Alpha Dog
Short description
Alpha Dog follows Johnny Truelove, a young drug dealer in Los Angeles who sees himself as a tough figure and wants to follow in the footsteps of his father, an underworld operator. When Jake Mazursky falls behind on a drug debt, the dispute between the two escalates: Jake damages Johnny's house, and Johnny and his crew respond by seizing Jake's younger brother, a 15-year-old boy. The hostage situation is meant to force payment, but it stretches on, and as the captive is drawn into the group's reckless days of parties and drifting, the seriousness of what has happened grows harder for anyone to face down. Pressure from Johnny's father and from the police closes in as the plan slips out of Johnny's control.
Nick Cassavetes directed and wrote the film, which sits between The Notebook and My Sister's Keeper in the sequence of his directorial work. Emile Hirsch plays Johnny, with Bruce Willis as his father Sonny, Ben Foster as Jake, Justin Timberlake as Frankie Ballenbacher, Shawn Hatosy as Elvis Schmidt and Amanda Seyfried as Julie Beckley. The 61-strong credited cast fills out a large ensemble.
Made for roughly 10 million dollars, the film took about 32 million worldwide. On TMDB it holds 6.7/10 from 1,559 votes, while the critics' rating stands at 5.7/10 from 143 reviews, so audiences rated it somewhat more warmly than reviewers did.
What's left behind the scenes
- The tattoo around Jake Mazurski’s (Ben Foster) neck features lines from the Bible (Psalm 108, Verse 14) written in Hebrew: “May his mother’s sin not be blotted out.”
- The film's release was postponed for a year because a criminal – the prototype for the main character – was caught.
- During the fight scene, Sharon Stone hit Ben Foster so hard that he started to bleed from the nose.
- On July 13, 2009, Jesse James Hollywood (the inspiration for Johnny Truelove) was sentenced to life imprisonment.
- The word “fuck” and its derivatives appear 310 times in the film.
- The film was the closing film of the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.
- "Alpha Dog" comes from the English "alpha-dog," the lead dog in a sled team, the leader of the pack.
- Ben Foster risked his vision by frequently using glaucoma eye drops to dilate his pupils, thereby simulating the effect of drug intoxication. At night, during filming, he had to hide behind bushes, and during the day he constantly shielded his eyes from sunlight. Even while talking to Nick Cassavetes, he had to communicate with his eyes closed.
- During a fight in a club, Jake Mazurski (Ben Foster) is hit in the head with a bottle, leaving his head and left ear covered in blood. After the fight, the blood disappears mysteriously in a fraction of a second.
- To better prepare for the role, Ben Foster asked for help from one of his friends who had previously suffered from methadone addiction. The friend introduced him to a group of people who gave Foster full access to observe their lifestyle.
- In one of the scenes, a poster for the film 'Scarface' (1983) is visible in the background.
- The scene where Wanda Haynes (Heather Wahlquist) shouts “Heil” in Jake Mazurski’s (Ben Foster) apartment was entirely improvised. The cast, pleased with the successful improvisation, supported and developed it. The film's director, Nick Cassavetes, decided to leave the scene in the film.
- The film features well-known boxer of Mexican descent, Fernando Vargas.
- The film begins with genuine home video footage of some of the actors playing in a film they made as children. The last child shown is Anton Yelchin (Zach Mazurski).
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
