United 93
Short description
United 93 recreates the events aboard the fourth hijacked aircraft on September 11, 2001, in close to real time. The flight departs for San Francisco as usual until a group of terrorists seizes control. Through phone calls to relatives on the ground, passengers and crew learn that other hijacked planes have struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and they realise their own aircraft is intended as another weapon. A group of them decides to fight back and try to retake the cockpit, knowing the attempt may end in a crash. The narrative also follows air traffic controllers and military personnel struggling to grasp the unfolding crisis.
Paul Greengrass directed and wrote the film, which followed his Bloody Sunday and The Bourne Supremacy and came before The Bourne Ultimatum. Lloyd Levin, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner produced, and the large ensemble cast, including J.J. Johnson, Gary Commock and Polly Adams among 83 credited performers, plays passengers, crew and ground staff.
Released in 2006 on a budget of about 15 million dollars, the film took roughly 76 million dollars worldwide, a strong return. On IMDb it holds 7.6 from around 115,000 votes and on TMDB 7.1 from far fewer, while a critics' rating of 8.7 from 209 reviews places it noticeably above the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Filming took place inside the cabin of a Boeing 757 that had been retired 20 years prior and was located near London. According to Tim Bevan, co-producer of the film, the location was chosen for two reasons: to reduce costs and to avoid conflicts between the actors and the inevitable special interest and pressure from the public if filming had taken place in the United States, a country that had recently experienced tragedy.
- At the request of the filmmakers, American cinemas refused to show advertisements and trailers before screenings of 'Flight 93'.
- The film's producers donated a certain percentage of the money earned by the film during its opening weekend to a memorial for the victims located near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The amount donated totaled $1.15 million.
- The actor who played the leader of the terrorist group, Luis Alsamari, was born in Iraq but resides in London. When he wanted to attend the film's premiere in New York, U.S. immigration services denied Luis a visa, despite the fact that he had been granted asylum in Britain since the early 1990s. Immigration services explained the refusal by stating that Luis had once been a member of the Iraqi army.
- Real U.S. military air traffic controllers appeared in some scenes. In turn, controllers from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) starred in scenes involving civilian aviation.
- During filming, actors playing terrorists and those portraying passengers on the flight stayed in separate hotels. Moreover, they even ate in separate locations and maintained their fitness in different gyms. This way, the director sowed distrust, fear, and contempt between the “hunters” and the “victims”.
- The working title of the film – "Flight 93" – was changed to "United 93" because a television film with the same title premiered on the "A&E" network in late January.
- "Flight 93" is the first Hollywood feature film to recreate the events of September 11, 2001.
- Following the start of the film's trailer showings in US cinemas, the studio was inundated with angry calls from viewers demanding they be stopped. People explained this by saying that the wounds from the tragedy were still too fresh. One of the largest cinemas in Manhattan ceased showing the trailer. Additionally, the ability to download the trailer was removed from the film's official website.
- For authenticity, the film was shot using portable cameras, rather than expensive digital equipment.
- Families of the 40 passengers who died on this flight cooperated with director Paul Greengrass in creating the film, helping to recreate details such as the clothes their loved ones wore, the books or music they might have been listening to, and the food they might have ordered on board.
- The film "United 93" features actual flight attendants and pilots. Some of them even work for United Airlines.
- The initial end credits of the film – "America's War on Terror Began" – were later replaced with a more sensitive message: "Dedicated to the memory of those who perished on September 11, 2001."
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
