Release Date 31 October 2008 (US)
Studio Imagine Entertainment
Director Clint Eastwood
Screenwriters J. Michael Straczynski
Co-Starring John Malkovich
Genre Drama, History, Mystery, Thriller
MPAA Rating Rated R for some violent and disturbing content, and language.

Single parent Christine Collins is a supervisor at the local telephone exchange who, having returned home late from having to work overtime on a Saturday, finds her 9 year old son Walter is missing from their home. As the days and weeks go by, the Collins case becomes the object of a campaign by Pastor Gustav Briegleb who rails against the incompetence and corruption of the Los Angeles police Department. Soon, the police arrive with the news that they have found her boy but when the lad is turned over to her, she realizes that the police have returned a stranger to her in an attempt to bring an end to the public complaints about their handling of her case. Her attempts to get justice bring her into conflict with the LAPD who will go to any length to protect their reputation. When she continues to complain she finds herself arrested and confined to the mental ward.

Angelina Jolie plays Christine Collins.

• Daniel Webster Elementary School – 2101 E. Washington Boulevard, Pasadena, California, USA

• Lancaster, California, USA

• Long Beach, California, USA

• Los Angeles, California, USA

• Pasadena, California, USA

• San Bernardino, California, USA

• San Dimas, California, USA
• Santa Fe Railroad Depot – 1170 W. 3rd Street, San Bernardino, California, USA
  (Train Station)
• Universal Studios – 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA
  (studio)
• Vermont, USA

• Based on the true story of the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, also known as the Wineville Chicken Murders.
• Twice in the film, Angelina Jolie’s character “Christine” says: “Never start a fight, but always finish it”. This is the same quote that Captain John Sheridan says his father always told him in the 90′s sci-fi series “Babylon 5″ (1994) which writer J. Michael Straczynski also wrote. Likewise, Attorney Hahn’s description of how his daughter’s absence continues to affect him daily is nearly identical to the way Sheridan describes grappling with his wife’s death.
• Shipped to some theaters under the name “Nomad”.
• There is a roadside café named “Bummy’s” which appears early on in the film. This is possibly in memory of Clint Eastwood’s long time collaboration with Production Designer Henry Bumstead, who passed away in 2006. His nickname was “Bummy”.
• Both Hilary Swank and Reese Witherspoon lobbied for the role of Christine Collins. Clint Eastwood cast Angelina Jolie at the suggestion of Executive Producer Ron Howard, who noted that Jolie’s “look” would fit best with the time period.
• Ron Howard planned to direct the film himself, until scheduling conflicts dictated otherwise. He then decided to serve as Executive Producer.
• J. Michael Straczynski first learned of the story of Christine Collins from an unnamed source at Los Angeles City Hall. The source had stumbled across case files regarding the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders among other discarded documents scheduled for destruction. Straczynski took the files himself and became obsessed with the case, doing extensive research over the course of a year. Virtually every event depicted in the film appears as cited in legal documents, with dialog often taken verbatim from court transcripts. Straczynski wrote his first draft of the screenplay in only eleven days.
• Clint Eastwood agreed to direct the same afternoon he read the script.
• The New York premiere of the movie was Angelina Jolie’s first public appearance after she gave birth to her twins Vivienne and Knox.
• Some scenes were filmed at a train station in San Bernardino, CA during the 2007 California brush fires. The whole set was thick with fire smoke.
• Cameo: [Dominick Dunne] The true crime writer is seen briefly in a non-speaking part of a jurist in the trial scenes.
• French visa 121 685.
• This marks the first time since The Eiger Sanction (1975) that _Clint Eastwood_ has directed a film for Universal Pictures. It is also the first time Eastwood has worked outside in any capacity outside of Warner Brothers Pictures (with the exception of television) since In the Line of Fire (1993).
• The hanging scene at the end appeared to be filmed in part of the old Alcatraz prison. The man running the execution is Jim Quillen, former inmate at Alcatraz and now author of books about his stay at the famous prison. He is uncredited in the film.
• The first cut ran 50 minutes longer. It includes two major scenes shot but removed. The first subplot is a long roof chase where Northcott (Jason Butler Harner) eludes capture from the Mounties. Another major deleted sequence is where after Christine returns from the mental institution, Briegleb (John Malkovich) brings men to protect her as he believes that she was in danger from the LAPD.
• SPOILER: At the film’s end we are told that the Chief of Police, James E. Davis, was demoted following the Collins debacle. However, the film fails to mention that far from being his comeuppance, this was merely a temporary setback in Davis’ career. Two years after his demotion he was reappointed Chief of the LAPD, continuing to serve in this capacity until 1939.

Christine Collins: He’s not my son.
Capt. J.J. Jones: Mrs. Collins…
Christine Collins: No, I don’t know why he’s saying that he is, but he’s not Walter and there’s been a mistake.
Capt. J.J. Jones: I thought we agreed to give him time to adjust.
Christine Collins: He’s three inches shorter; I measured him on the chart.
Capt. J.J. Jones: Well, maybe your measurements are off. Look, I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for all of this.
Christine Collins: He’s circumcised and Walter isn’t.
Capt. J.J. Jones: Mrs. Collins, your son was missing for five months, for at least part of that time in the company of an unidentified drifter. Who knows what such a disturbed individual might have done. He could have had him circumcised. He could have…
Christine Collins: …made him shorter?

Christine Collins: Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.

Christine Collins: I used to tell Walter, “Never start a fight… but always finish it.” I didn’t start this fight… but by God, I’m going to finish it.

Arthur Hutchins: ‘Night, mommy.
Christine Collins: [yelling] Stop calling me that! I’m not your mother! I want my son back! Damn you!

[first lines]
Christine Collins: Walter, honey. Time to wake up.
Walter Collins: Just ten more minutes…
Christine Collins: Sorry, sport. You can sleep in tomorrow, that’s what Saturdays are for.

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