8mm (1999)

A private investigator is hired to discover if a "snuff film" is authentic or not.

Director:

Joel Schumacher

Writer:

Andrew Kevin Walker

Stars:

Nicolas Cage, Joaquin Phoenix, James Gandolfini

2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nicolas Cage	...	Tom Welles
Joaquin Phoenix	...	Max California
James Gandolfini	...	Eddie Poole
Peter Stormare	...	Dino Velvet
Anthony Heald	...	Longdale
Chris Bauer	...	Machine
Catherine Keener	...	Amy Welles
Myra Carter	...	Mrs. Christian
Amy Morton	...	Janet Mathews
Jenny Powell	...	Mary Ann Mathews
Anne Gee Byrd	...	Senator
Jack Betts	...	Butler
Luis Oropeza	...	Archive Director
Rachel Singer	...	Neighbor
Don Creech	...	Mr. Anderson

Storyline

A small, seemingly innocuous plastic reel of film leads surveillance specialist Tom Welles down an increasingly dark and frightening path. With the help of the streetwise Max, Welles relentlessly follows a bizarre trail of evidence to determine the fate of a complete stranger. As his work turns into obsession, he drifts farther and farther away from his wife, family and simple life as a small-town private eye.

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Plot Keywords:

snuff film | male full frontal nudity | violent sex | sexual sadism | number in title | 

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Taglines:

You are never prepared for the truth

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

M/18

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film's production encountered concerns regarding the dark subject matter, and the studio asked Andrew Kevin Walker to lighten the film's tone. With Joel Schumacher as director, Walker felt a rewrite would no longer be needed. As it turned out, Schumacher supported the studio and made changes of his own, leading to a much-publicized fallout between the two, with Walker virtually disowning the film and walking away from the set. He refused to even watch it.

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Goofs

The amount of stubble (specifically on his chin, between the sides of his modified Fu Manchu) on Dino changes between shots during his first meeting with Welles.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Airport Announcer: Welcome to Miami. While in the airport, please observe Florida and local laws which prohibit any smoking in the terminal. Thank you for not smoking.

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Alternate Versions

The film was heavily cut before release to gain an 'R' rating. Joel Schumacher's audio commentary on the DVD points out the multitude of MPAA cuts throughout the film. The cuts include:

• Sex throughout the movie. For example, background sexual activity was trimmed under the "no more than two buttock-thrusts rule"
• A lot of a conversation between Phoenix and Cage was removed because a bank of TV monitors in the background were showing hardcore pornography footage
• Sequences in the underground sex club were trimmed to remove shots of enema porn (which were in fact real)
• Machine's cutting of Phoenix's throat was edited.

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Connections

Referenced in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: Tiana's Splashing Palace (2020)

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Soundtracks

Come To Daddy
Written by Richard James
Performed by Aphex Twin
Courtesy of Sire Records Group/Warp Records Ltd.
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

A solid thriller!

Some sensitive-minded people may surely be disturbed by the dark revenge and self-justice in this film, but "Se7en"-author Andrew Kevin Walker has done another fine work with his script! Although the storyline is obviously taken from Paul Schrader´s "Hardcore" (1974,?) the film is suspense-packed, violent and endowed with good performances of its actors, especially Peter Stormare did a brilliant job with playing the weird bondage-porn director Dino Velvet! I also was truly surprised how good director Joel Schumacher had created a morbid atmosphere, just in unhappy memory of his disastrous "Batman & Robin"-flick..! Another pleasant fact is, that "8MM" doesn´t deal with the Hollywood-typical stereotypes and clichés, so finally we´ve got something we could really call a dirty mainstream production - or at least a nice try of it!

Details

Country:

Germany USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 March 1999 (Portugal)

Also Known As:

8mm

Filming Locations:

Buena Vista Avenue, Yonkers, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$14,252,888, 28 February 1999

Gross USA:

$36,663,315

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$96,618,699

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Hofflund/Polone, Global Entertainment Productions GmbH & Company Medien KG

Technical Specs

Runtime:

123 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1