Less Than Zero (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Less Than Zero | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Marek Kanievska |
| Produced by | Jon Avnet Jordan Kerner Marvin Worth |
| Written by | Harley Peyton (screenplay) Bret Easton Ellis (novel) |
| Starring | Andrew McCarthy Jami Gertz Robert Downey Jr. James Spader |
| Music by | Thomas Newman |
| Cinematography | Edward Lachman |
| Editing by | Michael Tronick |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | November 8, 1987 |
| Running time | 98 minutes |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Gross revenue | $12,396,383 (USA) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Less Than Zero is a 1987 film based on the novel of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis. It stars Andrew McCarthy a college freshman returning home for Christmas to find his ex-girlfriend (Jami Gertz) has been having sex with his high school friend who is also a junkie (Robert Downey Jr.) and being hassled by his dealer (James Spader) to whom he owes money. The movie presents a look at the culture of wealthy youth in Los Angeles and has a strong anti-drug message.
Less Than Zero received mixed reviews among critics. Ellis hated the film initially but his view of it has softened in recent years. However, he insists that the film bears no resemblance to his novel and felt that it was miscast with the exceptions of Downey and Spader.
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[edit] Plot
Clay (McCarthy) is a college freshman who returns home to Los Angeles, California, for Christmas, and finds things to be a bit of a mess. His ex-girlfriend Blair (Gertz) has been having sex with his high school friend, the drug-addicted Julian (Downey), who is being hassled by his dealer, Rip (Spader), for the $50,000 he owes. What follows is Clay's effort to help clean up Julian.
[edit] Departures from the Book
The movie focused on a strong anti-drug message, something that never existed in the novel, rather than the emptiness of the characters' lives as displayed in the novel.
Also, in the book, Clay must decide whether he wants to continue his relationship with Blair, while in the movie they have already broken up and Blair is now involved with Julian. Though Blair called him while he was back east, Clay seems to have given up on both of them. It is after the scene when Clay is swimming that Clay appears to have decided to re-involve himself with Blair and Julian, while in the book he seems uncertain he wants to continue with her the whole time, even saying at one point that he never loved Blair. Also, in the film, Clay is determined to clean up Julian's drug abuse and debts, but in the book Julian's behavior only seems to disillusion Clay with the people in Los Angeles even more. In addition, many of the characters in the movie never existed in the book.
Other minor changes include: Clay and Julian are not blonde and tan like they were in the novel. Rip is Julian's dealer in the movie, when in the book Rip was Clay's dealer (Clay was a frequent drug user in the book) and Julian is a dealer himself but is also indebted to a dealer named Finn; in the book, Clay goes both ways sexually and romantically, while in the movie, he's strictly hetero, and Clay's friend Trent, who was a major character in the novel, has a greatly reduced role in the movie.
Many important, plot-bearing scenes from the book were also removed in the translation to film. These removals are arguably the most obvious strays from Easton Ellis' novel. Of these are: a very profound scene describing in great detail (to show the importance, contrary to the rest of the novel's loose details) Clay and Blair running over a coyote and Clay seeing it die; a scene where Clay and friends see a dead body in an alley, which helped show how exposed to the world the teenagers were at such a young age; and the famous final scene where a 12-year-old girl is tied to a bed and raped in Rip's apartment.
[edit] Production
Ellis' book was originally optioned by producer Marvin Worth for $7,500 before is publication in June 1985 with the understanding that 20th Century Fox would finance it."[1] The purchase was sponsored by Scott Rudin and Larry Mark, Vice Presidents of Production. The book went on to become a best seller but the producers had to create a coherent story and change Clay, the central character, because they felt that he was too passive.[1] They also eliminated his bisexuality and casual drug use. Worth hired Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Michael Cristofer to write the screenplay. He stuck close to the tone of the novel and had Clay take drugs but did not make him bisexual. The studio felt that Cristofer's script was too harsh to be made into a commercial film.[1]
20th Century Fox assigned the film to producers Jon Avnet who had made Risky Business. He felt that Cristofer's script was "so depressing and degrading."[1] The producer wanted, instead, to take "a very extreme situation" and try to tell "a sentimental story about warmth, caring and tenderness in an atmosphere that is hostile to those kinds of emotions."[2] Studio executives and Avnet argued over the amount of decadence depicted in the film that would not alienate audiences. Larry Gordon, President of Fox, and who had approved the purchase of the book, was replaced by Alan Horn who was then replaced by Leonard Goldberg. Goldberg found the material distasteful but Barry Diller, the Chairman of Fox, wanted to make the film.[1]
Harley Peyton was hired to write the script and completed three drafts.[1] In his version, Clay is no longer amoral or passive. The studio still considered the material edgy and kept the budget under $8 million. Marek Kanievska was hired to direct because he had dealt with ambivalent sexuality and made unlikeable characters appealing in his previous film, Another Country. The studio wanted to appeal to actor Andrew McCarthy's teenage girl fans without alienating an older audience.[1]
The studio wanted to appeal to actor Andrew McCarthy's teenage girl fans without alienating an older audience. At an early test screening, audiences hated Downey's character. As a result, new scenes were shot to make his and Gertz's character more repentant.
