Foly Flay

After-AmericaAfter is a 2019 romantic drama film directed by Jenny Gage and based on Anna Todd's 2014 novel of the same name. The screenplay is written by Susan McMartin, Tamara Honest and Jenny Gage. The film stars Josephine Langford and Tiffin Fiennes' Hero, as well as an inexperienced teenage girl who begins an affair with a mysterious student in her early months of college. Starring Selma Blair, Inanna Sarkis, Shane Paul McGee, Pia Mia, Khadija Red Thunder, Dylan Arnold, Samuel Larsen, Jennifer Bilsey Peter Gallagher.

Hachikōō (ハチ公, 10 November 1923 – 8 March 1935) was a Japanese AkitadogAkita dog remembered for his remarkable loyalty to his owner, Hidesaburō Ueno, for whom he continued to wait for over nine years following Ueno's death.

Hachikō was born on November 10, 1923, at a farm near the city of Ōdate, Akita Prefecture. In 1924, Hidesaburō Ueno, a professor at the Tokyo Imperial University, brought him to live in Shibuya, Tokyo, as his pet. Hachikō would meet Ueno at Shibuya Station every day after his commute home. This continued until May 21, 1925, when Ueno died of a cerebral hemorrhage while at work. From then until his death on March 8, 1935, Hachikō would return to Shibuya Station every day to await Ueno's return.

During his lifetime, the dog was held up in Japanese culture as an example of loyalty and fidelity. Well after his death, he continues to be remembered in worldwide popular culture, with statues, movies, books, and appearances in various media. Hachikō is known in Japanese as chūken Hachikō (忠犬ハチ公) "faithful dog Hachikō", hachi meaning "eight" and -kō which originates as a suffix once used for ancient Chinese dukes; thus, Hachikō could be roughly translated as either "Mr. Eight" or "Sir Eight".

Life

Hachikō, a white Akita, was born on November 10, 1923 at a farm located in Ōdate, Akita Prefecture, Japan. In 1924, Hidesaburō Ueno, a professor in the agriculture department at the Tokyo Imperial University, took Hachikō as a pet and brought him to live in Shibuya, Tokyo. Ueno would commute daily to work, and Hachikō would leave the house to greet him at the end of each day at the nearby Shibuya Station. The pair continued the daily routine until May 21, 1925, when Ueno did not return. The professor had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while he was giving a lecture to his class, and died without ever returning to the train station in which Hachikō waited.

Each day, for the next nine years, nine months and fifteen days, Hachikō awaited Ueno's return, appearing precisely when the train was due at the station.

Hachikō attracted the attention of other commuters. Many of the people who frequented the Shibuya train station had seen Hachikō and Professor Ueno together each day. Initial reactions from the people, especially from those working at the station, were not necessarily friendly. However, after the first appearance of the article about him in Asahi Shimbun on October 4, 1932, people started to bring Hachikō treats and food to nourish him during his wait.

One of Ueno's students, Hirokichi Saito, who developed expertise on the Akita breed, saw the dog at the station and followed him to the home of Ueno's former gardener, Kozaburo Kobayashi, where he learned the history of Hachikō's life. Shortly after the meeting, the former student published a documented census of Akitas in Japan. His research found only 30 purebred Akitas remaining, including Hachikō from Shibuya Station.

He returned frequently to visit Hachikō, and over the years he published several articles about the dog's remarkable loyalty. In 1932, one of his articles, published in Asahi Shimbun, placed the dog in the national spotlight.

Hachikō became a national sensation. His faithfulness to his master's memory impressed the people of Japan as a spirit of family loyalty to which all should strive to achieve. Teachers and parents used Hachikō's vigil as an example for children to follow. Teru Ando rendered a sculpture of the dog, and throughout the country, a new awareness of the Akita breed grew.

Eventually, Hachikō's faithfulness became a national symbol of loyalty, particularly to the person and institution of Emperors.

Death

Hachikō died on March 8, 1935 at the age of 11. He was found on a street in Shibuya. In March 2011, scientists finally settled the cause of death of Hachikō: the dog had both terminal cancer and a filaria infection. There were also four yakitori skewers in Hachikō's stomach, but the skewers did not damage his stomach nor cause his death.

Legacy

After his death, Hachikō's remains were cremated and his ashes were buried in Aoyama Cemetery, Minato, Tokyo where they rest beside those of Hachikō's beloved master, Professor Ueno. Hachikō's fur, which was preserved after his death, was stuffed and his taxidermy mount is currently on permanent display at the National Science Museum of Japan in Ueno, Tokyo.

Bronze statues

In April 1934, a bronze statue based in his likeness sculpted by Teru Ando was erected at Shibuya Station. The statue was recycled for the war effort during World War II. In 1948, Takeshi Ando (son of the original artist) made a second statue. The new statue, which was erected in August 1948, still stands and is a popular meeting spot. The station entrance near this statue is named "Hachikō-guchi", meaning "The Hachikō Entrance/Exit", and is one of Shibuya Station's five exits.

A similar statue stands in Hachikō's hometown, in front of Ōdate Station, it was built in 1932. In 2004, a new statue of Hachikō was erected in front of the Akita Dog Museum in Ōdate.

After the release of the American movie Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009), which was filmed in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, the Japanese Consulate in the United States helped the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council and the city of Woonsocket to unveil an identical statue of Hachikō at the Woonsocket Depot Square, which was the location of the "Bedridge" train station featured in the movie.

On March 9, 2015, the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Tokyo unveiled a bronze statue depicting Ueno returning to meet Hachikō at the University of Tokyo, Japan to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Hachikō's death. The statue was sculpted by Tsutomu Ueda from Nagoya and depicts a very excited Hachikō jumping up to greet his master at the end of a workday. Ueno is dressed in a hat, suit, and trench coat, with his briefcase placed on the ground. Hachikō wears a studded harness as seen in his last photos.

In popular culture

Hachikō plays an important part in the 1967 children's book Taka-chan and I: A Dog's Journey to Japan.

Hachikō was the subject of the 1987 film Hachiko Monogatari directed by Seijirō Kōyama, which told the story of his life from his birth up until his death and imagined spiritual reunion with his master. Considered a blockbuster success, the film was the last big hit for Japanese film studio Shochiku Kinema Kenkyû-jo.

"Jurassic Bark" (2002), episode 7 of season 4 of the animated series Futurama has an extended homage to Hachikō, with Fry discovering the fossilized remains of his dog, Seymour. After Fry was frozen, Seymour is shown to have waited for Fry to return for 12 years outside Panucci's Pizza, where Fry worked, never disobeying his master's last command to wait for him.

Hachikō is also the subject of a 2004 children's book entitled Hachikō: The True Story of a Loyal Dog, written by Pamela S. Turner and illustrated by Yan Nascimbene. Another children's book, a short novel for readers of all ages called Hachiko Waits, written by Lesléa Newman and illustrated by Machiyo Kodaira, was published by Henry Holt & Co. in 2004.

In the Japanese manga One Piece, there is a similar story with a dog named Shushu.

In the video game The World Ends with You (2007), the Hachikō statue is featured, its legend referenced on several occasions. The location of the statue plays an important role in the narrative of the game.

