Sara and Brian Fitzgerald’s life with their young son and their two-year-old daughter, Kate, is forever altered when they learn that Kate has leukemia. The parents’ only hope is to conceive another child, specifically intended to save Kate’s life. For some, such genetic engineering would raise both moral and ethical questions; for the Fitzgeralds, Sara in particular, there is no choice but to do whatever it takes to keep Kate alive. And what it takes is Anna. Kate and Anna share a bond closer than most sisters: though Kate is older, she relies on her little sister—in fact, her life depends on Anna. Throughout their young lives, the sisters endure various medical procedures and hospital stays—just another part of their close-knit family’s otherwise normal life. Sara, a loving wife and mother who left her career as an attorney to care for her daughter, is sometimes lost inside the single-minded caregiver she has become in her efforts to save Kate. Her strong, supportive husband, Brian, is often rendered powerless and passive by his wife’s strength and determination. And their only son, Jesse, drifts, at times all but forgotten as Kate and Anna take center stage. Until Anna, now 11, says no. Seeking medical emancipation, she hires her own lawyer, initiating a court case that divides the family…and that could leave Kate’s rapidly failing body in the hands of fate.

Movie Quotes

Sara: Just so you know, I’m not going to let her die. I’m not.

Kate: Want to hear our routine?
Sara: What routine?
Anna: [lowers voice, imitating a male] Hey baby, what’s your sign?
Kate: Cancer.
Anna: You’re a cancer?
Kate: No, I’m a Leo.
Anna and Kate: But I have cancer.

Production Notes

When Sara Fitzgerald gave birth to Kate, she and her husband Brian rejoiced over their new baby girl. But joy turned into fear when their beloved child was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. Kate’s health became the fulcrum of the family, which grew with the birth of her sister Anna. But Anna wasn’t just another welcome addition. She was a necessity, conceived as a perfect genetic match, specifically designed to save Kate’s life. Cameron Diaz, who stars as Sara, relates, “When I first read the script, it was just one of those stories that haunted me. I connected with Sara, but I didn’t always agree with her, and that interested me.”

In the pivotal role of the family matriarch, Cameron Diaz was the first actor cast. The part of the single-minded mother of a sick child intrigued her because her first reaction to Sara Fitzgerald was profound. “I wanted to understand her, who she was, how she became that way and why she makes the decisions she does,” she says. “That exploration was very compelling to me and I thought it would be challenging to try to tell her story.”

“For me, this movie is serious on so many levels,” notes Cassavetes, “and there are a finite number of actresses that you think of for this type of role. Each of them has an impressive body of work. But I really didn’t want to cast an actress who had done something similar for this film.”

Perhaps better-known for her comedic roles, it was Diaz’s dramatic performances that appealed to producer Mark Johnson. “I’ve been a fan of Cameron for a long time and, frankly, her dramatic roles are among my favorites. I think what she did in ‘In Her Shoes’ was remarkable; she was astonishing in ‘Being John Malkovich,’ in ‘Vanilla Sky’…the list goes on. Cameron was our first choice for Sara, and I remember when we first found out she was interested, Nick and I looked at each other and said, ‘Can you believe how lucky we are?’” Johnson remarks.

“Cameron’s great in whatever she does,” offers Cassavetes, “and I’m so proud of her work in this film. She had to dare to be unsympathetic, because the character of Sara has tunnel vision; everyone around her seems to have some perspective, and she’s just ‘Save her, save her, save her, save her.’” In the process of inhabiting Sara Fitzgerald and portraying her staunch devotion to her sick child, Diaz learned not to evaluate her. The character is not easily delineated as “good” or “bad,” but rather navigates a murky moral area; Diaz instead tried to empathize with her and to understand the terrible situation that led to her actions.

In preparing for the role, Diaz says, “I talked to parents who had sick kids and to their children, to try to understand what it would be like to be in this position. The truth is you can’t know what you’d do unless you’re in her situation; until you have a deathly ill child, there is no way to say to what lengths you would go to save that child. And I thought that was very interesting to examine, because we love to judge people, don’t we? But, with Sara, I found that impossible to do,” Diaz remarks.

Jason Patric takes on the role of Brian, Sara’s loving but increasingly frustrated husband. “Pairing Jason with Cameron felt like one of those exciting situations where one and one make more than two, one of those combinations where you say, ‘I wonder what that will bring forth,’” states Johnson.

“Making ‘My Sister’s Keeper’ was one of the most amazing, joyous experiences I’ve had,” Cameron Diaz reveals. “It was a very serious movie about a serious subject, but the tone Nick set for the film, the way he is telling the story, is the complete opposite of what you might expect. He never tried to play on those heartstrings or go for the obvious tearjerker moment; what he created
instead was something vital and full and immediate. Just when you think it’s about death, you realize it’s really about life. Before we even started the movie, he told me that we would laugh a lot and have a good time.”

Awards and Nominations

Nominated – ALMA Award – Actress in Film
Nominated – Teen Choice Award – Choice Summer Movie Star