World Trade Center
Short description
World Trade Center dramatizes the events of September 11, 2001, when two hijacked planes struck the Twin Towers in New York. As the city responds, officers of the Port Authority Police Department are sent into the complex to help evacuate the people inside. Among them are Sergeant John McLoughlin and Officer Will Jimeno, who are still within the towers when the buildings come down. Buried under tons of concrete, twisted steel and debris, the two men are transformed from rescuers into victims, and their survival now depends on staying conscious and holding on until help can reach them. The film is based on a true story.
Oliver Stone directed the film, the fifteenth of the twenty-two features he has made in chronological order, following Alexander and preceding W. Andrea Berloff wrote the screenplay, and the large production credits include 121 credited cast members and 253 credited crew. Nicolas Cage plays McLoughlin, with Maria Bello as his wife, Donna, and Connor Paolo, Anthony Piccininni, Alexa Gerasimovich and Morgan Flynn as their children. Michael Peña appears as Jimeno. Made for a budget of 65 million dollars, the film took in about 163 million dollars worldwide.
Audience response has been moderate: on TMDB it holds a rating of 6.1 out of 10 from 1,879 votes, while on IMDb it sits somewhat higher. A film critics' rating of 6.6 out of 10 from 233 reviews is close to the audience score.
What's left behind the scenes
- To better get into the role of William Himen, Michael Peña lived with him at his home in New Jersey for some time.
- Due to the disgraceful quote, "America is partly responsible for what happened," Maggie Gyllenhaal suggested that William and Allison Himen leave the project. But they, in turn, refused and gave Maggie their blessing to play the role of Allison.
- For the roles of numerous police officers, Oliver Stone involved members of the association www.PoliceActors.com, who are simultaneously members of the Actors Guild and active or former law enforcement personnel.
- Officer Scott Strauss, the first representative of US emergency services to be interviewed, was offered to play himself in "World Trade Center". However, Strauss declined, and Steven Dorff took on the role. Nevertheless, the officer remained involved in the project as a consultant, not taking a single dollar for his services.
- Around 50 real members of New York special services flew to Los Angeles to participate in the scene where the heroes are pulled from the rubble.
- Three months before the world premiere, which took place on August 9, 2006, producer Michael Shamberg and director Oliver Stone decided to organize a series of screenings specifically for representatives of the police and fire departments who risked their lives at the World Trade Center. These pre-premiere screenings were held in several multiplexes in New York and New Jersey.
- George Clooney turned down the role of John McLoughlin.
- Nicolas Cage was the first actor to be given the script. Producers Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher distributed Andrea Berloff’s screenplay through the Creative Artists Agency. That's how the script ended up in front of Stone and Cage.
- The working title of the film was "Bluelight".
- At one time, Kevin Costner and Hilary Swank were invited to play the McLoughlin couple. They even became narrators in the documentary "On Native Soil" (2006), which tells about the 9/11 attacks. But immediately after Costner left "World Trade Center," Hilary Swank quickly switched to other projects.
- Mel Gibson was the first to be offered the role of Sergeant McLoughlin, and he actually liked the script very much. But Gibson preferred the director's chair for the project "Apocalypto" (2006).
- Approximately 240 tons of material were needed to recreate the epicenter of the events of September 11, 2001.
- Oliver Stone did everything possible to have Dave Kearns, the courageous Marine, play himself instead of an actor (Michael Shannon). But he not only refused to play the role but even declined to participate in the project as a consultant. All because of Stone's anti-Bush stance. However, Kearns still acknowledged that the film depicted the events of September 11, 2001, quite accurately.
- After seeing the film "Crash," Maggie Gyllenhaal immediately recommended actor Michael Peña for the role of Officer William Himen.
- Viewers of test screenings of "World Trade Center" were convinced that Marine Dave Karnes (Michael Shannon) was a character invented by Hollywood. In reality, there was nothing fictional about him. After the events depicted in the film, Karnes returned to the Marine Corps and served during the military campaign in Iraq.
- In one of the film's frames, you can notice a large poster for "Zoolander," which was released shortly after the September 11 tragedy. The original version of Ben Stiller's film featured the towers of the World Trade Center, which had to be urgently removed using computer graphics.
- The real William Jimeno and John McLoughlin appear in the final scene in nature.
- When Nicolas Cage prepared to play John McLoughlin, he focused on speaking with a New York accent. Also, in order to experience the real fear and claustrophobia that McLoughlin had to endure under the rubble, the actor spent hours in a special tiny tank located in Venice, California.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
