Making Pursuit: An Italian Take on the American Dream (2007) (V)

Director:

Stuart Richardson

Release Date:

27 March 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Short

Plot:

This is a "making of" documentary for the hit film "The Pursuit of Happyness". It chronicles a foreign director's perspective on The American Dream, and the challenges in making the film.

Plot Keywords:

Making Of

Cast

Jason Blumenthal	...	Himself
Mark Clayman	...	Himself
Louis D'Esposito	...	Himself
James Karen	...	Himself
James Lassiter	...	Himself
Gabriele Muccino	...	Himself
Chris Parson	...	Narrator
Will Smith	...	Himself

Directed by
Stuart Richardson

Produced by
Leneta Antoine	....	associate producer
Dan Kavanaugh	....	executive producer
Stuart Richardson	....	producer

Cinematography by
Greg Matthews		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Louis Gumapas

Art Department
Marco Del Valle	....	graphic artist
Janice Yung	....	graphic designer

Sound Department
Mike Forslund	....	sound mixer
Cordel Mansfield	....	sound

Editorial Department
Matt Kosinski	....	assistant editor
Hugo Mendez	....	assistant editor
Chris Monte	....	on-line editor
Dana Sol	....	assistant editor

Thanks
Jason Blumenthal	....	special thanks
Mark Clayman	....	special thanks
James Lassiter	....	special thanks
Jaden Smith	....	special thanks
Will Smith	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Mirage Productions

Distributors

• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2007) (worldwide) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Magic Hair Studios  post-production facilities

Runtime:

USA:17 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Mirage Productions

Movie Connections:

Features The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

Better than most...

This is an unusually informative and unique documentary about the making of The Pursuit of Happiness. Most of it centers on the experiences of Italian filmmaker Gabriele Muccino as he directs one of America's biggest movie stars in a film about the American dream. There is tons of great behind the scenes footage and lots of interesting interviews with Muccino and some of the cast, although it's strange that in some of Will Smith's interview scenes he's out of the costume he's in in the movie and he's wearing this shirt and hat that makes him look exactly like the Fresh Prince. He looks like a punk kid, it's bizarre.

At any rate, we also learn about the technical and location challenges in making the movie, and why Smith wanted to have Muccino, who had never directed a film in America, direct this one. It seems he made a good choice!

It was also interesting to me, as it was watching the movie, to see so many fabulously wealthy people talking about this story of a man struggling on the verge of homelessness. Because of a certain job I had in Los Angeles a couple years ago I'm lucky enough to have been to Will Smith's unbelievable mansion in Calabasas and Producer James Lassiter's slightly less astonishing but still beautiful mansion near downtown LA, and it seems hard for me to believe that they really have the necessary perspective to pull off a story like this.

Nonetheless, I think the movie is incredibly moving and successful in it's intentions, maybe because, as director Muccino mentions, Americans don't really understand the American dream. You need to be a foreigner to really understand it. Whether or not that's exactly true, they have really done something special here.