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Michael Clayton

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Michael Clayton
Promotional film poster
Directed byTony Gilroy
Written byTony Gilroy
Produced bySydney Pollack
Steve Samuels
Jennifer Fox
Kerry Orent
StarringGeorge Clooney
Tom Wilkinson
Tilda Swinton
Sydney Pollack
CinematographyRobert Elswit
Edited byJohn Gilroy
Music byJames Newton Howard
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros. (USA)
Pathé/Warner Bros. (UK)
SND (France)
Release date
  • October 5, 2007 (2007-10-05)
Running time
119 minutes
CountryTemplate:Film US
LanguageEnglish
Budget$25 million
Box office$92,991,835

Michael Clayton is a 2007 American drama film written and directed by Tony Gilroy, starring George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton and Sydney Pollack. The film chronicles the attempts by attorney Michael Clayton to cope with a colleague's apparent mental breakdown, and the corruption and intrigue surrounding a major client of his law firm being sued in a class action case over the effects of toxic agrochemicals.

Plot

Michael Clayton (George Clooney), an attorney with a gambling problem, leaves a late night poker game. He works for the prestigious New York City law firm Kenner, Bach & Ledeen. As the firm's "fixer", Michael's job entails using his connections, influence, and his knowledge of legal loopholes for his clients' (often improprietous) benefit. In an early scene that establishes Michael's role as such, Michael meets with a wealthy client (Denis O'Hare) who has just committed a hit and run. After Michael finishes his business and leaves, he pulls off to the side of the road after some aimless driving. When he leaves his car to look at some horses, it explodes behind him.

The film jumps back to four days earlier. Michael owes $75,000 to loan shark Gabe Zabel (Bill Raymond), due to his failed attempt to open a bar with his brother Timmy (David Lansbury). Michael is then called with the news that one of the firm's leading attorneys, Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson), has had a bizarre outburst in the middle of a deposition in Milwaukee involving a class action lawsuit against U-North, an agricultural products conglomerate. Michael arrives to fix the situation. He gets Arthur out of jail and back to their hotel where he is successfully sedated. However, before Michael can escort Arthur back to New York, Arthur escapes from his hotel in the middle of the night.

Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton), U-North's general counsel, obtains Arthur's briefcase and discovers that he had come into possession of a confidential U-North document detailing the company's decision to manufacture a weed killer that it knew to be carcinogenic. Karen soon learns that Arthur has bipolar disorder and is unwilling to commit himself to a mental health institution. His psychotic episode was the result of his failing to take his medication. She decides to hire two men (Robert Prescott, Terry Serpico) to follow him, including tapping his phone and installing bugs in his apartment. The surveillance collected eventually reveals that Arthur is building a case against his own client, leading Karen to ask the team to permanently incapacitate him. They assassinate Arthur in a manner designed to resemble suicide.

Michael is saddened by the news of Arthur's death, but becomes suspicious upon learning that U-North was planning a settlement just a few days before and that Arthur had booked a flight for one of the plaintiffs, Anna (Merritt Wever). He learns from Anna that she told no one of her conversations with Arthur, not even her attorney, arousing in Michael further suspicion about how his firm came to know of Arthur's conversations with the U-North class members. With the help of his brother in law in the police department Michael gets access to Arthur's sealed apartment and discovers a receipt from a copy store. Upon investigation, he discovers that Arthur had ordered three thousand copies of the confidential U-North document. Michael takes a copy with him, but the two hit men are tailing him and inform Karen of the situation. Michael is about to show his boss, Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack), what he has discovered, only to be offered a renewal of his employment contract as well as an $80,000 bonus he had requested to cover his debt, although it comes with a confidentiality agreement to prevent him from ever shaking down the firm.

As Michael plays poker that evening, one of the hit men rigs his car with a bomb. Michael leaves the game and receives a phone call summoning him to the meeting with the client in Westchester County who had committed a hit-and-run, as seen at the start of the movie. He is being followed by the two men, but they have trouble tailing him. The surveillance team, still off but near Michael's trail, detonates the remote bomb while he is out of the car. An unharmed but surprised Michael runs back to his car and throws his personal effects inside, faking his own death.

Later, at a U-North board meeting, Karen proposes approval of a new settlement agreement. Michael is waiting for her when she exits the conference, and informs her that he has access to copies of the U-North memo and that he knows about her role in Arthur's murder. He goads Karen into offering him $10 million for his silence. Karen reluctantly agrees, prompting Michael to reveal the phone in his pocket that has conveyed their conversation to the police. As he walks away, detectives arrest Karen and U-North's chairman (Ken Howard). Michael leaves the building and hails himself a cab. He tells the driver, "Give me $50 worth. Just drive."

