text:
Quills (film)

Quills is a 2000 period film directed by Philip Kaufman and adapted from the Obie award-winning 1995 play by Doug Wright, who also wrote the original screenplay. Inspired by the life and work of the Marquis de Sade, Quills re-imagines the last years of the Marquis's incarceration in the insane asylum at Charenton. It stars Geoffrey Rush as de Sade, Kate Winslet as laundress Madeleine "Maddie" LeClerc, Joaquin Phoenix as the Abbé de Coulmier, and Michael Caine as Dr. Royer-Collard.

Well received by critics, Quills garnered acclaim for its performances from Rush, and Winslet and its screenplay. The film received nominations for three Academy Awards, four BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. The National Board of Review named it the Best Film of 2000. The Writers Guild of America awarded Doug Wright with the Paul Selvin Award. The film was a modest art house success, averaging $27,709 per screen its debut weekend, and eventually grossing $17,989,277 internationally. Noted for its artistic licenses, Quills filmmakers and writers said they were not making a biography of de Sade, but exploring issues such as censorship, pornography, sex, art, mental illness, and religion.

Plot
In Paris, during the Reign of Terror, the incarcerated Marquis de Sade pens a story about Mademoiselle Renard, a young aristocrat who meets him.

Years later, the Marquis is confined to the asylum for the insane at Charenton, overseen by the Abbé du Coulmier. The Marquis has been publishing his work through laundress Madeleine LeClerc, who smuggles manuscripts through an anonymous horseman to a publisher. The Marquis' latest work, Justine, is published on the black market to great success. Emperor Napoléon I Bonaparte orders all copies of the book to be torched and the author shot. However, his advisor, Delbené, tempers this idea with one of his own: send alienist Dr. Royer-Collard to assess Charenton and silence the Marquis. Meanwhile, the Abbé teaches Madeleine to read and write. Madeleine reads the Marquis's stories to her fellow workers. Whilst being fascinated with the Marquis, she remains reluctant to give in to his advances.

Royer-Collard arrives, informing the Abbé that the Marquis' "therapeutic writings" have been distributed for public consumption. He says the Abbé must silence the Marquis or Charenton will be shut down by order of the Emperor. The Abbé rejects Royer-Collard's offers of aggressive archaic "treatments" and asks to speak with the Marquis himself, who swears obedience (winking at Madeleine through a peephole). Royer-Collard then travels to the Panthemont Convent in Paris to retrieve his promised bride, the underage orphan Simone. They are given a run-down chateau by the Emperor, with young architect Prioux on hand for its renovation. On their wedding night, Royer-Collard rapes her, and afterward keeps her as a virtual prisoner in their home.

The hasty marriage incites gossip at the asylum, prompting the Marquis to write a farce to be performed at a public exhibition, which Royer-Collard and Simone attend. The audacious play, a parody of Royer-Collard's misogynist domination of Simone, is titled "The Crimes of Love". The performance is interrupted when the inmate Bouchon molests Madeleine off-stage, prompting her to hit him with an iron. The Abbé is seen publicly comforting Madeleine. Royer-Collard shuts down the public theater and demands that the Abbé do more to control the Marquis, or he will inform the ministry that the inmates are running the asylum. Infuriated, the Abbé confiscates the Marquis' quills and ink. The Marquis's wife visits him and he takes out his frustration at not being able to write on her; she retaliates by asking Royer-Collard that the Marquis be entombed forever.

They discuss that the ill-gotten gains from the Marquis's books could be used to effect his salvation, in other words, provide forms of restraint. The lack of writing implements results in more subversive behaviour from the Marquis, including a story written in wine on bedsheets and in blood on clothing. This results in further deprivation, eventually leaving the Marquis naked in an empty cell. Charlotte, one of the maids, reveals that Madeleine has been helping the Marquis. Madeleine is whipped on the order of Royer-Collard until the Abbé stops him by offering himself instead. The Abbé decides that Madeleine must be sent away. That night she visits his chamber to beg him to reconsider sending her away and confesses her love for him in the process, prompting him to kiss her. However, they break away at the realization of what they are doing. Madeleine runs off and Charlotte catches the Abbé calling after her.

Meanwhile, Simone purchases a copy of Justine, seduces Prioux, and the young lovers run off to England together. She leaves behind a letter explaining her actions and the book. Upon finding this, Royer-Collard refocuses attention upon the Marquis as the source of his troubles and embarks upon a quest for revenge by having him tortured. About to be sent away from Charenton for her role in assisting the Marquis, Madeleine begs a last story from him, which is to be relayed to her through the asylum patients. Bouchon, the inmate at the end of the relay, is excited by the story, breaks out of his cell, and attacks Madeleine. Royer-Collard hears her screams but chooses to ignore them and she is killed by Bouchon. The asylum is set afire by the pyromaniac Dauphin and the inmates break out of their cells.

Madeleine's body is found in the laundry vat by her blind mother and the Abbé. The Abbé is devastated and Bouchon is imprisoned inside an iron maiden. Blaming the Marquis for Madeleine's death, the Abbé confronts him; the Marquis claims he had been with Madeleine in every way imaginable, only to be told she died a virgin, provoking an emotional outpouring of grief. The Abbé has the Marquis' tongue cut out as punishment for Madeleine's death, but is stricken with remorse and whips himself. The Abbé then dreams of Madeleine returning to life and having sex with him, but ultimately the dream ends with him holding her corpse. The Marquis' health declines severely, but he remains perverse, decorating his dungeon with a story, using his feces as ink. As the Marquis lies dying, the Abbé reads him the last rites and offers him a crucifix to kiss. The Marquis defiantly swallows the crucifix and chokes to death on it.

A year later, the new Abbé arrives at Charenton and is given the grand tour by Royer-Collard. During the tour, they meet the maid Charlotte. The asylum has been converted into a print shop, with the inmates as its staff. The books being printed are the works of the Marquis. At the end of the tour, the new Abbé meets his predecessor, who resides in the Marquis' old cell. Yearning to write, he begs paper and a quill from the new Abbé, and tries to strangle Royer-Collard when he ventures too close the peephole. The Abbé is herded off by Royer-Collard before he can hear any more from his predecessor. However, the peephole opens, and Madeleine's mother thrusts paper, quill, and ink through. The Abbé begins to scribble furiously, with the Marquis providing the narration.

