L.A. Confidential and Chasing Amy Wikipedia film page

Chasing Amy
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Chasing Amy
Chasing Amy film.jpg
Theatrical release poster

Directed by
Kevin Smith
Produced by
Scott Mosier
Written by
Kevin Smith
Starring
Ben Affleck
Joey Lauren Adams
Jason Lee
Dwight Ewell
Jason Mewes
Kevin Smith

Music by
David Pirner
Cinematography
David Klein
Editing by
Scott Mosier
Kevin Smith
Studio
View Askew Productions
Miramax Films
Distributed by
Buena Vista Pictures
Release dates
April 4, 1997

Running time
113 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$250,000[1]
Box office
$12,021,272[2]
Chasing Amyis a 1997 American romantic comedy filmwritten and directed by Kevin Smith. The central tension revolves around sexuality, sexual history, and evolving friendships. It is the third film in Smith's View Askewniverseseries.
The film contains explicit sexual dialogue and was originally inspired by a brief scene from an early movie by a friend of Smith's. In Guinevere Turner's Go Fish, one of the lesbian characters imagines her friends passing judgment on her for "selling out" by sleeping with a man. Kevin Smith was dating star Joey Lauren Adamsat the time he was writing the script, which was also partly inspired by her.[3]
The film won two awards at the 1998 Independent Spirit Awards(Best Screenplay for Smith and Best Supporting Actor for Jason Lee).


Contents [hide]
1Plot
2Cast
3Reception3.1Box office
3.2Critical reception3.2.1Film critics
3.2.2Gender studies critics
3.3Accolades
4Home media
5Novel
6Cultural references
7References
8External links

Plot[edit]
Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck) and Banky Edwards (Jason Lee) are comic book artists and lifelong friends. Holden is the calmer, more reasonable of the duo; Banky, meanwhile, is the caustic and short-tempered half. Everything is going well for them until they meet Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams) at a comic book conventionin New Yorkwhere they are promoting their comic Bluntman and Chronic. Holden is attracted to Alyssa, but soon learns that she is attracted to women. The two begin hanging out, and a deep friendship develops. Eventually, Holden is no longer able to contain his feelings, and confesses his love to Alyssa. She is initially angry with him, but that night, the two begin a romantic relationship.
This new development worsens the tension between Holden and Banky, who dislikes and distrusts Alyssa and is bothered by her and Holden's relationship. Banky investigates and uncovers dirt on Alyssa's past, and he reports to Holden that Alyssa participated in a threesomewith two guys during high school, which gave her the nickname "Finger Cuffs". Holden is deeply disturbed by this revelation, having previously believed that he is the first man Alyssa had ever slept with. He angrily confronts Alyssa while attending a hockey game, and clumsily attempts baiting her into confessing. During a tearful argument, she tells Holden about her "many" youthful sexual experimentations. She apologizes for letting him believe that he was the only man she had been with. However, she refuses to apologize for her past, and Holden leaves feeling angry and confused.
Later, during lunch with Jay and Silent Bob(Jason Mewesand Kevin Smith), Silent Bob reveals that he was once in a relationship similar to Holden's. Despite the fact that he was in love with his girlfriend, Amy, his insecurities about her adventurous sexual past caused him to sabotagethe relationship and leave her. Angry at himself for letting her go, he has "spent every day since then chasing Amy, so to speak."
Inspired by Silent Bob's story, Holden devises a plan to fix both his relationship with Alyssa and his fractured friendship with Banky. He invites them both over and tells Alyssa that he would like to get over her past and remain her boyfriend. He also tells Banky that he realizes that Banky is in love with him—kissing him passionately to prove the point. Holden suggests a threesome. Though initially appalled, Banky agrees to participate, whereas Alyssa explains to Holden that it will not save their relationship. Before leaving, she states that she loves him, but she will not be "his whore." Banky also leaves the apartment, and summarily ends their friendship.
One year later, both Banky and Holden are busy promoting their own respective comics at a convention in New York. It is revealed that Holden has dissolved their partnership over Bluntman and Chronic, leaving the viewer with the assumption that he sold the publishing and creative rights over to Banky (which is corroborated in the beginning of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back). Banky smiles sadly at seeing his old friend, who silently congratulates him for his success. Banky gestures over to a booth hosted by Alyssa, and provides wordless encouragement to Holden to go talk to her. He has a brief, quietly emotional conversation with Alyssa, and gives her a copy of Chasing Amy, his new comic based on their failed relationship. After Holden leaves, Alyssa's obviously new girl-friend (Virginia Smith) arrives and asks who she was talking to. A shaken, misty-eyed Alyssa feigns indifference and replies, "Oh, just some guy I knew."
Cast[edit]
Ben Affleckas Holden McNeil
Joey Lauren Adamsas Alyssa Jones
Jason Leeas Banky Edwards
Dwight Ewellas Hooper X
Jason Mewesas Jay
Kevin Smithas Silent Bob
Ethan Supleeas Fan
Scott Mosieras Collector
Casey Affleckas Little Kid
Matt Damonas Shawn Oran
Brian O'Halloranas Jim Hicks
Carmen Llywelynas Kim
Guinevere Turneras Singer
Joe Quesada(uncredited) as Himself
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
On a budget of $250,000, the film grossed a total of $12,021,272 in theaters.[1][2]Chasing Amyplayed at three locations and earned $52,446 upon its opening weekend in the United States.[4]The following week, the film was expanded to a further twenty-two theaters where it grossed $302,406.[5]During the 18–20 April 1997 weekend, Chasing Amywas screened at a further 494 locations, where it earned $1,642,402 and moved into the Top 10.[6]
Critical reception[edit]
Film critics[edit]
The film has received positive reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoesgave the film a score of 90% based on reviews from 69 critics, with a rating averageof 7.4 out of 10.[7]According to the site's summary of the critical consensus, "Chasing Amyexplores gender roles, sexual mores, and the limits of friendship with a mixture of sensitivity, raw honesty, and director/screenwriter Kevin Smith's signature raunchy humor."[7]Metacritic, which assigns a score of 1–100 to individual film reviews, gives the film an average rating of 71 based on 28 reviews.[8]Audiences polled by Cinemascore gave the film a grade A-minus.[9]
Roger Ebertof the Chicago Sun-Timessaid "While the surface of his film sparkles with sharp, ironic dialogue, deeper issues are forming, and Chasing Amydevelops into a film of touching insights. Most romantic comedies place phony obstacles in the way of true love, but Smith knows that at some level there's nothing funny about being in love: It's a dead serious business, in which your entire being is at risk."[10]Ebert believed the film was an improvement over Smith's previous effort Mallratsand he added that Adams was a discovery.[10]Charles Taylor, writing for Salon, quipped "Chasing Amyisn't going to single-handedly save romantic comedy, but Smith (Clerks) has made the only romantic comedy in quite a while that acknowledges, even celebrates, the fact that love and sex are emotional anarchy."[11]
Gender studies critics[edit]
Academic critics have criticized the movie for its stereotypical portrayal of lesbians,[12]and its limited views on sexuality, for instance "while individual lesbian characters may now have some range and depth and narrative engage-mem, lesbian culture is still depicted (if depicted at all) in the narrowest and most stereotypical of ways."[13]
Accolades[edit]

