Recent Articles & Website Links

A Father’s Quest to Cure His Children - Well Blog - NYTimes.com by Tara Parker-Pope, January 22, 2010

An interview with Geeta Anand in the New York Times. Interesting back story on movie X Measures.

Heroes, Hope & Hollywood by Tara Wood, December 31, 2009

An article in Quest, the Muscular Distrophy Association Research and Health Magazine

Indian author's book inspires Harrison Ford's latest film

An article in the Hindustantimes from the Press Trust Of India, Los Angeles, January 10, 2010

Extraordinary challenge: Tom Vaughan directs Ford and Fraser in inspiring true drama by Daniel Eagan, Dec 28, 2009

A FilmJournal International article

What happened to Chetan happens everywhere by Abhijit Majumder. January 13, 2010

A Mid-Day.Com News interview with Geeta Anand

PRESS RELEASE
Geeta Anand, author of the book that inspired the movie Extraordinary Measures, is available for interviews to describe how her book was made into the film.

Geeta, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Wall Street Journal, can talk about Harrison Ford and producer Michael Shamberg’s interest in producing a medical drama that led them to purchase the rights to her book even as she was still writing it in 2004.
Mr. Ford and Mr. Shamberg wanted to move quickly to make the movie, so Ms. Anand sent the screenwriter chapter by chapter in 2004 as she wrote the book, The Cure: How a Father Raised $100 Million—and Bucked the Medical Establishment—in a Quest to Save his Children, Ms. Anand’ s book evolved from two articles she wrote for the Wall Street Journal in 2001 and 2003. She has been a staff writer for the Wall Street Journal for 12 years.
Ms. Anand can share details of the journey toward the movie becoming a reality, including Harrison Ford’s initial interest in playing the dad, John Crowley. Mr. Crowley was 30 years old when he embarked on his quest to develop a medicine to save his kids. Ms. Anand and many others worried Mr. Ford was too old to play Mr. Crowley, and Mr. Ford eventually reached the same conclusion—choosing to play the scientist with whom Mr. Crowley formed a company to pursue the treatment for his kids. That role was gradually enhanced and became a composite of several scientists and physicians who are featured in Ms. Anand’s book, a true-life version of events.
Ms. Anand, who is currently based in Mumbai as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, read the screenplay a year ago. Even though it departed from the true story at times, Ms. Anand says, she thought it was brilliant.
“What I loved about the screenplay was that it stuck to the spirit of the family’s story. These are people who don’t feel sorry for themselves, who are funny, heroic but also make mistakes and have flaws. They deal with their enormous challenges who cope by using humor, often making fun of themselves and their disabilities and challenges.”
“I also like that the movie didn’t change the ending of the real life story and my book. It must have been tempting to create a Hollywood ending, but the producers heroically resisted that temptation.”
To arrange interviews, contact Ms. Anand via email at geeta.anand@wsj.com or through her publicity coordinator, Gregory Kroitzsh, at gregoryjk@hotmail.com. Teresa Brady at HarperCollins can also make arrangements at teresa.brady@harpercollins.com or 212-207-7170. She can also send copies of The Cure.