The Post (film)
| The Post | |
|---|---|
.png)
Theatrical release poster
| |
| Directed by | Steven Spielberg |
| Produced by |
|
| Written by |
|
| Starring | |
| Music by | John Williams |
| Cinematography | Janusz Kamiński |
| Edited by |
|
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by |
|
Release date
|
|
Running time
| 116 minutes[5] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $50 million[6] |
| Box office | $1.4 million[7] |
The Post is a 2017 American political thriller film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay written by Liz Hannah and Josh Singer. Set in the early 1970s, the film stars Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts, Bradley Whitford, Bruce Greenwood, Carrie Coon, and Matthew Rhys. The Post depicts the journalists from The Washington Post and The New York Times who published the Pentagon Papers regarding the involvement of the United States government during the Vietnam War.
Principal photography began in New York City in May 2017. The film premiered at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. on December 14, 2017, and had a limited release in the United States on December 22, 2017, before a scheduled wide release on January 12, 2018.
The Post received highly positive reviews, with specific praise for the performances of Streep, Hanks and Odenkirk, and critics noting the film's comparisons of the administrations of Richard Nixon and Donald Trump.[8][9] It was chosen by the National Board of Review as the best film of 2017, and was named as one of the top 10 films of the year by Time and the American Film Institute.[10][11][12] At the 75th Golden Globe Awards, the film received six nominations: Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Actress – Drama for Streep, Best Actor – Drama for Hanks, Best Screenplay and Best Original Score.[13]
Contents
[hide]Premise[edit]
A cover-up that spanned four U.S. presidents pushed the country's first female newspaper publisher, Kay Graham(Streep) of The Washington Post, and its hard-driving editor, Ben Bradlee (Hanks), to join an unprecedented battle between journalism and government in publishing the Pentagon Papers.
Cast[edit]
- Meryl Streep as Kay Graham
- Tom Hanks as Ben Bradlee
- Sarah Paulson as Antoinette "Tony" Pinchot Bradlee
- Bob Odenkirk as Ben Bagdikian
- Tracy Letts as Fritz Beebe
- Bradley Whitford as Arthur Parsons
- Bruce Greenwood as Robert McNamara
- Carrie Coon as Meg Greenfield
- Matthew Rhys as Daniel Ellsberg
- Alison Brie as Lally Graham
- Jesse Plemons as Roger Clark
- David Cross as Howard Simons
- Zach Woods as Anthony Essaye
- Pat Healy as Phil Geyelin
- Michael Stuhlbarg as Abe Rosenthal
- Jessie Mueller as Judith Martin
- Stark Sands as Don Graham
- Neal Huff as Tommy Winship
Production[edit]
Amy Pascal successfully won a bid in October 2016 for the rights to the screenplay The Post, written by Liz Hannah.[14]In February 2017, Steven Spielberg had halted pre-production on The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara after a casting setback, and consequently opened his schedule to other potential films to direct.[6] The following month, it was announced that Spielberg was in negotiations to direct and produce the film, with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks in talks for the roles of Katharine Graham and Ben Bradlee, respectively.[15] The Post is the first time that Spielberg, Streep, and Hanks had worked together on a film.[16][17]
Spielberg read the screenplay and decided to direct the film as immediately as possible, citing that "when I read the first draft of the script, this wasn't something that could wait three years or two years — this was a story I felt we needed to tell today".[18] Spielberg elected to work on The Post while post-production work continued on the visual effects-heavy Ready Player One, a method he previously used during the concurrent productions of Schindler's List and Jurassic Park.[19] Josh Singer was hired to re-write the screenplay ten weeks before filming.[20] As production commenced, various The New York Times figures who were associated with the Pentagon Papers case, including James Greenfield, James Goodale, Allan Siegal and Max Frankel, objected to production plans for the filming of The Post because it does not emphasize the Times' role in breaking the story.[21]
On June 6, 2017, it was announced that the project, retitled The Papers, would feature a cast including Alison Brie, Carrie Coon, David Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Paulson, Jesse Plemons, Matthew Rhys, Michael Stuhlbarg, Bradley Whitford, and Zach Woods.[22] The film began principal photography in New York on May 30, 2017.[23] On August 25, 2017, the film's title was reverted back to The Post.[24] Spielberg finished the final cut of the film on November 6, 2017, with the final sound mix also completed with the musical score a week later, on November 13.[25]
Music[edit]
Spielberg's regular collaborator John Williams composed the film's score. Williams was originally attached to write the music for Spielberg's Ready Player One, but due to both films having similar post-production schedules, Williams chose to work on this project instead while Alan Silvestri was hired to take over scoring duties for the latter. The Post marks the 28th collaboration between Williams and Spielberg.[26] Recording sessions began on October 30, 2017, at Sony's Barbra Streisand Scoring Stage in Los Angeles.[27]
Release[edit]
The Post premiered at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. on December 14, 2017.[28] It received a limited release in the United States on December 22, 2017, to be followed by a wide release on January 12, 2018.[29] The film will be distributed internationally through Amblin Partners' distribution agreements with Universal Pictures, Reliance Entertainment, and Entertainment One Films.[30]
Marketing[edit]
The first official image from The Post was released on October 31, 2017.[31] The trailer for The Post first premiered exclusively on The Late Show with Stephen Colberton November 7, 2017.[32] The film's poster, designed by BLT Communications, was released the next day.[33][34] The first TV spot, titled "Uncover the Truth", was released on November 21, 2017.[35][36]
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 85% based on 123 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Post's period setting belies its bitingly timely themes, brought compellingly to life by director Steven Spielberg and an outstanding ensemble cast."[37] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 83 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[38]
Alonso Duralde of TheWrap praised the acting and Spielberg's direction, though noted the script as being too on-the-nose at times, saying, "The Post passes the trickiest tests of a historical drama: It makes us understand that decisions that have been validated by the lens of history were difficult ones to make in the moment, and it generates suspense over how all the pieces fell into place to make those decisions come to fruition."[39] David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film an A– and wrote: "Nobody needs to be reminded that history tends to go in circles, but The Post is so vital because it captures the ecstasy of trying to break the chain and bend things towards justice; defending the fundamental tenets of the Constitution hasn't been this much fun since Hamilton."[40]
Chris Nashawaty, writing for Entertainment Weekly, gave the film a positive review, comparing it favorably with previous journalism films such as All the President's Menand stating: "Spielberg makes these crucial days in American history easy to follow. But if you look at The Post next to something like All the President's Men, you see the difference between having a story passively explained to you and actively helping to untangle it. That's a small quibble with an urgent and impeccably acted film. But it's also the difference between a very good movie and a great one."[41]
No comments:
Post a Comment