In the commentary in the Disney/Pixar movie WALL-E (2008), one of the animators mentions that the cockroach waiting in place for the robot to return to earth was a homage to Hachikō.

Hachikō is featured prominently in the 2008 novel The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski.

Hachi: A Dog's Tale, released in August 2009, is an American movie starring actor Richard Gere, directed by Lasse Hallström, about Hachikō and his relationship with an American professor & his family following the same basic story, but a little different, for example Hachiko was a gift to professor Ueno, this part is entirely different in the American version. The movie was filmed in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, primarily in and around the Woonsocket Depot Square area and also featured Joan Allen and Jason Alexander. The role of Hachi was played by three Akitas – Leyla, Chico and Forrest. Mark Harden describes how he and his team trained the three dogs in the book, "Animal Stars: Behind the Scenes with Your Favorite Animal Actors." After the movie was completed, Harden adopted Chico.

In the film Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword (2009), the Mystery Inc gang comes across Hachikō's statue at Shibuya Station when they visit Tokyo, with their Japanese guide Miyumi telling Hachikō's story to them, inspiring Scooby-Doo with the hopes of acquiring his own statue, which comes true at the end of the film.

In the video for "Have a Nice Day (Shibuya Version)" (2014) by the Japanese group World Order, they are seen bowing down to the Hachikō statue.

The 2015 Telugu film Tommy was based on the story of Hachikō.

Persona 5 (2016) allows the player to explore Shibuya Station, where they can examine a spoof statue of Hachikō named 'Buchiko'.[citation needed] Additionally, the player can read a book titled 'Buchiko's Story', which grants boosts to the player's kindness statistic.

In the mobile app Happy Pet Story, one of the items in the Sakura Outdoor set is a Hachikō statue.

In Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle the logo of the group Fling Posse, which represents Shibuya, is a reference to Hachikō.

Cast

Main

Layla / Chico / Forrest – Hachiko Wilson

Richard Gere – Professor Parker Wilson

Joan Allen – Cate Wilson

Sarah Roemer - Andy Wilson

Robie Collier Sublett - Michael

Supporting

Kevin DeCoste - Ronnie, Michael and Andy's son

Erick Avari – Jasjeet, the Indian hot-dog cart vendor

Jason Alexander – Carl Boilins, the train station master

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa – Ken Fujiyoshi, the Japanese professor who is Parker's friend

Davenia McFadden – Mary-Ann, the bookstore owner

Tora Hallström – Heather, one of Ronnie's classmates

Backdraft isBackdrafts a 1991 American action thriller film directed by Ron Howard and written by Gregory Widen. The film stars Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rebecca De Mornay, Donald Sutherland, Robert De Niro, Jason Gedrick, and J. T. Walsh, and follows Chicago firefighters on the trail of a serial arsonist. Filming in Chicago began on July 23, 1990, and was wrapped up on December 8, 1990. Before the filming was started, the main actors went out on calls with real Chicago firefighters. All of the main actors also went to the Chicago Fire Academy to learn how to be like firefighters in the film.

Plot

The film's plot revolves around 12 cities in Russia. Many of the characters appeared in the previous film.

Segment "Aerodrome"

Two pilots (Alexei Petrenko as the chief pilot, Pawel Bershak as the co-pilot) try to land a passenger plane landing in the heart of an abandoned airport, without knowing if anyone is in the control tower. To the delight of the pilots and the passengers, a lonely man, former pilot (Vladimir Menshov), continues to work at the abandoned airport out of a sense of duty.

Segment "Amnesia, or what is ZG?"

The storyline which transpires throughout the entire film is about the successful Saint Petersburg businessman, Boris (Ivan Urgant), who gets amnesia. Boris desperately tries to remember who he is. He meets Evgeniy (Sergei Svetlakov), a veterinarian from Yakutsk, whom he got to know a year earlier and now happens to meet again, and together with him he sets out on a journey to regain his memory, with only clues being the letters Z.G written on the back of his hand.

Segment "Bathtub"

A couple of friends (Alexander Domogarov Jr. and Alexander Golovin), extreme sport enthusiasts, still continue to compete with each other. They happen to meet old woman Manya, whom they accidentally injured in the previous film, and end up trying to do a favor — they need to deliver a cast iron bathtub to Manya, which was gifted to her by a local parliament member (Viktor Verzhbitsky). It also turns out that Manya has an attractive granddaughter (Anna Khilkevich).

Segment "Santa Claus"

Little girl Nastya (Valeria Streliaje) lives with her mother (Anna Chipovskaya) who raised her as a single parent. Nevertheless, Nastya feels that the only person who may grant her and her mother happiness is the father whom she has never met. Her mother's friend also thinks the same, and helps her write a letter to Santa Claus. But it turns out that the wish might come true when Santa (Pyotr Fyodorov) suddenly appears at the front door of their home ...

Segment "Chimes and the Airplane"

On the eve of the New Year, Yulia Snegiryova receives a letter which should have been delivered forty years ago. In it her beloved Grigory Zemlyanikin apologizes to her for committing a stupid mistake, indicating that he will wait for her every year under the chimes on the Red Square. As soon as she arrives, he flies away on a voyage. And he urgently needs to return at twelve o'clock to his beloved.

Taxi driver Pashka (Nikita Presnyakov) serves in the Presidential Regiment. On December 31, he waits for pop-star Vera Brezhneva (as herself) on the Red Square under the chiming clock. He wrote many letters to Vera but has not received any response. Pashka decides to go to her. On his way he meets Vera's agent. It turns out that this is the same producer Fedya from the first film, and that he hid all of Pashka's letters from her. Fedor learns that "a taxi driver from Krasnoyarsk" has come and calls for protection. But Pashka "cuts" him and goes to Vera. The singer is irritated with Pashka for not writing to her and claims that she does not know him. But when Vera takes her producer's phone, she finally reads all his messages, and they meet under the chiming clock on Red Square.

Segment "Romeo and Alyona"

Alyona (Alyona Konstantinova) is a Russian girl who wants to marry a Caucasian young man named Aslan Movsarov (Timor Orzoyev) even though her parents are against this. The girl's father, police captain Vladimir Snegiryov (Sergey Bezrukov) decides to lock her in protective custody and tries to force her to break up with Aslan.

Production

One segment of Yolki 2 was shot in Moscow on the first day of autumn on the Berezhkovskaya embankment. To create the effect of winter cold, as the action takes place on the eve of the New Year, the site near the Moscow business center was strewn with artificial snow made from a mixture of cellulose and water, and the heroes dressed in warm hats and down jackets and coats.

Ivan Urgant and Sergei Svetlakov improvised many of their lines for the film.

On New Year's Eve, Yulia Snegireva (Irina Alferova) is brought a letter in which her lover Grigory Zemlyanikin apologizes to her for some stupid situation, indicating that every year he will wait for her under the chimes on Red Square (in fact, the letter has been lying in the post office since Soviet times, since the end of 1971, and only forty years later, at the end of 2011, it was discovered by workers who were repairing the post office, and brought to the specified address). For forty years, Grigory Pavlovich Zemlyanikin (Alexey Petrenko), as promised, on December 31, on the eve of the new year, comes to Red Square and waits for his beloved, who, as follows from the plot, did not receive the letter and did not know about its contents before. But this time she intends to come to the square. True, Zemlyanikin, a civil aviation pilot, is on a flight this time, and he needs to return to Moscow at all costs in order to have time to come to a meeting in his beloved by midnight.

