With Honors
Short description
Monty Kessler is a Harvard student who has staked his future on a single piece of work: his thesis paper, which he believes will earn him his degree with honors and set him on the path to a law career. When the pages end up in the hands of Simon Wilder, a homeless man living in a basement of the university library, Monty finds his prized work held hostage. Simon agrees to hand the paper back a page at a time, but only in exchange for favors, and the arrangement between the two men slowly turns into something neither of them expected.
Alek Keshishian directed the film, which followed his 1991 documentary Madonna: Truth or Dare and was his second feature. William Mastrosimone wrote the screenplay, and Amy Robinson and Paula Weinstein produced it for Warner Bros. Pictures and Spring Creek Pictures. Joe Pesci plays Simon and Brendan Fraser plays Monty, with Moira Kelly, Patrick Dempsey, Josh Hamilton and Gore Vidal among the credited cast.
Released in April 1994, the film runs 103 minutes and took in about 20 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.7 out of 10 from roughly 18,000 votes, and on TMDB it also stands at 6.7 out of 10, from a much smaller group of voters. Critics rated it considerably lower, at 4.2 out of 10 across 27 reviews, so audiences have generally been kinder to it than reviewers were.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film was shot during the winter of 1993-1994, and the snow cover in Boston reached a meter in height. While it looked like real snow, it didn’t appear natural enough, so it was all cleared away and artificial snow was used for the filming.
- Six prominent British actors were considered for the role of the professor, but Joe Pesci (who played the homeless man Simon himself) strongly opposed them. He wanted a well-known American actor to be cast. Ultimately, the role went to Gore Vidal.
- Christy Swanson turned down the role of Courtney, and the part went to Moira Kelly.
- The message quotes the poet and publicist Walt Whitman (1819-1892).
- The final scene of the film was shot at the University of Illinois. The buildings and everything else were decorated to look like Harvard University. Students were involved in the scene. For the filming of the graduation ceremony, leaves were attached to the branches of the trees.
- At the end of the film, Monty talks to the professor (played by Brendan Fraser and Gore Vidal, respectively), and a photograph of President John F. Kennedy with the professor in his youth can be seen on the wall. The photograph is genuine, as Kennedy and Gore Vidal were friends. In fact, Vidal and Jacqueline Kennedy had the same stepfather.
- Monty and Simon (played by Brendan Fraser and Joe Pesci, respectively) stop at a bridge and sit down to continue their conversation. When they get up to continue on their way, the books that Simon offered to carry disappear.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
