential writer for the film, and he was tasked with developing the story. Whilst studying the Slater pilot, Condon became interested in the relationship between characters Robin Slater and Hayley Tomlinson and after discussing it with Haynes, pitched a storyline involving how Robin knew a childhood friend who looked similar to Hayley, and her arriving as a student in his high school leads her to believe she may actually be that childhood friend.
In March of 2006, the film was officially announced as a collaborative effort between Fox 2000 Pictures, Regency Enterprises and Shaft, and that Bill Condon signed on to co-produce and co-write the film. Karen Rosenfelt also joined as a producer via her production company Sunswept Entertainment. Fox initially offered Condon to direct the film, but he declined due to him working on DreamGirls and his inexperience in animation, with the role of director being taken up by Shin Onuma and Akiyuki Shinbo. Condon and Jeremy Leven wrote the final screenplay whilst Haynes served as a creative consultant.
=== Casting ===
Amanda Seyfried, John Goodman, and Bonnie Hunt were the only major actors to reprise their roles from the Slater pilot for the film as Hayley Tomlinson, Neil Slater and Violet Slater, respectively. Frankie Muniz was offered to return as Robin Slater for the film, but he declined the role due to scheduling conflicts with his racing career, so the role was instead given to Drew Tyler Bell, in his first voice acting role and his final theatrical film role. Harland Williams also declined to return due to scheduling conflicts with his acting career, so the role was instead given to Dane Cook. Scott Menville previously voiced Freddie Graves in the Slater pilot, but instead voiced Joshua Nicholson for My Fair Hayley, whilst Graves was voiced by Jason Earles. Alan Rosenberg, who voiced the minor role of the school principal in the pilot, reprised his role for My Fair Hayley as well. Other newcomers to the cast included Elle Fanning, Katherine Heigl and Alexa Nikolas.
Elle Fanning was cast as Harley Thomason as the producers felt her voice sounded almost like a younger Amanda Seyfried. Skye Hoffman was at first written as a minor character until Alexa Nikolas auditioned for the role, in which Condon decided to rewrite the script and give her a larger role in the film. Heigl accepted the role of Eileen Lambert due to her interest in doing a voice acting role and out of love for the film's script.
== Release ==
=== Theatrical ===
My Fair Hayley was originally scheduled for a June 2008 release, before it was pushed back to November 2008 and then moved up to September 2008. The film made it's theatrical debut in Japan on September 6, 2008 and was released to theaters nationwide in the United States on September 19. The film's theatrical release featured a trailer for Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs screened before the film.
=== Home media ===
My Fair Hayley was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on February 10, 2009. The DVD release came in both a single disc edition and a two disc version featuring a Digital Copy of the film. The Blu-ray edition likewise came with a Digital Copy. Both the DVD and Blu-ray releases contain an audio commentary from Bill Condon, Alan Edward Bell and Amanda Seyfried, whilst the Blu-ray release features various making-of featurettes and some deleted scenes.
Category:2008
Category:2008 animated films
Category:Anime
Category:Anime films
Category:Shaft (animation studio)
Category:Romance
Category:Romance films
Category:Fantasy films
Category:20th Century Fox
Category:20th Century Fox Animation
Category:20th Century Fox films
Category:20th Century Fox animated films
Category:Fox 2000 Pictures
Category:Fox 2000 Pictures films
Category:Fox 2000 Pictures animated films
Category:Regency Enterprises
Category:Regency Enterprises films
Category:Dune Entertainment
Category:Carl Andy timeline