Joker is an American psychological thriller directed by Todd Phillips based on a script written by Phillips together with Scott Silver. The main role is played by Joaqun][8]Joaquin Phoenix. The plot of the film is a version of the backstory of the supervillain Joker, one of the key antagonists of Batman in DC Comics.

Theatrical release poster

Directed by Todd Phillips

Written by

Todd Phillips

Scott Silver

Based on Characters

from DC

Produced by

Todd Phillips

Bradley Cooper

Emma Tillinger Koskoff

Starring

Joaquin Phoenix

Robert De Niro

Zazie Beetz

Frances Conroy

Cinematography Lawrence Sher

Edited by Jeff Groth

Music by Hildur Guðnadóttir

Production

companies

Warner Bros. Pictures

DC Films

Village Roadshow Pictures

Bron Creative

Joint Effort

Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures

Release dates

August 31, 2019 (Venice)

October 4, 2019 (United States)

Running time 122 minutes

Country United States

Language English

Budget $55–70 million

Box office $1.074 billion

Joker is a 2019 American psychological thriller film directed and produced by Todd Phillips, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scott Silver. The film, based on DC Comics characters, stars Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker and provides a possible origin story for the character. Set in 1981, it follows Arthur Fleck, a failed clown and stand-up comedian whose descent into insanity and nihilism inspires a violent counter-cultural revolution against the wealthy in a decaying Gotham City. Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Glenn Fleshler, Bill Camp, Shea Whigham, and Marc Maron appear in supporting roles. Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, Joker was produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Films in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, Bron Creative and Joint Effort.

Phillips conceived Joker in 2016 and wrote the script with Silver throughout 2017. The two were inspired by 1970s character studies and the films of Martin Scorsese (particularly Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy), who was initially attached to the project as a producer. The film loosely adapts plot elements from Batman: The Killing Joke (1988), but Phillips and Silver otherwise did not look to specific comics for inspiration. Phoenix became attached in February 2018 and was cast that July, while the majority of the cast signed on by August. Principal photography took place in New York City, Jersey City, and Newark, from September to December 2018. Joker is the first live-action theatrical Batman film to receive an R-rating from the Motion Picture Association.

Joker had its world premiere at the 76th Venice International Film Festival on August 31, 2019, where it won the Golden Lion, and was released in the United States on October 4, 2019. While Phoenix's performance, the direction, editing, musical score, and cinematography were praised, the dark tone, portrayal of mental illness, and handling of violence divided opinions and generated concerns of inspiring real-life violence. Despite this, Joker was a box office success and set records for an October release. It grossed over $1 billion, the first R-rated film to do so, and became the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2019 during its theatrical run. The film also received numerous accolades. At the 92nd Academy Awards, it earned a leading 11 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, winning Best Actor for Phoenix and Best Original Score for Hildur Guðnadóttir.

Plot

Party clown and aspiring stand-up comedian Arthur Fleck lives with his mother, Penny, in Gotham City in 1981, which is rife with crime and unemployment. Arthur suffers from a neurological disorder that causes him to laugh at inappropriate times, depending on social services for medication. After Arthur is attacked by delinquents, Arthur's co-worker Randall gives him a gun for self-defense. Arthur pursues a relationship with his neighbor, single mother Sophie Dumond, and invites her to his upcoming stand-up routine at a nightclub.

While entertaining at a children's hospital, Arthur's gun falls out of his pocket. Arthur is fired when Randall lies to their manager that the gun was Arthur's own. On the subway, still in clown makeup and depressed by the layoff, Arthur is ridiculed and beaten by three drunk businessmen of Wayne Enterprises after breaking into laughter while they harass a woman; he shoots two of them in self-defense and murders the third as he attempts to flee. The killings are condemned by billionaire mayoral candidate Thomas Wayne, who calls those envious of more successful people "clowns". Demonstrations against Gotham's rich people begin, with protesters donning clown masks in Arthur's image. Funding cuts shut down the social service program, leaving Arthur without his therapy and medication.

Sophie attends Arthur's stand-up routine, which goes poorly; he laughs uncontrollably, and his jokes fall flat. Arthur intercepts a letter from Penny to Thomas, alleging that he is Thomas's illegitimate son, and berates his mother for hiding the truth. Arthur goes to Wayne Manor, where he meets Thomas's young son Bruce, but flees after a scuffle with family butler Alfred Pennyworth. Following a visit from two police detectives investigating the train murders, Penny suffers a stroke and is hospitalized. Arthur's idol, popular talk show host Murray Franklin, mocks Arthur by showing clips from the comedy routine on his show, calling him a "joker".

Arthur sneaks into a private movie theater event and confronts Thomas, who tells him that Penny is just delusional and not his biological mother. In denial, Arthur visits Arkham State Hospital and steals Penny's file, which states she was a narcissist who adopted Arthur while working as a housekeeper for the Waynes in the 1950s. Penny then raised Arthur with her abusive boyfriend, who was later arrested and died in jail. For allowing the abuse, Penny was sent to Arkham State Hospital, where she maintained that Thomas truly was Arthur's father and that Thomas had fabricated the file in order to hide his relationship with Penny. Distraught, Arthur returns home and enters Sophie's apartment unannounced. Frightened, Sophie asks him to leave, revealing their relationship to have been a figment of Arthur's delusions. The following day, Arthur murders Penny at the hospital by suffocating her with her bed pillow.

Arthur is invited to appear on Murray's show due to the popularity of his stand-up routine clips. He is visited by ex-colleagues Gary and Randall. Arthur brutally kills Randall out of revenge but spares Gary for treating him well in the past. The two detectives find Arthur, now wearing a colorful suit and face paint, and pursue him onto a train filled with clown protesters. One detective accidentally shoots a protester, thus inciting a riot, while Arthur escapes.

Before the show goes live, Arthur asks Murray to introduce him as Joker, a reference to Murray's mockery. Arthur waltzes out to applause in a lewd manner, and the mood changes when he begins telling morbid jokes, confesses to the train murders, rants about how society abandons the downtrodden and mentally ill, and berates Murray for mocking him. When Murray criticizes him and threatens to call the police, Arthur shoots and kills him. He is arrested for the murders he committed as riots erupt across Gotham. One of the rioters corners the Wayne family in an alley and murders Thomas and his wife, sparing Bruce. Rioters in an ambulance crash into the police car carrying Arthur, freeing him; he stands atop the car, starts to dance to the cheers of the crowd, and smears blood on his face in the shape of a smile.

At Arkham State Hospital, Arthur laughs to himself about a joke. When asked what it is, he tells his psychiatrist: "You wouldn't get it". He attempts to escape the hospital, leaving behind bloodied shoeprints as an orderly pursues him.

Cast

A 72-year-old man looking at the camera.

Robert De Niro

A 28-year-old woman looking to the right of the camera.

Zazie Beetz

A 61-year-old woman looking to the right of the camera.