Award
Date of ceremony
Category
Recipients and nominees
Result

British Independent Film Awards[14]
October 29, 1998 Best Foreign Independent Film Chasing Amy Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association[15]
March 1, 1998 Most Promising Actress Joey Lauren Adams Won
Golden Globe Award[16]
January 18, 1998 Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Joey Lauren Adams Nominated
Independent Spirit Awards[17]
March 21, 1998 Best Film Chasing Amy Nominated
Best Screenplay Kevin Smith Won
Best Supporting Actor Jason Lee Won
Las Vegas Film Critics Society[18]
January 1998 Most Promising Actress Joey Lauren Adams Won
Los Angeles Film Critics Association[19]
January 15, 1996 Best Screenplay Kevin Smith Nominated
MTV Movie Awards[20]
May 30, 1998 Best Breakthrough Performance Joey Lauren Adams Nominated
Best Kiss Joey Lauren Adams and Carmen Llywelyn Nominated
National Board of Review of Motion Pictures[21]
December 8, 1998 Special Recognition for Excellence in Filmmaking Chasing Amy Won
Home media[edit]
A special edition DVDwas released with 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreenpicture and Dolby5.1 surround sound. It includes the following bonus features: Audio commentary from cast and crew; Introduction by Smith; deleted scenes; outtakes; and a theatrical trailer.
Chasing Amywas originally released as a Criterion CollectionLaserdisc. Smith raised eyebrows when he recorded the running commentary for the Laserdisc, as he started it by saying, "This is a Laserdisc, and I'd like to take a moment to say 'fuck DVD'." When Criterion released the DVD—which re-uses the Laserdisc running commentary—Smith recorded a special introduction in which he apologized for the comment and jokingly attributed it to Jason Mewes.
It was rumored that 2007 would see the release of a Chasing Amy XDVD, in a similar vein as the Clerks XDVD and the Mallrats: 10th AnniversaryDVDs. But at Comic-Con2007, Smith confirmed that a special "supplementary" DVD would be released the following year to go along with the Criterion Collection DVD released earlier that will just have more extras on it.[22]Smith later said Criterion rejected the idea of a special edition as "double dipping", but he is hopeful that new featurettes can be included on a future Blu-ray Discrelease of the film.[23]
Smith revealed in early 2009 at a Q&A session in Vancouverthat he and the film's cast were currently recording new material for an upcoming Criterion Blu-ray release of the film.[24]
Novel[edit]
In Japan, the screenplay of Chasing Amywas adapted into a novel by Kenichi Eguchi and published by Aoyama Publishing. The unique concept of the book is that it is roughly half-novel, half-manga, with Moyoco Annoproviding the art for the comic book pages.[25]In an episode of SModcast, Smith revealed that while he was thrilled to have a manga based on his film, he was shocked when he read the novelization, as the characters' sexual histories, which are just mentioned in conversation in the film, are depicted in the novel's manga illustrations as very sexually graphic flashbacks.
Cultural references[edit]
In a scene originally written for Mallrats, several principal characters share memories of sexual escapades gone awry. This scene reveals the character's own emotional "sex scars" and was purposefully created—down to the style of dialogue and set dressing—to mirror a scene from Steven Spielberg's Jawsin which Quint and Hooper share the physical scars they've both earned from encounters with sharks.[26]
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: ab"Chasing Amy: Synopsis". View Askew Productions. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
2.^ Jump up to: ab"Chasing Amy (1997)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
3.Jump up ^Kevin Smith (June 26, 2000). "Kevin Smith's comments on his own film". The Criterion Collection. Archived from the originalon 9 Dec 08.
4.Jump up ^"April 4-6, 1997 Weekend". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
5.Jump up ^"April 11-13, 1997 Weekend". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
6.Jump up ^"April 18-20, 1997 Weekend". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
7.^ Jump up to: ab"Chasing Amy (1997)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
8.Jump up ^"Chasing Amy". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
9.Jump up ^Published on Apr 11, 1997 (1997-04-11). "Critical Mass". EW.com. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
10.^ Jump up to: abEbert, Roger(April 18, 1997). "Chasing Amy". Chicago Sun-Times(Sun-Times Media Group). Retrieved March 29, 2012.
11.Jump up ^Taylor, Charles (May 11, 1997). "Chasing Amy". Salon. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
12.Jump up ^http://books.google.com/books?id=tdMeJqgqevYC&pg=PA233&dq=chasing+amy+negative+lesbian
13.Jump up ^http://books.google.com/books?id=2pSH73isp94C&pg=PA164&dq=chasing+amy+negative+lesbian&hl=en&sa=X
14.Jump up ^"1998 British Independent Film Awards". British Independent Film Awards. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
15.Jump up ^"Chicago Film Critics Awards - 1988-97". Chicago Film Critics Association. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
16.Jump up ^"Nominees for Golden Globe Awards". CNN(Turner Broadcasting System). December 18, 1997. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
17.Jump up ^"The Independent Spirit Awards: 1998". Film Threat. March 23, 1998. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
18.Jump up ^"1997 Sierra Award winners". Las Vegas Film Critics Society. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
19.Jump up ^Kronke, David (December 14, 1997). "'L.A. Confidential' Gets L.A. Critics' Top Award". Los Angeles Times(Tribune Company). Retrieved March 29, 2012.
20.Jump up ^"1998 MTV Movie Awards". MTV. Viacom International. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
21.Jump up ^"Awards for 1997". National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
22.Jump up ^Vasconcellos, Eduardo (July 28, 2007). "IGN: SDCC 07: More Chasing Amy On The Way". Dvd.ign.com. Retrieved May 6, 2009.
23.Jump up ^"Kevin Smith High on Blu-ray". Home Media Magazine. November 26, 2008. Retrieved May 6, 2009.
24.Jump up ^Scooped by Steven Kirkham, Robert Jamieson, James Turner (March 29, 2009). "Vancouver Q&A: What We Learned...". News Askew. Retrieved May 6, 2009.[dead link]
25.Jump up ^Vizmedia.com[dead link]
26.Jump up ^"The Hows and Whys of 'Chasing Amy'". Criterion.com. Retrieved May 6, 2009.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Chasing Amy
Official website
Chasing Amyat the Internet Movie Database
Chasing Amyat the TCM Movie Database
Chasing Amyat allmovie
Chasing Amyat Box Office Mojo
Chasing Amyat Rotten Tomatoes
Chasing Amyat Metacritic
Chasing Amyat the Criterion Collection
DailyScript.com– The Chasing Amyscreenplay


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Categories: 1997 films
English-language films
1990s romantic comedy films
American comedy-drama films
American LGBT-related films
American romantic comedy films
American sex comedy films
Bisexuality-related films
Films directed by Kevin Smith
Films set in New Jersey
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L.A. Confidential (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from LA Confidential (film))
Jump to: navigation, search


