State of Play is a 2009 political thriller, based on six parts of the British television series of the same name first aired on BBC One in 2003. The plot of the six-hour series summarized to fit the two-hour movie format, with the location transformed into Washington, DC The film was directed by Kevin Macdonald from a screenplay written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tony Gilroy, Peter Morgan, and Billy Ray.
This film tells the investigation of a journalist (Russell Crowe) into the suspicious death of a congressman (Ben Affleck) mistress. Supporters include Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, Jason Bateman, Robin Wright Penn and Jeff Daniels. Macdonald said that the State of Play was influenced by films of the 1970s and explored the subject of the privatization topic of American Homeland Security and to a small degree of journalistic independence, along with the relationship between politicians and the press. It was released in North America on April 17, 2009. The film generally received positive reviews.
Video State of Play (film)
Plot
One night, a thief ran through Georgetown in Washington, D.C., shot by a man carrying a suitcase. A pizza delivery man who witnessed the incident was also shot by the killer and left in a coma. The next morning, a young woman was killed by the Washington Metro train in what appeared to be suicide. Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) is desperate to hear that the woman is Sonia Baker (Maria Thayer), a principal investigator on her staff. Collins, who has military experience, led the investigation into PointCorp, a private defense contractor with a controversial operation involving mercenaries. Collins tells his former roommate at college and old friend Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe), an investigative reporter, that he has had an affair with Sonia and that he has sent him a cheerful video message on the morning of his death, which he says is inconsistent and unusual behavior for someone who would commit suicide.
Della Frye (Rachel McAdams), a reporter and blogger with the online division of Cal newspaper and editor, Cameron Lynne (Helen Mirren), found that Sonia's death occurred in one of three CCTV blind spots in the Metro camera system. Cal was convinced the shooting was related to Sonia's death and found a connection between a small thief and a homeless girl looking for Cal. The girl gave him a picture that the thief, his friend, had been stolen from the killer's suitcase. The photographs showed Sonia's surveillance picture talking to a well-dressed man. Della visits the hospital where the pizza delivery guy starts to wake up and watches his assassination by an invisible sniper. Later, he reviewed the CCTV footage and recognized a man he had seen at the hospital.
It is then revealed that PointCorp stood to earn EUR36.95 billion (more than $ 24.3 billion in 2009) annually from mercenary activities in the Middle East and within the country. Cal talks to Collins, who shares his research findings - PointCorp works with other defense contractors to create a monopoly and buy government oversight and defense contracts, essentially privatizing US security from the government. The insider Cal's PointCorp returns with the address of someone related to the suspected killer. Cal finds the killer who lives there and summoned the police, who forced the man to disappear after he shot Cal.
Della, after a closer lead, discovers the identity of the well-dressed man who speaks to Sonia in the photographs listed. He is Dominic Foy (Jason Bateman), a public relations executive who works for a PointCorp subsidiary. Cal blackmailed him to talk about his activities with Sonia and quietly recorded their conversation. The PR executive disclosed that Sonia was actually paid to spy on Collins and seduce him for information for PointCorp, but he fell in love with Collins and became pregnant with his son when he was killed.
Before Cal's paper went to the press, Collins continued to record to present his research to PointCorp. Former wife of Collins, Anne (Robin Wright Penn), whose conversation with Cal seems to imply a triangle of past love coming from their college days, reveals that she knows the amount of money Sonia receives from PointCorp, having only heard Collins' statement to the newspaper. After the couple left, Cal realized that Collins already knew that Sonia worked for PointCorp. Cal wondered what Collins would do if he found out he'd been tricked and whether Collins himself was connected to Sonia's killer. Collins's drawing of his military days, with the assassin in the frame, confirms Cal's allegations. Collins reveals that he has suspected Sonia, and that he hired a hit man to keep an eye on him. The assassin was the US Army Corporal Robert Bingham (Michael Berresse), whose life Collins had once survived. Collins said that Bingham hated PointCorp more than he did, and that he killed Sonia without authorization from him.
Cal tells Collins that he has three minutes to leave his office before the police arrive, because he's already contacted them. As he left the building, Cal was confronted by Bingham. Officers arrived and shot Bingham before he opened fire. Cal went and went to his office. There, Cal and Della typed in their own story, noting that Collins was secured and arrested.
Maps State of Play (film)
Cast
For movie adaptation, certain character names are changed:
- The Della's surname changed from "Smith" to "Frye".
- Cameron's last name was changed from "Foster" to "Lynne," and clearly the gender of the changed character.
- Andrew's last name was changed from "Wilson" to "Pell".
- Det. Bell's first name was changed from "William" to "Donald".