Frances Conroy

De Niro, Beetz, and Conroy portray Murray Franklin, Sophie Dumond, and Penny Fleck respectively.

Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck / Joker: A mentally ill, impoverished party clown and stand-up comedian disregarded by society, whose history of abuse causes him to become a nihilistic criminal with a clown motif. Phoenix had been interested in a low-budget "character study" of a comic book character, and said the film "feels unique, it is its own world in some ways, and maybe It might as well be the thing that scares you the most."

Robert De Niro as Murray Franklin: A talk show host who plays a role in Arthur's downfall. De Niro said his role in Joker pays homage to his character from The King of Comedy (1983), Rupert Pupkin, who is a comedian obsessed with a talk-show host.

Zazie Beetz as Sophie Dumond: A cynical single mother and Arthur's "love interest". Beetz, a "huge fan" of Phoenix, said that it was "an honor" to co-star with him, and that she learned a lot working with him on set.

Frances Conroy as Penny Fleck: Arthur's mentally and physically ill mother, who formerly worked for Thomas Wayne. The Canadian actress Hannah Gross portrays a young Penny.

Additionally, Brett Cullen portrays Thomas Wayne, a billionaire running for mayor of Gotham. Alec Baldwin was initially cast in the role but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Carrie Louise Putrello portrays Thomas's wife Martha, although the character has no lines and is never referred to by name. Douglas Hodge plays Alfred Pennyworth, the butler and caretaker of the Wayne family, and Dante Pereira-Olson plays Bruce Wayne, Thomas' son, who becomes the Joker's archenemy Batman as an adult.

Additional cast members include: Glenn Fleshler and Leigh Gill as Randall and Gary, Arthur's clown co-workers; Bill Camp and Shea Whigham as detectives Garrity and Burke in the Gotham City Police Department; Marc Maron as Gene Ufland, a producer on Franklin's show; Josh Pais as Hoyt Vaughn, Arthur's agent; Brian Tyree Henry as Clark, a clerk at Arkham State Hospital; Ben Warheit, Michael Benz, and Carl Lundstedt as bankers who harass Arthur; Gary Gulman as a comedian; and Bryan Callen as Javier, a co-worker of Arthur. Justin Theroux has an uncredited cameo as Ethan Chase, a celebrity guest on Franklin's show.

Development

refer to caption

Joker director Todd Phillips in 2016

Between 2014 and 2015, Joaquin Phoenix expressed interest to his agent in acting in a low-budget "character study" type of film about a comic book villain, like DC Comics character the Joker. Phoenix had previously declined to act in the Marvel Cinematic Universe because he would have been required to reprise a role, such as the Hulk (initially portrayed by Edward Norton) or Doctor Strange, in multiple films. Phoenix ruled out the Joker for his "character study" idea and tried to think of a different one. "I thought, 'You can't do the Joker, because, you know, it's just you can't do that character, it's just been done.'" Phoenix's agent suggested setting up an exploratory meeting with Warner Bros., but he declined and let go of the idea. Similarly, Todd Phillips had been offered to direct comic-based films a number of times, but declined because he thought they were "loud" and did not interest him. According to Phillips, Joker was created from his idea to create a different, more grounded comic book film. He was attracted to the Joker because he did not think there was a definitive portrayal of the character, which he knew would provide considerable creative freedom.

Phillips pitched the idea for Joker to Warner Bros. after his film War Dogs premiered in August 2016. Prior to War Dogs, Phillips was mostly known for his comedy films, such as Road Trip (2000), Old School (2003), and The Hangover (2009); War Dogs marked a venture into more unsettling territory. During the premiere, Phillips realized "War Dogs wasn't going to set the world on fire and I was thinking, 'What do people really want to see?'" In addition, He found that it was difficult to make comedy films in the "woke culture", throughout opposition of "30 million people on Twitter". He finally thought that "How do I do something irreverent, but fuck comedy? Oh I know, let’s take the comic book movie universe and turn it on its head with this". He proposed that DC Films differentiate its slate from the competing Marvel Studios' by producing low-budget, standalone films. After the successful release of Wonder Woman (2017), DC Films decided to deemphasize the shared nature of its DC-based film franchise, the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). In August 2017, Warner Bros. and DC Films revealed plans for the film, with Phillips directing and co-writing with Scott Silver, and Martin Scorsese set to co-produce with Phillips. According to Tatiana Siegel of The Hollywood Reporter, Scorsese considered directing Joker before Phillips was chosen, though a Warner Bros. source said he only became involved because the film needed a New York City-based producer.

According to Kim Masters and Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter, Jared Leto, who portrayed the Joker in the DCEU, was displeased by the existence of a project separate from his interpretation. In October 2019, Masters reported that Leto "felt 'alienated and upset'" when he learned that Warner Bros.—which had promised him a standalone DCEU Joker film—let Phillips proceed with Joker, going as far as to ask his music manager Irving Azoff to get the project canceled. Masters added that Leto's irritation was what caused him to end his association with Creative Artists Agency (CAA), as he believed "his agents should have told him about the Phillips project earlier and fought harder for his version of Joker." However, sources associated with Leto deny that he attempted to get Joker canceled and left CAA because of it.

Warner Bros. pushed for Phillips to cast Leonardo DiCaprio as the Joker, hoping to use his frequent collaborator Scorsese's involvement to attract him. However, Phillips said that Phoenix was the only actor he considered, and that he and Silver wrote the script with Phoenix in mind, "The goal was never to introduce Joaquin Phoenix into the comic book movie universe. The goal was to introduce comic book movies into the Joaquin Phoenix universe." Phoenix said when he learned of the film, he became excited because it was the kind he was looking to make, describing it as unique and stating it did not feel like a typical "studio movie." It took him some time to commit to the role, as it intimidated him and he said "oftentimes, in these movies, we have these simplified, reductive archetypes, and that allows for the audience to be distant from the character, just like we would do in real life, where it's easy to label somebody as evil, and therefore say, 'Well, I'm not that.'"

Writing

It was a yearlong process from when we finished the script just to get the new people on board with this vision, because I pitched it to an entirely different team than made it. There were emails about: 'You realize we sell Joker pajamas at Target.' There were a zillion hurdles, and you just sort of had to navigate those one at a time At the time, I would curse them in my head every day. But then I have to put it in perspective and go, 'They're pretty bold that they did this.'

– Todd Phillips

Phillips and Silver wrote Joker throughout 2017, and the writing process took about a year. According to producer Emma Tillinger Koskoff, it took some time to get approval for the script from Warner Bros., partly because of concerns over the content. Similarly, Phillips commented that there were "a zillion hurdles" during the year-long writing process due to the visibility of the character. Phillips said that while the script's themes may reflect modern society, the film was not intended to be political. He also noted that Joker is a story about child trauma and mental illness. In Deadline Hollywood interview, Phillips talked about how difficult it is for patients to reveal their diagnoses, referring to a line from the film: "The worst part of having a mental illness is that people expect you to behave as if you don’t."

