White House Down
Short description
John Cale works for the Capitol Police in Washington and has just been turned down for the Secret Service assignment he wanted, protecting President James Sawyer. Rather than tell his young daughter Emily the disappointing news, he takes her along on a tour of the White House. While they are inside, a heavily armed paramilitary group seizes the complex, leaving the government in disarray. Cale, the only person in a position to act, tries to keep Emily and the president safe.
Roland Emmerich directed the film, the eleventh of the fifteen features he has made in chronological order, following Anonymous and preceding Stonewall. James Vanderbilt wrote the screenplay, and Larry J. Franco, Harald Kloser and Emmerich produced. Channing Tatum plays Cale, Jamie Foxx plays Sawyer, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, Richard Jenkins and Joey King appear alongside them. The production, mounted by Columbia Pictures with Centropolis Entertainment, Street Entertainment and Iron Horse Entertainment, was large: it cost about 150 million USD and returned roughly 205 million USD worldwide.
Audiences have been moderate in their assessment. On IMDb the film holds 6.3 out of 10 from around 248,000 votes, and on TMDB it sits at 6.5 out of 10 from more than 5,000 votes. A critics' rating of 5.4 out of 10 from 200 reviews places it below both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- After completing the research process, artist Kirk M. Petruccelli hired an army of 300 carpenters, 45 sculptors, 32 set decorators, and 16 artists who began building the set. To build the White House, producers had to rent all of the soundstages at Mel’s Cite du Cinema in Montreal. In addition to the White House, Petruccelli’s team built numerous other sets, including the Capitol corridors, the utility rooms of the Capitol and the White House, the streets of Washington, both presidential planes, the Pentagon bunker, the presidential emergency operations center, Secret Service offices, the South Lawn, and the presidential limousine.
- Three identical presidential limousines were needed for filming. To create them, a car was carved from a massive block of foam to almost full size with the finest details. After the foam car was ready, a mold was taken and the body was cast from fiberglass. Then, a classic Suburban suspension was slightly lengthened and the body was attached to it. An LS1 Corvette engine was used during assembly.
- The entire film takes place inside and outside the White House, which couldn't be filmed even from a distance, let alone inside. Therefore, the White House and its surroundings for several blocks in all directions had to be built on a computer, down to every tree, fence, and guardhouse.
- At the beginning of the film, during a tour of the White House, the tour guide mentions the film "Independence Day" (1996), also directed by Roland Emmerich.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