L.A. Confidential
La confidential.jpg
Theatrical release poster

Directed by
Curtis Hanson
Produced by
Curtis Hanson
Arnon Milchan
 Michael G. Nathanson
Screenplay by
Curtis Hanson
Brian Helgeland
Based on
L.A. Confidential
 by James Ellroy
Narrated by
Danny DeVito
Starring
Kevin Spacey
Russell Crowe
Guy Pearce
James Cromwell
David Strathairn
Kim Basinger
Danny DeVito
Music by
Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography
Dante Spinotti
Editing by
Peter Honess
Studio
Regency Enterprises
Distributed by
Warner Bros.
Release dates
September 19, 1997

Running time
138 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$35 million
Box office
$126,216,940
L.A. Confidential is a 1997 neo-noir film based on James Ellroy's 1990 novel of the same title, the third book in his L.A. Quartet series. Both the book and the film tell the story of a group of LAPD officers in the year 1953, and the intersection of police corruption and Hollywood celebrity. The title refers to the 1950s scandal magazine Confidential, portrayed in the film as Hush-Hush. The film adaptation was produced and directed by Curtis Hanson and co-written by Hanson and Brian Helgeland.
At the time, Australian actor Guy Pearce and New Zealand actor Russell Crowe were relatively unknown in North America, and one of the film's backers, Peter Dennett, was worried about the lack of established stars in the lead roles. However, he supported Hanson's casting decisions and this gave the director the confidence to approach Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger, and Danny DeVito.
Critically acclaimed, the film holds a 99% rating at Rotten Tomatoes with 85 out of 86 reviews positive and average rating of 8.6 out of 10, as well as an aggregated rating of 90% based on 28 reviews on Metacritic. It was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won two, Basinger for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Hanson and Helgeland for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay).


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production 3.1 Development
3.2 Casting
3.3 Pre-production
3.4 Principal photography
3.5 Music
4 Reception 4.1 Box office
4.2 Critical response
4.3 Accolades
5 Home media
6 References
7 External links

