The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) Brad Pitt Benjamin Button Cate Blanchett Daisy Jason Flemyng Thomas Button Taraji P. Henson Queenie Julia Ormond Caroline Ed Metzger Teddy Roosevelt Lance E. Nichols Preacher Peter Donald Badalamenti II Benjamin 1928-31/ Benjamin Button 1928-31 Donna Duplantier Blanche Devereaux Patrick Holland Benjamin Button - Age 36 Joshua DesRoches Vic Brody Naima Imani Lett Madame Joel Bissonnette David Hernandez Christopher Maxwell Rick Brody Myrton Running Wolf Dennis Smith Joeanna Sayler Caroline Button Elias Koteas Monsieur Gateau Jared Harris Captain Mike Phyllis Somerville Grandma Fuller Tilda Swinton Elizabeth Abbott Directed by: David Fincher Produced by: Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Cean Chaffin "I was born under unusual circumstances." And so begins "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," adapted from the 1920s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards: a man, like any of us, who is unable to stop time. We follow his story, set in New Orleans from the end of World War I in 1918, into the 21st century, following his journey that is as unusual as any man's life can be. ========== On the day that Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans, elderly Daisy Williams (nee Fuller) is on her deathbed in a New Orleans hospital. At her side is her adult daughter, Caroline. Daisy asks Caroline to read to her aloud the diary of Daisy's lifelong friend, Benjamin Button. Benjamin's diary recounts his entire extraordinary life, the primary unusual aspect of which was his aging backwards, being diagnosed with several aging diseases at birth and thus given little chance of survival, but who does survive and gets younger with time. Abandoned by his biological father, Thomas Button, after Benjamin's biological mother died in childbirth, Benjamin was raised by Queenie, a black woman and caregiver at a seniors home. Daisy's grandmother was a resident at that home, which is where she first met Benjamin. Although separated through the years, Daisy and Benjamin remain in contact throughout their lives, reconnecting in their forties when in age they finally match up. Some of the revelations in Benjamin's diary are difficult for Caroline to read, especially as it relates to the time past this reconnection between Benjamin and Daisy, when Daisy gets older and Benjamin grows younger into his childhood years. ========== As she lay dying in a hospital bed on the eve of Hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans, an elderly woman asks her daughter Caroline to read from a diary left to her by a man named Benjamin. Born on the same day World War I ended, Benjamin Button's mother died giving birth to him. As a newborn, he was old and wrinkled and his horrified father Thomas Button leaves him on the doorstep of an old folk's home. Benjamin fits in well for, despite his young age, he looked as old as most of the residents. Benjamin soon realizes that he is growing younger, not older however. Early on, he meets the love of his life, Daisy, a beautiful red-haired, green-eyed child who grows into a beautiful woman while Benjamin grows into a handsome young man. Their lives take many different turns and making a life together is long in coming. It also is of limited duration given their ultimately different fates.