Chapter 27

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Chapter 27
Poster for Chapter 27
Directed by	J. P. Schaefer
Produced by	Naomi Despres Alexandra Milchan Robert Salerno
Written by	J. P. Schaefer
Starring	Jared Leto Lindsay Lohan
Music by	Anthony Marinelli
Cinematography	Tom Richmond
Editing by	Andrew Hafitz Jim Makiej
Distributed by	Peace Arch Entertainment Group
Release date(s)	March 28, 2008[1] (limited)
Running time	84 minutes
Country	Canada
Language	English
Budget	CAD 5,000,000
Gross revenue	Domestic: $56,215[2] Foreign: $131,273 Worldwide: $187,488

Chapter 27 is an independent film depicting the murder of John Lennon by Mark David Chapman, starring Jared Leto. It was written and directed by J. P. Schaefer. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2007 and the Berlin Film Festival in February. It received mostly negative reviews, although it did receive positive notices in Salon, The Hollywood Reporter, and Entertainment Weekly.

The film initially failed to land a U.S. distributor. The film was leaked onto the internet on March 23, 2007. The film saw US theatrical release in March 2008 and won the Debut Feature Prize award for Schaefer at the Zurich Film Festival^[3]. In Entertainment Weekly's 2008 Spring movie preview for Chapter 27, the movie was finally listed for release on March 28, 2008.^[4] However, the movie's release was limited. The film was rated R for language and some sexual content.

[edit] Plot and title

The movie takes place From the 6th to the 9th of December, 1980 and is intended to be an exploration of Chapman's psyche, without putting substantial emphasis on the murder. The title "Chapter 27" suggests a continuation of J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, which has 26 chapters, and which Chapman was carrying when he shot Lennon. Chapman was obsessed with the book, to the point of attempting to model his life after its protagonist, Holden Caulfield.

According to the British music magazine Mojo (December 2007) and the Spanish language newsweekly Proceso,^[5] and other Latin American publications, the title was also inspired by Chapter 27 of Robert Rosen's book Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon. Rosen's book explores the numerological meaning of 27, “the triple 9”, a number of profound importance to John Lennon. Lennon was deeply interested in numerology, particularly Cheiro’s Book of Numbers, and nine and all its multiples.

It was Chapman’s goal, according to Rosen, to write Chapter 27 "in Lennon’s blood."

The plot of the movie itself was drawn from the Chapman biography Let Me Take You Down, by Jack Jones (who is given a screen credit).

The Spanish-language version of the film is called El asesinato de John Lennon (El capítulo perdido) which in English is The Assassination of John Lennon (The Lost Chapter). The Czech version is called Zavraždění Johna Lennona, which also means The Assassination of John Lennon.

[edit] Cast

• Jared Leto as Mark David Chapman
• Ursula Abbott as Jeri
• George Bryant II as limo driver
• Kevin Cannon as precision driver/street hood
• Melissa Demyan as Lennon groupie
• Jeane Fournier as European woman
• Judah Friedlander as Paul Goresh
• Molly Griffith as cover girl/centerfold
• Yuuki Hosokawa as Sean Lennon
• Matthew Humphreys as Frederic Seaman
• Lindsay Lohan as Jude
• Mark Lindsay Chapman as John Lennon
• Redman Maxfield as maître d'
• Lauren Milberger as Gilda Radner
• Matthew Nardozzi as little kid
• Brian O'Neill as Patrick
• Adam Scarimbolo as Clerk Riley
• Michael Sirow as Joseph Many
• Victor Verhaeghe as Spiro

[edit] Production

Jared Leto gained 67 pounds to play Chapman by drinking microwaved pints of ice cream mixed with soy sauce and olive oil every night.^[6] At times, he had to use a wheelchair due to the stress of the sudden increase in weight put on his body.^[7]

[edit] Reception

[edit] Critical reception

The film received generally negative reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that only 20 percent of critics gave the film positive reviews.^[8] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 25 out of 100, based on 12 reviews.^[9]

[edit] Sean Lennon's personal feelings

Sean Lennon, John Lennon's son, has gone on record calling the production and making of the film, including Lindsay Lohan's involvement with it, "tacky." Lennon also stated on The Insider that Lohan understood his feelings and, despite his criticism, they were friends and he did not want to hurt her feelings.^[10]

[edit] Box office performance

The movie's US domestic gross as of June 9, 2008 is $56,215, making it a massive financial failure.^[11] On its opening weekend, it delivered the nations' highest per screen average of $13,900.^[12]

[edit] DVD release

The film was released on April 28, 2008 in the UK.^[13] The film was released on DVD in the US on July 1, 2008 in exclusives, and everywhere September 30, 2008.

[edit] Also See

• Death of John Lennon

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Web Site
• Chapter 27 at the Internet Movie Database
• Chapter 27 at Rotten Tomatoes
• Chapter 27 at Metacritic
• Chapter 27 at Allmovie
• Review at The Oscar Igloo
• Review at MovieHamlet
• Chapter 27 at Boxofficemojo
• Chapter 27 at Yahoo! movies
• Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon's author Robert Rosen on Chapter 27