Plot[edit]
Sergeant Edmund "Ed" Exley (Guy Pearce), the son of a legendary LAPD detective, is determined to live up to his father's reputation. His intelligence, insistence on following regulations, and his cold demeanor contribute to his social isolation from other officers. He exacerbates this resentment by volunteering to testify in a police brutality case, insisting on a promotion to Detective Lieutenant (which he receives) against the advice of Captain Dudley Smith (James Cromwell). It is revealed that Exley's consuming ambition is fueled in large part by the murder of his father by an unknown assailant.
Officer Wendell "Bud" White (Russell Crowe), whom Exley considers a "mindless thug", is a plainclothes officer obsessed with violently punishing woman-beaters. White comes to dislike Ed after White's partner, Dick Stensland, is fired due to Exley's testimony in the Bloody Christmas scandal. White is sought out by Dudley for a job intimidating out-of-town criminals trying to fill the void left in Los Angeles following the imprisonment of Mickey Cohen, the city's most successful and notorious gangster. The Nite Owl case becomes personal after Stensland is found to be one of the victims.
Sergeant Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) is a slick and likable narcotics detective who moonlights as the technical advisor on Badge of Honor, a popular Dragnet-style TV crime program. He is also connected with Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito), publisher of Hush-Hush magazine, receiving kickbacks for tipping Hudgens off to celebrity arrests that will attract even more readers to the magazine. When young actor Matt Reynolds (Simon Baker) winds up dead during one of these schemes, a guilt-ridden Vincennes is determined to find who did it.
At different intervals, the three men investigate the Nite Owl killings, which initially looked like simply a botched robbery, and concurrent events which in turn begin to reveal indications of corruption all around them. Exley pursues absolute justice, all the while trying to live up to his family name. White pursues Nite Owl victim Susan Lefferts, which leads him to Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger), a Veronica Lake look-alike prostitute with ties to the case he and Exley are independently investigating.
Vincennes, meanwhile, follows up on a pornography racket with ties to both the Nite Owl and Bracken's wealthy pimp Pierce Patchett (David Strathairn), operator of Fleur-de-Lis, a call-girl service that runs prostitutes altered by plastic surgery to resemble popular film stars. All three men's fates are intertwined. A dramatic showdown eventually occurs with powerful and corrupt forces within the city's political leadership and the department.
It is revealed that Captain Smith was behind the Nite Owl killings, in an effort to take over the heroin empire that the arrested Mickey Cohen left behind. After tying up lose ends, including Vincennes, Hudgens and Patchett, Smith sends hitmen to kill White and Exley.
Following a shootout, Smith shoots White but then surrenders to Exley. As police arrive, Exley shoots Smith in the back, killing him. Exley is praised as a hero and the Police Department launch a top-to-bottom investigation of their men. Upon leaving City Hall, Exley sees Bracken, who tells him she is has quit being a prostitute and is moving back home to Arizona. In the back of her car sits White, who survived his gunshot wounds but is unable to talk. Exley and White shake hands and Bracken drives off into the sunset.
Cast[edit]
Guy Pearce as Det. Lt. Edmund "Ed" Exley
Russell Crowe as Officer Wendell "Bud" White
Kevin Spacey as Det. Sgt. Jack Vincennes
James Cromwell as Capt. Dudley Smith
Kim Basinger as Lynn Bracken
Danny DeVito as Sid Hudgens
David Strathairn as Pierce Morehouse Patchett
Ron Rifkin as District Attorney Ellis Loew
Graham Beckel as Det. Richard "Dick" Stensland
Amber Smith as Susan Lefferts
John Mahon as Police Chief Worton
Paul Guilfoyle as Meyer "Mickey" Cohen
Matt McCoy as Brett Chase
Paolo Seganti as Johnny Stompanato
Simon Baker-Denny as Matt Reynolds
Shawnee Free Jones as Tammy Jordan
Darrell Sandeen as Leland "Buzz" Meeks
Marisol Padilla Sánchez as Inez Soto
Gwenda Deacon as Mrs. Lefferts
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
Curtis Hanson had read half a dozen of James Ellroy's books before L.A. Confidential and was drawn to its characters, not the plot. He said, "What hooked me on them was that, as I met them, one after the other, I didn't like them - but as I continued reading, I started to care about them."[1] Ellroy's novel also made Hanson think about Los Angeles and provided him with an opportunity to "set a movie at a point in time when the whole dream of Los Angeles, from that apparently golden era of the '20s and '30s, was being bulldozed."[1] Screenwriter Brian Helgeland was originally signed to Warner Bros. to write a Viking film with director Uli Edel and then worked on an unproduced modern-day King Arthur story. Helgeland was a long-time fan of Ellroy's novels. When he heard that Warner Bros. had acquired the rights to L.A. Confidential in 1990, he lobbied to script the film.[1] However, at the time, the studio was only talking to well-known screenwriters. When he finally did get a meeting, it was canceled two days before it was to occur.[1]
