Snakkle Exclusive: Beautiful Girls 15th Anniversary

Beautiful Girls, the 1996 independent film about a musician at a crossroads returning to his hometown for his high school reunion, joined the ranks of Diner in the men-struggling-with-what-it-means-to-be-a-good-man department. In an exclusive interview with Snakkle, the film's screenwriter Scott Rosenberg talks about Natalie Portman, his inspiration for this bittersweet drama, and more. To celebrate the film's 15th anniversary, take a look at the ensemble cast who came together one cold Minnesota winter and then went on to do all sorts of hot things.

Snakkle Buy: Check out the soundtrack! If you want to see more of how Scott Rosenberg turns his life into art, get his TV series October Road.

Memorable Beautiful Girls Line: As a noncommittal guy about to turn 30, Willie says: "So, this is my thing, you see. Why get married now? Why not have two, three more of those beginnings before I settle into the big fade?"
Then: Rosenberg tell us, "I went into my room and came out with the first draft of Beautiful Girls a week later. I wrote it as a catharsis to deal with a breakup from a seven-year relationship." Admittedly, almost all of the characters are based on Rosenberg's friends. So which character is based on Rosenberg himself? "I'm Willie, 100 percent. I left my small town and went away to find fame and fortune." When asked if it's easier to commit 15 years after writing the film, Rosenberg just laughs.

Hutton is currently playing Nate Ford on the TNT series Leverage, which began its fourth season in June. He also appeared in a controversial Super Bowl commercial for Groupon.

Memorable Beautiful Girls Line: "Piano players are sexy. Salesmen are uncles."

Gish works steadily on the big and small screen, with roles in The X-Files, Brotherhood, and Chaperone and guest spots on Criminal Minds and FlashForward. In Season 2 of Pretty Little Liars, she will appear in a recurring role as a therapist.

Memorable Beautiful Girls Line: To Willie (Timothy Hutton) about Marty (Natalie Portman): "The girl was a zygote when you were in the seventh grade."

Emmerich has stayed steadily employed as an actor, appearing in movies such as The Truman Show (a role his Beautiful Girls costar Lauren Holly helped him get) and Little Children and television shows such as Monk, White Collar, and The Walking Dead. His latest big-screen role was in J.J. Abrams' big-budget Super 8.

Memorable Beautiful Girls Line: To Willie (Timothy Hutton), about their age difference (she's 13): "Alas, poor Romeo, we can't do diddly. You'll go to penitentiary, I'll be the laughingstock of the Brownies. But if your feelings for me are true, you'll wait." Click here for the full scene.
Then: Rosenberg tells Snakkle, "James L. Brooks [who was originally going to direct the movie before Ted Demme] said if you can't find the right 13-year-old girl, don't make the movie." Rosenberg says he must have seen every actress between the ages of 10 and 15. "If she [Portman] hadn't existed at the time when we had to cast that role, I don't think that movie would've gotten made." So what's Rosenberg's favorite line of the movie? "I'm Marty. Just Marty. Named for a grandfather I never even knew. So now I'm Marty. A girl named Marty. That is, I think, the bane of my existence." Rosenberg shares that Marty (one of the few characters not based on a real person) was named after his own father, who died two years before he wrote the film.

When Willie tells Marty that he knows she will go on to do great things, he could have been talking about Portman herself, who won an Oscar this year for Black Swan. Portman and fiancé Benjamin Millepied recently welcomed a son named Aleph.

Memorable Beautiful Girls Line: "We got apps. You know, appetizers?" (Back when apps didn't refer to something on your Smartphone.)

Vince works constantly, with roles in close to a dozen films slated for release this year. Recent TV appearances include a recurring role on The Mentalist.

Memorable Beautiful Girls Line: Darian, who plays a villainous adulterer, is confronted at her high school reunion by a classmate who describes her like this: "God, you were something in those days. You were beautiful. But if you don't mind me saying, mean as a snake. You were mean as a snake."

Still fabulous at 47, Holly continues to act and is the mother of three boys. Rosenberg tells Snakkle that everything she says about Beautiful Girls on her website is true.

Memorable Beautiful Girls Line: "One comes to a decision based on what one wants, not based on what one doesn't want."

Plimpton is finally getting mainstream recognition that matches her talent, playing television's youngest grandmother, Virginia Chance, on the Fox sitcom Raising Hope. Her fans can only "hope" for a musical-themed episode; as she makes clear in this appearance on Studio 360, she can sing as well as make us laugh.

Memorable Beautiful Girls Line: In defense of having the walls of his room covered in pictures of supermodels and a dog named Elle Macpherson, Paul says, "This particular aura can be found in the gait of a beautiful girl. In her smile. In her soul. In the way she makes every rotten thing about life seem okay. The supermodels, Willie? That's all they are—bottled promise. Scenes from a new day, hope in stiletto heels."

Rapaport's roles range from frustrated father Dave Gold in the sitcom The War at Home (2005-2007) to voicing an animated pooch named Squirt on Pound Puppies (2010). He has also indulged his love of music, most recently directing the documentary Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest, about the much-loved hip-hop group.

Memorable Beautiful Girls Line: To Tommy (Matt Dillon's character), who's still hung up on his high school girlfriend: "What do I do? The best years of your life were high school, when you were the king of the hill and Darian was your girlfriend. You want all that back. I can't give that to you."

Sorvino suffered a bit of a post-Oscar dip after winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite in 1995 but has worked steadily. She recently starred with Beautiful Girls alum Timothy Hutton in Multiple Sarcasms (2010), has several films in post-production, and just finished filming Trade of Innocents with Dermot Mulroney. Check out the cast singing "Sweet Caroline."