Cast

 * Geoffrey Rush as the Marquis de Sade; Director Philip Kaufman encouraged Rush to portray the Marquis as something of a dissolute rock star holed up in the Ritz Carlton. Rush used Francine du Plessix Gray's 1998 biography At Home with the Marquis de Sade: A Life as a reference and had previously acted in a production of Marat/Sade.
 * Kate Winslet as Madeleine "Maddy" LeClerc; Screenwriter Doug Wright called Winslet the "patron saint" of the movie for being the first big name to back it, expressing interest as early as April 1999.
 * Joaquin Phoenix as the Abbé du Coulmier; Before settling on Phoenix, casting directors considered Jude Law, Guy Pearce, and Billy Crudup for the role.
 * Michael Caine as Dr. Royer-Collard; Kaufman drew comparisons between Royer-Collard and Kenneth Starr, particularly the publication of de Sade's works at the Charenton Printing Press and the release of Starr's report online.
 * Billie Whitelaw as Madame LeClerc
 * Stephen Marcus as Bouchon
 * Amelia Warner as Simone
 * Stephen Moyer as Prioux
 * Jane Menelaus as Renée Pelagie
 * Ron Cook as Napoléon I Bonaparte
 * Patrick Malahide as Delbené
 * Elizabeth Berrington as Charlotte
 * Tony Pritchard as Valcour
 * Michael Jenn as Cleante
 * Edward Tudor-Pole as Franval

Production
The interior set of Charenton was built at Pinewood Studios, where most of the filming took place. Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire, and London stood in for the exterior shots of early 19th century France. Production designer Martin Childs imagined the primary location of Charenton as an airy, though circuitous place, darkening as Royer-Collard takes over operations. The screenplay specifies the way the inmates' rooms link together, which plays a key role in the relay of the Marquis' climactic story to Madeleine. Screenwriter/playwright Doug Wright was a constant presence on set, assisting the actors and producers in interpreting the script and bringing his vision to life. Casting directors Donna Isaacson and Priscilla John recruited a number of actors from a disabled actor's company to play the parts of many of the inmates at Charenton.

Costume designer Jacqueline West created the intricate period costumes, using each character as inspiration. West previously worked with director Philip Kaufman on his crime drama Rising Sun. For Joaquin Phoenix's Abbé, costumers designed special "pleather" clogs to accommodate the actor's veganism. In one scene, Rush's Marquis de Sade wears a suit decorated in bloody script, which West described as "challenging" to make. It features actual writings of de Sade and costumers planned exactly where each sentence should go on the fabric. Before production began, West gave Winslet a copy of French painter Léopold Boilly's "Woman Ironing" to give her a feel for the character, which Winslet said greatly influenced her performance.

Music
The Quills soundtrack was released by RCA Victor on 21 November 2000 featuring the music of Oscar-winning composer Stephen Warbeck (Shakespeare in Love). Featuring experimental instrumentation on such instruments as the serpent, the mediaeval shawm, and the bucket, most reviewers were intrigued by the unconventional and thematic score. Cinemusic.net reviewer Ryan Keaveney called the album a "macabre masterpiece", with an "addicting and mesmerizing" sound. Urban Cinephile contributor Brad Green described the album as a "hedonistic pleasure" that "captures the spirit of an incorrigible, perverse genius." Soundtrack.net's Glenn McClanan disliked the "lack of unifying unified themes and motifs" that may have served each individual scene, but made the film feel "incoherent."

 * Track listing
 * 1) "The Marquis and the Scaffold" – 3:08
 * 2) "The Abbe and Madeleine" – 2:19
 * 3) "The Convent" – 2:22
 * 4) "Plans for a Burial" – 1:18
 * 5) "Dream of Madeleine" – 4:42
 * 6) "Royer-Collard and Bouchon" – 4:15
 * 7) "Aphrodisiac" – 2:59
 * 8) "The Last Story" – 7:35
 * 9) "The Marquis' Cell at Charenton" – 4:38
 * 10) "The End: A New Manuscript" – 7:32
 * 11) "The Printing Press" – 2:22

Though not included on the soundtrack, the opening notes of "Au Clair de la Lune," a traditional French children's song, recur throughout the film, usually hummed by the Marquis. The song is originally sung by John Hamway during the opening scene of a beheading which was filmed in Oxford. The English translation provides some illumination as to its selection as a theme for the Marquis:

By the light of the moon, My friend Pierrot, Lend me your quill, To write a word. My candle is dead, I have no more fire. Open your door for me For the love of God.

By the light of the moon, Pierrot replied: "I don't have any pens, I am in my bed Go to the neighbor's, I think she's there Because in her kitchen Someone is lighting the fire..."

Box office
Distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures in 2000, Quills premiered in the United States at the Telluride Film Festival on 2 September 2000. It was given a limited release on 22 November 2000, with a wider release following on 15 December 2000. The film earned $249,383 its opening weekend in nine theaters, totaling $7,065,332 domestically and $10,923,895 internationally, for a total of $17,989,227.

Critical reception
The film holds a 75% "fresh" rating at the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 126 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's consensus states: "Though hard to watch, this film's disturbing exploration of freedom of expression is both seductive and thought-provoking." It has an average score of 70/100 at Metacritic, based on 31 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times complimented the "euphoric stylishness" of Kaufman's direction and Geoffrey Rush's "gleeful... flamboyant" performance. Peter Travers for Rolling Stone wrote about the "exceptional" actors, particularly Geoffrey Rush's "scandalously good" performance as the Marquis, populating a film that is "literate, erotic, and spoiling to be heard". Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com enthused over the "delectable and ultimately terrifying fantasy" of Quills, with Rush as "sun king", enriched by a "luminous" supporting cast.

In a December 2000 review, film critic Roger Ebert, rated it 3.5 stars out of 4 and stated, "The message of 'Quills' is perhaps that we are all expressions of our natures, and to live most successfully we must understand that."

The film was not without its detractors, including Richard Schickel of Time magazine, who decried director Philip Kaufman's approach as "brutally horrific, vulgarly unamusing", creating a film that succeeds only as "soft-gore porn". Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times dismissed the picture as an "overripe contrivance masquerading as high art", while de Sade biographer Neil Schaeffer in The Guardian criticised it for historical inaccuracies and for simplifying de Sade's complex life.

Artistic licenses
Neil Schaeffer, detailed a number of disparities between fact and film. Schaeffer, whose The Marquis de Sade: A Life was used by Director Philip Kaufman as reference, in a review published in The Guardian, criticised the film for historical inaccuracies and for simplifying de Sade's complex life.

Schaeffer relates that de Sade's initial incarceration "had nothing to do with his writing" but with sexual scandals involving servants, prostitutes, and his sister-in-law. He also criticised the opening scene's implication that the reign of terror caused the "sanguinary streak" of de Sade's writing, when "his bloodiest and best work, 120 Days of Sodom, was written in the Bastille – obviously before the revolution" and not at Charenton, as suggested by the film. In contrast to the film, the historical de Sade was "not at the height of his literary career nor of his literary powers" while at Charenton, nor did he cut the "tall, trim figure of the Australian actor Geoffrey Rush" but was of middling height and, at the time, of a "considerable, even a grotesque, obesity".