Helgeland found that Hanson had been hired to direct and met with him while the filmmaker was making The River Wild. They found that they not only shared a love for Ellroy's fiction but also agreed on how to adapt Confidential into a film. According to Helgeland, they had to "remove every scene from the book that didn't have the three main cops in it, and then to work from those scenes out."[1] According to Hanson, he "wanted the audience to be challenged but at the same time I didn't want them to get lost".[2] They worked on the script together for two years, with Hanson turning down jobs and Helgeland writing seven drafts for free.[1] The two men also got Ellroy's approval of their approach. He had seen Hanson's films, The Bedroom Window and Bad Influence and found him to be "a competent and interesting storyteller", but was not convinced that his book would be made into a film until he talked to the eventual director.[1] He later said, "They preserved the basic integrity of the book and its main theme. Brian and Curtis took a work of fiction that had eight plotlines, reduced those to three, and retained the dramatic force of three men working out their destiny."[1]
Warner executive Bill Gerber showed the script to Michael Nathanson, CEO of New Regency Productions, which had a deal with the studio. Nathanson loved it, but they had to get the approval from the owner of New Regency, Arnon Milchan. Hanson prepared a presentation that consisted of 15 vintage postcards and pictures of L.A. mounted on posterboards, and made his pitch to Milchan. The pictures consisted of orange groves, beaches, tract homes in the San Fernando Valley, and the opening of the Hollywood Freeway to symbolize the image of prosperity sold to the public.[1]
Then, Hanson showed the darker side of Ellroy's novel with the cover of scandal rag Confidential and the famous shot of Robert Mitchum coming out of jail after his marijuana bust. He also had photographs of jazz musicians Zoot Sims, Gerry Mulligan, and Chet Baker to represent the popular music people of the time.[1] Hanson emphasized that the period detail would be in the background and the characters in the foreground. Milchan was impressed with his presentation and agreed to finance it.
Casting[edit]
Hanson had seen Russell Crowe in Romper Stomper and found him "repulsive and scary, but captivating".[1] The actor had read Ellroy's The Black Dahlia but not L.A. Confidential. When he read the script, Crowe was drawn to Bud White's "self-righteous moral crusade".[3] Crowe fit the visual preconception of Bud. Hanson put the actor on tape doing a few scenes from the script and showed it to the film's producers, who agreed to cast him as Bud.[4] Guy Pearce auditioned like countless other actors, and Hanson felt that he "was very much what I had in mind for Ed Exley."[1] The director purposely did not watch the actor in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, afraid that it might influence his decision.[4] As he did with Crowe, Hanson taped Pearce and showed it to the producers, who agreed he should be cast as Ed. Pearce did not like Ed when he first read the screenplay and remarked, "I was pretty quick to judge him and dislike him for being so self-righteous ... But I liked how honest he became about himself. I knew I could grow to respect and understand him."[5]
Milchan was against casting "two Australians" in the American period piece (Pearce wryly commented in a later interview that while both he and Crowe grew up in Australia, he is English, while Crowe is a New Zealander). Besides their national origins, both Crowe and Pearce were relative unknowns in North America, and Milchan was equally worried about the lack of film stars in the lead roles.[1]
However, Milchan supported Hanson's casting decisions and this gave the director the confidence to approach Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito and Kevin Spacey. Hanson cast Crowe and Pearce because he wanted to "replicate my experience of the book. You don't like any of these characters at first, but the deeper you get into their story, the more you begin to sympathize with them. I didn't want actors audiences knew and already liked."[6]
Hanson felt that the character of Jack Vincennes was "a movie star among cops", and thought of Spacey, with his "movie-star charisma", casting him specifically against type.[4] The director was confident that the actor "could play the man behind that veneer, the man who also lost his soul", and when he gave him the script, he told him to think of Dean Martin while in the role.[4] Hanson cast Basinger because he felt that she "was the character to me. What beauty today could project the glamor of Hollywood's golden age?"[6]
