Out of Sight
- For other uses see Out of Sight (disambiguation).
| Out of Sight | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Steven Soderbergh |
| Written by | Elmore Leonard (novel) Scott Frank (screenplay) |
| Produced by | Danny DeVito Barry Sonnenfeld |
| Starring | George Clooney Jennifer Lopez Ving Rhames Don Cheadle Steve Zahn Albert Brooks Dennis Farina Isaiah Washington Michael Keaton |
| Cinematography | Elliot Davis |
| Edited by | Anne V. Coates |
| Music by | David Holmes |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release dates | June 26, 1998 |
Running time | 123 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $48,000,000 (estimated) |
| Box office | $77,745,568 (worldwide) |
Out of Sight is a 1998 Academy Award-nominated movie directed by Steven Soderbergh and based on the novel of the same name by Elmore Leonard. It was the first of several collaborations between Soderbergh and star George Clooney. The film was released on June 26, 1998. It was nominated for two Academy Awards (adapted screenplay and editing). It won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best screenplay and the National Society of Film Critics awards for best film, screenplay, and director. It led to a spinoff TV series, Karen Sisco.
Plot
The story revolves around the relationship between a career bank robber, Jack Foley (George Clooney), and a U.S. Marshal, Karen Sisco (Jennifer Lopez). They are forced to share her car trunk during Foley's escape from a Florida prison. After he completes his getaway, Sisco chases Foley while he and his friends - his right-hand man, Buddy (Ving Rhames) and Glenn (Steve Zahn) - work their way north to Bloomfield Hills, a wealthy northern suburb of Detroit. There they plan to pay a visit to shady businessman Ripley (Albert Brooks), who foolishly bragged to them years before about a diamond stash at his mansion. But a vicious criminal (Don Cheadle) who also spent time in jail with Jack and Ripley, is planning on hitting up Ripley's mansion with his crew, consisting of (Keith Loneker) and (Isaiah Washington), as well. The question of whether Sisco is really pursuing Foley to arrest him or for love adds to "the fun" Foley claims they are having.
Cast
- George Clooney as Jack Foley
- Jennifer Lopez as Karen Sisco
- Ving Rhames as Buddy Bragg
- Steve Zahn as Glenn Michaels
- Don Cheadle as Maurice Miller
- Albert Brooks as Richard Ripley
- Dennis Farina as Marshall Sisco
- Luis Guzmán as Chino
- Isaiah Washington as Kenneth
- Keith Loneker as White Boy Bob
- Catherine Keener as Adele
- Michael Keaton as Ray Niccolette
Development
The source novel's origins lie in a picture Leonard saw in the Detroit News of a beautiful young female federal marshal standing in front of a Miami courthouse with a shotgun resting on her hip. Producer Danny DeVito bought the rights to the book after his success with the 1995 film adaptation of Leonard's novel Get Shorty.
Steven Soderbergh had made two films for Universal Pictures when executive Casey Silver offered him Out of Sight with George Clooney attached. However, the filmmaker was close to making another project and hesitated to commit. Silver told him, "These things aren't going to line up very often, you should pay attention".[1]
Casting
Sandra Bullock was originally considered to play Karen Sisco opposite Clooney, however, Soderbergh said, "What happened was I spent some time with [Clooney and Bullock] - and they actually did have a great chemistry. But it was for the wrong movie. They really should do a movie together, but it was not Elmore Leonard energy".[2] Danny DeVito and Garry Shandling were considered for the part of Ripley before Albert Brooks was cast. The appeal of a character like Foley to Clooney was that growing up his heroes were bankrobbers in the movies, "the Cagneys and the Bogarts, Steve McQueen and all those guys, the guys who were kind of bad and you still rooted for them. And when I read this, I thought, This guy is robbing a bank but you really want him to get away with it".[3]
Soderbergh cites Nicolas Roeg's 1972 film, Don't Look Now as the primary influence on how he approached the love scene between Foley and Sisco: "What I wanted to create in our movie was the intimacy of that, the juxtaposition of these two contrasting things . . . We had to mix it up and have you feel like you were more in their heads".[2]
Michael Keaton was chosen to play Ray Niccolette because he had previously played the character in Jackie Brown, which was an adaptation of Out of Sight's prequel Rum Punch.
Reception
Out of Sight was released on June 26, 1998 on 2,106 theaters and grossed USD $12 million on its opening weekend. It went on to gross $37.5 million domestically and $40.2 million in the rest of the world for a worldwide total of $77.7 million, well above its $48 million budget.[4]
Out of Sight received positive reviews from critics. It has a 92% rating at Rotten Tomatoes and an 85 metascore at Metacritic. In her review for the L.A. Weekly, Manohla Dargis wrote, "This isn't a profound film, or even an important one, but then it isn't trying to be; it's so diverting and so full of small, satisfying pleasures, you don't realize how good it is until after it's over".[5]
The National Society of Film Critics voted Out of Sight the Best Film of 1998 as well as Soderbergh Best Director and Frank for Best Screenplay.[6]
In later years, Soderbergh would see the film as "a very conscious decision on my part to try and climb my way out of the arthouse ghetto which can be as much of a trap as making blockbuster films". He had just turned down directing Human Nature, written by Charlie Kaufman, to direct Out of Sight. "And I was very aware that at that point in my career, half the business was off limits to me".[7] Clooney said, "Out of Sight was the first time where I had a say, and it was the first good screenplay that I'd read where I just went, 'That's it.' And even though it didn't do really well box office-wise - we sort of tanked again - it was a really good film."[7]
References
- ^ Jones, Belinda (January 1999). "Rockumentaries . . ". Empire.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b "Steven Soderbergh Interview". Mr. Showbiz. 1998.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Decha, Max (December 1998). "America's Most Wanted". Neon. p. 52.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Out of Sight". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Dargis, Manohla (June 24, 1998). "With A Bullet". L.A. Weekly. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Carr, Jay (January 4, 1999). "National Film Critics Tap Out of Sight". Boston Globe.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b Andrew, Geoff (February 13, 2003). "Again, with 20% more existential grief". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
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External links
- Out of Sight at IMDb
- Out of Sight at AllMovie
- Out of Sight at Rotten Tomatoes
- Out of Sight at Metacritic
- Out of Sight at Box Office Mojo
- "Back in Sight" article at the L.A. Weekly