Dallas Buyers Club Jean-Marc Vallee

Development

The film is based on the real life of Ron Woodroof, a patient of HIV and AIDS, who was the subject of a lengthy 1992 article in The Dallas Morning News written by journalist and author Bill Minutaglio.[18] A month before Woodroof died in September 1992, screenwriter Craig Borten was told about the story by his friend, so he went and interviewed him to create the screenplay; Borten recorded many hours of interviews with Woodroof and had access to his personal journals.[19][20] Borten wrote a script for what he believed would make a great movie and attempted to attract interest in making the film in mid 1996, with Dennis Hopper attached to direct.[21] Columbia Pictures was set to buy the script but the film was unable to secure financial backing.[22]

In an interview, Borten revealed that he met Melisa Wallack in 2000 and asked her to help with the script, to which she said yes.[23] In 2001, after one year of working on the script, they sold it to producer Robbie Brenner, who then set Marc Forster to direct the film for Universal Pictures, but left due to some personal delays.[24] In June 2008, Craig Gillespie and Ryan Gosling were in talks to join the film, which was to be produced by David Bushell and Marc Abraham for Universal Pictures and Strike Entertainment.[25] Chase Palmer was writing the script that time around, and screenwriters Guillermo Arriaga and Stephen Belber had reportedly also written the subsequent drafts for the film.[25] In 2009, producer Robbie Brenner got involved again and rejected all the rewrites of the script, and the original version by Borten and Wallack was sent to actor Matthew McConaughey to see if the Texas native would be interested in playing the role.[21][23] On March 9, 2011, Jean-Marc Vallée was confirmed to direct the film based on the script by Borten and Wallack.[5][20] Rachel Winter also attached to produce the film.[9]

On November 14, 2012, it was announced that Remstar Films had acquired the Canadian rights while Entertainment One would handle the United Kingdom rights for the film.[26] On April 23, 2013, Focus Features acquired the United States and Latin American distribution rights for the theatrical release of the film.[27] In May 2013, Voltage Pictures and Truth Entertainment closed a deal to produce the film.[28]

Casting

In 1996, Woody Harrelson was attached to the film to play Ron Woodroof, but left the film because of financing issues.[21] In 2002, Brad Pitt was attached to play the lead role.[25] In June 2008, Ryan Gosling was in talks to join the film for the lead role to play Woodroof, but couldn't take the role.[25] In 2009, producer Brenner sent the script to actor Matthew McConaughey and got him involved to star in the film.[21] Wondering whether the Uvalde, Texas native was interested in playing another Texas native, Brenner says that he asked himself: "'Who is Ron Woodroof?' And in my mind, it was Matthew. Like Ron, he's from Dallas, he's handsome, and he has a twinkle in the eye. Matthew also has intensity and intelligence like Ron did, mixed with that cowboy charisma and fighter's spirit. He was beyond perfect for the role." Writer Borten said: "Ron was a very charismatic, funny and persuasive, a real salesman. Even if he was making fun of you, you wanted him to continue because he was so charming. Matthew possesses a lot of those same qualities."[23] On March 9, 2011, Los Angeles Times confirmed that McConaughey would star in the film as Woodroof and quoted McConaughey as saying: "It's a great script and a great story. And I think it can be a great movie."[5]

On May 11, 2011, Hilary Swank was reportedly in talks to join the film with McConaughey's role confirmed.[29] On October 3, 2012, it was announced that Swank had dropped out of the film and that Gael García Bernal was in talks to play an HIV patient who meets Woodroof in the hospital and helps him in the club.[30] On November 6, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Jared Leto would be returning to acting to play the role which Bernal was previously in talks to play.[9] In January 2014, Jared Leto admitted that he was sent a script 15 years ago but never read it.[31] When Leto was asked about his role, he said: "This was a really special movie. I think it was the role of a lifetime. It's one of the best things I've ever done." He also said that he tried to stay focused on the role because he knew it was an incredible opportunity.[32] On November 14, Dallas Roberts and Steve Zahn joined the film; Roberts would play David Wayne, Ron's defense attorney, while Zahn would play a Dallas police officer who is sympathetic to Ron.[14] On November 26, Griffin Dunne, Denis O'Hare, and Bradford Cox joined the cast when the shooting was underway in New Orleans.[13]

McConaughey lost 47 pounds (21 kg) for the role, going from 183 pounds (83 kg) to 136 pounds (62 kg).[33] Leto lost over 30 pounds (14 kg) for the role and said that he had stopped eating to lose weight quicker; his lowest record weight was 114 pounds (52 kg).[34]

Filming

Principal photography began on November 11, 2012 in New Orleans.[35][36] Filming also took place in Baton Rouge.[37] Jennifer Garner has stated that the film was shot very quickly over just 25 days and has remarked that McConaughey "gave an even wilder performance in takes that didn't appear onscreen".[38] McConaughey stated that "I was riding a new way of making a film. There were no lights, one camera, 15-minute takes."[38] Half of the shots were lit with artificial light and the other half were not. Vallée said: "I now had a perfect opportunity to try to shoot an entire movie without artificial lights, using the Alexa digital camera. Like the RED, the Alexa offers a broad spectrum of colors and shadows in even the darkest natural lighting conditions. I felt that the approach was right for this project. The look and feel became that we were capturing reality; even though Dallas Buyers Club is not a documentary in content or structure, it could have that subtle quality. We shot the movie 100% handheld with two lenses, a 35-millimeter and a 50-millimeter. These get close to the actors and don't skew the images. (Director of Photography) Yves Belanger adjusted for every shot at 400 or 1600 ASA (light sensitivity), displaying different color balance."[39]

Jared Leto, who played Rayon, an AIDS patient and trans woman with a drug problem, refused to break character for the whole 25 days of shooting. Interviews of cast and crew who were involved in the film revealed that, in a sense, they never really met Leto until months after the shoot was over. Leto said about his character, "That phrase staying in character to me really means commitment, focus, and for a role like this that's so intense and challenging and extreme in a lot of ways, it demanded my full attention."[40]