Pre-production[edit]
To give his cast and crew points and counterpoints to capture Los Angeles in the 1950s, he held a "mini-film festival", showing one film a week: The Bad and the Beautiful, because it epitomized the glamorous Hollywood look; In a Lonely Place, because it revealed the ugly underbelly of Hollywood glamor; Don Siegel's The Lineup and Private Hell 36, "for their lean and efficient style";[4] and Kiss Me Deadly, because it was "so rooted in the futuristic 50s: the atomic age."[1][4] Hanson and the film's cinematographer Dante Spinotti agreed that the film would be shot widescreen, and studied two Cinemascope films from the period: Douglas Sirk's The Tarnished Angels and Vincente Minnelli's Some Came Running.
Before filming took place, Hanson brought Crowe and Pearce to Los Angeles for two months to immerse them in the city and the time period.[6] He also got them dialect coaches, showed them vintage police training films, and introduced them to real-life cops.[6] Pearce found the contemporary police force had changed too much to be useful research material and disliked the police officer he rode along with because he was racist.[7] The actor found the police films more valuable because "there was a real sort of stiffness, a woodenness about these people" that he felt Exley had as well.[6] Crowe studied Sterling Hayden in Stanley Kubrick's The Killing "for that beefy manliness that came out of World War II".[4] For six weeks, Crowe, Pearce, Hanson and Helgeland conducted rehearsals, which consisted of their discussing each scene in the script.[8] As other actors were cast they would join in the rehearsals.[4]
Principal photography[edit]
Hanson did not want the film to be an exercise in nostalgia, and so had Spinotti shoot it like a contemporary film, and use more naturalistic lighting than in a classic film noir.[9] He told Spinotti and the film's production designer Jeannine Oppewall to pay great attention to period detail, but to then "put it all in the background".[4]
Music[edit]
Main article: L.A. Confidential (soundtrack)
Jerry Goldsmith's score for the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score, but lost to James Horner's score for Titanic.[10]
Reception[edit]
The film was screened at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.[11] According to Hanson, Warner did not want it shown at Cannes, because they felt that there was an "anti-studio bias ... So why go and come home a loser?"[4] However, Hanson wanted to debut the film at a high-profile, international venue like Cannes. He and other producers bypassed the studio and sent a print directly to the festival's selection committee, which loved it.[9] Ellroy saw the film and said, "I understood in 40 minutes or so that it is a work of art on its own level. It was amazing to see the physical incarnation of the characters."[1]
Box office[edit]
L.A. Confidential was released on September 19, 1997 in 769 theaters, grossing $5.2 million on its opening weekend. On October 3, it was given an expanded release in 1,625 theaters. It went on to make $64.6 million in North America and $61.6 million in the rest of the world, for a worldwide total of $126.2 million.[12]
Critical response[edit]
L.A. Confidential scored very high with critics, presently sporting a rare 99% "Certified Fresh" approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes with 85 out of 86 reviews positive. Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars and described it as "seductive and beautiful, cynical and twisted, and one of the best films of the year."[13] Later, he included it as one of his "Great Movies" and described it as "film noir, and so it is, but it is more: Unusually for a crime film, it deals with the psychology of the characters ... It contains all the elements of police action, but in a sharply clipped, more economical style; the action exists not for itself but to provide an arena for the personalities".[14] In her review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin wrote, "Mr. Spacey is at his insinuating best, languid and debonair, in a much more offbeat performance than this film could have drawn from a more conventional star. And the two Australian actors, tightly wound Mr. Pearce and fiery, brawny Mr. Crowe, qualify as revelations."[15] Desson Howe, in his review for The Washington Post, praised the cast: "Pearce makes a wonderful prude who gets progressively tougher and more jaded. New Zealand-born Crowe has a unique and sexy toughness; imagine Mickey Rourke without the attitude. Although she's playing a stock character, Basinger exudes a sort of chaste sultriness. Spacey is always enjoyable."[16]
