Sleuth (2007)

Director:

Kenneth Branagh

Writers:

Harold Pinter (screenplay)
Anthony Shaffer (play)

Release Date:

11 October 2007 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Obey the rules.

Plot:

On his sprawling country estate, an aging writer matches wits with the struggling actor who has stolen his wife's heart.

Plot Keywords:

Game | Actor | Divorce | Writer | Estate

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Michael Caine	...	Andrew
Jude Law	...	Milo
Harold Pinter	...	Man on T.V.
Carmel O'Sullivan	...	Maggie
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kenneth Branagh	...	Other Man on T.V. (uncredited)

Directed by
Kenneth Branagh

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Harold Pinter		screenplay
Anthony Shaffer		play

Produced by
Kenneth Branagh	....	producer
Simon Halfon	....	producer
Ben Jackson	....	co-producer
Jude Law	....	producer
Simon Moseley	....	producer
Marion Pilowsky	....	producer
Tom Sternberg	....	producer

Original Music by
Patrick Doyle

Cinematography by
Haris Zambarloukos

Film Editing by
Neil Farrell

Production Design by
Tim Harvey

Set Decoration by
Celia Bobak

Costume Design by
Alexandra Byrne

Makeup Department
Eileen Kastner-Delago	....	hair designer
Eileen Kastner-Delago	....	makeup designer
Eileen Kastner-Delago	....	prosthetics designer
Mitch Lumsden	....	hair stylist
Chris Lyons	....	special effects teeth
Kelly Marazzi	....	key makeup artist
Stephen Murphy	....	prosthetics makeup artist
Matthew Smith	....	key prosthetic makeup technican (uncredited)

Production Management
John David Gunkle	....	unit manager
Emily Stillman	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Guy Heeley	....	first assistant director
Olivia Lloyd	....	second assistant director
Charlie Reed	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Graham Mitchell	....	carpenter

Sound Department
Stuart Bagshaw	....	additional foley editor
Howard Bargroff	....	sound re-recording mixer
Paula Boram	....	foley artist
Peter Glossop	....	production sound mixer
Mike Grimes	....	supervising sound editor
Dan Johnson	....	adr recordist
Stephane Malenfant	....	second boom operator
Zak Melemendjian	....	dialogue editor
Shaun Mills	....	boom operator
Emma Pegram	....	assistant sound re-recording mixer
Jack Stew	....	foley artist
Chris Sturmer	....	sound consultant: dolby
David Turner	....	post audio project manager
Bradley Waller	....	sound editor
Michele Woods	....	supervising dialogue editor

Special Effects by
David Harris	....	special effects supervisor
Graham Hills	....	special effects senior technician
Stuart Wishart	....	special effects senior technician

Visual Effects by
Richard Elson	....	visual effects editor
Sarah Hemsley	....	visual effects producer: The Senate VFX
Richard Higham	....	visual effects supervisor: The Senate VFX
Lorraine Johnson	....	film recording supervisor
Simon Leech	....	digital artist: The Senate VFX
Daniel Reeves	....	data manager: The Senate VFX
Gareth Repton	....	digital artist: The Senate VFX
Samantha Spacey	....	visual effects line producer: The Senate VFX
Luigi Tommaseo	....	network and operations: The Senate VFX
Thomas Urbye	....	preview colourist: The Look
Rachel Wright	....	digital artist: The Senate VFX
Anton Yri	....	digital artist: The Senate VFX

Stunts
Bradley Farmer	....	stunt double: Jude Law
Paul Kennington	....	stunt double
Paul Weston	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
David Appleby	....	still photographer
Simon Baker	....	Steadicam operator
Simon Baker	....	camera operator: "a" camera
Rami Bartholdy	....	second assistant camera: dailies
Tim Battersby	....	additional first assistant camera
Ashley Bond	....	first assistant camera
Ann Marie Crotty	....	video playback operator
Howard Davidson	....	electrician
Hamish Doyne-Ditmas	....	first assistant camera: "a" camera
Brian Fawcett	....	additional lighting technician
Rob Gilmour	....	camera trainee
Alice Hobden	....	assistant camera
Ahmet Husseyin	....	camera trainee
Rupert Lloyd-Parry	....	key grip
Dan Lowe	....	rigging gaffer
Shaun Mone	....	best boy: location
Shaun Mone	....	electrician: Twickenham
Luke Redgrave	....	camera operator: "b" camera
Simon Thorpe	....	grip
Julian White	....	gaffer

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Melanie Carter	....	costume maker
Richard Sale	....	assistant costume designer
James Smith	....	costumer: Mr. Caine (as Jimmy Smith)

Editorial Department
Greg Barrett	....	senior digital intermediate producer
John Claude	....	digital intermediate colorist
Lorene Dewett	....	apprentice assistant editor: FT2
Dan Farrell	....	additional editor (as Daniel Farrell)
Paul Shore	....	on-line editor
Thora Woodward	....	editor trainee

Music Department
Christopher Benstead	....	music editor
Christian Howes	....	music assistant
Yann McCullough	....	additional music editor
Maggie Rodford	....	music producer: Air-Edel
James Shearman	....	orchestrator
Nick Wollage	....	score engineer & mixer

Transportation Department
Lee Isgar	....	driver: Jude Law
Colin Morris	....	personal driver

Other crew
Jon Baker	....	armorer
Peter Boothby	....	production runner
Neil Chordia	....	production executive
Ben Gladstone	....	location manager
Deborah Harpur	....	production resources
Joe Lloyd	....	asisstant to Mr Law
Damian Mitchell	....	assistant armorer
Richard Morrison	....	title designer
Amelia Price	....	production coordinator
Phil Stoole	....	behind-the-scenes
Tom Stourton	....	location scout
Tamar Thomas	....	assistant: Mr. Branagh