The script draws inspiration from Scorsese films such as Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), and The King of Comedy (1983), as well as Phillips' Hangover Trilogy. Other films Phillips has cited as inspiration include character studies released in the 1970s—such as Serpico (1973) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)—the silent film The Man Who Laughs (1928), and several musicals. Phillips said that aside from the tone, he did not consider Joker that different from his previous work, such as his Hangover films. The film's premise was inspired by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke (1988), which depicts the Joker as a failed stand-up comedian, while the climactic talk show scene was inspired by a similar scene in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns (1986). However, Phillips said the film does not "follow anything from the comic books... That's what was interesting to me. We're not even doing Joker, but the story of becoming Joker." Phillips later clarified that he meant they did not look to a specific comic for inspiration, but rather "picked and chose what we liked" from the character's history. Having grown up in New York, Phillips also drew inspiration from life in New York City during the early 1980s. The Subway shooting scene and its aftermath were inspired by the 1984 New York City Subway shooting, while Arthur Fleck is partially based on the shooting's perpetrator, Bernhard Goetz.

Phillips and Silver found the most common Joker origin story, in which the character is disfigured after falling into a vat of acid, too unrealistic. Instead, they used certain elements of the Joker lore to produce an original story, which Phillips wanted to feel as authentic as possible. Because the Joker does not have a definitive origin story in the comics, Phillips and Silver were given considerable creative freedom and "pushed each other every day to come up with something totally insane." While the Joker had appeared in several films before, Phillips thought it was possible to produce a new story featuring the character. "It's just another interpretation, like people do interpretations of Macbeth," he told The New York Times. However, they did try to retain the ambiguous "multiple choice" nature of the Joker's past by positioning the character as an unreliable narrator—with entire storylines simply being his delusions—and left what mental illnesses he suffers from unclear. As such, Phillips said the entire film is open to interpretation.

When a draft of the film's script, written in April of 2018, was leaked and spread on the internet, Phillips stated that it was old version from six months before filming began. Phillips also declined to take legal action against the spread of the script, stating that he liked having an old version circulate.

Pre-production

The logo of Joker. Chad Danielely, the font designer, made this with "aggressive / transparency / scraping / noise" effects, by wood-type Letterpress including Gothic font he created.

Following the disappointing critical and financial performance of Justice League (2017), in January 2018 Walter Hamada replaced Jon Berg as the head of DC-based film production at Warner Bros. Hamada sorted through the various DC films in development, canceling some while advancing work on others; the Joker film was set to begin filming in late 2018 with a small budget of $55 million. Masters reported that Warner Bros. was reluctant to let Joker move forward, and gave it a small budget in an effort to dissuade Phillips. Phillips said that Hamada did not understand what he was trying to do. By June, Robert De Niro was under consideration for a supporting role in the film. The deal with Phoenix was finalized in July 2018, after four months of persuasion from Phillips. Immediately afterwards, Warner Bros. officially green-lit the film, titled it Joker, and gave it an October 4, 2019, release date. Warner Bros. described the film as "an exploration of a man disregarded by society is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale."

Scorsese's longtime associate Koskoff joined to produce, although Scorsese left his producing duties due to other obligations. Scorsese considered serving as an executive producer, but was preoccupied with his film The Irishman. It was also confirmed that the film would have no effect on Leto's Joker and would be the first in a new series of DC films unrelated to the DCEU. In July, Zazie Beetz was cast in a supporting role, and De Niro entered negotiations in August. Frances McDormand declined an offer to portray the mother of the Joker, and Frances Conroy was cast. At the end of July, Marc Maron, and Bryan Callen joined the cast. Alec Baldwin was cast as Thomas Wayne on August 27, but dropped out two days later due to scheduling conflicts. Baldwin also noted the character's description as a reason for his departure, which called Thomas Wayne "a cheesy and tanned businessman who is more in the mold of a 1980s Donald Trump".

Filming

A corrugated silver metal subway train sits with its doors open in a station. Its rollsign reads "0 Local / To Old Gotham all times / Downtown & Tricorner".

A New York City Subway C train with a rollsign for the fictional 0 train left over from filming for Joker

Principal photography commenced in September 2018 in New York City, under the working title Romeo. Shortly after filming began, De Niro, Brett Cullen, Shea Whigham, Glenn Fleshler, Bill Camp, Josh Pais, and Douglas Hodge were announced to have joined the film, with Cullen replacing Baldwin. Bradley Cooper joined the film as a producer, and the director of photography was Lawrence Sher, both of whom Phillips had previously collaborated with. On September 22, a scene depicting a violent protest was filmed at the Church Avenue station in Kensington, Brooklyn, although the station was modified to look like the Bedford Park Boulevard station in the Bronx. Filming of violent scenes also took place at the abandoned lower platform of the Ninth Avenue station in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

According to Beetz, Phillips rewrote the entire script during production; because Phoenix lost so much weight for the film, there would not be an opportunity for reshoots. She recalled, "we would go into Todd's trailer and write the scene for the night and then do it. During hair and makeup we'd memorize those lines and then do them and then we'd reshoot that three weeks later." Phillips recalled Phoenix sometimes walked off-set during filming because he lost self-control and needed to compose himself—to the confusion of other actors, who felt they had done something wrong. De Niro was one of the few Phoenix never walked out on, and De Niro said he was "very intense in what he was doing, as it should be, as he should be."

Filming in Jersey City started on September 30 and shut down Newark Avenue, while filming in November, starting on November 9, shut down Kennedy Boulevard. Filming in Newark began on October 13 and lasted until October 16. Shortly before the Newark filming, SAG-AFTRA received a complaint that extras were locked in subway cars for more than three hours during filming in Brooklyn, a break violation. The issue was quickly resolved after a representative visited the set. That month, Dante Pereira-Olson joined the cast as a young Bruce Wayne. Whigham said towards the end of October the film was in "the middle" of production, adding that it was an "intense" and "incredible" experience. By mid-November, filming had moved back to New York. Filming wrapped on December 3, 2018, with Phillips posting a picture on his Instagram feed later in the month to commemorate the occasion.

In The Hollywood Reporter interview, Emma Tillinger Koskoff said that most stressful filming is "Stair Dance" scene; because there were no laws on paparazzi in New York City, filming was disrupted by them. Initially, Lawrence Sher and Phillips wanted to film by 70mm shoot, but Warner Bros. rejected due to cost.

Post-production

Phillips confirmed he was in the process of editing Joker in March 2019. At CinemaCon the following month, he stated the film was "still taking shape" and was difficult to discuss, as he hoped to maintain secrecy. Phillips also denied most reports surrounding the film, which he felt was because it is "an origin story about a character that doesn't have a definitive origin." Brian Tyree Henry was also confirmed to have a role in the film. The visual effects were provided by Scanline VFX and Shade VFX and supervised by Matthew Giampa and Bryan Godwin, with Erwin Rivera serving as the overall supervisor. Joker used less VFX work than other comics films, except few scenes including that Arthur smeared smile by his blood in crowd.

One scene that was cut from the film depicted Sophie watching Arthur's appearance on Franklin's show. The scene was intended to show the audience that she is still alive (as the film otherwise implies that Arthur kills her), but Phillips decided it would disrupt the narrative, which is portrayed from Arthur's point of view. In another deleted scene, Arthur reveals his crimes to a co-worker; the scene was ultimately removed because it provided "too much information" in the form of exposition.

