Soylent Green
Short description
In 2022, New York City is crushed by overcrowding and pollution, with tens of millions of residents competing for scarce food and water. Most people survive on rationed synthetic wafers manufactured by the Soylent corporation. When a board member of that company is murdered, detective Robert Thorn takes the case, and the inquiry draws him toward the truth behind the product the population depends on.
Richard Fleischer directed the film, the sixteenth of the twenty-three features listed for him, arriving between See No Evil and Mr. Majestyk. Stanley R. Greenberg wrote the screenplay, and Walter Seltzer and Russell Thacher produced. Charlton Heston plays Thorn, with Leigh Taylor-Young as Shirl, Chuck Connors as Tab Fielding, Joseph Cotten as William R. Simonson, Brock Peters as Chief Hatcher and Paula Kelly as Martha Phillips among a credited cast of forty-four. It was made for about four million dollars and returned roughly the same amount worldwide.
On IMDb the film holds 7 out of 10 from around 75,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.9 out of 10 from about 1,490 votes. A critics' rating of 6.4 out of 10 from forty reviews places it somewhat below the audience scores, though all three sit in similar territory.
What's left behind the scenes
- During filming, Edward G. Robinson (1893-1973) was already almost completely deaf. He could only hear if something was said directly into his ear. Scenes of his conversations with other people had to be reshot several times until he finally grasped the rhythm of the dialogue. When director Richard Fleischer (1916-2006) called “Cut!”, Robinson often didn’t hear him and continued to play the scene by inertia.
- The chase scene in the film's finale was shot without any lines or dialogue, as screenwriter Stanley R. Greenberg (1927-2002) did not want it to become an action film. Moreover, the contract specifically stipulated that no lines or dialogue could be added to the film (or removed during editing, for that matter) beyond what was indicated in the script.
- When Thorne, played by Charlton Heston (1923-2008), learns that he failed to prevent Sol Roth's (played by Robinson) suicide, he begins to cry. According to a 1997 interview with Robert Osborne, Heston genuinely wept – he was so moved by Robinson's performance. Robinson himself already knew he had cancer but kept it a secret from the other actors and crew members. He also knew that this would be his last film. He passed away ten days after filming wrapped.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