The manuscripts smuggled out of the asylum were not the novel Justine, which features prominently in the film but was published thirteen years before de Sade's incarceration at the asylum. De Sade's smuggled works were not particularly outrageous, mostly consisting of conventional novels and a number of plays he worked on throughout his life in hopes of having them performed. Most of these were soundly rejected by publishers. De Sade was, in fact, involved in the theater productions at Charenton, though none like the play featured in Quills. The plays performed were popular, conventional Parisian dramas. The government shut the Charenton theater down on 6 May 1813, years before the real Dr. Royer-Collard had any influence at Charenton.

Schaeffer criticised also the film's treatment of de Sade's personal relations regarding his wife (who had formally separated from him after the revolution), the chambermaid (who did not serve as a liaison to a publisher but with whom he had a sexual relationship from her early teens until shortly before his death), and his "companion of many years" who had a room at Charenton (and actually smuggled out the manuscripts) but is ignored by the film. Furthermore, "De Sade's hideous death in the movie is nothing like the truth, for he died in his sleep, in his 74th year, as peacefully as any good Christian".

According to Kaufman, Doug Wright did not have the rights to the original translations and therefore had to create and write the passages of de Sade's work that are included in the original play and the film. He applied the vocabulary used in the translations to the passages to imitate de Sade's style but the archaic language comes across as funny to a modern viewer whereas in the 1700s, as stated by Kaufman, these words were "incendiary".

title: Quills (film)


text:
1983 in film

The following is an overview of events in 1983 in film, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies and festivals, a list of films released and notable deaths.

Highest-grossing films (U.S.)
The top ten 1983 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Events

 * February 11 - The Rolling Stones concert film Let's Spend the Night Together opens in New York City.
 * May 25 - Return of the Jedi, the final installment in the original Star Wars trilogy, is released. Like the previous films, it goes on to become the highest-grossing film of the year.
 * Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman makes her film debut in the Australian movie Bush Christmas.
 * Brainstorm, the final film of screen star Natalie Wood, is released, 2 years after her death.
 * October - Frank Price resigns as president of Columbia Pictures and is replaced by Guy McElwaine.

Awards
Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):
 * The Ballad of Narayama (楢山節考, ), directed by Shohei Imamura, Japan

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival):
 * Prénom Carmen (First Name: Carmen), directed by Jean-Luc Godard,

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):
 * Ascendancy, directed by Edward Bennett, United Kingdom
 * The Beehive (La Colmena), directed by Mario Camus, Spain

By country/region

 * List of American films of 1983
 * List of Argentine films of 1983
 * List of Australian films of 1983
 * List of Bangladeshi films of 1983
 * List of British films of 1983
 * List of Canadian films of 1983
 * List of French films of 1983
 * List of Hong Kong films of 1983
 * List of Indian films of 1983
 * List of Hindi films of 1983
 * List of Kannada films of 1983
 * List of Malayalam films of 1983
 * List of Marathi films of 1983
 * List of Tamil films of 1983
 * List of Telugu films of 1983
 * List of Japanese films of 1983
 * List of Mexican films of 1983
 * List of Pakistani films of 1983
 * List of South Korean films of 1983
 * List of Soviet films of 1983
 * List of Spanish films of 1983

By genre/medium

 * List of action films of 1983
 * List of animated feature films of 1983
 * List of avant-garde films of 1983
 * List of comedy films of 1983
 * List of drama films of 1983
 * List of horror films of 1983
 * List of science fiction films of 1983
 * List of thriller films of 1983
 * List of western films of 1983