The film's final budget was $55–70 million, considered by The Hollywood Reporter "a fraction" of the cost of a typical comic book-based film. In comparison, the previous villain-centric DC film, Suicide Squad (2016), cost $175 million. $25 million of Joker's budget was covered by the Toronto-based financing company Creative Wealth Media, while Village Roadshow Pictures and Bron Studios each contributed 25%. Joker was also the first live-action theatrical film in the Batman film franchise to receive an R-rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, due to "strong bloody violence, disturbing behavior, language, and brief sexual images." In the United Kingdom, the BBFC gave the film a 15 certificate for "strong bloody violence [and] language".

Set

Gotham City in Joker was set in the '80s New York City, according to Todd Phillips, "to separate it quite frankly, from the DC universe". Mark Friedberg, the production designer of this film, said he established Gotham Square in Newark as a film set because there was still poverty. He wanted Gotham to look like gritty city, as described in Taxi Driver, therefore named all structures and lines in this film and draw a specific map of Gotham city. Certain places were named after Batman Comics, like Arkham State Hospital. He displayed '70s colored muscle cars in the set to "conveying dissonance and being awful and beautiful at the same time". He also tried to describe Gotham as a decaying city, through drawing graffiti on the wall, displaying garbage on the road, and showing cracked sidewalks. The VFX team added fictional building to erased the skyline of the city to give the sense that the city was pressing down on Arthur. Lawrence Sher said sodium-vapor lights were used a lot in this film, representing Arthur's isolation and his more hopeful side.

Arch bridge in Brooklyn Army Terminal, used to describe exterior of Arkham State Hospital.

Arkham State Hospital is based on Arkham Asylum. Warner Bros. Korea explained that it is a more realistic name in the real world. The exterior of Arkham State hospital was filmed at Brooklyn Army Terminal, while the interior was pictured in Metropolitan Hospital Center of Harlem. Throughout the film, two walls are shown inside Arkham State Hospital; one is clearly white in the first and last scenes, the other is dirty yellow in the scene in which Arthur runs with a medical report. This difference was intended to make the audience confused, and to question the possibility that Arthur had been in hospital the entire time.

In Gotham City, there are easter eggs related to other Batman series and the real world. The theater scene displayed posters of Zorro, The Gay Blade and Excalibur, commonly found visual elements in other media when the parents of Bruce Wayne are dead, including Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.; additionally, the poster of Arthur, released in 1981, noticed a specific period in this film. On the wall near by Arthur's office is graffiti, written "Amusement Miles", a reference to an old amusement park that Joker uses for his plan in Batman: The Killing Joke. The norm "Super Rat" in radio broadcast referred to Ratcatcher, one of the Batman villains. Pogo's Comedy Club where Arthur played stand-up show is named after stage name of John Wayne Gacy, being notorious as "killer clown". The billboard written "Ace in the hole", located on behind of clowns in the last scene, was from a line of Joker in The Dark Knight; he used it to describe Harvey Dent, finally depraved as Two-Face the villain.

However, Phillips said possible easter eggs related to other DC media were all "coincidences", while he confirmed them in Wayne Manor, in interview with IGN; the pole of gym used by Bruce Wayne evoked the "bat-pole" in Batman TV series. Collider's Gregory Lawrence considered it is because Phillips and Phoenix wanted the film to "be taken as its own piece, without any connections or links to the DC universe"

Character design

One of the most important inspiration affected behavior of Arthur is Little Tramp in Modern Times. Phillips confirmed that his ridiculous movement was referred from Charlie Chaplin, in commentary video of Vanity Fair. Phoenix revealed that Arthur's dance was inspired by that of Ray Bolger, while the gesture making smile by two fingers was from scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz. In preparation, Phoenix lost 52 pounds (24 kg) to look like “wolf-like and malnourished and hungry.”, and based his laugh on "videos of people suffering from pathological laughter." He also sought to portray a character who audiences could not identify with and did not look to previous Joker actors for inspiration; instead, he read a book about political assassinations so he could understand killers and motivations.

According to video on behind scene of Joker in disc, Phillips explained that he described Arthur as the same way how to describe Batman by other actors; Arthur's normal face is the real mask, and the Joker is the true personality. He also said, in LA Times interview, that the genuine laugh of Arthur is only in the last scene. Director Todd Phillips said that he intentionally left it ambiguous as to whether Arthur becomes the Joker of traditional Batman stories or inspires a separate character, although Phoenix believes that Arthur is the former.

Some lines were reference of previous Jokers in other media and comedians. Arthur's line that said "I had a bad day" was from Batman: The Killing Joke; "All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy." Some words related on Arthur -"Freak", "Smile put on your happy face"- were originally lines of Joker in The Dark Knight, played by Heath Ledger. Arthur took a standup show with this phrase "When I was a little boy and told people I was gonna be a comedian, everyone laughed at me. Well, no-one's laughing now!", which was a parody of the comedian Bob Monkhouse' old gag.

Thomas Wayne in this film, unlike in the comics, plays a role in the Joker's origins. He was less sympathetic and more paternalistic than traditional incarnations. Phillips set Thomas as a person having "an illegitimate child that didn’t get anything from the Wayne family", to make realistic reason that why Joker hate Batman. Nevertheless, the relationship between Thomas and Arthur was unclear in this film; although Brett Cullen believed it's real.

Some characters were named after other Batman media as easter egg. Debra Kane, the first social worker counsling to Arthur, was reference of a worker in Batman: The Ultimate Evil and Bob Kane, the co-creater of Batman series. The Gotham City police Burke's name was also found in Detective Comics NO.748, as "Detective Thomas Burke".

Make-up and costumes

Nicki Ledermann and Kay Georgiou, the makeup designer and hairstylist tried to show Arthur Fleck to "be handmade and realistic". Georgiou designated Arthur as a man with not washed hair. The costumes of Arthur, designed by Mark Bridges, were matched to look "aged, overdyed and distressed" through wearing him with cheap polyester pants and acrylic sweater. His color palette was set in '80s; blue, maroon, brown, mauve and gray. In Deadline Hollywood interview, Bridges explained Arthur's costume color started to juvenile mode, going darker with tone of story. In first scene, Arthur "too small" hooded jacket and white socks emphasizing childish concept. It was reflection that he lived with his mother Penny, calling him "my little boy", and that influenced by Charlie Chaplin. However, he wore a charcoal sweater in interview with social worker, finally was in "scab-colored knit top" in Arkham State Hospital. A line depicting his old suit for many years was interpreted a mustard-toned vest and a patterned bottle-green shirt. Meanwhile, Arthur in doctor costume is the homage of Joker in The Dark Knight, wearing nurse uniform to meet Harvey Dent in Gotham Hospital.

After turning Arthur into Joker, his design was also changed. His hair was dyed "broccoli" green, and he was in suit affected Cesar Romero, playing original Batman series. However, Joker suit in this film had different colors with previous things (purple suit with a green or yellow shirt). Mark Bridge noted that it was result of Phillips' intention to do not want to "connected to anything else". Initially, color of suit in script was set to Terracotta, but Bridge changed to red to give "more expressive" emotion. Additionally, his suit colors (green, yellow, purple and red) were compared with those of his antagonists including Thomas Wayne, as giving them to gray and blue like Batman. Clown makeup was draw antiquely and not lightly, to convey menacing image. Due to the copyright law that does not allow to two same clowns, Ledermann tried to seek classical clown design.

