Next (2007 film)

Next
Promotional poster for Next
Directed by	Lee Tamahori
Written by	Gary Goldman Jonathan Hensleigh Paul Bernbaum (screenplay) Gary Goldman (screen story) Philip K. Dick (story)
Produced by	Nicolas Cage Jason Koornick Todd Garner Norm Golightly Graham King Arne Schmidt
Starring	Nicolas Cage Julianne Moore Jessica Biel Thomas Kretschmann
Cinematography	David Tattersall
Edited by	Christian Wagner
Music by	Mark Isham
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures (USA) Columbia Pictures (Argentina) Initial Entertainment Group (international sales)
Release dates	April 27, 2007
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	54,744,474 USD (worldwide)

Next is a 2007 film loosely based on the science fiction short story "The Golden Man" by Philip K. Dick. The film is directed by Lee Tamahori and stars Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore, and Jessica Biel. The film was released on April 27, 2007 but was poorly received compared to other adaptations of Dick's work such as Blade Runner and Minority Report.

Plot

Cris Johnson (Nicolas Cage) is in a Las Vegas diner. He looks at the clock above the counter. He checks his own watch, and then glances out the door. He is looking for someone, but she doesn't show. He appears to be haunted by visions of a young woman, probably connected to the diner. Cris is a clairvoyant living under an assumed name, Frank Cadillac, in Las Vegas. He has a minor magic show at one of the hotels, but he makes his living at "low stakes" gambling against the casinos. He manages to stay beneath the radar, never revealing his gift: the ability to see two minutes into his own future.

During one of his magic shows (involving a small role with Cage's real-life wife, Kim), two FBI agents observe him, although he doesn’t realize that’s who they are or that they are even after him. After the magic show, when he goes to a casino to gamble, he is observed by the casino’s security. They have watched him for a while and tonight they are convinced he must be cheating in some way. Cris, however, knows they are coming. He goes to cash his chips and get out of the casino. That is, until a nervous man approaches the money cages of the casino just as Cris cashes in. Cris looks at him, and the man pulls a gun. He tries to rob the casino, and shoots two people in the process. The scene freezes — this is a vision of the future and now Cris knows what's going to happen. He tackles the robber and grabs the gun, but the casino security thinks he's the danger as they see him holding the gun as he stands up. Using his ability, Cris eludes security and steals a Dodge Charger SRT-8. He escapes the police in a car chase, narrowly avoiding a train, and heads for home in the car.

Meanwhile, the FBI agents peruse the security video from the casino. One of them, Callie Ferris (Julianne Moore), is convinced Cris is the key to help the FBI stop terrorists from detonating a stolen nuclear bomb. All the information she has obtained until this point proves Cris has some unexplainable ability to see into the future. She has her partner get the head of casino security, to ask some more questions before they go and pick up Cris.

Cris goes to see his friend Irv (Peter Falk), but realizes that the police and Callie are on his tail. Before Cris leaves Irv’s place, however, he decides to see what Callie wants. Cris views the future & realizes that Callie wants to use his powers and will not take no for an answer. He escapes from her, but he won’t leave town. He has been living every day in hopes of meeting the woman from his vision, and understanding why — where she is concerned — he can see farther ahead than he ever has before.

Meanwhile, two of the French terrorists kill the casino’s head of security, trying to find out more about Cris.

Cris goes to the diner. This time the woman from his vision shows up. Her name is Liz (Jessica Biel) and Cris "tries" a number of ways to meet her, i.e. he looks into the near future that would result from each. Her abusive ex-boyfriend shows up and gives him an opportunity to save her. Cris "tries" to avoid being hit, but finds out he gains more sympathy from Liz when he lets the ex-boyfriend hit him. He tells her his car was stolen, and before long she offers to drive him to his destination — Flagstaff — which is conveniently where Liz is headed.

Callie in the meantime is insistent on tracking Cris down. She finds the diner where he was, and learns in the process that the casino head of security was murdered — she doesn’t connect it yet to the terrorists. She learns that Cris is heading towards Flagstaff, and goes to see if she can track down a video of him.

Cris and Liz are driving through Nevada together. She has a stop to make at an Indian reservation where she teaches. One of her students has a birthday, and she has brought a present for him. While they descend to the reservation, Cris mentions he would like to meet their shaman. He asks Liz if she believes the stories they tell about shaman — their abilities to control water, to see the future. Liz says she believes anything is possible. At the reservation, Liz draws closer to Cris, particularly after her students point out how much he seems to like her and he performs a magic trick for the birthday boy.

Meanwhile, the French terrorists have their nuclear bomb delivered to the docks. The leader of the terrorists, who goes by the name of Mr. Smith (Thomas Kretschmann) wants Cris eliminated, and so the "henchmen" are off to track Cris down before the FBI can get their hands on them.

Cris is driving Liz’s car through the rain. She falls asleep on his shoulder, and then jerks herself awake. They come up to a roadblock, the road to Flagstaff is flooded, and are forced to turn back to a hotel called the Cliffhanger (quite literally perched atop a cliff).