At an early test screening, the studio recruited an audience between the ages of 15 and 24. They hated Robert Downey Jr.'s character.[1] As a result, new scenes were shot to make his and Jami Gertz's character more repentant. For example, a high school graduation scene was shot to lighten the mood by showing the three main characters as good friends during better times.[1]
[edit] Reception
Less Than Zero opened on November 8, 1987 in 871 theaters and made US$3 million. It went on to gross $12 million in North America.[3]
The film has had mixed reviews among critics. It currently has a rating of 63% on Rotten Tomatoes. In the New York Times, Janet Maslin wrote, "Mr. Downey gives a performance that is desperate moving, with the kind of emotion that comes as a real surprise in these surroundings."[4] Rita Kempley, in her review for the Washington Post, called the film, "noodle-headed and faint-hearted, a shallow swipe at a serious problem, with a happily-ever-after ending yet."[5] In Newsweek, David Ansen wrote, "Imagine Antonioni making a high-school public-service movie and you'll have an inkling of the movie's high-toned silliness."[6] In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave Less Than Zero a four-star review, noting that the "movie knows cocaine inside out and paints a portrait of drug addiction that is all the more harrowing because it takes place in the Beverly Hills fast lane . . . The movie's three central performances are flawless . . . [Robert Downey Jr's] acting here is so real, so subtle and so observant that it's scary . . . The whole movie looks brilliantly superficial, and so Downey's predicament is all the more poignant: He is surrounded by all of this, he is in it and of it, and he cannot have it".[7]
Upon its initial release, Ellis hated the film but has gotten very sentimental about it in recent years.[8] He admits that the film bears no resemblance to his novel but that it captured, "a certain youth culture during that decade that no other movie caught," and felt that it was miscast with the exceptions of Downey and James Spader.[8]
[edit] Soundtrack
Produced by Rick Rubin, the original motion picture soundtrack includes songs by Aerosmith, The Count Five, Glenn Danzig & the Power and Fury Orchestra, Natural Athlete (WAFM Detroit), Joan Jett, Roy Orbison, Poison, Public Enemy ("Bring the Noise"), Run DMC and Slayer. Two singles from the soundtrack reached the Billboard Hot 100: The Bangles with their remake of Simon and Garfunkel's "Hazy Shade of Winter" at No. 2 and LL Cool J's "Going Back to Cali" at No. 31. Thomas Newman's original score, however, remains unavailable (except as heard in the film itself).
The Red Hot Chili Peppers were featured in a scene of this movie, playing "Fight Like A Brave".
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Harmetz, Aljean. "Sanitizing A Novel for the Screen", New York Times, November 18, 1987.
- ^ Crimeen, Bob. "Death in the Fast Lane - Hollywood Home Truths", Daily Telegraph, December 31, 1987.
- ^ "Less Than Zero", Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-12-13.
- ^ Maslin, Janet. "Less Than Zero, Young Lives", New York Times, November 6, 1987. Retrieved on 2007-11-16.
- ^ Kempley, Rita. "Zero: Paying Through the Nose", Washington Post, November 6, 1987.
- ^ Ansen, David. "Down and Out in Gucci and Gomorrah", Newsweek, November 16, 1987.
- ^ Ebert, Roger. "Less Than Zero", Chicago Sun-Times, November 6, 1987. Retrieved on 2008-03-14.
- ^ a b "Bret Easton Ellis Interview", HillZoo.com, September 20, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-11-16.