Joker is an American psychological thriller directed by Todd Phillips based on a script written by Phillips together with Scott Silver. The main role is played by Joaqun][8]. The plot of the film is a version of the backstory of the supervillain Joker, one of the key antagonists of Batman in DC Comics.

The film was released on May 24, 1991 to favorable reviews from critics, and grossed $152.4 million worldwide. The film received three Oscar nominations. The film also inspired a special effects attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood, which opened in 1992 and closed in 2010. It was followed by the sequel Backdraft 2 in 2019, with Baldwin and Sutherland reprising their roles.

Plot

Two firefighters of Engine 17 of the Chicago Fire Department are brothers. Lt. Stephen "Bull" McCaffrey, the elder, is experienced, while Brian has labored under his brother's shadow his entire life. Brian returns to firefighting after a number of other careers falter, though Stephen has doubts that Brian is still fit to be a firefighter. In 1971, Brian witnessed the death of their firefighting father, Captain Dennis McCaffrey, while accompanying him on a call. The longest-serving of all the men at Engine 17, John "Axe" Adcox, served under the McCaffreys' father, and was like an uncle to the boys when their father died. Adcox grows concerned about Stephen's unorthodox methods and disregard for safety procedures, as does Stephen's wife Helen, separating from Stephen to protect herself and their son Sean.

Inspector Donald "Shadow" Rimgale, a dedicated arson investigator and veteran firefighter, is called in because a number of recent explosive fires resemble those set by pyromaniac Ronald Bartel, who has been imprisoned for years. Brian is reassigned as his assistant after a falling out with Stephen. Rimgale manipulates Ronald's obsession with fire to ensure his annual parole application is rejected. It is revealed during an investigation that Chicago City Council alderman Marty Swayzak, who has supported fire department budget cuts, was paid off by contractors to shut down firehouses so they could be converted into community centers, with the contractors receiving contracts for the construction. Brian also rekindles a relationship with Jennifer Vaitkus, an aide to Swayzak.

When Engine 17 answers a call in a high-rise, Stephen urges them to move in quickly, despite Adcox's advice to wait for back-up. Brian's friend and fellow trainee, Tim Krizminski, opens a door, triggering a backdraft. His face is burned beyond recognition, and he barely survives. Adcox and Brian both condemn Stephen for what happened. Rimgale and Brian go to Swayzak's home to confront him after learning of his connection to the three backdraft victims Alan Seagrave, Donald Cosgrove and Jeffery Holcomb, interrupting a masked man about to set the place on fire. The latter attacks them with a flashlight but is burned on his shoulder by an electrical socket. Rimgale saves Brian and Swayzak from the house but is injured in an explosion. In his hospital bed, Rimgale tells Brian to visit Ronald again, who helps Brian realize that only a firefighter would be so careful as to not let backdraft fires rage out of control.

Brian suspects Stephen but spots a burn in the shape of an electrical socket on Adcox's back and reveals his suspicions to his brother just before an alarm. When Brian realizes that Adcox has heard their exchange, he jumps aboard Truck 46 after borrowing some turnout gear. Stephen confronts Adcox about the backdrafts during a multiple-alarm fire at a chemical plant. Adcox admits that he set the fires to kill Swayzak's associates, because Swayzak was benefiting from the deaths of firefighters and closing down firehouses. When an explosion destroys the catwalk they are on, Stephen grabs Adcox's hand while hanging on to the remains of the catwalk. Stephen refuses Adcox's advice to let go of him, and loses his grip on the catwalk. Stephen lands on the lower catwalk, but Adcox dies when he falls into fire. Stephen dies with Brian by his side on the way to the hospital, with his final request being that Brian must not reveal Adcox to be the perpetrator so as not to hurt the fire department's reputation.

After Stephen and Adcox's funeral, Brian and Rimgale, with the help of the police, interrupt Swayzak at a press conference. Rimgale questions Swayzak on a fake manpower study that led to the deaths of several firemen, including Stephen and Adcox. They also state that Swayzak engineered the downsizing of the Chicago Fire Department, destroying Swayzak's mayoral ambitions. Brian continues as a firefighter, carrying on his family's firefighting tradition despite the loss of his father and brother. The film ends as Brian helps a rookie firefighter with his turnout gear as the department responds to a call.

Cast

Kurt Russell as Lieutenant Stephen "Bull" McCaffrey

Russell also plays Captain Dennis McCaffrey

William Baldwin as Probationary Firefighter Brian McCaffrey

Robert De Niro as Inspector Donald "Shadow" Rimgale, Office of Fire Investigation

Donald Sutherland as Ronald Bartel

Jennifer Jason Leigh as Jennifer Vaitkus

Scott Glenn as Senior Firefighter John "Axe" Adcox

Rebecca De Mornay as Helen McCaffrey

Jason Gedrick as Probationary Firefighter Tim Krizminski

J. T. Walsh as Alderman Martin Swayzak

Cedric Young as Grindle

Jack McGee as Otis Schmidt

Ryan Todd as Brian, age 7

Johnny Baker as Brian Stunt double, age 7

John Duda as Stephen, age 12

Clint Howard as Ricco, morgue attendant

David Crosby as 70s hippie

Realism

Fire fighting professionals have noted that most real structure fires differ from what is shown in the movie by having smoke conditions that obscure vision inside the building almost completely.

The pictures of firefighters searching in movies like Backdraft do not really show what it is like to search in a fire. Firefighters are shown advancing through fully involved structure fires while not wearing the complete complement of protective gear (Nomex hoods, radios, PASS devices). Most scenes display firefighting without the use of SCBA [self contained breathing apparatus]. Realism in our case would make a very bad movie because the fact is that in almost every fire the smoke conditions completely obscure all vision.

"The movie ... came pretty close at times, but it also suffered from the very same, all too common shortcomings that any visual presentation was bound to encounter Smoke, steam and other miscellaneous factors usually combine to obscure almost everything that is taking place".

Furthermore, fire investigation professionals have dismissed the investigative methods shown in the movie as unscientific, in particular, the portrayal of fire as a living entity.

Music

Backdraft was scored by Hans Zimmer, and features two songs by Bruce Hornsby, "The Show Goes On" (which was previously released on his album Scenes from the Southside) and the new song "Set Me in Motion". Zimmer's score was pared to about 30 minutes for release on the soundtrack album, which also features both Hornsby songs. The soundtrack was issued by Milan Records on May 14, 1991. The track ‘Fighting 17th’ was used as the main theme for RTÉ’s Six Nations Championship coverage in Ireland.

Release

Home media

The film has been released on many formats with it first on VHS and then DVD. In 2006 a 2-disc DVD Anniversary Edition was issued. On January 4, 2011 Universal Pictures released a Blu-ray 'Anniversary Edition' with many of the features ported from the previous DVD release including four featurettes, 43-minutes of deleted scenes, a 3-minute Ron Howard introduction and trailers. It was released for the first time as a two-disc Ultra HD Blu-ray package on May 4, 2019.

