Characters
- Bill Januson (Beau Bridges) - Widower and father of two children. A year ago he had a house and a good job. He was making $16/hr working on an assembly weld line at a GM auto plant. After working there for 17 years a robot took over his job. Bill's wife died of cancer seven months ago. He calls himself a jack of all trades although he has no high school diploma. He thinks that what's wrong with this country is that no one wants to work for a living.
- Willa Januson (Jena Malone) - Willa is Bill's young daughter. As the movie progresses her health deteriorates due to malnutrition.
- Robbie Januson (Shelton Dane) - Willa's 11 year old brother. He is always picking on his little sister good-naturedly to toughen her up. He is the kind of kid who is into the Silver Surfer and who wants to create a time capsule for the future. Robbie is very mature and responsible for his age. He is always trying to give his father advice. For example, he suggests his father learn about cyberspace to help him get a better job and he says they should get a solar cell to save money on electricity.
- Caroline Millerton (Allegra Denton) - Willa's best friend and Dr. Millerton's daughter.
- Dr. Michael Millerton (Bruce Davison) - Doctor and father of Caroline. He first meets Willa when she comes to play with Caroline. He later develops a friendship with Bill when he brings Willa to the clinic. He tries his best to help Bill by trying to find him a job or offering to loan him money.
- Dee Millerton (Alice Krige) - Dr. Millerton's wife. She is a very generous person. She is the kind of person who is willing to invite Willa over every day for every meal.
- Gus (Frances McDormand) - A mechanic that Robbie meets one day while skipping school. After spending some time together they enter into a kind of partnership with each other to fix an old car so they can sell it. She tells Robbie, "A man's not a man unless he pulls his weight."
- Vincent (Jeff Bridges) - Another surgeon who works with Michael. He also works three days a week at the community clinic. One day Michael loses a bet with him over a baseball stat and has to cover his shift at the clinic.
Read more about this topic: Hidden In America
Famous quotes containing the word characters:
“Thus we may define the real as that whose characters are independent of what anybody may think them to be.”
—Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)
“For our vanity is such that we hold our own characters immutable, and we are slow to acknowledge that they have changed, even for the better.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)
“His leanings were strictly lyrical, descriptions of nature and emotions came to him with surprising facility, but on the other hand he had a lot of trouble with routine items, such as, for instance, the opening and closing of doors, or shaking hands when there were numerous characters in a room, and one person or two persons saluted many people.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)