Pretty Persuasion (2005)

A 15-year-old girl incites chaos among her friends and a media frenzy when she accuses her drama teacher of sexual harassment.

Director:

Marcos Siega

Writer:

Skander Halim

Stars:

Evan Rachel Wood, David Wagner, Ron Livingston

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Evan Rachel Wood	...	Kimberly Joyce
David Wagner	...	Morgan (as David T. Wagner)
Brent Goldberg	...	Rick
Adi Schnall	...	Randa
Elisabeth Harnois	...	Brittany
Stark Sands	...	Troy
Jane Krakowski	...	Emily Klein
Michael Hitchcock	...	Headmaster Charles Meyer
Danny Comden	...	Roger Nicholl
Jaime King	...	Kathy Joyce
Josh Zuckerman	...	Josh Horowitz
James Snyder	...	Dave
Ron Livingston	...	Percy Anderson
Cody McMains	...	Kenny
Mike Erwin	...	Barry

Storyline

Manipulative high school sophomore Kimberly Joyce leads her friends Brittany Wells and Randa Azzouni in bringing charges of sexual assault against Percy Anderson, their English and drama teacher at an exclusive private school in Beverly Hills. Meanwhile, local reporter Emily Klein, originally assigned to do an insignificant piece on the school, hopes that the scandal will launch her into celebrity in the television news business, while Kimberly's bigoted father, Hank, is concerned primarily with the effect that his daughter's accusations may have on his business.

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Plot Keywords:

school | teacher | drama teacher | sexual harassment | private school | 

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Taglines:

Revenge knows no mercy

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexual content and graphic dialogue involving teens, and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Germany] Official site [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 May 2006 (South Africa)

Also Known As:

High School Confidential

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$58,570 (USA) (12 August 2005)

Gross:

$305,688 (USA) (28 October 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

REN-Mar Studios, Prospect Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jena Malone was in the running for playing Kimberly Joyce, but was eventually beat out by Evan Rachel Wood for the role.

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Quotes

Kimberly Joyce: Randa, what's the greatest thing about this country?
Randa: Sylvester Stallone?
Kimberly Joyce: No. It's that anybody can sue anybody at anytime over anything.
Randa: You wanna sue Mr. Anderson?
Kimberly Joyce: I suppose that it might jump-start me and Brittany's acting careers.

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Connections

References To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

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Soundtracks

"Gare a Toi Jeune Amant"
Written by Gilad Benamram (ASCAP), Ran Pink (BMI) & Flora Benamram (ACUM)
Performed by The Marionette Sextet
Recorded and Mixed by Clint Bennett
Published by EverBliss Music, Inc. (ASCAP), Ran Pink Publishing (BMI)

User Reviews

A great film

On a lot of occasions,scandalizing is the last desperate resource of a filmmaker who tries to provoke interest with a provocative subject.But,Pretty Persuasion is one of the little few cases which do not scandalize in a forced way.This is an excellent movie which brings a very important message about the modern culture and,at the same time,it's enormously entertaining,funny and,of course,scandalizing.Although it has offensive moments,I think Pretty Persuasion must be analyzed as a very black comedy which laughs of many stereotypes of the modern North American culture.As any other great satire,it's impossible to deny that the movie hides a lot of truths of the modern life in the brilliant screenplay.The things the main character thinks are thought by a lot of people,but they try to hide them for shame.Pretty Persuasion works on many levels and it has grey characters;nobody is completely innocent or completely guilty.By my point of view,they are all victims of the circumstances,of their education and of their instincts.Or simply,they are all manipulating,liar and badly intentioned people.The only fail I found on this movie is that it's a little bit pretentious on some moments.The performances are extraordinary.Evan Rachel Wood shows her excellent performance in Thirteen was not a chance and that she's one of the most talented young actresses nowadays.I have to admit that I found her performance in this movie better than Natalie Portman in Closer and Reese Witherspoon in Election.Ron Livingston brings a perfect performance.The great James Woods shows an enormous enthusiasm with his character.In spite of some minor fails,Pretty Persuasion is a brilliant movie which is not afraid in scandalizing with the porpoise of bringing valid and very important messages.I liked this movie pretty much.