Bottle Shock tells the story of how California wines were put on the map through the unlikeliest of circumstances back in 1976. Steven Spurrier (played by Alan Rickman), a British wine connoisseur who owned a wine store in France, hoped to increase the number of customers who came through his doors by hosting an international competition. Spurrier wanted to pit the best French wines against the best California had to offer, and his decision to travel to California's Napa Valley changed the course of wine production in the United States.
Bill Pullman and Chris Pine play Jim and Bo Barrett, father and son wine vintners with big dreams but a failing business. Spurrier's visit proved to be the turning point for their wine after it was chosen to compete in Spurrier's event.
Although based on real events, artistic license was taken in order to make the story cinematic. In the film, Jim and Bo are constantly at odds, and their chosen method to work out their disagreements is to don boxing gloves. Pullman says in reality Jim and Bo didn't take out their aggressions in a boxing ring. "He didn't literally, he figuratively [did]," explained Pullman. "But, you know, it's a very tough environment to air. I mean, they're real people with a great business that they run together and they work things out, but it's tough and there's times where they push and shove each other kind of figuratively. I think that's what [director Randall Miller] was doing."
Bringing a true story to the screen is difficult, and filmmakers have to keep in mind what will play with an audience while not altering the basics of the story. "There's always a question [of] where do you draw the line, and do people expect a documentary? No. They want it well told," offered Pullman. "And then when do inventions start to call attention to themselves? I think that's the trick with this kind of thing and, hopefully, the boxing thing has felt really organic to me and maybe it'll stick out to somebody else. I don't know."
"[I'm] so glad I didn't have to sit around. [We] got to be physically tired with each other and arguing in a literal way is such a great relief, to have that thing, [that] avenue, as actors. Then you're less likely to be phony or whatever because you're like literally tired. You say things when you're tired, or you say things when you're mad, and we're fighting with each other and it's hot and we're uncomfortable - and Chris had the wig and I had the age, you know? And this is like we were both like trying to be good sports and everything, but it's coming out this thing. So I was glad to have that because it felt like, 'Ah, okay, so not another scene sitting around, saying you're selfish and you don't appreciate me."
Speaking of that wig, Pine didn't know what the real Bo Barrett looked like back in '76 until after the film was completed and ready to be shown to audiences. "I only saw a picture of what he looked like when we were up at the chateau for the premiere," said Pine. "There's a picture of the whole Barrett family on this old truck that actually looks exactly like the truck that he drives in the movie. There's, you know, all the brothers and the sister and there's Jim, and then there's Bo on the back of the truck in a top hat and this huge wavy Farrah Fawcett hair with a huge Tom Selleck 'stache."
That wig really helped Pine figure out how to play Bo. "I usually have my hair short and it was I think the hair, as cheesy as it sounds, I mean I think the hair was a major part of the character to kind of give him that… It's thoroughly '70s. It's a kid that followed The Dead," explained Pine. "He's not the clean-cut kind of dude, so I think that was important for the character."
Bottle Shock was actually shot in Napa Valley and so the actors didn't have to just imagine what it would be like to live and work around grapes and wine. They were able to interact with the locals and get a real feel for the community. "You meet the people that are there and they're working hard at a profession that they're honored by and they're, like all people in that kind of environment, there's a certain suspicion that we're going to tell lies about them or whatever - and we do," added Pullman, laughing. "But they, I think also you meet them and you don't want to dishonor them. You don't want to discredit them or look like you're doing some shallow version of them, so that was good. And then the fact that it's so beautiful there, where you can kind of realize that the land is the principal character in a way, of wine, and of the movie, and of why people want to make it there, you know?"
Being able to meet with the real people involved in the story helped Pine and Pullman feel connected to their characters. "Really, the preparation came when we went up there and thank god the Barretts were so open and generous with their time," said Pine about getting ready to take on the role. "And, you know, not only is Jim a winemaker, but as is Bo and then his wife Heidi is a world-renowned wine maker, so we got….not only could I talk to Bo about his family and his life growing up [in] California and then moving up here, but he's a very much hands-on person at his vineyard so he would take us around the different grapes from the Zinfandel to the Cabernet, etcetera. And then Heidi would take us through the tasting process and how she goes about creating a vintage from the different barrels of what goes into a taste. Then even from the extras that were working with us sometimes in the field, some of them worked in the field, so [we got to know the] minutiae about if you're walking down a line in a vineyard, what are you looking for, or is the leaf shading the grape too much, should it be shading the grape too much, do you want to take that leaf off, because any small thing can affect the taste of the grape."
"It is curious the Latinos and the Anglos who've lived together and worked there for centuries or for decades and through generations and you talk to a guy who worked cutting and you see the way he holds a knife, you know?," added Pullman, "They genuinely respect - there's not a sense of like some kind of feudal serfdom thing - there's a lot of respect for each other, each other's cultures, and how they've lived together there. That was kind of good to see."
