Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Brad Renfro | ... | Todd Bowden | |
Ian McKellen | ... | Kurt Dussander | |
Joshua Jackson | ... | Joey | |
Mickey Cottrell | ... | Sociology Teacher | |
Michael Reid MacKay | ... | Nightmare Victim | |
Ann Dowd | ... | Monica Bowden | |
Bruce Davison | ... | Richard Bowden | |
James Karen | ... | Victor Bowden | |
Marjorie Lovett | ... | Agnes Bowden | |
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David Cooley | ... | Gym Teacher |
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Blake Anthony Tibbetts | ... | Teammate |
Heather McComb | ... | Becky Trask | |
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Katherine Malone | ... | Student |
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Grace Sinden | ... | Secretary |
David Schwimmer | ... | Edward French |
Neighborhood boy Todd Bowden (Brad Renfro) discovers that an old man living on his block named Arthur Denker (Sir Ian Mackellan) is a Nazi war criminal. Bowden confronts Denker and offers him a deal: Bowden will not go to the authorities if Denker tells him stories of the concentration camps in World War II. Denker agrees and Bowden starts visiting him regularly. The more stories Bowden hears, the more it affects his personality. Written by Casey Ward <ward@citizen.infi.net>
Directed by Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects and both X-Men features), Apt Pupil is a story of adolescent curiosity and evil intentions. Ian McKellen (X-Men) plays the role of an aged, former Nazi soldier living alone in a quiet town with Brad Renfro (Sleepers) as a young, high school teenager in the search of finding the truth about Nazi life in wartime Germany.
Adapted from the Stephen King novella of the same name, Apt Pupil is a psychological thriller with an Alfred Hitchcock-like presence, leaving quite a bit to the viewer's imagination. Much like a game of cards, the action moves back and forth between characters, each trying to take control of one another. While Kurt Dussander (McKellen) wants to keep his past in the past, Todd Bowden (Renfro) keeps probing (and sometimes threatening) to unleash the stories of the reign of Hitler and the torture of the Jews.
While this movie is much like other Stephen King-adapted novels in the sense that it doesn't always translate well to the big screen (with all of the little nuances that made King famous), the superb acting and directing makes Apt Pupil a worthwhile venture into the nature of mental wickedness. Both Singer's vision and McKellen's portrayal of Nazi war criminal bring excitement and intrigue to this movie making it a must-see.