Production
The mini-series was written by Paul Abbott and aired on BBC One's UK television channel in May-June 2003 and at BBC America in April 2004. Abbott was initially reluctant to sell his film rights to the State of Play. >, fearing the compression version of his mini-series would not work, but in May 2004, a seven-digit Paramount Pictures bid led by producer Scott Rudin was accepted. The offer won over an offer from Andrew Hauptman Mission Pictures (backed by Warner Bros.), but the deal failed before it was completed. After the second bidding war, Mission acquired rights to Universal Pictures in December 2004.
Director Kevin Macdonald has long been attached to the project, although early reports suggested screenwriter Matthew Michael Carnahan was set to make the film his directorial debut. Macdonald is a fan of the original mini series, and says it will be a "hard act to follow". He said it was a fusion of topical fictions and topics of journalism and politics that drew him to the project, adding that he wanted to examine the ways in which Americans and Europeans are learning what is going on in the world, and for what titles of newspapers and evening news can be trusted. He said that in an age when people read fewer newspapers, he wants to explore the need for reliable information and threats to the journalism profession from collusion between journalists and politicians, and that the film will "ask [questions] about how independent the press is, how many actual investigations are being made, and how much is taken on the beliefs of lobbyists or PR sheets. "Macdonald cites 1970s films, All Men of the President in particular, as a major influence, saying that while he's afraid of comparisons with film accounts from the Watergate scandal, State of Play will mainly be part of the entertainment.
According to Carnahan, the core issue of the story (and the main factor behind its desire to write an adaptation) is the question asked about whether a person will be justified in doing "a terrible thing" if they do great deeds in other areas of their lives. Carnahan began working on the revised manuscript with Macdonald, but the process was interrupted when Carnahan's daughter fell ill. When he chose to focus his time on his family, the task was handed over to scriptwriter Bourne Tony Gilroy, who performed a small rewrite based on Carnahan's records. Further rewrites were made by writer The Queen Peter Morgan and Shattered Glass writer/director Billy Ray.
The film was made for Universal Pictures by Working Title Films. Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan produced for Working Title, alongside E. Bennett Walsh, and Andrew Hauptman from Andell Entertainment and Eric Hayes. Executive Paul Abbott was produced with Liza Chasin and Debra Hayward. Kristen Lowe and Maradith Frenkel are overseers for the studio. State of Play will be released in the US towards the end of 2008, but begins pending for production viewing dates changed to 17 April 2009. State of Play was released in the UK on April 24, 2009 , and was released in Australia on May 28, 2009.
Casting
Brad Pitt has a long relationship with the lead role. He was initially interested in the project after watching the documentary Macdonald Touching the Void (2003), and has enjoyed the film The director of The Last King of Scotland (2006). Macdonald has also worked with Pitt's production company Plan B Entertainment on potential future projects. Pitt officially committed to starring in the State of Play in August 2007 after Tony Gilroy's rewriting was completed. He visited the newsroom The Washington Post with Macdonald in September 2007 to examine the role, spent four hours "talking shop" with political journalists and investigators, but a week before filming will begin in November 2007, he left production.
Producer Eric Fellner tried to convince Pitt to remain in the film, but Pitt disagrees with the studio about the changes he has made to the script since he originally agreed to star. The CAA talent agency (representing Pitt) stated that he never signed the change; Macdonald delayed filming a week to perform scenes-by-scenes scenes with Pitt; in the end, the director told the actor "I do not think we want to make the same movie." When Pitt decided to get out of the film, he called the director himself to say it. Pitt preferred the version closer to the original Carnahan draft and wanted to postpone the filming until after the resolution of the 2007-2008 Guild Writers strike, which would allow further rewriting. The studio preferred to press with production, and initially said it was to sue Pitt for denying a "pay or play" deal, which would earn him $ 20 million. Settlement negotiations then lead to the disbursement of relations between the parties. Pitt then said of the situation: "I have a firm belief about what [film] should be, and the director has a definite belief [and] we rise up against this writers' strike where we can not combine the two.
Macdonald traveled to Australia to court Crowe's involvement, which prevented the film's neglect after Pitt left. Crowe also had to negotiate with the studio about the shooting date to avoid a conflict with Nottingham, then he changed his name to "Robin Hood"), which he will star for director Ridley Scott in March 2008. Crowe says jump straight to the it's similar to immediately taking on the role of a young jobbing actor. He had never seen the series, and it seemed incomparable to the six hours telling the story to a two-hour adaptation. The majority of Crowe's three hours per day in hair and makeup preparations were spent hiding his "very long" hair, which he developed for his title role in Robin Hood. During the filming in Washington, D.C., Crowe received an education in journalism from Metro Washington Post Editor ', R.B. Brenner. Universal production president Donna Langley says Crowe's performance is something naturalistic, and claiming State of Play is a movie different from the movie that will be made if Pitt stays there.
