The Chumscrubber - Production

Production

While working at a Hollywood talent agency Arie Posin had been writing scripts for 10 years, "trying to break in" the film industry, when he decided that he would rather be a director than a screenwriter. Posin asked writer Zac Stanford to write the screenplay for The Chumscrubber based on his idea. Because they collaborated on the story, Posin later described the film as "rooted somewhere between" his own memories of growing up in suburban Irvine, CA and Stanford's upbringing in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. Posin and Stanford had originally planned to shoot the film with their own money. Posin's girlfriend suggested that he send the script to five producers; one, Lawrence Bender, responded and passed the script on to his partner Bonnie Curtis. Posin and the producers brought the project to around sixty uninterested production companies before sufficient funds for the US$10 million budget were raised and production began.

Posin considered numerous other actors for the lead role of Dean before he decided to cast Jamie Bell. Auditions for the role spanned over a year, and Posin said that he met "probably every young actor in Hollywood between a certain age". For the role of Crystal, Posin sought a beautiful but fragile actress. He chose Camilla Belle after she auditioned, and according to him, "She just was the character". Posin wanted an actor similar to Ralph Fiennes to play Michael, but was surprised when Fiennes himself agreed to be in the film. Justin Chatwin, a Billy Wilder fan, was drawn to the script after hearing that Posin had trained with Wilder. Ben Kingsley and Robin Williams were set to star in the film at different points in pre-production.

Principal photography of The Chumscrubber began in April 2004 and lasted for 30 days. Filming locations included Valencia, Los Angeles, and Santa Clarita of California, as well as two soundstages.