Finding Forrester (2000)

A young writing prodigy finds a mentor in a reclusive author.

Director:

Gus Van Sant

Writer:

Mike Rich

Stars:

Sean Connery, Rob Brown, F. Murray Abraham

5 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sean Connery	...	Forrester
Rob Brown	...	Jamal
F. Murray Abraham	...	Crawford
Anna Paquin	...	Claire
Busta Rhymes	...	Terrell
April Grace	...	Ms. Joyce
Michael Pitt	...	Coleridge
Michael Nouri	...	Dr. Spence
Richard Easton	...	Matthews
Glenn Fitzgerald	...	Massie
Lil' Zane	...	Damon (as Zane Copeland Jr.)
Stephanie Berry	...	Janice
Fly Williams III	...	Fly
Damany Mathis	...	Kenzo
Damion Lee	...	Clay

Storyline

Because of scoring exceptionally high on a statewide standardized exam, and being an exceptionally good basketball player, Jamal Wallace is sent to a prestigious prep school in Manhattan. He soon befriends the reclusive writer, William Forrester.

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Plot Keywords:

school | basketball | writing | new york | mentor | 

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Taglines:

In an ordinary place, he found the one person to make his life extraordinary.

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

M

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sir Sean Connery and F. Murray Abraham also played ideological rivals in "Der Name der Rose (1986)."

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Goofs

The bird William Forrester videotapes and identifies as a Connecticut Warbler is actually a Yellow Warbler.

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Quotes

Prof. Robert Crawford: [to Jamal] Perhaps your skills do reach farther than basketball.
Jamal: "Further"
Prof. Robert Crawford: What?
Claire Spence: [whispered to Jamal] Don't...
Jamal: [to Crawford] You said that my skills reached "farther" than basketball. "Farther" relates to distance, "further" is a definition of degree. You should have said "further".
Prof. Robert Crawford: Are you challenging me, Mr. Wallace?
Jamal: Not any more than you challenged Coleridge.

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Crazy Credits

Jamal and friends play basketball through the end credits from the window of Forrester's apartment.

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Connections

Referenced in Allemaal film: De amerikaanse droom (2007)

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Soundtracks

UNDER A GOLDEN SKY
Written and performed by Bill Frisell
Courtesy of Nonesuch Records
by arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

Where do the James Baldwins spring from?

Director Gus Van Sant took the best parts of his own Good Will Hunting and Scent Of A Woman and fashioned Finding Forrester. The title is a something of a misnomer in that Forrester and someone else kind of find each other.

The title role of finding Forrester is played by Sean Connery who is a J.D. Salinger type author who has lived as a recluse in a brownstone. He wrote one novel back in the day and never wrote another. Presumably he said all there was to say in his mind.

A young ghetto kid with a talent for basketball and a bigger talent for writing meet in a rather peculiar fashion that I won't go into. They form a nice relationship, supplying needs for each other. Rob Brown who was a newcomer played the kid who has gotten a basketball scholarship, from a posh prep school, but has dazzled many with his abilities as a writer.

Finding Forrester has an interesting commentary on our stereotypes. Brown is in the school to bring home a basketball champion. Black ghetto kids are supposed to have talent in that direction. But creative writing? Just where do they think the James Baldwins spring from? That's no matter to frustrated professor F. Murray Abraham who teaches because he failed as a novelist. As Connery puts it people can get the mechanics of writing down, but talent can't be learned.

Anyway Brown gets put through a ringer like Chris O'Donnell did in Scent Of A Woman. Can you imagine the late J.D. Salinger coming out of his hideaway in New England on such a mission as Connery undertakes. Much bigger than what Al Pacino did in Scent Of A Woman.

Connery and Brown do form a nice bond and they have good chemistry for the viewer. And that's really about 80% of Finding Forrester.

You'll find Finding Forrester worth the effort.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

5 April 2001 (New Zealand)

Also Known As:

Descubriendo a Forrester

Filming Locations:

299 East 158th Street, Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$43,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$701,207, 25 December 2000

Gross USA:

$51,804,714

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$80,049,764

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Finding Forrester Productions, Fountainbridge Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

136 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS (8 channels) SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1