True Story (film)

Not to be confused with True Stories (film).
True Story

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Rupert Goold
Produced by Anthony Katagas
Dede Gardner
Jeremy Kleiner
Screenplay by David Kajganich
Rupert Goold
Based on True Story 
by Michael Finkel
Starring Jonah Hill
James Franco
Music by Marco Beltrami
Cinematography Masanobu Takayanagi
Edited by Nicolas De Toth
Production
company
Distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release dates
  • April 17, 2015
Running time
100 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $4 million[1]

True Story is a 2015 American mystery drama film, directed by Rupert Goold and written by Goold and David Kajganich. Based on the memoir of the same name by Michael Finkel, the film stars Jonah Hill, James Franco, Felicity Jones, Gretchen Mol, Betty Gilpin, and John Sharian. Franco plays Christian Longo, a man on the FBI's most wanted list for murdering his wife and three children in Oregon, and who also hid under the identity of Michael Finkel, a journalist, played by Hill.[2] The film premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically on April 17, 2015 in the United States.

Plot

Christian Longo (James Franco), an Oregon man whose wife and three children have been discovered murdered, is arrested by police in Mexico, where he has been claiming to be a reporter for the New York Times named Michael Finkel.

In New York City, Finkel (Jonah Hill) is an ambitious and successful reporter. He is confronted by his editors, who accuse him of partially fabricating a story which appeared on the cover of the New York Times Magazine. Although Finkel attempts to defend his actions, he is dismissed. He returns home to Montana, where his wife Jill (Felicity Jones) lives. He struggles to find work but is unsuccessful due to his dismissal from the Times.

Finkel is contacted by a reporter for The Oregonian, who is seeking his opinion on Christian Longo's theft of his identity. Finkel, who was not aware of Longo's actions, is intrigued, and arranges to meet with Longo in prison. During their first conversation, Longo claims that he has followed Finkel for his entire career, being fascinated by his writing. Longo agrees to tell Finkel his side of the story, in exchange for writing lessons, and Finkel promising his silence.

Finkel becomes increasingly absorbed by Longo, who is continually evasive about his guilt. Convinced that the story will be redemptive, Finkel continues to meet and correspond with Longo over several months. Finkel receives numerous letters from Longo, including an eighty-page volume entitled "Wrong Turns", which contains what Longo describes as a list of every mistake he has made in his life. Finkel notices increasing similarities between the two men, including parallels between the styles of writing and drawing in Longo's letters and Finkel's personal journals. As the case is soon to go to trial, Finkel becomes increasingly doubtful of Longo's guilt. Longo tells Finkel he intends to plead not guilty, and that he did not kill his family.

At the plea hearing, Longo pleads not guilty to two of the murders, but pleads guilty to the murder of his wife and one of his daughters. Confused, Finkel confronts Longo, who claims that he has to protect certain individuals, who he refuses to name. Greg Ganley (Robert John Burke), a detective who tracked Longo down, approaches Finkel. He claims that Longo is an extremely dangerous and manipulative man and attempts to convince Finkel to turn over all of the correspondence the two have shared as evidence. Finkel refuses, citing journalistic integrity and the promise he made to Longo.

At the trial, Longo takes the stand and describes his version of the events. He claims that, after an argument with his wife about financial struggles, he had come home to discover two of his children missing, one of his daughters unconscious, and his wife sobbing, saying that she put the children "in the water". Longo says that he then strangled his wife to death in a blind rage, and performed a mercy killing on his daughter afterwards. During his testimony, he makes several references to things that Finkel had taught him during his writing lessons.

Longo is found guilty of all charges and sentenced to death. As he is sentenced, he smiles and winks at Finkel. Finkel, to his shock and rage, realizes that Longo has been telling lies the entire time, merely using him in order to make his testimony more believable. A short time later, Finkel meets Longo on death row. Longo attempts to convince Finkel that he discovered his wife strangling their daughter and then blacked out, having no memory of the murders. Finkel, seeing through the story, angrily tells Longo that he will not believe any more of his lies, and will warn the judge at the upcoming appeal of Longo's manipulative nature. Longo retorts by pointing out the success Finkel has had with his book, leaving Finkel shaken.

Finkel reads a section of his book, entitled True Story, at a promotional event. Taking questions from the audience, he hallucinates Longo standing in the back of the room. Longo states that, if he has lost his freedom, Finkel must have lost something as well. Finkel is unable to respond.

Title cards reveal that although Finkel never wrote for the New York Times again, Longo has had several of his writings on death row published by the paper.

Cast

Production

Filming

Filming began in March 2013 in Warwick, NY and New York City.[3][4] Brad Pitt produced, along with several others, and Fox Searchlight Pictures distributed.[5]

Music

Marco Beltrami was hired on July 18, 2014, to score the film's music.[6]

Release

The film was originally scheduled for a limited theatrical release on April 10, 2015.[7] That release date was subsequently delayed for one week in favor of a wide release.[8]

Reception

True Story has received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 49%, based on 113 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "James Franco and Jonah Hill make a watchable pair, but True Story loses their performances — and the viewer's interest — in a muddled movie that bungles its fact-based tale."[9] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 50 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[10]

References

  1. "True Story (2015)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
  2. Nicholson, Max. "Hill, Franco Join Pitt for True Story – Movies News at IGN". Movies.ign.com. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
  3. "New Regency To Finance ‘True Story’ With Jonah Hill And James Franco". deadline.com. March 29, 2012. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  4. "First look at Jonah Hill & Felicity Jones filming ‘True Story’ in NYC". onlocationvacations.com. March 21, 2013. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  5. "The Brad Pitt-produced movie ‘True Story’ is filming in Warwick, NY this week". onlocationvacations.com. March 7, 2013. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  6. "Marco Beltrami to Score ‘True Story’". filmmusicreporter.com. July 18, 2014. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
  7. "First Photos from True Story, Starring Jonah Hill and James Franco". comingsoon.net. December 16, 2014. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  8. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/schedule/?view=changes&p=.htm
  9. "True Story". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
  10. "True Story". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 17, 2015.

External links