Don't Say a Word
Short description
Nathan Conrad is a respected New York psychiatrist with a wife and young daughter. On Thanksgiving, his life is upended when his daughter Jessie is taken from the family's apartment. The kidnappers, led by Patrick Koster, are not after money. They want information that only one person can provide: Elisabeth Burrows, a deeply withdrawn young woman who has spent years in psychiatric care and who holds a six-digit number in her memory. To get his daughter back, Nathan must reach Elisabeth and persuade her to reveal what she has refused to tell anyone.
The film is a crime thriller directed by Gary Fleder, his third feature after Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead and Kiss the Girls, and the fourth of seven titles he directed. Michael Douglas plays Nathan, with Sean Bean as Koster, Brittany Murphy as Elisabeth, Skye McCole Bartusiak as Jessie and Jennifer Esposito as a police detective. Patrick Smith Kelly and Anthony Peckham wrote the screenplay.
Made for a budget of about 50 million US dollars, the film took in roughly twice that amount worldwide. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.3 from about 66,000 votes, and on TMDB it also stands at 6.3, from around 1,120 votes. A critics' rating of 4.9 from 114 reviews places it below the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- An abandoned Toronto subway station was used as the filming location for the underground station. $150,000 was spent on the set design. The Toronto city administration was so impressed with the transformed station that its representatives asked the filmmakers not to dismantle the set after filming, hoping to attract other film crews in the future. Approximately three weeks later, fire inspectors concluded that the station’s set design posed a fire hazard (it consisted of steel beams, signs, and benches, i.e., plastic and wood), so it was dismantled.
- During filming, Sean Bean actually spoke on a cell phone with Michael Douglas and Famke Janssen.
- While searching for an actor to play the pathologist, director Gary Fleder told casting director Avy Kaufman that he needed someone “like Victor Argo” (1934-2004), to which she suggested simply casting Argo himself in the role.
- The film's premiere was scheduled for two weeks after the September 11th attacks. The filmmakers considered postponing it, but ultimately decided against it. Since the film takes place in New York, director Fleder and the rest of the crew urgently replaced footage of the World Trade Center at the beginning of the film with views of Brooklyn.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