Callie finds out who Liz is, but is still unable to locate where they have gone.

At the hotel, Cris leaves Liz in the room and sleeps in the car himself. Liz glances out the window at one point, and watches him, feeling guilty that he is sleeping in the cold. The next day, Cris “makes” a rose appear in place of a flower one for Liz and the two of them share a passionate kiss.

Because of the police officer at the roadblock, Callie finds out where Liz & Cris are hiding. The government has detected nuclear radiation levels, and so Callie is able to mobilize a large group of FBI to go and capture Cris. The French terrorists have been watching the FBI building, in the apartment of a murdered girl, and they follow the FBI to Cris’s hideout.

Cris and Liz are curled up in bed together. Liz is asleep, but Cris’s eyes suddenly pop open and he stares at the ceiling. Liz leaves the Cliffhanger to go shopping, watched and then intercepted by Callie & the FBI. The French are also watching, and they mark Liz as being someone connected to Cris. In the car, Callie convinces Liz that Cris is a dangerous sociopath and that Liz must drug him so Callie & the FBI can arrest him. In shock, Liz agrees. The French watch the hotel, but cannot get a clear shot at Cris. So they wait, like the FBI, to see what happens next.

Liz does not follow through on drugging Cris, and instead warns him that Callie & the FBI are there. Cris tells her his secret, and insists if she believes everything is possible, she needs to believe in him. After Liz sees the proof she believes, but doesn’t understand why he won’t help the FBI. He explains that his gift is limited to his future alone for two minutes only and that this wouldn’t help the FBI. Only Liz gives him a glimpse of a more distant future. Cris wants to escape the FBI, and have Liz go into hiding. Liz promises to wait for him to find her. Neither is aware that the French know who Cris and Liz are. Liz smashes her car into a mill on the edge of the cliff, causing a giant chain reaction slide of wagons and falling logs. Cris almost succeeds in getting away, but at the last minute saves Callie from the falling logs. Callie arrests him, and hauls him off with the FBI. The French, unable to get their hands on Cris, kidnap Liz instead.

At FBI headquarters in Los Angeles, Callie hooks Cris up to a machine, in front of a TV, and tells him to seek out the future for where the nuclear blast takes place. Instead, Cris gets a vision of Liz being killed by terrorist bombs strapped to her body. He escapes the FBI and runs to the parking garage where he saw it happen. When he gets there, there is no sign of Liz. Cris’s powers of the future, however, have expanded as far as Liz is concerned. Liz’s death won’t occur for two more hours. Callie finds him there and warns him that the French probably have a sniper prepared to kill him. Callie promises to help Cris save Liz, if he’ll help her.

Using Cris as bait, the FBI tries to catch the sniper but the sniper is killed in the attempt. Cris visualizes the future again, this time getting a picture of the French’ license plate on their van. Callie uses this to track down the French near the port. The FBI swarms on the port, but Callie makes it clear to her team that Cris calls the shots in terms of when and where to shoot. They work together and chase the French, who use a bomb-strapped Liz as a shield, into a tanker. Cris helps them evade traps and a sniper, and get down to the last terrorist. Cris uses his ability to see in to the future to defuse a hostage situation by prejudging where the terrorist will shoot if he does a certain action, and by doing so, eliminates down to a certain path which is safe for him to walk. Callie shoots him and Cris frees Liz. Outside, however, the FBI has discovered that the nuclear bomb has been moved. Callie shows Cris where the range of LA where they think the bomb is hidden, but Cris becomes agitated and says he was wrong, he made a mistake. Then he shouts, “It’s happening now,” and grabs Liz to shield her with his body. In LA, the nuclear explosion goes off, obliterating the port and everyone on it.

Cris is in bed again, with Liz sleeping next to him. It’s the exact same shot from when he stared at the ceiling. Everything that happened before was a vision of the future, what will happen if he tries to evade the FBI. He gets out of bed, calls Callie and tells her he will help — if she keeps Liz out of it. Callie agrees. Cris explains he has an important job to do, and asks Liz if she can wait a week or a month for him to return to her. Liz agrees. Cris meets Callie outside the hotel, thinking to himself that once you see the future, you change it just by knowing what is going to come.

Production

Gary Goldman and Jason Koornick initially optioned the science fiction short story The Golden Man by Philip K. Dick. Goldman wrote a script treatment that he and Koornick presented to Nicolas Cage's production company, Saturn Films, but Goldman ended up writing the screenplay on spec.

This first draft had more similarities to the short story, detailing the efforts of a government agency to capture and contain a precognitive mutant.[1]

To provide greater interaction between the opposing parties(as well as create a leading role), Cris was changed from a feral animal whose existence threatened humanity's into a more familiar social outcast. A romantic subplot was added: the character of Liz Cooper, who in this draft was not only destined to be the love of Cris's life, but a mutant as well-the only woman he has ever met with whom he can have children with, herself incapable of procreating with normal humans.

