Chain Reaction
Short description
A research team at the University of Chicago achieves a breakthrough when a young machinist finds the missing element in a process that releases energy from water, promising a cheap and clean power source. The laboratory is destroyed shortly afterward, a senior scientist dies under suspicious circumstances, and the work disappears. Evidence at the scene points to the machinist, Eddie Kasalivich, and his colleague, physicist Dr. Lily Sinclair. Unable to clear their names through official channels, the two go on the run while the FBI pursues them. They search for a way to recover the research and expose who is behind the sabotage.
Andrew Davis directed the film, released in 1996, placing it between The Fugitive and A Perfect Murder in a run that began with Code of Silence and continued through several later titles. Keanu Reeves and Rachel Weisz play the fugitives, with Morgan Freeman as a well-connected official, Fred Ward and Kevin Dunn as FBI agents, and Brian Cox among the supporting cast. J.F. Lawton and Michael Bortman wrote the screenplay, which Davis produced with Arne Schmidt.
Made for about 50 million dollars, the film returned roughly 60 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 5.7 out of 10 from around 60,000 votes, and on TMDB 5.8 out of 10 from about 1,250 votes, while a critics' rating stands at 4.5 out of 10 from 33 reviews, below both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The drawbridge scene, where Keanu Reeves' character flees from police, FBI agents, and Brian Cox's henchmen, was filmed over nearly a week at night in sub-zero temperatures.
- The explosion at the beginning of the film, resulting from a failed cold fusion experiment, was filmed using miniatures at an abandoned steel mill.
- The scene in which Keanu Reeves' character dodges a motorcycle at the last second was filmed mostly against blue screens, and the explosion effect was added during post-production. In some scenes, the actor was filmed in close-ups on a motorcycle attached to a truck.
- Shortly before filming began, Keanu Reeves suffered neck and back injuries while playing hockey in his native Canada. Due to these injuries, he gained some weight, which did not go unnoticed by the audience.
- Brian Cox later recalled that during the filming of one scene, director Andrew Davis told him and Morgan Freeman (who played Paul Shannon) to improvise, as no lines had been written for the scene. At that point, Freeman was so tired of the constant script rewrites and last-minute plot changes that he categorically refused. Cox made up a line and then simply started singing. The scene was later reshot.
- Nick Offerman had a cameo, but both scenes featuring his character were cut during editing (which he only discovered at the film's premiere); otherwise, 'Chain Reaction' would have been one of the first films in the actor's career.
- Scenes filmed in two Chicago museums (which are actually several kilometers apart) were combined during editing to present the viewer with a fictional museum located near Washington.
- The film features a 1976 Kawasaki KZ1000, a make and model chosen by Keanu Reeves himself. A total of five such motorcycles were purchased for filming and painted matte black to prevent glare.
- Mira Sorvino was initially cast as Dr. Lily Sinclair, but she left the project to film Ted Demme's melodrama 'Beautiful Girls' (1996). Rachel Weisz was cast in the role instead of Sorvino.
- Initially, Tommy Lee Jones was intended for the role eventually played by Brian Cox.
- In the shots of the drawbridge, immediately after the stuntman playing the police officer descends, the mats he landed on can be seen being pulled away.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