Cast

  • George Clooney as Michael Clayton, the title character and main protagonist. As the "fixer" for Kenner, Bach, and Ledeen, it's his job to find the best solution when a client runs into trouble while his/her lawyer's out of town. Thus, when Edens loses it, Clayton is the one who is put on the case.
  • Tom Wilkinson as Arthur Edens. The head attorney of the firm and a good friend of Clayton's, he has Bipolar disorder. While working the U-North case, he uncovers their shocking secret. He's so shocked that he forgets his medicine and loses it, getting Clayton in the mix. Though he intends to expose U-North, Crowder has him assassinated before he gets the chance.
  • Tilda Swinton as Karen Crowder, the main antagonist. The legal counsel for U-North, she discovers what Edens finds out and, through surveillance, what he plans. Determined to save her company, she has him assassinated and later, when Clayton gets involved, orders him assassinated. Unfortunately, Clayton survives, tricks her into confessing, and gets her arrested. Swinton won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.
  • Sydney Pollack as Marty Bach. Head of Kenner, Bach, and Ledeen and a friend of Clayton's, he tasks Clayton with fixing the problem with Edens. During the film, he is attempting to merge his firm with another based in London, a process that is threatened by Edens' breakdown.

Release

Theatrical

The film premiered August 31, 2007, at the Venice Film Festival and was shown at the American Films Festival of Deauville on September 2, 2007, and at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2007. It opened in the United Kingdom on September 28, 2007, and at the Dubai Film Festival in December 2007. The film opened in limited release in the United States on October 5, 2007, and opened in wide release in the U.S. on October 12, 2007. The film grossed USD $10.3 million on the opening week. It was re-released on January 25, 2008. As of February 8, 2008, the film has grossed $45 million domestically, $92.6 million worldwide.[1]

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 19, 2008. The DVD contains deleted scenes and a commentary by writer/director Tony Gilroy. On March 11, 2008 the movie was also released on HD DVD.

Reception

Critical reception

The film received strong positive reviews from critics. As of November 2008, the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 90% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 184 reviews, some of whom thought it was a dramatization of a true story.[2] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 82 out of 100, based on 36 reviews.[3] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave it an 'A' saying that it was "better than good, it just about restores your faith." Roger Ebert gave it a 4-star review and Richard Roeper named it the 'best film of the year.'[4] It was also Richard Schickel's top film of 2007, and he called it "a morally alert, persuasively realistic and increasingly suspenseful melodrama, impeccably acted and handsomely staged by Tony Gilroy".[5] The reviews on Box Office Mojo give the movie a normal B. Time magazine said that "Michael Clayton is not an exercise in high-tension energy; you'll never confuse its eponymous protagonist with Jason Bourne. But it does have enough of a melodramatic pulse to keep you engaged in its story and, better than that, it is full of plausible characters who are capable of surprising—and surpassing—your expectations".[6]

Top ten lists

The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.[7]

Accolades

Awards
Nominations

Soundtrack

Main article: Michael Clayton (soundtrack)
Untitled

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: Michael Clayton was released on September 25, 2007 on the Varèse Sarabande label.[12]

Awards

The soundtrack was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score.

Track listing

All tracks composed by James Newton Howard.

  1. "Main Titles" – 2:12
  2. "Chinatown" – 2:27
  3. "Drive to the Field" – 1:35
  4. "Just Another Day" – 2:20
  5. "Meeting Karen" – 2:46
  6. "Looking for Arthur" – 1:41
  7. "U North" – 1:49
  8. "Arthur & Henry" – 2:11
  9. "Times Square" – 3:38
  10. "Mr. Verne" – 2:28
  11. "I'm Not the Guy You Kill" – 6:57
  12. "Horses" – 2:13
  13. "50 Dollars Worth" – 6:27

References

  1. ^ Michael Clayton (2007)
  2. ^ "Michael Clayton – Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2008-01-05.
  3. ^ "Michael Clayton (2007): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-01-05.
  4. ^ "Michael Clayton – Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2007-10-07.
  5. ^ Schickel, Richard (2007-12-09). "Top 10 Movies (Richard Schickel)". Time. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
  6. ^ Schickel, Richard; “The 10 Best Movies”; time.com
  7. ^ "Metacritic: 2007 Film Critic Top Ten Lists". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2008-02-23. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
  8. ^ Roeper's review on Youtube
  9. ^ Dargis's review
  10. ^ "The Edgar Allan Poe Awards". Bookreporter.com. Retrieved 30 November 2010.
  11. ^ "Hollywood Foreign Press Association 2008 Golden Globe Awards for the Year Ended December 31, 2007". goldenglobes.org. 2007-12-13. Archived from the original on 2007-12-15. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
  12. ^ "Allmusic: Michael Clayton (Original Score)". Macrovision Corporation. 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-24. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
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