Births

 * January 2
 * Kate Bosworth, American actress
 * Anthony Carrigan, American actor
 * Kristen Hager, Canadian actress
 * January 9 - Kerry Condon, Irish actress
 * January 13 - Julian Morris, British actor
 * January 16 - Marwan Kenzari, Dutch actor
 * January 17 - Ryan Gage, English actor
 * January 21 - Svetlana Khodchenkova, Russian actress
 * January 24
 * Frankie Grande, American actor, singer, producer, television host and YouTube personality
 * Lee Toland Krieger, American director and screenwriter
 * January 28 - Angel Manuel Soto, Puerto Rican film director, producer, and screenwriter
 * February 4 – Hannibal Buress, American comedian, actor, writer and producer
 * February 7 - Elina Pähklimägi, Estonian actress
 * February 16 - Agyness Deyn, English actress and model
 * February 18
 * Evan Jonigkeit, American actor
 * Wrenn Schmidt, American actress
 * February 20
 * Jessie Mueller, American actor and singer
 * Bronson Webb, British actor
 * February 21
 * Eoin Macken, Irish actor
 * Mélanie Laurent, French actress
 * February 22 - Taraka Ratna, Indian actor (died 2023)
 * February 23
 * Aziz Ansari, American actor, writer, producer, director and comedian
 * Emily Blunt, English actress
 * February 27 - Kate Mara, American actress
 * March 1 - Lupita Nyong'o, Kenyan-Mexican actress and director
 * March 4 - Julieta Zylberberg, Argentine actress
 * March 7 - Greta Lee, American actress
 * March 9 - Bobby Campo, American actor
 * March 10
 * Rafe Spall, English actor
 * Carrie Underwood, American singer-songwriter and actress
 * March 11 - Lucy DeVito, American actress
 * March 12 - Ron Funches, American actor, comedian and writer
 * March 14 - Johnny Flynn, British actor, musician and singer-songwriter
 * March 15 - Sean Biggerstaff, Scottish actor
 * March 18 - Ivan Kolesnikov, Russian actor
 * March 20 - Michael Cassidy, American actor
 * March 21 - Justin McDonald, British actor
 * March 29 - Ed Skrein, English actor, director, screenwriter and rapper
 * March 31 - Ashleigh Ball, Canadian singer, musician and voice actress
 * April 1
 * Ellen Hollman, American actress
 * Matt Lanter, American actor
 * April 4
 * Eric André, American comedian, actor, writer, producer and musician
 * Amanda Righetti, American actress
 * April 6 - Diora Baird, American actress and former model
 * April 7 - Kyle Labine, Canadian actor
 * April 10 - Jamie Chung, American actress and former reality television personality
 * April 15 - Alice Braga, Brazilian actress and producer
 * April 19 - Victoria Yeates, English actress
 * April 21 - Gugu Mbatha-Raw, British actress
 * April 22 - Francis Capra, American actor
 * May 3 - Ari Magder, Canadian actor (died 2012)
 * May 4
 * Brad Bufanda, American actor (died 2017)
 * Jesse Moss, Canadian actor
 * May 5 - Henry Cavill, British actor
 * May 6
 * Adrianne Palicki, American actress
 * Gabourey Sidibe, American actress
 * May 8 - Elyes Gabel, English actor
 * May 11 - Holly Valance, Australian actress and singer
 * May 12 - Domhnall Gleeson, Irish actor, writer, and director
 * May 14 - Amber Tamblyn, American actress, writer, and director
 * May 17 - Ginger Gonzaga, American comedian and actress
 * May 25 - Chelse Swain, American actress
 * May 28 - Megalyn Echikunwoke, American actress
 * June 1 - Sylvia Hoeks, Dutch actress
 * June 2 - Yuliya Snigir, Russian actress and model
 * June 10 - Leelee Sobieski, American retired actress
 * June 14 - Louis Garrel, French actor and filmmaker
 * June 16 - Olivia Hack, American actress
 * June 19 - Aidan Turner, Irish actor
 * June 23 - Miles Fisher, American actor, comedian and musician
 * June 24 - John Lloyd Cruz, Filipino actor
 * June 28 - Scott Haze, American actor and filmmaker
 * June 30 - Angela Sarafyan, Armenian-American actress
 * July 6
 * Christine Firkins, Canadian former actress
 * Gregory Smith, Canadian actor, writer and director
 * July 8 - DeVaughn Nixon, American actor
 * July 10 - Golshifteh Farahani, Iranian actress
 * July 18 - Cara Gee, Canadian actress
 * July 20 - Martin McCann, Irish actor
 * July 23 - Olamide Faison, American actor and singer
 * July 28 - Dhanush, Indian actor
 * August 1 - Inga Salurand, Estonian actress
 * August 3 - Mamie Gummer, American actress
 * August 4
 * Nathaniel Buzolic, Australian actor
 * Greta Gerwig, American director, writer, and actress
 * August 6 - Landon Pigg, American singer-songwriter and actor
 * August 7 - Brit Marling, American actress and screenwriter
 * August 8
 * Guy Burnet, British actor
 * Trina Nishimura, American voice actress
 * August 10 - Bonnie Piesse, Australian actress and singer-songwriter
 * August 11
 * Chris Hemsworth, Australian actor
 * Tatá Werneck, Brazilian actress, television presenter and comedian
 * August 14
 * Mila Kunis, actress
 * Lamorne Morris, American actor, comedian and television personality
 * August 16 - Dominik García-Lorido, American actress
 * August 19 - Mike Moh, American actor and martial artist
 * August 20 - Andrew Garfield, English actor
 * August 23 - Annie Ilonzeh, American actress
 * August 24 - Antonio Campos, American film director
 * August 29 - Jennifer Landon, American actress
 * September 9 - Zoe Kazan, American actress and screenwriter
 * September 21
 * Scott Evans, American actor
 * Maggie Grace, American actress
 * Joseph Mazzello, American actor
 * September 25 - Donald Glover, American actor, singer, comedian, writer, producer and director
 * October 3 - Tessa Thompson, American actress
 * October 5
 * Jesse Eisenberg, American actor, director, producer, and writer
 * Shelby Rabara, Filipino-American actress and dancer
 * Noot Seear, Canadian actress
 * Noah Segan, American actor
 * October 9 - Spencer Grammer, American actress
 * October 10 - Layke Anderson, British director and former actor
 * October 16 - Andrew Santino, American stand-up comedian and actor
 * October 17 - Felicity Jones, English actress
 * October 19 - Rebecca Ferguson, Swedish actress
 * October 24 - Katie McGrath, Irish actress
 * October 28 - Joe Thomas, English actor, writer and comedian
 * October 29 - Johnny Lewis, American actor (died 2012)
 * November 7 - Adam DeVine, American actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer and singer
 * November 8 - Chris Rankin, New Zealand-born British actor
 * November 18 - Julia Ducournau, French film director and screenwriter
 * November 15 - Sophia Di Martino, English actress
 * November 19 - Adam Driver, American actor
 * November 24 - Gwilym Lee, British actor
 * December 8 - Utkarsh Ambudkar, American actor, singer and rapper
 * December 10
 * Patrick Flueger, American actor
 * Xavier Samuel, Australian actor
 * December 13 - Satya Bhabha, British actor
 * December 17 - Stef Dawson, Australian actress
 * December 20 - Jonah Hill, American actor, filmmaker, and comedian
 * December 21 - Steven Yeun, American actor
 * December 23
 * Eva Ceja, American actress and film producer
 * Joe Dinicol, Canadian actor

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: 1983 in film


text:
Training Day

Training Day is a 2001 American crime thriller film directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by David Ayer. It stars Denzel Washington as Alonzo Harris and Ethan Hawke as Jake Hoyt, two LAPD narcotics officers followed over a 24-hour period in the gang-ridden neighborhoods of Westlake, Echo Park, and South Central Los Angeles. It also features Scott Glenn, Eva Mendes, Cliff Curtis, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Macy Gray in supporting roles.

Training Day was released on October 5, 2001, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Washington and Hawke's performances but were divided on the screenplay. The film received numerous accolades and nominations with Washington's performance earning him the Academy Award for Best Actor and Hawke being nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 74th Academy Awards.

A television series based on the film, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, was announced in August 2015 and premiered on February 2, 2017, on CBS. Only Gugliemi, Berenger and Barry reprised their roles but it was cancelled after one season.

Plot
Ambitious Los Angeles Police Department Officer Jake Hoyt is up for promotion and is assigned to work with Detective Alonzo Harris, a highly decorated narcotics officer, for a one-day evaluation. Driving around in Alonzo's Monte Carlo, they begin the day by catching some college kids buying marijuana. Alonzo confiscates the drugs, puts them into a pipe and tells Jake to smoke it. When Jake refuses, Alonzo threatens him at gunpoint, stating that refusing like this while on the streets would get him killed. Jake smokes the pipe, and Alonzo laughs, telling him that it was laced with PCP.

After paying a visit to Roger, an ex-cop turned drug dealer, Jake notices a pair of addicts attempting to rape a teenage girl in an alley. Jake intervenes while Alonzo watches. After the girl leaves and Alonzo scares the addicts off, Jake finds the girl's wallet on the ground and retrieves it.

Later, Alonzo and Jake apprehend a dealer named Blue, finding crack rocks and a loaded handgun on him. Rather than go to jail, Blue informs on his employer Kevin "Sandman" Miller, who is in prison. Using a fake search warrant, Alonzo steals $40,000 from Sandman's home. At lunch, the two visit Alonzo's mistress Sara and their young son. Alonzo then meets with a trio of corrupt high-ranking police officials he dubs the "Three Wise Men". Aware that the Russian mafia is hunting Alonzo, they suggest he skip town. Alonzo insists he has control of the situation and trades the $40,000 for an arrest warrant.