In his review for The Globe and Mail, Liam Lacey wrote, "The big star is Los Angeles itself. Like Roman Polanski's depiction of Los Angeles in the 30s in Chinatown, the atmosphere and detailed production design are a rich gel where the strands of narrative form."[17] USA Today gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying of the screenplay, "It appears as if screenwriters Brian Helgeland and Curtis Hanson have pulled off a miracle in keeping multiple stories straight. Have they ever. Ellroy's novel has four extra layers of plot and three times as many characters ... the writers have trimmed unwieldy muscle, not just fat, and gotten away with it."[18] In his review for Newsweek, David Ansen wrote, "L.A. Confidential asks the audience to raise its level a bit, too—you actually have to pay attention to follow the double-crossing intricacies of the plot. The reward for your work is dark and dirty fun."[19] Richard Schickel, in his review for Time, wrote, "It's a movie of shadows and half lights, the best approximation of the old black-and-white noir look anyone has yet managed on color stock. But it's no idle exercise in style. The film's look suggests how deep the tradition of police corruption runs."[20]
In his review for The New York Observer, Andrew Sarris wrote, "Mr. Crowe strikes the deepest registers with the tortured character of Bud White, a part that has had less cut out of it from the book than either Mr. Spacey's or Mr. Pearce's ... but Mr. Crowe at moments reminded me of James Cagney's poignant performance in Charles Vidor's Love Me or Leave Me (1955), and I can think of no higher praise."[21] Kenneth Turan, in his review for Los Angeles Times, wrote, "The only potential audience drawback L.A. Confidential has is its reliance on unsettling bursts of violence, both bloody shootings and intense physical beatings that give the picture a palpable air of menace. Overriding that, finally, is the film's complete command of its material."[22] In his review for The Independent, Ryan Gilbey wrote, "In fact, it's a very well made and intelligent picture, assembled with an attention to detail, both in plot and characterisation, that you might have feared was all but extinct in mainstream American cinema."[23] Richard Williams, in his review for The Guardian, wrote, "L.A. Confidential gets just about everything right. The light, the architecture, the slang, the music ... a wonderful Lana Turner joke. A sense, above all, of damaged people arriving to make new lives and getting seduced by the scent of night-blooming jasmine, the perfume of corruption."[24]
Accolades[edit]
L.A. Confidential was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won two, Kim Basinger for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay). It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Original Dramatic Score and Best Sound Mixing (Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Kirk Francis), but lost all the categories to Titanic.[25][26] Basinger tied for the Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture with Gloria Stuart from Titanic at the 4th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.[27]
Time magazine ranked L.A. Confidential as the best film of 1997.[28] The National Society of Film Critics also ranked it as the year's best film and Curtis Hanson was voted Best Director.[29] The New York Film Critics Circle also voted L.A. Confidential as the year's best film in addition to ranking Hanson as best director, and he and Brian Helgeland with the best screenplay.[30] The Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures also voted L.A. Confidential as the year's best film. As a result, it is only the third film to sweep the "Big Four" critics awards.[29]
It was also voted as the best film set in Los Angeles in the last 25 years by a group of Los Angeles Times writers and editors with two criteria: "The movie had to communicate some inherent truth about the L.A. experience, and only one film per director was allowed on the list."[31] In 2009, the London Film Critics' Circle voted L.A. Confidential one of the best films of the last 30 years.[32]
Home media[edit]
A DVD was released April 21, 1998. In addition to the film, it included two featurettes, an interactive map of Los Angeles, a music-only track, a theatrical trailer, and three TV spots.[citation needed]
A two-disc Special Edition was released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 23, 2008.[33] Both sets contain the same bonus content. In addition to the features from the original DVD, included are four new featurettes, the 2003 pilot of the proposed TV series starring Kiefer Sutherland, and film commentary by critic/historian Andrew Sarris, James Ellroy, Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Ruth Myers, David Strathairn, Kim Basinger, Brian Helgeland, Jeannine Oppewall, Dante Spinotti, and Danny DeVito. Some sets included a six-song sampler from the film's soundtrack.[citation needed]
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Sragow, Michael (September 11, 1997). "City of Angles". Dallas Observer.
2.Jump up ^ Dawson, Jeff (December 1997). "Mean Streets". Empire.
3.Jump up ^ Smith, Adam (December 1997). "The Nearly Man...". Empire.
4.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j Taubin, Amy (November 1997). "L.A. Lurid". Sight & Sound.
5.Jump up ^ Kempley, Rita (September 21, 1997). "Guy Pearce Cuts Through the Chase". The Washington Post.
