Dear Eleanor

Dear Eleanor is a 2016 American film, directed by Kevin Connolly, and starring Isabelle Fuhrman, Josh Lucas, Liana Liberato, and Jessica Alba. Written by Cecilia Contreras and Amy Garcia, it is a coming of age story about two best friends traveling across the U.S. in 1962 to meet their childhood hero, Eleanor Roosevelt.

Plot

In 1962, in the shadow of the Cuban Missile Crisis, two teenage girls break out of their normal life, jump in the car and embark on a trip across the country in search of the former First Lady of [the United States], Eleanor Roosevelt. Their Thelma & Louise cross-country adventure is a mix of hilarious joy ride and an empowering personal odyssey that not only tests their friendship for the first time but also lands the girls in jail.

Cast

Isabelle Fuhrman as Maxine ”Max the Wax” Wax
Liana Liberato as Eleanor ”Ellie” Potter
Jessica Alba as Aunt Daisy, Max's aunt
Josh Lucas as Frank Morris
Ione Skye as Charlotte
Luke Wilson as Bob Potter
Patrick Schwarzenegger as Bud
Joel Courtney as Billy
Paul Johansson as Hugh
Claire [van der Boom] as Caroline Potter

Production

Chuck Pacheco, Hillary Sherman and Caleb Applegate produced the film, which began shooting in Boulder County, Colorado on May 14, 2013. The town of Niwot doubled for 1960s town of Manteca, California. Towns in Colorado's Front Range section of the Rocky Mountains, including Longmont, Lyons, Nederland, Boulder and Hygiene, were also used as locations. Filming took place in Downtown Denver at the Paramount Theatre before shooting wrapped in mid-June. Re-shoots occurred approximately a year later. A Colorado state economic incentive program helped to attract the production, which would spend $2.5 million in the state.

Release

The film was released on video on demand and DVD on July 5, 2016.