Using the warrant, Alonzo, Jake and four other narcotics officers return to Roger's house and seize $4 million, a quarter of which Alonzo keeps. Alonzo shoots and kills Roger after Jake refuses, staging the scene with his men to make the shooting look justified. Infuriated, Jake gets into a standoff with the corrupt officers. However, Alonzo already planned the day's events and threatens Jake with the routine post-incident blood test, which will flag the PCP-laced cannabis Jake smoked earlier and end his career. Alonzo promises to protect Jake for his cooperation and Jake is forced to comply.

Later that evening, Alonzo drives Jake to the home of a Sureños gangster named "Smiley" for an errand. As he waits for Alonzo, Jake reluctantly plays poker with Smiley and his fellow gang members. Smiley then reveals Alonzo's situation: by midnight, Alonzo must pay $1 million to the Russians for killing one of their men over an insult in Las Vegas or be killed himself. Realizing that Alonzo has abandoned him and paid Smiley to kill him, Jake attempts to flee but is beaten and dragged to the bathroom. Before they can execute him, a gang member searches Jake for money and finds the wallet of the teenage girl, who happens to be Smiley's cousin. After calling his cousin and confirming that Jake saved her, Smiley releases Jake out of gratitude.

Jake returns to Sara's apartment to arrest Alonzo just as he is leaving to pay the Russians with Roger's money. A gunfight and chase ensue, and Alonzo is eventually subdued on the street while the entire neighborhood gathers to watch. Alonzo offers money to whoever kills Jake – to no avail. Jake takes the stolen cash to submit as evidence against Alonzo and the neighborhood gang allows him to leave safely. Enraged, Alonzo suffers a mental breakdown and threatens to retaliate against the neighborhood but they ignore him and walk away during his rant.

Alonzo flees for Los Angeles International Airport but he is ambushed and gunned down by the Russians. Jake returns home as the press reports on Alonzo's death.

Development
Although corruption in the LAPD's C.R.A.S.H. unit was yet to be exposed when Training Day was written, Antoine Fuqua has stated that the emergence of the Rampart Scandal in the late 1990s catalyzed the completion of the film. Denzel Washington also grew a beard in order to emulate the appearance of Rafael Pérez, an LAPD narcotics officer involved in multiple scandals. Fuqua wanted Washington's character to be seductive and part of a machine, and not just a random rogue cop. In Washington's own words: "I think in some ways he's done his job too well. He's learned how to manipulate, how to push the line further and further, and, in the process, he's become more hard-core than some of the guys he's chasing."

Fuqua also saw Ethan Hawke's character as generally honorable but so driven by ambition that he was willing to compromise his principles, particularly when following the charming and persuasive example of Washington's character. He has said that he fought with studio executives who wanted to cut the Three Wise Men scene, thinking it slowed the film. He insisted that the scene was pivotal in establishing that at least some of Alonzo's illegal actions were sanctioned by his superiors who regarded unethical behavior as a necessary evil.

Fuqua wanted Training Day to look as authentic as possible, and he shot on location in some of the most infamous neighborhoods of Los Angeles. He even obtained permission to shoot in the Imperial Courts housing project, the first time L.A. street gangs had allowed a film crew to be brought into that neighborhood. The crew also filmed in Hoover Block and Baldwin Village. Parts of the film were shot on a dead end street called Palmwood Drive, where the Black P. Stones Blood gang members were seen on the rooftops. Cle Shaheed Sloan, the gang technical advisor of Training Day, managed to get on screen real-life gang members from Rollin' 60 Crips, PJ Watts Crips, and B. P. Stones (a Bloods set). According to Fuqua, the actors and crew ended up receiving a warm welcome from local residents. When he was unable to shoot a scene directly on location, he recreated the locations on sets.

There were also two police officers on hand as technical advisors, Michael Patterson and Paul Lozada (the latter from the San Francisco Police Department). Washington, Hawke and other cast members also met with undercover police officers, local drug dealers, and gang members to help understand their roles better.

Casting
Davis Guggenheim was originally attached to direct the film, with Matt Damon as Jake Hoyt and Samuel L. Jackson as Alonzo Harris. Once Washington became attached to the project, however, he requested to have Guggenheim replaced. Eminem was offered the role of Jake Hoyt, but turned it down to star in 8 Mile. Tobey Maguire, Paul Walker, Freddie Prinze Jr., Ryan Phillippe, and Scott Speedman tested for the role of Jake Hoyt.

Music
A soundtrack to the film was released on September 11, 2001, by Priority Records. It peaked at 35 on the Billboard 200 and 19 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and spawned two hit singles, Nelly's "#1" and Dr. Dre and DJ Quik's "Put It on Me".

Release
Training Day was originally scheduled for release on September 21, 2001, and had a strong advertising push. However, following the September 11 attacks, the film was pushed back to October 5, 2001, replacing Collateral Damage's original release date.

Home media
Training Day was initially released on DVD and VHS on March 19, 2002. A Blu-ray version was initially released on August 1, 2006. A 4K Blu-ray version was released on February 28, 2023.

Box office
Training Day opened at number one, grossing $22.5million, ahead of fellow new release Serendipity in second place. Upon opening, it achieved the second-highest October opening weekend, behind Meet the Parents. It repeated in the top spot in its second weekend, above that week's new release of Bandits in second place, and spent its first six weeks in the Top 10 at the box office. It went on to gross $76.6million in the United States and Canada, and $28.2million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $104.9million, against a budget of $45million.

Critical response
Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert said: "Washington seems to enjoy a performance that's over the top and down the other side". Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, praising both the lead and supporting actors and the film's gritty, kinetic energy. He noted several plot holes and wrote that "[a] lot of people are going to be leaving the theater as I did, wondering about the logic and plausibility of the last 15 minutes."

Writing in The Hollywood Reporter, Michael Rechtshaffen gave the film a positive review, stating: "Denzel Washington ventures into the dark side as a seriously corrupt narcotics cop... and the results are electrifying. So is the picture, thanks to taut, sinewy direction by Antoine Fuqua and a compelling script by David Ayer."

Denzel Washington's performance as Detective Alonzo Harris was highly praised by critics. In The Village Voice, Amy Taubin wrote that his "old-fashioned combination of decency and sexiness suggests the African American counterpart to Gregory Peck (in his To Kill a Mockingbird period), as an LAPD cop so evil he makes Harvey Keitel's Bad Lieutenant look like even smaller potatoes than he was meant to be".

Accolades
In June 2003, the American Film Institute named Alonzo Harris the 50th greatest screen villain of all time in its list AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains.

TV series adaptation
On August 7, 2015, it was announced that Antoine Fuqua had decided to develop a television series based on the movie, and had teamed with Jerry Bruckheimer to develop the concept. Warner Bros. Television was shopping the show to the American broadcast networks. Will Beall would write the series, while Fuqua would serve as executive producer, and would direct the potential pilot. CBS ordered a pilot on August 14, 2015. In addition to Fuqua, Bruckheimer, Beall, and Jonathan Littman will serve as executive producers for the series, which is set 15 years after the original film. In May 2016, CBS picked up the series.

