Drive (2011)

A mysterious Hollywood stuntman and mechanic moonlights as a getaway driver and finds himself in trouble when he helps out his neighbor.

Director:

Nicolas Winding Refn

Writers:

Hossein Amini (screenplay), James Sallis (book)

Stars:

Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 80 wins & 178 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ryan Gosling	...	Driver
Carey Mulligan	...	Irene
Bryan Cranston	...	Shannon
Albert Brooks	...	Bernie Rose
Oscar Isaac	...	Standard
Christina Hendricks	...	Blanche
Ron Perlman	...	Nino
Kaden Leos	...	Benicio
Jeff Wolfe	...	Tan Suit
James Biberi	...	Cook
Russ Tamblyn	...	Doc
Joe Bucaro III	...	Chauffeur (as Joey Bucaro)
Tiara Parker	...	Young Woman
Tim Trella	...	Hitman #1
Jimmy Hart	...	Hitman #2

Storyline

This action drama follows a mysterious man who has multiple jobs as a garage mechanic, a Hollywood stuntman and a getaway driver seems to be trying to escape his shady past as he falls for his neighbor - whose husband is in prison and who's looking after her child alone. Meanwhile, his garage mechanic boss is trying to set up a race team using gangland money, which implicates our driver as he is to be used as the race team's main driver. Our hero gets more than he bargained for when he meets the man who is married to the woman he loves.

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Plot Keywords:

neo noir | nameless character | mythical hero | silent protagonist | very little dialogue | 

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Taglines:

Some Heroes Are Real

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong brutal bloody violence, language and some nudity.

Did You Know?

Trivia

Consistent with Nicolas Winding Refn's usual visual style, wide-angle lenses were heavily used by cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel. Handheld camerawork was avoided. Preferring to keep the film more "grounded" and authentic, he also avoided use of computer-generated imagery (CGI). Inability to afford CGI due to budgeting restrictions also played a factor in this decision.

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Goofs

After being beaten up, the character 'Standard' has a large gash on the left side of his head. However, when he is being driven to the pawn shop, it has disappeared.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Driver: [on phone] There's a hundred-thousand streets in this city. You don't need to know the route. You give me a time and a place, I give you a five minute window. Anything happens in that five minutes and I'm yours. No matter what. Anything happens a minute either side of that and you're on your own. Do you understand?
[pause]
Driver: Good. And you won't be able to reach me on this phone again.

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Alternate Versions

UK radio station Radio 1 created a new soundtrack for Drive with the backing of the director. The new soundtrack features new music from The 1975, Baauer, BANKS, Bastille, CHVRCHES, SBTRKT and Eric Prydz. It was broadcast on BBC3 on 30th October 2014.

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Surprisingly Good Movie Casting Choices (2015)

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Soundtracks

A Real Hero
Written by David Grellier, Austin Garrick, Bronwyn Griffin
Performed by College (f. Electric Youth)
Courtesy of Valerie Records

User Reviews

Violent but stylized flick promoting adultery and Hollywood stereotypes

Drive is about a couple of thugs in LA, a stuntman turned driveway driver turned brutal murderer, his limping fatherly friend, one unfaithful and confused criminal wife, virtually every one in the movie is in fact mob related and pretty cruel. They live miserable lives, and meet miserable deaths, stabbed in the eye, slashed in the wrists and hands (with artful if disg usting mobster "compassion"), slaugh tered and left to bleed out, stumped on angrily and repeatedly like a cockroach, heads blasted in minute detail, romantically drowned on the edge of the ocean, all these deaths are seen by the wicked sin-romanticizing director as an opportunity to exercise his cinematic style and hypocritical misandry, and are crafted with love and dedication of a mythical sharkopath. Despite of this gratuitous violence the protagonist thinks of him self as a hero, and that he is a hero wannabe we are reminded by some annoying music through the movie, he even leaves a million dollars behind for no logical reason but don't expect logic when you can have f-reaking-art. Just as director thinks of himself as a great master of style, and not some misanthropic self satisfied Hollywood member that vents his hatred of the world using some over the top film violence that he sells as transgressive, just as the movie was sold by a deeply misleading trailer. He failed at the box office, but his cinematographic trickery nevertheless amount to some pretty amusing shots, that people who think of themselves as f-reaking-art lovers, heroes of their own delusions, but are in fact a much emptier bunch, interpret as beautiful.

Details

Official Sites:

Le Pacte [France] Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

16 September 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Drive

Filming Locations:

Saugus Speedway - 22500 Soledad Canyon Road, Saugus, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,340,461, 18 September 2011

Gross USA:

$35,061,555

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$77,187,281

Company Credits

Production Co:

FilmDistrict, Bold Films, MWM Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1