THE
25TH HOUR
Cast:
Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Brittany Murphy, Rosario
Dawson. Director: Spike Lee
The 25th Hour is a gritty,
consequences-of-crime drama directed by 45-year old Shelton 'Spike'
Lee, who has directed a myriad of films such as Do the Right Thing(1989),
Malcolm X(1992), and Bamboozled(2000). Spike is also the producer
on this one, along with Toby Maguire, Julia Chasman, Jon Kilik
and Nick Wechsler (is that all?). Spike's production company,
40 Acres & a Mule Filmworks, is masterminding this flick and
is overseered by the production powerhouses of Industry Entertainment
and Walt Disney Pictures. Buena Vista Pictures and Touchstone
Pictures are this film's distributors. The 25th Hour has a budget
of between one million and five million US dollars and is scheduled
to begin filming sometime during May 2002 (they're trying for
May 1st) in bustling New York City, New York.
 The
25th Hour, which has both the novel and the screenplay written
by David Benioff (he also penned a recently much talked about
psychological thriller screenplay, also set in New York City,
entitled Stay), is the story of the last hours of freedom of a
young (mid-twenties) ex-heroin dealer of the Russian-American
Syndicate Montgomery 'Monty' Brogan, played by sleek looking 33-year
old Edward Norton, Jr. (Death to Smoochy (2002)), before he must
surrender himself to the proper authorities for a seven year stint
in the Big House. Monty searches for closure to his soon-to-be
"old" life by traipsing around his old Big Apple haunts
with his old buddies Jakob Elinsky, now a horny high school English
teacher who is played by 35-year old Philip Seymour Hoffman (Almost
Famous (2000), State and Main (2000) and The Talented Mr. Ripley
(1999)), and Frank Slattery, a young (also in his mid-twenties,
like Monty and Jakob) thick-necked, ex-wrestler, investment bonds'
trader (actor not know as of April 2002). Also in the somber mix
is Monty's live-in girlfriend, Naturelle, who is played by 23-year
old Cuban/Native American hottie sexpot Rosario Dawson (Men in
Black (2002) and Josie and the Pussycats (2001)). Monty and his
old friends, along with a half dozen other players, reminisce
the hours away by partying and trying to figure out who ratted
Monty out to the Feds. The waltz-down-memory-lane culminates in
Monty finding his true destiny…
 The
script reads "okay" and has a couple of tense-action
moments to break up the verbal drama. The Big Apple backdrop should
allow a certain sense of ease and relaxation to permeate the filming
as most of the main actors and producers hail from the upper east
coast. Benioff liberally sprinkles flashbacks here and there to
bridge the background gap; these read as a little awkward, but
Spike will probably be able to pull them off. The ending seems
a bit out of sync as the true climax feels to happen almost 20
pages before the actual script ending. Hmmmm…we'll see what
Mr. Lee can do with that one. As a side note, among the many producers
on the slate, there is a rumor that Ed Norton might have a say
in the producing. Also, I think casting did a good job in getting
Rosario Dawson to play Naturelle rather than their first choice
for the role, singer/musician Alicia Keys; both are exotic looking,
but Dawson brings in needed proven acting talent for the REALLY
low-budget picture. With a scheduled released date of December
6, 2002, Lee, Maguire and the gang appear to be cranking this
one out so it can be in contention for 2002 awards consideration.
We'll see if they can pull that hat trick off without having a
film that actually looks low budget and rushed.
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