In the CBS television series Alonzo is mentioned by Deputy Chief Joy Lockhart when briefing Officer Kyle Craig on sending him undercover at LAPD's Special Investigation Section to investigate Detective Frank Roarke. Frank briefly mentions Alonzo at the end of the first season. The series, starring Bill Paxton and Justin Cornwell, premiered on February 2, 2017, with a 13-episode run as a mid-season replacement.

Filming for the first season had been completed in December 2016, so the run was not affected by Paxton's death on February 25, 2017, two days after the fourth episode aired. The lowest rated drama series on CBS that season, it was canceled on May 17, 2017, the same week the season finale aired.

Prequel
In October 2019, it was reported that Warner Bros. was developing a prequel to Training Day. The prequel follows a young Alonzo Harris in late April 1992, two days before the verdict of the Rodney King trial and the associated L.A. riots. On February 28, 2022, the prequel, named Training Day: Day of the Riot, started production in California.

title: Training Day


text:
James the Great

James the Great (Koinē Greek: Ἰάκωβος, romanized : Iákōbos; Aramaic: ܝܥܩܘܒ, romanized : Yaʿqōḇ; died AD 44) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was the second of the apostles to die (after Judas Iscariot), and the first to be martyred. Saint James is the patron saint of Spain and, according to tradition, his remains are held in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia.

He is also known as James, son of Zebedee, Saint James the Great, Saint James the Greater, Saint James the Elder, or Saint Jacob or Santiago.

In the New Testament
James was the son of Zebedee and Salome. Salome was a sister of Mary (mother of Jesus) which made James the Great a cousin of Jesus. James is styled "the Greater" to distinguish him from the Apostle James "the Less," with "greater" meaning older or taller, rather than more important. James the Great was the brother of John the Apostle.

James is described as one of the first disciples to join Jesus. The Synoptic Gospels state that James and John were with their father by the seashore when Jesus called them to follow him.

James, along with his brother John, and Peter, formed an informal triumvirate among the Twelve Apostles. Jesus allowed them to be the only apostles present at three particular occasions during his public ministry, the raising of Jairus' daughter, transfiguration of Jesus and agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. James and John (or, in another tradition, their mother ) asked Jesus to grant them seats on his right and left in his glory. Jesus rebuked them, asking if they were ready to drink from the cup he was going to drink from and saying the honor was not even for him to grant. The other apostles were annoyed with them. James and his brother wanted to call down fire on a Samaritan town, but were rebuked by Jesus.

The Acts of the Apostles records that "Herod the king" (usually identified with Herod Agrippa) had James executed by the sword. Nixon suggests that this may have been caused by James's fiery temper, in which he and his brother earned the nickname Boanerges or "Sons of Thunder". F. F. Bruce contrasts this story to that of the Liberation of Saint Peter, and writes that the proposition that "James should die while Peter should escape" is a "mystery of divine providence".

Veneration

In the Catholic tradition, Saint James is the patron saint of Spain and, according to legend, his remains are held in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. This name Santiago is the local evolution of the Latin genitive Sancti Iacobi, "(church or sanctuary) of Saint James" (evolved into a personal name in Spanish, and also in Portuguese -Tiago-, with its derivatives Diego/Diogo). The traditional pilgrimage to the grave of the saint, known as the "Way of St. James", has been the most popular pilgrimage for Western European Catholics from the Early Middle Ages onwards, although its modern revival and popularity stem from Walter Starkie's 1957 book, ''The Road to Santiago. The Pilgrims of St. James''. Officially, 327,378 pilgrims registered in 2018 as having completed the final 100 km walk (200 km by bicycle) to Santiago to qualify for a Compostela. When 25 July falls on a Sunday, it is a "Holy Year" (a Jacobean holy year) and a special east door is opened for entrance into Santiago Cathedral. Jubilee years follow a 6-5-6-11 pattern (except when the last year of a century is not a leap year, which can yield a gap of 7 or 12 years). In the 2004 Holy Year, 179,944 pilgrims were received at Compostela. In the 2010 Holy Year, the number had risen to 272,412. The most recent of such Holy Year was 2021; the next will be 2027.

Feast
The feast day of St. James is celebrated on 25 July on the liturgical calendars of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and certain other Protestant churches. He is commemorated on 30 April in the Orthodox Christian liturgical calendar (for those churches which follow the traditional Julian Calendar, 30 April currently falls on 13 May of the modern Gregorian Calendar) and on 30 June (Synaxis of the Apostles). The National Day of Galicia is also celebrated on 25 July: St James is its patron saint.

James the Apostle is remembered in the Church of England with a Festival on 25 July.

Jerusalem
The site of martyrdom is located within the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral of St. James in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem. The Chapel of St. James the Great, located to the left of the sanctuary, is the traditional place where he was martyred when King Agrippa ordered him to be beheaded (Acts 12:1–2). His head is believed to be buried under the altar, marked by a piece of red marble and surrounded by six votive lamps.

Mission in Hispania and burial at Compostela
The 12th century Historia Compostelana commissioned by Diego Gelmírez provides a summary of the legend of St. James, as it was believed at Compostela at that time. Two propositions are central to the legend: first, that James preached the gospel in Hispania as well as in the Holy Land; second, that after his martyrdom at the hands of Herod Agrippa, his followers carried his body by sea to Hispania, where they landed at Padrón on the coast of Galicia, then carried it over land for burial at Santiago de Compostela.

According to ancient local tradition, on 2 January AD 40, the Virgin Mary appeared to James on the bank of the Ebro River at Caesaraugusta, while he was preaching the Gospel in Hispania. She appeared upon a pillar, and that pillar is conserved and venerated within the present Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, in Zaragoza, Spain. Following that apparition, St. James returned to Judaea, where he was beheaded by Herod Agrippa I in AD 44.

The translation of his relics from Judaea to Galicia in the northwest of Hispania was, in legend, accomplished by a series of miraculous events: his decapitated body was taken up by angels and sailed in a rudderless, unattended boat to Iria Flavia in Hispania, where a massive rock closed around his body. Tradition has it that when the disciples of James, Theodore and Athanasius, arrived in Iria Flavia, they approached Queen Lupa about giving them a place to bury his body. Lupa appears in the Codex Calixtinus which further relates that she decides to trick the disciples and sends them to the governor of Duio with the intent of having them killed. Sensing a trap, they escape the governor and return to the queen. Once again Lupa tries to deceive them and sends them to Pico Sacro (the Sacred Peak) to collect two of her oxen to carry the necessary material to build the tomb. She does not tell them that the mountain has a cave which is the entrance to hell and is guarded by a dragon. However, the presence of the holy cross protects the disciples from harm and tames the bulls. Upon witnessing the miraculous events, Lupa converts to Christianity and helps build the apostle's tomb in Libredon.