Plot

At the beginning of the film, we see a James Barry play being staged on stage, which fails miserably. Barry's relationship with his wife deteriorates after that, but both of them try to hide it. Walking through the park one day, James meets the Davis family: Sylvia and her four children. The most noticeable for James was Sylvia's third-oldest son, Peter, who, after his father's death, dreamed of growing up as soon as possible, because he thought that it was easier for adults to bear the pain of loss. James gets closer to the boys and their mother, while Peter tries in every way to distance himself from him, because he thinks that James wants to replace their father, but soon they become good friends. The friendship with the Davises was reflected in Barry's work, he begins to write a new play, which he calls "Peter Pan". At first, the director and the actors recognized the play as "just a nightmare", but they could not refuse, as they were convinced by Barry's confidence in future success.

Sylvia suddenly falls ill, she starts coughing terribly and weakens every day, but refuses to take tests. In the end, it was only when her eldest son injured his arm and demanded that she see a doctor, or he would not let the doctor examine him, that Sylvia learns that she is terminally ill. Only Peter went to the premiere of Peter Pan, the rest stayed at home. Sylvia's mother, who disliked James, was already ready to admit that she was wrong about him if he came to visit Sylvia, but according to her: "After the stunning premiere, it's unlikely he'll need you, Sylvia." However, she was mistaken, James not only came to the patient, but also arranged a small production of "Peter Pan" in her house. Seeing a Magical land, Sylvia even blossomed and we are shown how she walks on the green lawn of that very magical country in a beautiful dress…

Next frame: we see Sylvia's funeral and learn that according to the will, custody is divided between Sylvia's mother and James, who recently divorced his wife. The boys' grandmother says she can handle her grandchildren on her own, to which Barry replies, "Do you really think I can leave them?".

In the finale, James sits down on a bench next to Peter, and the boy shows his manuscript of the play that James inspired him to. The play is pretty good, but in the middle of the film, the boy tore it up out of rage, and at the end we find out that Sylvia glued all the sheets and returned them to her son. The boy asks James why his mother died, to which he replies that he does not know, but Peter will always be able to find her in a Magical land, if only he believes in her. Last sentence: Peter says he sees his mom, and James hugs him, affectionately calling him "his boy." In the next frame, both disappear, as if transported to a Magical land.

Roles

Actor Role

Johnny Depp Sir J. M. Barry

Kate Winslet Sylvia Llewelyn Davis

Freddie Highmore Peter Llewellyn Davis

Dustin Hoffman Charles Froman

Nick Raud George Llewellyn Davies

Joe Prospero Jack Llewelyn Davis

Luke Spill Michael Llewellyn Davis

Julie Christie Mrs. Emma du Maurier

Rada Mitchell Mary Ansell Barry

Kelly MacDonald Peter Pan

Ian Hart Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Awards and nominations

2005 — the award "Oscar" for best music for the film (Jan Kaczmarek) and 6 nominations: best film (Richard Gladstein, Nelly Bellflower), best actor (johnny Depp), best adapted screenplay (David Magee), best editing (Matt Cheese), best art Director (Gemma Jackson, Tricia Edwards), best costume design (Alexandra Byrne)

2005 — 5 award nominations Golden globe: best motion picture — drama, best Director (mark Forster), best actor — drama (johnny Depp), best screenplay (David Magee), best music (Jan Kaczmarek)

2005 — 11 BAFTA Award nominations: Best Film (Richard Gladstein, Nelly Bellflower), Best Director (Mark Forster), Best Actor (Johnny Depp), Best Actress (Kate Winslet), Best Supporting Actress (Julie Christie), Best Adapted Screenplay (David Magee), Best Film Music (Jan Kaczmarek), Best Cinematography (Roberto Schafer), Best Makeup and Hairstyles (Christine Blundell), Best Costume Design (Alexandra Byrne), Best Production Designer (Gemma Jackson)

2005 — 2nd prize - "critics Choice": the best family film, best young actor or actress (Freddie Highmore) and 5 nominations: best film, best Director (mark Forster), best actor (johnny Depp), best female actor in a supporting role (Kate Winslet), best screenplay (David Magee)

2005 — 2 the nomination for the award "Saturn": best actor (johnny Depp), best young actor or actress (Freddie Highmore)

2005 — 2 the nomination of Sputnik: best actor — drama (johnny Depp), best music (Jan Kaczmarek)

2005 - nomination for the MTV Channel Award for Male Breakthrough of the Year (Freddie Highmore)

2005 - 3 nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award: Best Actor (Johnny Depp), Best Supporting Actor (Freddie Highmore), Best Cast

2005 - nomination for the Directors Guild of the USA Award for the best director of a feature film (Mark Forster)

2004 - 2 awards of the National Council of Film Critics of the USA: best film, best music for the film (Jan Kaczmarek), as well as getting into the top ten films of the year

2004 - Laterna Magica Prize of the Venice Film Festival (Mark Forster).

Evaluations

Cash

The film's budget was $25 million. The global box office has exceeded $ 115 million, of which $51,676,606 is US rental.

Criticism

On the website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 83%, based on 207 reviews, with an average score of 7.5 out of 10.

In her review for The Times, Wendy Eade called the film "charming, but rather peculiar" and added: "The combination of inner drama, tragedy and stormy fantasy creates a touching nostalgia".

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote that it is "a film that captures even the smallest cracks. Instead of bad habits and everyday moments, such films give us beauty and stories designed to make us think".

In a review from the San Francisco Chronicle, Mick Lasalle noted that the film "ends so beautifully, so poignantly and aptly, that there is a great temptation to forget that most of what precedes the finale is tedious chatter; that Johnny Depp's work is precious, but unnoticeable, and that almost all the magic of the film stems directly from scenes about Barry's play".

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone awarded the film 3.5 out of 4 stars and called it "great entertainment, magical, not funny." About Johnny Depp, he said: "It's too early to talk about how he will grow up as an actor."

Karina Ciocano of the Los Angeles Times described the film as "gently seductive, truly tender and dynamic without being spoiled," and added: "Depp and Winslet give a rare combination of spirituality, earthiness and sharp, flashy intelligence".

Evidence

Among the possible candidates for the role of Barry, Jim Carrey was initially considered.

The picture was ready for release in the fall of 2003, but the producers of the "Peter Pan" version of P. J. Hogan forbade its creators to use the original text of J. M. Barry in the dialogues of the film. As a result, an agreement was concluded — the release of Mark Forster's tape is postponed for a year, but the authors get the official right to mention the writer's novel.

Johnny Depp specifically studied the Scottish accent for this role.

Finding Neverland is a biographical drama directed by Mark Forster about the creator of Peter Pan, James Barry, released in 2004. It is dedicated to his friendship with the Llewelyn-Davis family, which inspired him to create a play about Peter Pan.

The filmscreenwriter is basedwho onadapted AlanAllan Nee's play "The Man Who Was Peter Pan" was PeterDavid Pan"Magee.

Dustin Hoffman played Captain Hook in the 1991 film Captain Hook, a loose sequel to the novel Peter Pan.

The film received seven nominations at the 77th Academy Awards Ceremony.

The painting served as a source of inspiration for the 2012 musical of the same name.