As the original short story had a distinct undercurrent of racist paranoia, the motivation for the pursuit of Cris was changed from a policy of exterminating mutations to the Department of Homeland Security's search for assets in the War on Terror, though the DHS began exhibiting this paranoia as their efforts to control Cris prove inadequate.

The DHS was explicitly depicted as a organization eager to break the law to force Cris' cooperation, as well as torture and even murder innocent civilians. It was in fact the primary antagonist of the film, with the undefined terrorists kept firmly in the background as the rarely mentioned motivation for the DHS's pursuit of Cris. Also, the script begins with Cris coming to the conclusion that the DHS plans to imprison him for the rest of his life (thus ensuring access to his abilities), and never disproves this theory.

On top of this, the climax of the script has Cris using a seized bomb to destroy the Las Vegas DHS headquarters, the instant before Liz is to be executed to preemptively prove to Cris the government's determination to possess him.

This script was rewritten, replacing the DHS with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, decreasing the organization's demand for Cris's obedience and adding a confrontation with the (still undefined) terrorists, with him willingly cooperating with the FBI.

Saturn Films, pleased with the result, brought it to the attention of Revolution Studios. Revolution Studios acquired the screenplay and in November 2004, Revolution Studios hired Lee Tamahori to direct the film, titled Next, with actor Nicolas Cage cast in the lead role as a man who has the ability to see into the future. Filming was to begin in Summer 2005. In December 2005, actress Julianne Moore was cast as the federal agent who seeks people to help prevent future terrorism and uncovers Cage's character as a potential candidate. In November 2005, Initial Entertainment Group negotiated for rights of international distribution of Next, which had a target release date of 2007. In February 2006, actress Jessica Biel was cast as the love interest of Cage's character.

In May 2006, Starz Entertainment's 14-episode miniseries, Looking for Stars, gave 200 contestants the opportunity to earn a speaking role in Next, which was won by actor Marcus Welch.

Next originally was to be distributed by Sony Pictures (Next was set to be released on September 28, 2006), but that studio dumped it in January 2007, and Paramount Pictures subsequently picked it up and released the movie on April 27, 2007 . Paramount previously released another film adaptation of a Philip K. Dick short story, Paycheck, and owns the US rights to yet another, Minority Report via its acquisition of DreamWorks.

Cast

Actor	Role
Nicolas Cage	Cris Johnson
Julianne Moore	Callie Ferris
Jessica Biel	Liz Cooper
Thomas Kretschmann	Mr. Smith
Tory Kittles	Cavanaugh
Peter Falk	Irv

Trivia

File:ClockworkCage1.jpg

A scene from Next is reminiscent of one from A Clockwork Orange.

• In one scene in the movie, Cris switches on a television in order to mask his voice from detection by the FBI. A channel displayed on the television is playing a scene from Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. A later scene in the movie has Cris strapped to a chair with his eyelids mechanically held open while he is forced to watch a television screen. This scene is reminiscent of a scene from Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange.

• In the same scene, when Callie offers Cris a cigarette, the box bears a striking resemblance to the Victory Cigarettes box from the film adaptation of 1984.

• A part of the movie was filmed in the San Bernardino Mountains in California. Locations used for production of the movie "Next" in the mountains included Crestline, Running Springs and Big Bear Lake. The hotel featured in the movie, "The Cliffhanger", is actually a restaurant in the Crestline area that has been closed for some time. The real name of the restaurant is "The Cliffhanger", as sits on a cliff overlooking the City of San Bernardino. In order to make the restaurant look more like a hotel, a facade was attached to the building. The facade is the part of the motel where Cris and his girlfriend are staying. The interior shots were filmed elsewhere. At the end of production, the facade was torn down. However, a lot of the new signage that the producers put up and the paint job they did remain intact. The property has been fenced off and a for sale sign has been posted. For the scenes shot in the town, the producers choose downtown Running Springs to film. It is located approximately 30 minutes drive time from the Cliffhanger. The scenes that were shot in Big Bear Lake were shot at a campground. They were the scenes that started at the Cliffhanger where a vehicle was rolled off the side of the cliff. However, due to the terrain of the side of the hill that the Cliffhanger is on, the producers decided to finish the scenes at the campground in Big Bear Lake. So in other words, the car started rolling off the hillside at the Cliffhanger and came to rest 40 miles away at the campground in Big Bear Lake!

• The last word seen in the film is that of the hotel, named to coincide with its ending: "Cliffhanger".

• The credits are briefly "foreseen," including a glimpse of the ending logos, before rolling from the top of the screen to the bottom. This is meant to mimic Cris' ability to see into the future. Despite the reversed direction of flow, the credits follow the normal order, with important names appearing before the rest of the crew. Some statements are even printed in lines of text vertically reversed in order.

External links

• Next at IMDb
• Official website
• Soundtrack Review at Tracksounds