Peacock Information

Peacock is a 2010 American psychological thriller directed by Michael Lander, written by Lander and Ryan Roy, and starring Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page and Susan Sarandon. It was editor Sally Menke's final film.

Plot

John Skillpa, a quiet bank clerk living in tiny Peacock, Nebraska, prefers to live an invisible life in order to hide his secret: He has multiple personality disorder, the implied result of childhood trauma inflicted by his abusive mother. His alter ego is a woman, Emma, who each morning does his chores and cooks him breakfast before he starts the day. One day while he is out of his house as Emma, a freight train caboose derails and crashes into John's backyard.

When his neighbors come to the scene, "Emma" enters his house, putting John's other life into the spotlight, so he is forced to tell his neighbors that Emma is his wife, married in secrecy. Forced to fool the town into believing he and his alter ego are man and wife, John and Emma must maintain their secret while in public view.

A young and struggling single mother, Maggie, holds the key to John's past and sparks a battle between the personalities where Emma begins to take over John's life completely.

Cast

• Cillian Murphy as John Skillpa, a "retiring, shy and completely nondescript bank employee" leading a double life as Emma, his female alter ego. Murphy stated that "Peacock stunned me as a script from start to finish. It offers an incredible challenge to an actor — one I couldn't turn down."
• Ellen Page as Maggie, a struggling young mother who holds the key to John's past and sparks a battle between the personalities. Page commented, "This is one of the boldest screenplays I've come across in my albeit short career; it's a character and story I can throw myself into and exactly the type of movie I love to be a part of."
• Susan Sarandon as Fanny Crill, the wife of Peacock's mayor, who also runs a local woman's shelter. Sarandon has said that Peacock is "a very strange little piece — kind of ominous."
• Bill Pullman as Edmund French, John's boss. Pullman has described Peacock as "a very interesting script," explaining that his role "is another character hiding the fact he's the closest one like [Skillpa]. It's a very different part for me."
• Josh Lucas as Tom McGonigle, a local police officer and the closest thing John has to a friend.
• Keith Carradine as Mayor Ray Crill
• Paul Cram as Kenny, a local store clerk.

Casting calls for extras and other minor roles were made in the Des Moines, Iowa area in April 2008.

Production

The film is set in a Nebraska town.

Filming

Filming began May 6, 2008 in the small town of Odebolt, Iowa. Greenfield, Iowa was also host to the production for several days. Scenes were filmed on the town square and inside the historic Opera House. Shooting of the film was scheduled to continue on June 5, 2008 in Boone, Iowa; due to weather conditions, however, Cornfield Productions was forced to delay filming until the following day. The filming occurred at the local train tracks with line producer Brian Bell explaining that this particular shot was a "visual effects" shot, where the train will eventually be digitally edited to appear as if it is passing through Skillpa's backyard, even though it is not physically there. Although the shooting took four hours to complete, it only comprises about 10 to 15 seconds of the film. The filming of Peacock ended on June 9, 2008.