Savages
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Short description
Ben and Chon are friends and business partners in Laguna Beach who have built a lucrative operation growing and selling high-grade marijuana. They also share a girlfriend, Ophelia, known as O. Their comfortable life ends when a Mexican drug cartel moves in and demands a partnership. When the two refuse, the cartel kidnaps O as leverage and demands payment. Ben and Chon agree to the terms while secretly working on a plan of their own, with reluctant help from a corrupt DEA agent.
Oliver Stone directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Shane Salerno and Don Winslow, adapting Winslow's novel. The film is the eighteenth of the twenty-two features Stone has directed in chronological order, coming after Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and before Snowden. Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Taylor-Johnson play Chon and Ben, with Blake Lively as O. John Travolta appears as Dennis, while Salma Hayek Pinault and Benicio del Toro play the cartel leader Elena and her enforcer Lado. The credited cast runs to fifty-eight names.
Made for a budget of 45 million dollars, the film took in about 83 million dollars worldwide, a modest return. On IMDb it holds 6.4 out of 10 from some 138,000 votes, and on TMDB it also sits at 6.4 from roughly 2,300 votes. A critics' rating of 5.8 from 193 reviews places it slightly below the audience scores, indicating a mixed response on both sides.
What's left behind the scenes
- Jennifer Lawrence was initially cast for the role of O, but the actress later declined to film in favor of a role in "The Hunger Games".
- Uma Thurman played O's mother, Paku, but all scenes with her were cut due to the film's time constraints.
- Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Garrett Hedlund, and James Franco were considered for the role of Ben.
- Oliver Stone began working on the screenplay adaptation before the book was published. He was so confident in its success that he himself helped secure investment in the project.
- Although this is the sixth time Fernando Lara and Oliver Stone have worked together, this film marks the first time Lara was credited in the titles.
- As part of his preparation for the film, Taylor Kitsch trained with actual Navy SEALs.
- The film was initially scheduled for release in the fall, but after the first test screening, the studio abruptly moved the date to July.
- Oliver Stone decided to cast Taylor Kitsch after viewing footage from the film "Battleship" (2012), which was still in post-production at the time.
- Oliver Stone asked Blake Lively to take firearms training for her role. Despite having no prior experience, she hit the target with her first three shots.
- Oliver Stone wrote the role of Magda’s boyfriend for Trevor Donovan after the role he originally auditioned for was cut from the script.
- Taylor Kitsch performed the stunts himself.
- Due to legal requirements, all marijuana plants in the film are artificial. To accurately replicate the plants, the designers visited locations where they were legally grown for medicinal purposes.
- This is Oliver Stone's first film in nearly 17 years shot using Panavision anamorphic optics. After 'Nixon' (1995), his 2.35:1 films were cropped using Super 35 shooting. Cinematographer Daniel Mindel convinced him to return to the anamorphic format. Mindel shot all his projects (except 'Domino' (2005)) in this format. During their first meeting, Daniel told Stone that if he planned to shoot in Super 35 or digital, he wasn’t the right person for the job.
- Jake McLaughlin, who played Doc, is a veteran of the Iraq War in real life.
- The film was delivered to theaters under the title 'Paqu'.
- The funny ringtone used by La Reina is the main theme of one of the most popular shows in the history of Mexican TV: 'El Chavo del Ocho' (1972-1992).
- The character of Elena is partially based on Mireya Moreno Carreon, who is known as the first woman in Mexico to lead an influential drug cartel.
- Michelle Rodriguez and Zoe Saldana auditioned for the role of Elena, but Salma Hayek was ultimately cast.
- Director Oliver Stone's cameo: when the character O writes a letter to her mother while being kidnapped, Oliver Stone travels with Blake Lively across a world atlas.
- After Jung hits Denis, the scar on Jung's right neck peels away from the skin.
- When the 'motorcycle cop' from the cartel approaches the man's car and then pulls him out, he has his hand on his holster. The gun barrel isn't visible through the bottom of the holster as it should be with a standard police pistol. But when he then shoots the man, a silencer is visible on the barrel. Although he clearly didn't have time to attach it. However, the gun in the holster is on his right hip; the weapon he uses to kill Frankie he draws with his left hand from behind his back.
- The film is based on Don Winslow's novel "Savages" (2010).
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