Thanks
Ron Arad	....	thanks
Karl R. Austen	....	special thanks (as Karl Austen)
Victoria Belfrage	....	special thanks
Antony Gormley	....	thanks
Simon Halls	....	special thanks
Gary Hume	....	thanks
Sara Keene	....	special thanks
Patrick Whitesell	....	special thanks
Modi Wiczyk	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Sony Pictures Classics (presents)
• Castle Rock Entertainment (presents)
• Riff Raff Film Productions (co-production)
• Timnick Films (co-production)
• Mandate Pictures (co-production)

Distributors

• Buena Vista International Finland (2007) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Cathay-Keris Films (2008) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Concorde Filmverleih (2007) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Long Shong Entertainment Multimedia Company (2007) (Taiwan) (theatrical)
• Long Shong Entertainment Multimedia Company (2008) (Taiwan) (theatrical)
• Mongrel Media (2007) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Paramount Pictures International (2008) (UK) (theatrical)
• Paramount Pictures International (2008) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Paramount Pictures International (2008) (South Africa) (theatrical)
• RCV Film Distribution (2008) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Classics (2007) (USA) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Releasing (2008) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Viva International Pictures (2008) (Philippines) (theatrical)
• 13th Street Universal (2011) (Belgium) (TV) (limited)
• 13th Street Universal (2011) (Netherlands) (TV) (limited)
• Concorde Home Entertainment (2008) (Germany) (DVD)
• Film1 (2009) (Netherlands) (TV) (limited)
• LK-TEL (2008) (Argentina) (DVD)
• LK-TEL (2008) (Argentina) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• LK-TEL (2008) (Argentina) (VHS)
• MG Film (2008) (Croatia) (all media)
• Paradise Group (2008) (Russia) (all media)
• RCV Home Entertainment (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Nordic (2008) (Finland) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2008) (Canada) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)

Special Effects

• Midnight Transfer (digital grading)
• Senate Visual Effects, The (visual effects by) (uncredited)

Other Companies

• Air-Edel Associates  music services
• Arion Facilities  dailies telecine transfers
• Audiolink Radio Communications  walkie talkies
• Bonded Services  film storage
• Compuhire  computer and video playback
• Eisner & Frank  production legal
• Gearbox Sound and Vision  additional ProTools systems supplied by
• Kodak  motion picture film supplied by
• Look, The  post-production facilities
• Media Rights Capital  funding
• Media Safety  health and safety
• Panavision UK  camera equipment provided by
• Salon  avid editing equipment
• Sapex Scripts  post-production services
• Temptu  tattoos
• Varèse Sarabande  soundtrack

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for strong language

Runtime:

USA:86 min | Argentina:87 min | Germany:89 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS | DTS

Certification:

USA:R | Canada:14A | Ireland:15A | Italy:T | Australia:M (re-rating after appeal) | Australia:MA (original rating) | UK:15 | Germany:12 | Argentina:16 | Taiwan:R-12 | Japan:PG-12 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:15 | Greece:K-17 | New Zealand:M | Brazil:14 | Finland:K-13 | Portugal:M/12

Filming Locations:

Twickenham Film Studios, St Margarets, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK

Company:

Sony Pictures Classics

Trivia:

The wire-man sculpture is by Antony Gormley, best known for "Angel of the North," a public sculpture in Gateshead.

Goofs:

Continuity: To clean his face, Tindle pours lots of alcohol on his face, so his t-shirt gets wet. In the following shot, his t-shirt is dry.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Andrew Wyke:Yes?
Milo Tindle:Andrew Wyke?
Andrew Wyke:That's right.
Milo Tindle:I'm Milo Tindle.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "David Walliams' Awfully Good: Awfully Good Movies (#1.3)" (2011)

More than meets the eye.

"If thou canst cuckold him, thou dost thyself a pleasure, me a sport." Iago in Shakespeare's Othello

Anthony Shaffer's brother, Peter, was famously about "What's that all about?" if you remember the mysteries of Equus. Playwright Anthony's Sleuth also requires a competent literary "sleuth" to figure out the multiple levels of meaning in a film that could be just about revenge if you looked no further. This brilliant adaptation by Pulitzer-winner and minimalist Harold Pinter contains his usual spare dialogue and non sequitur logic to provoke wonderment and amusement in a discerning audience that knows there's more than meets the eye and ear.

Wealthy novelist Andrew Wyke (Michael Caine) is visited in his impressive estate by his wife's lover, Milo Tindle (Jude Law). From the first interchange about the superiority of Wyke's car, which is placed nose to nose with Tindle's in an obviously figurative bird's-eye shot, the debate takes on a tennis metaphor, where each combatant takes a set and the resolution becomes a tangled endgame.

While it is easy to guess Shaffer has planned the author initially to be the manipulative superior as he guides his guest through one of the year's best set designs with its modern sharp edges and dazzling electronics, the play/film evolves with each character (this is a two hander where not even the tennis-ball wife physically intrudes) gets a chance to prove his worth for the absent but always present wife. Director Kenneth Branagh's close-ups are merciless upon Caine's age lines emphasizing his wisdom and Law's beauty featuring his youthful volatility and vulnerability. But the prevalent high angle motif puts all the mayhem in perspective: The cuckold will not be denied, no matter how daring, resourceful, and remorseless the intruder is; the men's sexuality will be challenged no matter how masculine the actors are. Ambiguity rules as it should in all effective literature and in life itself.

While the screenplay is literate beyond anything out there all year, the film belongs to the actors, Law soaring beyond his Ripley charm and Caine even better than when he played Law's Tindle in a previous screen version 35 years ago. The story about infidelity is universally appealing, as if it had never been told before and justice had never been rendered so well.