Finding Forrester

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Finding Forrester

original film poster
Directed by Gus Van Sant
Produced by Sean Connery
Laurence Mark
Rhonda Tollefson
Written by Mike Rich
Starring Sean Connery
Rob Brown
F. Murray Abraham
Anna Paquin
Cinematography Harris Savides
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date(s) 2000
Running time 136 min.
IMDb profile

Finding Forrester is a 2000 movie, written by Mike Rich and directed by Gus Van Sant, about a teenager, Jamal Wallace, played by Rob Brown, who is accepted into a prestigious private high school. He also befriends a reclusive writer, William Forrester, played by Sean Connery.

Anna Paquin, F. Murray Abraham and Busta Rhymes also star in supporting roles. Joey Buttafuoco and Matt Damon make brief cameo appearances. Principal photography was shot entirely in Manhattan , the Bronx, and Brooklyn (many Mailor Academy scenes were filmed at Regis High School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan), with some scenery and pick-up shots made in suburban Toronto, Ontario, during post-production.

The Region 1 DVD includes a documentary entitled "Behind the Scenes: Finding Forrester".

Forrester is partly based on J. D. Salinger.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

"Finding Forrester" is the story of Jamal Wallace's life in the rough world of the inner city. Although Jamal is intellectually gifted, he puts little effort into his schoolwork. On a dare, he sneaks into a recluse's apartment and, to his surprise, befriends the inhabitant. The man helps Jamal with his writing, in exchange for Jamal keeping a secret: the man is William Forrester, the secluded author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Avalon Landing, his sole book. When a highly selective private school, Mailor Callow, sees Jamal's test results, he is offered a scholarship. He accepts, though it is a major culture shock to go to this elite school. He is immediately befriended by a board member's daughter, which eases the transition. Later, a professor named Crawford accuses Jamal of plagiarism because he used the title of one of Mr. Forrester's essays on one of his own. The Essay was previously written by Jamal in Forrester's apartment. Despite the fact he was told to keep anything he wrote in Forrester's house, he turned it in. In the end, Forrester ends his seclusion, paying a surprise visit to address the professor's accusations in person, reading one of Jamal's writing samples to prove the young man's excellence. Forrester then moves back to his homeland of Scotland, and dies there from cancer. He leaves Jamal his apartment, and sends him a manuscript of his second (and final) novel 'Sunset', to have it published by Jamal and have him write a foreword.

[edit] Critical response

When Finding Forrester opened in December of 2000, it received mostly positive reviews. It garnered two thumbs up from Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper. Roeper went so far as to say it was one of the ten best films of 2000. At the popular movie website IMDb, it has a strong 7.2/10 rating.

[edit] Connections to Salinger

  • Both Forrester and Salinger are notoriously reclusive authors.
  • In the movie Forrester had at least one story published in The New Yorker. Salinger had several published.
  • In the movie Forrester has many unpublished works. Salinger is believed to have several novels and stories that are unpublished.
  • In the movie Forrester blocked a biography of himself that the character Prof. Robert Crawford was going to have published. Salinger did the same thing through a lawsuit against Ian Hamilton.
  • Screenwriter Mike Rich mentions that it was the apparently unsociable traits common to some revered American authors (including Salinger) which inspired the story.[1]

[edit] Trivia

  • In the film, Sean Connery states "you're the man now, dog" which started the largely popular website YTMND.

[edit] External links


Movies of Gus Van Sant
Mala Noche • Five Ways to Kill Yourself • My New Friend • Ken Death Gets Out of Jail • Drugstore Cowboy • Fame '90 • Thanksgiving Prayer • My Own Private Idaho • Under The Bridge • Even Cowgirls Get the Blues • To Die For • Four Boys in a Volvo • Good Will Hunting • Ballad of the Skeletons • Psycho • Finding Forrester • Gerry • Elephant • Last Days • Paranoid Park
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