The Negotiator
Short description
Danny Roman is one of Chicago's most skilled police hostage negotiators, called in when armed standoffs need to be talked down rather than stormed. His world collapses when his partner, who had been gathering evidence of corruption inside the department, is shot dead, and Roman himself is accused of the killing. With documents planted to make him look guilty and no one in the force willing to hear him out, he barricades himself inside a high-rise office and seizes the people working there as hostages. His demand is specific: he wants another negotiator, an outsider named Chris Sabian, brought in to talk to him, both to keep the situation from escalating and to look into the conspiracy he believes has been built around him.
F. Gary Gray directed the film, his third feature after Friday and Set It Off, working from a screenplay by James DeMonaco and Kevin Fox. Samuel L. Jackson plays Lieutenant Danny Roman and Kevin Spacey plays Lieutenant Chris Sabian, with David Morse, Ron Rifkin, John Spencer and J.T. Walsh in supporting roles.
Produced for around 50 million dollars, the film returned roughly 45 million dollars at the worldwide box office. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.3 from about 167,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7.1 from roughly 2,500 votes, indicating a durable audience following. A film critics' rating of 6.7 from 57 reviews places critical opinion slightly below the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- At the end of the film, the wounded Danny is "loaded" into the ambulance headfirst (facing the direction of travel), and his boot is clearly visible on his left foot, but when the ambulance is shown from the inside, Danny is lying with his head towards the door.
- American intelligence officials were greatly disturbed after viewing the film, as it reveals genuine negotiation tricks and tactics that could be used by terrorists.
- In the scene where the wounded Roman (Samuel L. Jackson) aims at Frost (Ron Rifkin), Chris Sabien (Kevin Spacey) is watching them, and part of Roman's head is visible next to him, even though he has already moved away.
- The script was originally written for a film starring Sylvester Stallone and Kevin Spacey. Spacey's character was supposed to carry out the hostage-taking, while Stallone's hero would oppose him. When Stallone declined to participate in the film, Spacey decided it would be better to play Chris.
- The original ending of the film envisioned a stalemate at the subway station with over a hundred police officers aiming at the main characters, but Kevin Spacey objected to this ending, pointing out its blatant derivativeness.
- The film is based on real events – the scandal involving the pension fund in St. Louis in 1988.
- The film is dedicated to the memory of J.T. Walsh, who played one of his last roles in it.
- Kevin Spacey would come to the set when scenes involving negotiations were being filmed, and only Samuel L. Jackson was involved in the filming with him to help him.
- The scenes with Roman and the hostages in the Internal Affairs Department office were filmed in a studio in Los Angeles. To create the Chicago view from the window, a 48x12 meter poster depicting the view from the 20th floor of the 77 West Wacker Drive building in Chicago was painted.
- Filming took place from September 1st to November 25th, 1997.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