The tradition at Compostela placed the discovery of the relics of the saint in the 9th century, by Pelayo in the Libredon forest in the time of Bishop Theodemir and king Alfonso II. These traditions were the basis for the pilgrimage route that began to be established in the 9th century, and the shrine dedicated to James at Santiago de Compostela became a famous pilgrimage site within the Christian world. The Way of St. James is a network of routes that cross Western Europe and arrive at Santiago de Compostela through northern Spain.

Medieval "Santiago Matamoros" legend

An even later tradition states that he miraculously appeared to fight for the Christian army during the legendary battle of Clavijo, and was henceforth called Santiago Matamoros (Saint James the Moor-slayer). ¡Santiago, y cierra, España! ("St. James and strike for Spain") was the traditional battle cry of medieval Spanish (Christian) armies. Miguel de Cervantes has Don Quixote explaining that "the great knight of the russet cross was given by God to Spain as patron and protector".

Emblem
James' emblem was the scallop shell (or "cockle shell"), and pilgrims to his shrine often wore that symbol on their hats or clothes. The French term for a scallop is coquille St. Jacques, which means "cockle (or mollusc) of [St.] Jacob". The German word for a scallop is Jakobsmuschel, which means "Jacob's mussel (or clam)"; the Dutch word is Jacobsschelp, meaning "Jacob's shell". In Danish and with the same meaning as in Dutch, the word is Ibskal – Ib being a Danish version of the name "Jakob" and skal meaning "shell".

Military Order of Santiago
The military Order of Santiago, named after Saint Tiago or Saint James, was founded in Spain in the 12th century to fight the Moors. Later, as in other orders of chivalry, the membership became a mark of honor.

Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that in 1829 the Apostles James, Peter and John appeared as heavenly messengers to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and conferred upon them the Melchizedek priesthood authority of apostolic succession, and thus exclusively on earth to their organization.

According to the teaching, this occurred sometime after May 15, 1829, when John the Baptist similarly appeared to Smith and Cowdery and conferred upon them the Aaronic, or lesser, priesthood, stating that he was doing so under the direction of James, Peter and John.

In Islam
The Quranic account of the disciples of Jesus does not include their names, numbers, or any detailed accounts of their lives. Muslim exegesis, however, more or less agrees with the New Testament list and says that the disciples included Peter, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, Andrew, James, Jude, John and Simon the Zealot.

title: James the Great


text:
Ali (film)

Ali is a 2001 American biographical sports drama film co-written, produced and directed by Michael Mann. The film focuses on ten years in the life of the boxer Muhammad Ali, played by Will Smith, from 1964 to 1974, featuring his capture of the heavyweight title from Sonny Liston, his conversion to Islam, criticism of the Vietnam War, and banishment from boxing, his return to fight Joe Frazier in 1971, and, finally, his reclaiming the title from George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle fight of 1974. It also touches on the great social and political upheaval in the United States following the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

The project began in 1992 when producer Paul Ardaji optioned the movie rights to Muhammad Ali's life story. In 1992, Ardaji visited Ali on his 50th birthday and persuaded him to allow a film to be made about his life. Nearing the end of his option period, Ardaji signed a contract with Sony Pictures, joining forces with producer Jon Peters as producing partner. In February 2000, it was announced that Mann had taken over as a director, following his Academy Award nomination for The Insider. Filming began in Los Angeles on January 11, 2001, on a $105 million budget, shooting took place in New York City, Chicago, Miami, and Mozambique.

Ali was well received by critics, but was a box-office bomb, grossing just $87 million against a production budget of approximately $118 million. Will Smith and Jon Voight received Academy Award nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively.

Plot
The film begins with Cassius Clay Jr. before his championship debut against the heavyweight champion Sonny Liston. Clay taunts Liston then dominates the early rounds of the match. Halfway through, he complains of a burning feeling in his eyes (implying that Liston has tried to cheat) and says he is unable to continue. His trainer/manager Angelo Dundee gets him to keep fighting. Once Clay sees again, he dominates the fight and Liston quits before round seven, making Clay the second-youngest heavyweight champion at the time after Floyd Patterson.

Clay spends time with Malcolm X and is invited to the home of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad, where he is given the name Muhammad Ali. His father, Cassius Clay Sr., disapproves. Ali marries Sonji Roi, an ex-Playboy Bunny, although she is not Muslim and does not abide sex segregation. Ali goes to Africa and meets up with Malcolm X, but later refuses to speak to him, honoring the wishes of Elijah Muhammad. He is distraught over the assassination of Malcolm X.

Upon returning to America, Ali fights Sonny Liston a second time and knocks him out in the first round. He and Sonji divorce after she objects to various obligations Muslim women have.

Ali refuses conscription for the Vietnam War and is stripped of his boxing license, passport, and title, and sentenced to five years in prison. Ali marries 17-year-old Belinda Boyd. After a three-year hiatus, his conviction is overturned in Clay v. United States, and in his comeback fight, he goes against Jerry Quarry and wins by technical knockout in three rounds. Ali attempts to regain the heavyweight championship against Joe Frazier. In the "Fight of the Century", Frazier generally has the upper hand against Ali and wins by decision, the first loss of Ali's career. Frazier later loses the championship to George Foreman.

Foreman and Ali go to Kinshasa, Zaire, for the Rumble in the Jungle fight. There, Ali meets Veronica Porché and has an affair with her. After reading rumors of his infidelity in newspapers, his wife Belinda travels to Zaire to confront him. Ali says he is unsure whether he loves Veronica, but is focused solely on his upcoming title shot.

For a good portion of the fight against Foreman, Ali leans back against the ropes (Rope-a-dope) allowing Foreman to tire himself out. He then knocks out the exhausted Foreman, regaining the Heavyweight Championship.