The British newspaper The Independent noted that renting American actor A-List (Pitt) for the lead role was to marginalize the original McAffrey actor John Simm, who he said "is widely considered one of the best television actors to emerge in the last few years "and the re-forming is" the latest example of the tendency of British actors to be replaced by Americans. " The Stage television writer Liz Thomas says that while it's frustrating for British actors, such foundry makes sense commercially good, expressed the hope that the film would be a "big advertisement" or "store window" for such projects to get out of the UK in recent years.
In the shooting scenes at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., production uses the presence of some real-world journalists among the extras in scenes where Wright-Penn's character makes a statement to the press. The group includes Bob Woodward, Margaret Carlson, Bob Schieffer, John Palmer, E. J. Dionne, Katty Kay, and Steven Clemons. In addition the feature is a brilliant acting by real life news media commentator Lou Dobbs from CNN and Chris Matthews from MSNBC. Long-time Washington, DC sports broadcaster Frank Herzog also has a no-speak cameo as a congressman present at PointCorp events. Journalist and Clinton journalist Cody Shearer is credited as a consultant on the film. Steve Clemons observed that "Crowe's style, language, posture, everything - should be modeled on Cody Shearer."
Affleck replaced Edward Norton, who had joined the project in September 2007, but when production start was delayed due to Pitt's departure, scheduling conflicts flourished for Norton with Leaves of Grass, which he committed to the movie for Tim Blake Nelson in early 2008. Norton asked Universal Pictures if he could be replaced, and a deal was made between the studio and Endeavor Talent Agency (which represents Norton and Affleck) to allow Norton to leave production peacefully. Crowe is partly interested in the project because of Norton's involvement, but he and Affleck have "so many same touching stones" he's okay with recasting. Affleck visited Capitol Hill to investigate his role, meeting with Chairman Nancy Pelosi, Representative Anthony D. Weiner from New York's 9th congress district, and members of the Massachusetts congress delegation. In an April 2009 interview to promote the film, Affleck said that he drew Gary Condit's experience, Elliot Spitzer, and John Edwards while preparing for his role.
Filming
The main photography took place between January 11, 2008 and April 6, 2008. The filming was originally scheduled to begin in November 2007, but was postponed due to Brad Pitt's unexpected departure from production. Eric Fellner pointed out that the film was almost abandoned, and credited Universal chairman and co-chairman (Marc Shmuger and David Linde) by looking at the film for production.
The first eight weeks of filming took place in Los Angeles, which accounted for most of the filming schedule. A "big" newsroom was built to serve as an operations hub for the Washington Globe fictional newspaper. Jacqueline West's costume designer shows that she looks into the Washington Post's newsroom for inspiration, and uses photos of The Baltimore Sun > to help her develop the appearance of journalists.. Production was transferred to Washington, DC for a five-week shooting location towards the end of the shoot, starting on March 6, 2008. More than a third of the State of Play was shot in Washington, DC, with filming all over the city. Movie makers estimate that State of Play may have set a record for the longest studio shoot in town. Locations include the Adams Morgan, Shaw, and Mount Pleasant neighborhoods. The scene mounted on Mount Pleasant Street was also filmed in Los Angeles studios, where a full replica of the strip facade was built. In Georgetown, The District Line man's clothing store is converted into a household utensil store to shoot a chase scene for the movie opening sequence.
Filming took place on various streets in Washington, DC, including the U Road Corridor, and in "almost every major building", including outside the World Bank headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue, around Capitol Hill, in the Supreme Court building, outside the Library of Congress, and at the Washington Monument. Other locations include Ben's Chili Bowl's renowned restaurant, where restaurant workers are employed in addition, and Maine Avenue Fish Market. The Americana Hotel in Crystal City is also used for scenes where McAffrey interrogates Dominic Foy. The exterior of the building of the Department of Housing and Urban Development is used to double as the entrance of the hospital. In preparation for filming, photographs eight feet two feet by three feet Alphonso Jackson's secretary was removed from the entrance. "Production workweek" is Wednesday to Sunday, as some of the government buildings shown can not be used for filming during regular business days. Harbor Square Owners Cooperative Complex in Washington, D.C. duplicated as the home of the Affleck character.
A key scene where characters are struck by trains take place in Washington Metro. The shoot for the scene took place at Rosslyn Metro station in Virginia. Rosslyn Station was chosen because it was the only station on the Metro system to have a long escalator leading to the platform, with trains passing at the same time at the top and bottom levels. Filming is also done at night on two carriages at Forest Glen Metro station in Maryland.
