25th Hour
Short description
Monty Brogan is a New York drug dealer who has been sentenced to seven years in prison. On his last day of freedom, he tries to settle what he can with the people in his life: his father, a bar owner who built his business with money Monty provided, his two closest friends, and his girlfriend Naturelle, whom he suspects may have turned him in. A farewell gathering brings together family, friends and business associates, and as the hours before his surrender run out, Monty faces what his choices have cost him and what awaits him inside.
The film is directed by Spike Lee, the thirteenth of twenty-six features in his filmography, following Bamboozled and preceding She Hate Me. David Benioff wrote the screenplay, adapting his own novel, and the cast includes Edward Norton as Monty, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Pepper as his friends, Rosario Dawson as Naturelle, Anna Paquin and Brian Cox. Tobey Maguire, Jon Kilik and Lee produced.
Made for about 5 million dollars, the film took roughly 24 million worldwide, a strong return on its budget. On IMDb it holds 7.6 from about 191,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.3 from roughly 2,700; a critics' rating stands at 7.6 from 175 reviews, putting professional and audience assessments in close agreement.
What's left behind the scenes
- Singer Alicia Keys auditioned for the role of Naturelle Rivière.
- During a five-minute monologue in the bathroom, Monty Brogan said the word “fuck” 40 times. In the same scene, he mentions slavery, and his line echoes a line spoken by Norton’s character in the film “American History X” (1998).
- Monty has a poster of the film “Cool Hand Luke” (1967) hanging in his house. Considering that Monty will soon be going to prison, such a poster is symbolic – “Luke” tells the story of a man who repeatedly tried to escape from prison.
- Mary D'Annunzio was supposed to play Brittany Murphy, but she dropped out of the project and was replaced by Anna Paquin.
- This is the first film to shoot some scenes on location at the site of the September 11th tragedy.
- During the fight scene, Barry Pepper accidentally broke Edward Norton’s nose.
- Tobey Maguire bought the rights to David Benioff’s novel with the intention of playing the lead role himself. However, he preferred the film “Spider-Man” (2002) and remained on the project as a producer.
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