Safety Not Guaranteed (2012) on Netflix
Darius interns at Seattle Magazine and travels with two coworkers to a coastal town to find the man who wrote a classified ad. The ad seeks a companion for time travel.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb6.9/10135,866 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes91%
Trailer
Plot summary
Darius Britt, a University of Washington graduate, works as an intern at Seattle Magazine and lives in Seattle with her widower father. When the staff writer Jeff Schwensen pitches a story about a newspaper classified ad from a man seeking a companion to travel back in time, his boss Bridget approves, and Jeff takes Darius and Arnau, a student interning to strengthen his medical school applications, to the seaside community of Ocean View. Jeff also wants to look up a woman he knew in his teenage years. Darius traces the ad to Kenneth Calloway, who works as a stock clerk at a grocery store in town, and presents herself as a candidate for his mission. Kenneth believes secret agents are tracking him and puts her through training exercises in the woods near his house.
Cast
- Lauren Carlosas Young Darius
- William Hall Jr.as Shannon
Show all 20 cast
- Alice Hungas Shift Manager
- Hassan Cristos Messiahas Boyfriend in Car (as Hassan 'Cristos' Messiah)
- Keli Schurman-Darbyas Girlfriend in Car
- Peter Anthony Jacobsas Deputy Sheriff
- Eli Borozanas Kid in Diner
- Tom Ricciardellias Security Guard
- David Schultzas Coworker (as David Leo Schultz)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The joke ad that inspired the film became a cultural phenomenon: it drew thousands of letters to John Silveira's own mailing address, and was featured on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and discussed repeatedly on the Car Talk radio series.
- Derek Connolly's first draft of the script was a buddy comedy, but he re-wrote the lead role with Aubrey Plaza in mind after seeing her performance in Funny People.
- Made in 2012 by a first-time director and writer for less than a million dollars, Safety Not Guaranteed caught Netflix's eye, foreshadowing streaming's role in film creation and distribution and small-budget directors being tapped for big-budget films.
- The film was shot on a Sony F3 camera with old Panavision lenses to give director Colin Trevorrow the "Hal Ashby look" he wanted.
- To adapt the ad into a film, writer Derek Connolly tracked down the ad's author, John Silveira, who gave his blessing.