6.^ Jump up to: a b c d e Veniere, James (September 14, 1997). "Director of L.A. Confidential Hits Stride". Boston Herald.
7.Jump up ^ Hemblade, Christopher (December 1997). "Breaking the Mould...". Empire.
8.Jump up ^ Arnold, Gary (September 21, 1997). "Casting for L.A. Confidential went in unexpected direction". The Washington Times. pp. D3.
9.^ Jump up to: a b Taubin, Amy (September 23, 1997). "Confidentially Speaking: Curtis Hanson Makes a Studio-Indie Hybrid". The Village Voice.
10.Jump up ^ http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/oscarlegacy/1990-1999/70nominees.html
11.Jump up ^ "Festival de Cannes: L.A. Confidential". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-09-22.
12.Jump up ^ "L.A. Confidential". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
13.Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger (September 19, 1997). "L.A. Confidential". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
14.Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger (September 4, 2008). "Great Movies: L.A. Confidential". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
15.Jump up ^ Maslin, Janet (September 19, 1997). "The Dark Underbelly of a Sunny Town". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
16.Jump up ^ Howe, Desson (September 19, 1997). "Noir Confidential: A Clever Case". The Washington Post.
17.Jump up ^ Lacey, Liam (September 19, 1997). "L.A. Confidential". The Globe and Mail. pp. C1.
18.Jump up ^ Clark, Mike (September 19, 1997). "Cool L.A. Confidential: Classic film noir to the core". USA Today. pp. 1D.
19.Jump up ^ Ansen, David (September 22, 1997). "Noir Kind of Town". Newsweek. p. 83.
20.Jump up ^ Schickel, Richard (September 15, 1997). "Three L.A. Cops, One Philip Marlowe". Time. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
21.Jump up ^ Sarris, Andrew (September 28, 1997). "Confidentially Speaking, Noir's Gone Hollywood". The New York Observer. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
22.Jump up ^ Turan, Kenneth (September 19, 1997). "L.A. Confidential". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-01-07.[dead link]
23.Jump up ^ Gilbey, Ryan (October 31, 1997). "Thugs, pigs and paparazzi in Fifties LA". The Independent. p. 8.
24.Jump up ^ Williams, Richard (October 31, 1997). "LAPD blue". The Guardian. p. 6.
25.Jump up ^ "The 70th Academy Awards (1998) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-11-19.
26.Jump up ^ Weinraub, Bernard (March 24, 1998). "Titanic Ties Record With 11 Oscars, Including Best Picture". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
27.Jump up ^ Van Gelder, Lawrence (March 10, 1998). "Footlights". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
28.Jump up ^ "The Best Cinema of 1997". Time. December 29, 1997. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
29.^ Jump up to: a b Lyman, Rick (January 5, 1998). "L.A. Confidential Wins National Critics' Awards". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
30.Jump up ^ Maslin, Janet (December 12, 1998). "L.A. Confidential Wins Critics Circle Award". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
31.Jump up ^ Boucher, Geoff (August 31, 2008). "The 25 best L.A. films of the last 25 years". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-08-31.
32.Jump up ^ Child, Ben (December 1, 2009). "Apocalypse Now tops London critics' 30th anniversary poll". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-12-02.
33.Jump up ^ "L.A. Confidential Two-Disc Special Edition". Business Wire. June 16, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-17.
Further readingDargis, Manohla (2003). L.A. Confidential (BFI Modern Classics). British Film Institute. ISBN 0-85170-944-3.
External links[edit]

Portal icon Los Angeles portal
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 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential at the Internet Movie Database
L.A Confidential (2003 television pilot) at the Internet Movie Database
L.A. Confidential at the TCM Movie Database
L.A. Confidential at allmovie
L.A. Confidential at Rotten Tomatoes
L.A. Confidential at Metacritic
Press Conference at the Toronto International Film Festival
L.A. Confidential Shooting Locations


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Categories: 1997 films
English-language films
1990s crime films
American films
American crime films
American mystery films
Films directed by Curtis Hanson
Edgar Award winning works
Fictional portrayals of the Los Angeles Police Department
Films based on mystery novels
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winning performance
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe winning performance
Films set in Los Angeles, California
Films set in 1952
Films set in 1953
Films whose writer won the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award
Neo-noir
Police detective films
Regency Enterprises films
Warner Bros. films
Film scores by Jerry Goldsmith








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