Gridlock'd
Gridlock'd | |
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Directed by | Vondie Curtis-Hall |
Written by | Vondie Curtis-Hall |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Bill Pope |
Edited by | Christopher Koefoed |
Music by | Stewart Copeland |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Gramercy Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 91 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $5 million |
Box office | $5.6 million |
Gridlock'd is a 1997 American
The film focuses on two heroin addicts who decide to kick the habit, following the death of their bandmate. They have to face encounters with the police and local criminals, while bureaucracy prevents them from entering a drug rehabilitation program.
Plot
This article needs an improved plot summary. (April 2023) |
Set in Detroit, Gridlock'd centers around heroin addicts Spoon, Stretch and Cookie. They are in a band – in the
Cast
- Tim Roth as Stretch
- Tupac Shakur as Spoon
- Thandiwe Newton as Cookie (credited as Thandie Newton)
- Charles Fleischer as Mr. Woodson
- Howard Hesseman as Blind Man
- James Pickens Jr. as Supervisor
- John Sayles as Cop #1
- Tom Towles as D-Reper's henchman
- Tom Wrightas Koolaid
In addition, Bokeem Woodbine appears repeatedly – though uncredited – as drug dealer Mud, while D Reper is played by the film's writer and director, Vondie Curtis-Hall; Kasi Lemmons and Henry Hunter Hall, Curtis-Hall's wife and then-baby, respectively, appear briefly as the Madonna and Child.
Production
Development
Curtis-Hall drew from some of his own experiences growing up in Detroit to make the film. During his teenage years, Curtis-Hall was a guitarist and vocalist in Detroit's punk rock scene. During this time, he and his peers began using heroin, with Curtis-Hall recounting the drug "was really a competitive thing we did, to be accepted. In order to compete, we thought, we figured we needed the tools to compete with others that were pushing the edge, to play faster, write better songs and sing better. That meant using smack".[2]
Curtis-Hall had kicked the drug by the time he graduated high school in 1974,[2] saying, "One day my best friend, the bassist, and I were sitting around and decided that maybe we could actually play better if we weren't stoned all the time."[3] In the attempt to get clean, Curtis-Hall said that he and his friend sought assistance from public detoxification programs, but were constantly confronted with red tape. He said, "I was living at home and I didn’t want [my parents] to know about it. Because of that I had no address to list on the forms. My friend didn't have a Social Security card. We were like these two homeless kids, running through this maze. You have a small window of time, or you’ll never kick."[2][3]
Casting and financing
Curtis-Hall said it wasn't easy to get the film financed because of its taboo subject of heroin, "and people were expecting it to be a real depressing movie about a couple of dope fiends."[3] He took the project to Live Entertainment, PolyGram Films and Def Pictures, a subsidiary of PolyGram.[2] At the time, PolyGram had just released Trainspotting and told Curtis-Hall, "'We can't do two movies about heroin'...Then Tupac's record company came up with the money and PolyGram turned around and said, 'Hey, we always liked this movie' [laughs]."[3]
Tim Roth requested to be in the film upon reading the script after the filming of Rob Roy.[2] Tupac was cast after Laurence Fishburne, the director's first choice, was not available.[2] The rapper was recommended to Curtis-Hall by Preston Holmes, the president of Def Pictures.[2] Said Curtis-Hall, "Pac had just gotten out of jail [after a 1995 sexual abuse conviction in New York] and no one wanted to touch him. But Preston, who had known Tupac since he was a child, said that he was a professional, and nothing like the perception Hollywood had of him. I met him, liked him, hooked him up with Tim, and there was immediate chemistry."[2][3]
Soundtrack
Year | Album | Peak chart positions | Certifications |
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U.S. | |||
1997 | Gridlock'd
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1 |
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Release
Gridlock'd premiered on January 31, 1997, finishing at #10 at the box office in the United States and Canada for its opening weekend, and went on to a total gross of $5.6 million during its domestic run.[1] The film was released in the United Kingdom on May 30, 1997.[4]
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 34 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.7/10.[5]
Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "B" rating and Owen Gleiberman wrote, "Gridlock'd doesn't have the imaginative vision of a movie like Trainspotting, yet it's more literally true to the haphazard torpor of the junkie life than anything we've seen on screen since Drugstore Cowboy ... Curtis-Hall has caught the bottom-feeder enervation of heroin addiction."[10]
References
- ^ a b "Gridlock'd". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Coker, Cheo Hodari (January 29, 1997). "For Writer-Director, Film Reflects a Past Gridlock of His Own". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 24, 2023. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Upton, Sam (July 1997). ""Smack is a bit of a taboo subject over here..."". Select: 113. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
- ^ "Gridlock'd". dvd-fever.co.uk. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
- ^ "Gridlock'd". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
- ^ Maslin, Janet (January 29, 1997). "And You Thought Recovery Was Serious Business". The New York Times. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
- ^ Howe, Desmond (January 31, 1997). "'Gridlock'd': Surprisingly Footloose". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
- ^ Wloszczyna, Susan (January 29, 1997). "Late Rapper and Roth Animate Gridlock'd". USA Today.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (January 31, 1997). "Gridlock'd". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved May 15, 2021 – via RogerEbert.com.
- ^ Gleiberman, Owen (January 31, 1997). "Gridlock'd". Entertainment Weekly. Time. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
External links
- Gridlock'd at IMDb
- Gridlock'd at AllMovie