Amistad

Amistad (1997)

Timing: 2:35 (155 min)

7.025/10
1255

7.215/10
9958

7.3/10
87000

All about film

Video 3

Photo 30

Actors and characters

Release date

1997-12-10

Country

United States

Production

DreamWorks Pictures, HBO Films

Genre

Drama, History, Mystery

Budget

$36 000 000

Revenue

$44 229 441

Website

Director

Steven Spielberg

Actors

Morgan Freeman, Nigel Hawthorne, Anthony Hopkins, Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, David Paymer, Pete Postlethwaite, Stellan Skarsgård, Razaaq Adoti, Abu Bakaar Fofanah
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

David Franzoni

Producer

Steven Spielberg, Colin Wilson, Debbie Allen, Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald

Operator

Janusz Kamiński

Composer

John Williams

Artist

Audition

Victoria Thomas, Tere López

Editing

Michael Kahn
All team (74)

• The rights to adapt Owen's book were acquired back in 1984, but future producer Debbie Allen suggested Spielberg direct after filming 'Schindler's List'.
• This was the first film directed by Spielberg at the DreamWorks SKG studio, where he was a co-owner and co-founder.
• Before the film's release, writer Barbara Chase-Riboud sued Spielberg, accusing him of basing his film on her novel 'Echo of Lions,' published in Italy. Spielberg's studio won the lawsuit.
• Initially, Denzel Washington was considered for the role of Cinqué, but the actor ultimately declined.
• Among those considered for the roles were renowned actors from world cinema: the Scottish Sean Connery did not get the role of President Adams (it was taken by the Englishman Hopkins), and Cuba Gooding Jr. was considered for the role of Cinqué.
• Perhaps the actors vying for the role of Cinqué were confused by Spielberg's requirement to voice the role only in the Mende language. Throughout the entire role, this character speaks only six English words.
• Joseph Cinqué's real name was Sengbe Pieh.
• The schooner 'Amistad' was played by the Baltimore clipper 'Pride of Baltimore'.
• The opening scene, in which armed slaves fight back against the ship's crew, was cut for Jamaican cinemas. The reason was that the majority of Jamaican residents are descendants of slaves from West Africa, and such a brutal scene could 'offend the memory of their ancestors'.
• Denzel Washington was initially considered for the role of Cinqué, but the actor ultimately declined.
• Anthony Hopkins astonished the entire film crew by flawlessly performing the delivery of a speech in the courtroom (which spanned seven pages in the script) on his very first take. The film's director and producer, Steven Spielberg, was so impressed by this that he stopped addressing the actor by the name “Tony” and began calling him exclusively “Sir Anthony”.
• In the town of Mystic, on the banks of the river of the same name, stands the America & Sea Museum. A replica of the ship 'Amistad' was built there, and some scenes were filmed there as well, particularly the scene in which the lawyer for the defendants finds an interpreter.
• The opening scene, in which armed slaves fight back against the ship's crew, was cut for Jamaican cinemas. This was because the majority of Jamaicans are descendants of slaves from West Africa, and such a violent scene could 'offend the memory of their ancestors'.