Requiem for a Dream
A look into addiction and how it overcomes the mind and body.
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Production
Budget
$4 500 000
Revenue
$7 390 108
Director
Scenario
Hubert Selby Jr.
Author
Composer
Producer
Eric Watson
Actors
Ellen Burstyn
Sara Goldfarb
Jared Leto
Harry Goldfarb
Jennifer Connelly
Marion Silver
Marlon Wayans
Tyrone C. Love
Christopher McDonald
Tappy Tibbons
Janet Sarno
Mrs. Pearlman
Short description
Requiem for a Dream follows four people living in and around Coney Island whose hopes for a better life are undone by their addictions. Sara Goldfarb, a widow who lives alone and rarely leaves her apartment, learns she may be chosen to appear on her favourite television programme and begins a punishing diet so she will look right on camera. Her son Harry, his girlfriend Marion and his friend Tyrone have their own plan: to make money selling drugs and use the proceeds to open a shop of Marion's. Their schemes demand more than they can supply, and each of the four drifts further from the future they imagined.
Darren Aronofsky directed and co-wrote the film with Hubert Selby Jr., working from Selby's novel. It was his second feature, following Pi in 1998, and it came before The Fountain, The Wrestler, Black Swan, Noah, mother!, The Whale and Caught Stealing. Ellen Burstyn plays Sara, with Jared Leto as Harry, Jennifer Connelly as Marion, Marlon Wayans as Tyrone, Christopher McDonald as the television host Tappy Tibbons and Louise Lasser as Ada.
Made for about five million dollars and released in October 2000, the film returned roughly seven million worldwide, a modest theatrical result. It has since built a large following: on IMDb it holds 8.3 out of 10 from around 969,000 votes, and on TMDB 8 out of 10 from more than 11,000. A critics' rating of 8 out of 10 across 182 reviews places it in similar territory to those audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Big Tim's phone number doesn't adhere to the established Hollywood convention of starting all phone numbers with the combination "555-".
- To better embody the character of Harry Goldfarb, Jared Leto lost 13 kilograms and befriended real heroin addicts from Brooklyn.
- At the beginning of the film, when Sarah is trying on a dress, a flesh-colored corset with prosthetic "fat" is reflected in the mirror, which she used to appear heavier.
- The scene of the screaming girl in the bathtub underwater was completely borrowed from the Japanese animated film “Perfect Blue” (1997). Darren Aronofsky bought the rights to the film outright, solely to use the aforementioned scene in his work.
- To appear natural, Ellen Burstyn spent about 4 hours a day off-set walking around her house in prosthetics that increased her weight by 20 kg. A total of 4 types of neck prosthetics, 2 bulky suits, and 9 wigs were used during filming.
- The film never specifies what drug Harry and his friends are using. They refer to it as "shit," "bread," and so on. Judging by the effects (with the exception of dilated pupils) and consequences, it can be assumed it was heroin. However, it's possible this was the author's intention – to show an addiction to drugs in general, not specifically to heroin. In this case, the dilated pupils might have been used deliberately.
- According to the script, Jennifer Connelly's character's father is involved in making and selling clothes. In real life, Jennifer Connelly's father was involved in exactly this area of business.
- Filming the television show segments took only one day, and host Christopher McDonald improvised well, which delighted Darren Aronofsky. At the end of the work, the entire film crew thanked Christopher with enthusiastic applause.
- The scene where Harry talks on the phone with Marion was filmed in one soundstage simultaneously. This benefited the actors, as they could immediately calibrate their reactions.
- At the very beginning of the film, we have the opportunity to hear a string quartet preparing to perform the main theme. Before the credits begin, we can hear the conductor’s voice giving the command to start the performance. The musicians are none other than “The Kronos Quartet,” and the soulful music for the film was composed by Clint Mansell.
- The scene of a screaming girl underwater in a bathtub was completely borrowed from the Japanese animated film "True Tears." Rumors circulated that Darren Aronofsky bought the rights to the film solely to use that scene in his work, but this is not true—the anime’s creators did not receive any royalties.
- The film is based on Hubert Selby Jr.'s novel "Requiem for a Dream" (1978).
- Filming the segments of the television show took only one day, and the host, Christopher McDonald, improvised well, which delighted Darren Aronofsky himself.
- In the film, we can see screenwriter Hubert Selby Jr. (one of the prison guards) and director Aronofsky himself (one of the guests at the party hosted by Big Tim) in episodic roles. In addition, Darren's father can also be seen in the film. He plays a subway passenger telling Sarah Goldfarb that she is terribly emaciated.
- The man peeling an orange and the truck full of oranges in the scene where the heroes go for a new supply of drugs not only indicate their next destination – Florida – but also serve as a remark referencing the "Godfather" trilogy, where the presence of oranges foreshadows disaster.
- The hallucination in which Harry falls from a great height was filmed using a camera suspended on a zip line. The crew had some doubts whether the camera would be able to stop a few centimeters from the ground. No cameras were damaged during the filming of this episode.
- The film does not directly state what drug the characters are using. They refer to it as shit, bread, etc.
- The last time Harry calls Marion, she answers the phone with her right hand and holds it to her opposite left ear. Following this, according to the director’s intention, is a mirror image shot, but the hand in the frame is her left, not her right.
- Typically, a standard film consists of 600 continuous shots. "Requiem for a Dream" has around 2000.
- During Ellen Burstyn’s monologue about what it feels like to be old, operator Matthew Libatique accidentally moved the camera away from the subject. Darren was furious, but later understood the reason for the operator’s mistake. The scene performed by Ellen impressed the operator so much that he gave free rein to his emotions and cried.
- As we recall, the television broadcasts calls for “three things you must do to change yourself”: — give up meat; — give up sugar; — but we never heard the third slogan, although it is present on the director's DVD release.
- At the end of the film, the main characters are holding something in their mouths: -Marion clenches a cash check from one of the partygoers in her mouth; -Sarah clenches a rubber stick between her teeth during electroshock; -Harry has an oxygen mask on; -and only Tyrone is an exception: he experiences stomach cramps.
- The film features a call for "three things you must do to change yourself": give up meat, give up sugar, and the third slogan is present in the director's cut of the film.
- Director Darren Aronofsky strongly asked the lead male actors, Jared Leto and Marlon Wayans, to abstain from sexual contact and sugar for 30 days in order to understand how people behave when experiencing overwhelming desire.
- In the scene where the characters bring Rabinovich a television, the goose-shaped lamp behind the old man changes position between shots.
- To get into character, Jared Leto lost 13 kilograms and befriended real heroin addicts from Brooklyn.
- During Ellen Burstyn's monologue about what it feels like to be old, cinematographer Matthew Libatique accidentally moved the camera away from the subject. Darren was furious, but later understood the reason for the mistake. Ellen's performance was so impactful that the cinematographer gave in to his emotions and cried. Tears, of course, got on the camera lens. To avoid the director's righteous anger, Matthew simply ruined the take.
- At the beginning of the film, when Sarah is trying on a dress, a flesh-colored corset with padding is reflected in the mirror, used to make the actors appear heavier.
- The role of Harry Goldfarb was originally intended for Giovanni Ribisi. Darren Aronofsky envisioned the main character as Giovanni after reading the novel.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
