Half Nelson
Short description
Half Nelson centers on Dan Dunne, a young white teacher at a Brooklyn middle school whose students are mostly Black and come from tough circumstances. He is dedicated to his class and tries to push his students toward better lives, but outside school he is gripped by drug addiction and isolation. When one of his students, Drey, finds him using drugs, the two form an unusual, tentative friendship that crosses the line between teacher and pupil. The situation grows more complicated because Drey's brother Frank is connected to the drug trade that Dan depends on, and their bond comes under pressure from forces neither fully controls.
The film was directed by Ryan Fleck, who wrote the screenplay with Anna Boden. It was his first feature, followed by Sugar, It's Kind of a Funny Story, Mississippi Grind, Captain Marvel and Freaky Tales. Ryan Gosling plays Dan, with Shareeka Epps as Drey and Anthony Mackie as Frank; the credited cast numbers 37. The production, from Hunting Lane Films, Silverwood Films, Original Media and Journeyman Pictures, took in about 5 million dollars worldwide.
On IMDb the film holds 7.1/10 from 95,000 votes, while on TMDB it has 6.7/10 from 996 votes. A critics' rating of 7.8/10 from 156 reviews places it above both audience scores, indicating stronger approval from reviewers than from the wider public.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film was shot in 23 days and finished one day ahead of schedule.
- The script called for the main character to be around thirty-five years old, but the filmmakers changed this detail, as the lead actor, Ryan Gosling, was 25 at the time of filming.
- During the filming of the bar scenes, Rachel McAdams stopped by the set. The filmmakers were short on extras, and McAdams joined the shoot to help create the illusion of a crowd and, consequently, the busyness of the establishment's staff, but all scenes with her participation were cut from the film during editing.
- The film is named after a wrestling hold in which one arm is slipped under the opponent's armpit and pressure is applied to their neck and the back of their head.
- A month before filming began, Ryan Gosling moved to New York to fully immerse himself in his character's life. He lived in a small apartment in Brooklyn and followed an eighth-grade teacher named David Easton around.
- The scene in which the main character, played by Ryan Gosling, picks up Frank the cat, played by Anthony Mackie, was not in the script. During filming, Gosling simply saw a stray cat and picked it up. Considering that his character had recently lost a cat, the filmmakers decided that this scene would fit well and left it in the film.
- All scenes in the film, except for the "still life" scenes in the main character's apartment, were shot using a "handheld camera" technique.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