Cast

 * Will Smith as Cassius Clay Jr. / Cassius X / Muhammad Ali
 * Jamie Foxx as Drew Bundini Brown - Ali's assistant trainer
 * Jon Voight as Howard Cosell - A journalist
 * Mario Van Peebles as Malcolm X - Ali's friend, and a civil rights leader
 * Ron Silver as Angelo Dundee - Ali's trainer
 * Jeffrey Wright as Howard Bingham - Ali's photographer
 * Mykelti Williamson as Don King - A promoter who arranged Ali's fight against Foreman
 * Jada Pinkett Smith as Sonji Roi - An ex-Playboy bunny
 * Nona Gaye as Belinda Boyd / Khalilah Ali - A woman who interviewed Ali as a child
 * Michael Michele as Veronica Porché - A woman who worked with Don King
 * Joe Morton as Chauncey Eskridge - Ali's lawyer
 * Paul Rodriguez as Dr. Ferdie Pacheco - Ali's doctor
 * Bruce McGill as Bradley - A government agent
 * Barry Shabaka Henley as Herbert Muhammad - Ali's manager, and the son of Elijah Muhammad
 * Giancarlo Esposito as Cassius Clay Sr. - Ali's father
 * Laurence Mason as Luis Sarria
 * LeVar Burton as Martin Luther King Jr. - A civil rights leader
 * Albert Hall as Elijah Muhammad - Leader of the Nation of Islam
 * David Cubitt as Robert Lipsyte - A journalist
 * Michael Bentt as Sonny Liston - The boxing champion at the beginning of the movie
 * Robert Sale as Jerry Quarry - One of Ali's opponents
 * James Toney as Joe Frazier - One of Ali's opponents
 * Charles Shufford as George Foreman - One of Ali's opponents
 * David Haines as Rudy Clay / Rahaman Ali - Ali's brother
 * Leon Robinson as Brother Joe
 * Ted Levine as Joe Smiley - A government agent
 * Malick Bowens as Joseph Mobutu - The President of Zaire
 * Victoria Dillard as Betty Shabazz - Malcolm X's wife
 * David Elliott as Sam Cooke - A musician
 * Brad Greenquist as Marlin Thomas
 * Graham Clarke as a Reporter in Zaire

Production
The project began in 1992 when producer Paul Ardaji optioned the movie rights to Muhammad Ali's life story. In 1992, Ardaji visited Ali on his 50th birthday and persuaded him to allow a film to be made about his life. Nearing the end of his option period, Ardaji signed a contract with Sony Pictures, joining forces with producer Jon Peters as producing partner. Producer Jon Peters started developing the film in 1994. Gregory Allen Howard wrote the initial draft of the script, which had the working title Power and Grace. Howard's draft focused on Ali's life from 12 to 40 years old, and his relationship with his father. Howard was replaced by writers Stephen J. Rivele and Chris Wilkinson, and by 1998 the biopic was set up at Columbia Pictures, with Will Smith attached to star and the possibility of Ron Howard directing. During the filming of Wild Wild West, Smith presented director Barry Sonnenfeld with the script. Columbia was hoping for filming to start towards the end of 1998, but it was pushed back, and Sonnenfeld exited in November 1999. It was speculated that Columbia was hesitant to move forward with Sonnenfeld following the disappointing box office performance of Wild Wild West. In February 2000, it was announced that Michael Mann had taken over as director, following his Academy Award nomination for The Insider. Prior to Mann's involvement, Spike Lee had been in negotiations to direct the film, feeling that only a black man could do justice to Ali's story. Smith, however, preferred Mann, who turned down the opportunity to direct early versions of The Aviator, Shooter and Savages to commit to Ali, and brought Eric Roth on to co-write the script. After years of being attached to the Ali biopic, Smith officially signed on in May 2000 with a $20 million salary.

Filming began in Los Angeles on January 11, 2001, on a $105 million budget. Shooting also took place in New York City, Chicago, Miami and Mozambique.

Smith spent about one year learning about Ali's life. These included boxing training (up to seven hours a day), Islamic studies with Wiljah Akbar, and dialect training. Smith has said that his portrayal of Ali is his proudest work to date.

One of the selling points of the film is the realism of the fight scenes. Smith worked alongside boxing promoter Guy Sharpe from SharpeShooter Entertainment, and his lead fighter Ross Kent, to get the majority of his boxing tips for the film. All of the boxers in the film are former or current world heavyweight championship-caliber boxers. It was quickly decided that 'Hollywood fighting'—passing the fist (or foot) between the camera and the face to create the illusion of a hit—would not be used in favor of actual boxing. The only limitation placed upon the fighters was for Charles Shufford (who plays George Foreman). He was permitted to hit Smith as hard as he could, so long as he did not actually knock the actor out.

Smith had to gain weight to look the part of Muhammad Ali.

Box office
Ali opened on December 25, 2001, and grossed a total of $14.7 million in 2,446 theaters during its opening weekend. The film went on to gross a total of $87.7 million worldwide.

Due to its high production and marketing costs, the film ended up losing Columbia Pictures as much as $100 million. The film's failure was partly due to its competition with The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 68% based on 156 reviews, with an average rating of 6.30/10. The site's critics consensus: "Though perhaps no film could fully do justice to the fascinating life and personality of Muhammad Ali, Mann's direction and Smith's performance combine to pack a solid punch." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert derided the film with two stars in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, and mentioned, "it lacks much of the flash, fire and humor of Muhammad Ali and is shot more in the tone of a eulogy than a celebration". In Variety magazine, Todd McCarthy wrote, "The director's visual and aural dapplings are strikingly effective at their best, but over the long haul don't represent a satisfactory alternative to in-depth dramatic scenes; one longs, for example, for even one sequence in which Ali and Dundee discuss boxing strategy or assess an opponent", but he did have praise for the performances: "The cast is outstanding, from Smith, who carries the picture with consummate skill, and Voight, who is unrecognizable under all the makeup but nails Cosell's distinctive vocal cadences". USA Today gave the film two and half stars out of four and stated that, "for many Ali fans, the movie may be good enough, but some perspective is in order. The documentaries a.k.a. Cassius Clay and the Oscar-winning When We Were Kings cover a lot of the same ground and are consistently more engaging".

In The New York Times, Elvis Mitchell proclaimed Ali to be a "breakthrough" film for Mann, adding that it was his "first movie with feeling" and that "his overwhelming love of its subject will turn audiences into exuberant, thrilled fight crowds". J. Hoberman, in his review for the Village Voice, felt that the "first half percolates wonderfully—and the first half hour is even better than that. Mann opens with a thrilling montage that, spinning in and out of a nightclub performance by Sam Cooke, contextualizes the hero in his times", and concluded that, "Ali's astonishing personality is skillfully evoked but, in the end, remains a mystery".

When Ali died on June 3, 2016, Smith was chosen to be one of Ali's pallbearers for the memorial service in Louisville.

Alternate versions
Ali was released theatrically in 2001 at a length of 157 minutes; this version was released on DVD in 2002. Mann then re-edited the film, creating a new Director's Cut that ran 165 minutes and was released on DVD in 2004; approximately 4 minutes of theatrical footage was removed, while 14 minutes of previously unseen footage was inserted. The Director's Cut also featured an audio commentary by Mann

In 2016 Mann created a third cut, significantly re-editing the film in the wake of Ali's death. He deleted one fight and added scenes and footage focusing on the political side of Ali's life. This version runs 152 minutes and was released in 2017 on Blu-Ray as the Commemorative Edition.

title: Ali (film)