Permission to film on the stations was given after the text was examined by the Metro media office, which distinguishes well what production is allowed to be filmed on the Metro. After the deaths of three Metro employees in 2006, the office was reluctant to allow the filming of the scene, but because the script did not explicitly indicate death, the office agreed. The scene on the Metro must meet stringent standards for logistics and safety. Illegal portrayal of the system is not allowed, nor does it indicate the character of eating, drinking, jumping over the tariff gate, or running on the tracks. Production must also approve film scenes at a busy Rosslyn station at times when the least busy system: late at night and after peak hours. Producer E. Bennett Walsh said that the production chose not to shoot in the less strict Baltimore subway, which has replaced Washington, DC in other films opposing Metro rules, "To shoot other subways you'll know you not in Washington. "
The scene was filmed at the Watergate complex, where production was granted permission to use the roof of the George Washington University campus building. The scene was also filmed at the St. Medical Mortor's morgue. Mary in Long Beach, California. Washington, DCC police Quintin Peterson was hired as a consultant on the film. Peterson, who has acted as a script consultant and technical adviser on various production in the city, helped the production to accurately depict the forces of the city police.
The filming took place on the steps of the Scottish Rite Freemasonry temple in Washington, D. Maryland Wilson Blair High School provides marching bands for the background. They joined players from the school's production of Beauty and the Beast music and students from the Winter guard at Paint Branch High School to act as a color guard for the scene. Macdonald's goal was to recreate the famous 1970s Canadian photographs, depicting swirling grips, to emphasize the militaristic theme and to comment on weapons in American society. The aesthetics also appealed to Macdonald: "it is very colorful and beautiful and very American - like a piece of anthropology in America."
The majority of filming during the last three weeks of filming took place at night. The shoot for this scene usually starts at 5:00. and finished at 5:00 am. A scene filmed under the Lock Bridge in Georgetown on April 6, 2008 is the last in a major photography stage.
Effects
The director of photography Rodrigo Prieto indicated that the film was taken in two different visual styles: the scene showing the media was taken in anamorphic format on 35 mm film, while the politics-focused scene was taken in high-definition video with Panavision. The incident of a digital video camera. The handheld camera has been used. For color management, Prieto uses Gamma & amp; 3cP Density Company's color management and color correction software, using the American Color of Cinematographers' Color Decision List to keep the color consistent during shooting, daily, post-processing and digital settlement. Digital effects are handled by Rhythm and Hues.
Music
Alex Heffes, who provided music for One Day's Macdonald's One Day , Touching Void , and The Last King of Scotland , printed the movie. It was recorded in England. Heffes points out that he prefers to print the dialogue rather than through it. As well as recording his earlier works, Heffes will perform his own orchestra to allow reassessment during recording sessions. Macdonald prefers to involve Heffes in the early stages of production, and in the unusual motion for studio films, he has written several music to the State of Play prior to main photography, purely based on the manuscript. Heffes says this is to provide clues in the direction the film will take. He says that he and Macdonald have decided to take the score into an unusual, "remote" path, and that the prospect is "liberating" one. Grammy Award-winning record producer "Flood" (aka Mark Ellis) works with Heffes on score. Heffes says that working with Ellis "opened his mind" and that they were trying to push the limit. He said that in generating scores, Floods brought the aesthetic to record unusual instruments for film recording sessions.
The song sung by Cal McAffrey at the beginning of the film is a Newfoundland folk song entitled The Night Paddy Murphy Died sung by Canada's Great Great Sea band. Russell Crowe has had an extended personal and professional relationship with the band and lead singer, Alan Doyle.
The song heard during the end of the credits is Long As I Can See The Light by John Fogerty of Credence Clearwater Revival
Reception
On the aggregator of the Rotten Tomatoes review, State Of Play holds an 84% approval rating based on 209 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The important consensus of the site reads, "A political thriller that strains and acts with well, State of Play overcame some obscure plot plots with smart script and fast directions. " Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigns the film a weighted average score of 64 out of 100 based on 36 critics, demonstrating "favorable general reviews".
Philip Kemp of Total Films calls it "a winding substantial thriller" and says "This is not extraordinary as the source but the changes that are carried out largely improve rather than ruin the story." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times described this film as "an ingenious clever film," and he went on to say, "There are many other surprises in this movie, which really fool me several times. and maintaining a certain level of credibility for the thriller ".
References
External links
- Official website
- Play Status on IMDb
- Play Status in the TCM Movie Database
- Play Status in AllMovie
- Play Status at Rotten Tomatoes
- State of Play in Metacritic
- State of Play in Box Office Mojo
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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