FAQ

Paul (Greg Kinnear) and Jessie (Rebecca Romijn) Duncan are grieving the death of their 8-year-old son Adam (Cameron Bright) when they are approached by well-known fertility expert Dr Richard Wells (Robert De Niro) offering them the possibility of cloning their son as a way of getting him back. Wells assures them that the cloned Adam will be identical to their lost son in every way, and Adam2 is just that ...until his eighth birthday. Adam suddenly begins having night terrors, and the Duncans realize that, although Adam may be identical on the outside, he may not the same boy on the inside.

Godsend is based on a screenplay by American screenwriter Mark Bomback.

It's explained in the movie that you first need a viable cell from the person to be cloned (the donor). The cell can be of any type, e.g., liver, brain, cheek, etc., because the next step is to shock the cell into returning to its stem cell state, the precursor state in which the cell has the ability to grow into any type of cell. (How to "shock" a cell is not explained.) The cell's nucleus is then extracted and injected into an ovum (a maternal egg) which has had its own nucleus removed. The ovum will then grow, using the DNA from the implanted nucleus as its "map." Since the DNA was taken from the cell of the person to be cloned, the clone will be genetically identical to the donor.

The setting is rural Vermont, evidenced on the newspaper reporting that Dr Richard Wells has disappeared.

Although Wells had samples of Zachary's DNA, he had neither enough of it nor a viable cell from Zachary, since Zachary's body was burned to a crisp in the fire years ago. He needed the DNA of another human, a donor, to substitute the missing genetic information, along with a viable cell from a donor into which he could place Zachary's DNA. A similar technique was explained (in elaborate Hollywood style) in the movie Jurassic Park (1993) (1993), in which the DNA from long dead dinosaurs is spliced with the DNA from a toad and inserted into a viable cell from which a dinosaur will grow. In actuality, such a procedure has really been accomplished, such as the implanting into a rabbit the gene that causes jellyfish to glow, producing rabbits that glow in the dark.

Most viewers conclude that the changes occurring in Adam don't start until Adam turns eight because that's the age, to the day, that Adam1 died. With no more memories from Adam1 now, the space is clear for Zachary's memories to take over. This concept is termed cellular memory and is based on the belief that living tissues have the capacity to store memories and emotions and that these can be passed during transplants from donor to recipient. Thus, Adam2 received memories and emotions from both Adam1 and Zachary in his cloning. Cellular memory is considered a pseudoscientific theory by the medical community as there is no evidence to support it. Still, it forms the premise of many horror movies in which someone receives the heart, brain, hands, etc. of a donor and suddenly starts seeing life through the eyes of their donor, e.g., The Hands of Orlac (1960) (1960).

After learning about Zachary Clark, Paul confronts Dr Wells at the church where the Hazen funeral is taking place. Paul threatens to reveal everything to the police, so Wells bashes him over the head with a heavy candlestick and leaves him in the burning church. Meanwhile, Jessie has followed Adam to the old shack. When she walks through the shack looking for him, Adam hides in a corner, grabs a hatchet, and is just about to hit her with it when Paul comes rushing in and stops him. Six months pass. Wells has gone into hiding and is shown scanning the death notices, looking for a bereaved couple that may be receptive to his services. The Duncans are moving into a new house. Adam is looking out the window of his new bedroom when Paul and Jessie come in. Jessie assures Adam that this move will be a new start for them. Paul asks Adam to come help unpack boxes. When Jessie and Paul leave the room, Adam hears a noise inside his closet. He opens the door and is pulled inside by a burnt arm. Paul returns to find out what's taking Adam so long but can't find him. Suddenly, Adam touches him from behind. Paul assures him again that this will be a good place to start all over, and they walk downstairs together. In the final scene, the camera pans over the new house.

Yes. Besides the theatrical ending, there are four alternate endings, all available as special features on the DVD. Alternate ending 1 pretty much follows the theatrical ending except that it is Richard Wells who shows up at the shack and stops Adam from hatcheting Jessie, after which Adam calls him "Daddy." Paul dies in the fire, and Wells donates the money to rebuild the church. In the final scene, Wells, Jessie, and Adam enter the church together. Alternate ending 2 also follows the theatrical ending with an additional scene at the end showing Wells approaching a grieving couple as they leave a funeral home. He presents them with the same spiel he used on the Duncans. In Alternate ending 3, Adam locks Jessie in the darkroom and takes off the nozzle from a gas heater, allowing gas fumes to spill into the room. When Wells tries to unlock the door, Adam injects him with poison from his own medical bag. Wells dies. Adam runs off to the shack, and Jessie follows him, as in the theatrical ending. After Paul stops Adam from hatcheting Jessie, he sends Jessie outside and attempts to strangle Adam. Jessie stops him. In the final scene, Paul and Jessie lay roses on the grave of Adam Neal Duncan. As the camera pans around, Adam2 can be seen behind the gravestones tossing stones. The three of them then leave the graveyard and drive off in their car. Alternate ending 4 follows the script for ending 3 up until the scene where Paul stops Adam from hatcheting Jessie. The final scene shows Adam celebrating his ninth birthday.