# Michael Clayton

Michael Clayton is a 2007 American legal thriller, the first feature film by writer and director Tony Gilroy, starring George Clooney as lawyer Michael Clayton, who discovers a coverup of criminal wrongdoing by one of his firm's clients. Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, and Sydney Pollack appear in supporting roles.
Released on October 5, 2007, the film grossed $93 million worldwide. It was praised for Gilroy's direction and screenplay, and the performances of the cast, with Swinton's performance particularly lauded. Michael Clayton was nominated for seven Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Score, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor for Clooney, Best Supporting Actor for Wilkinson, and Best Supporting Actress for Swinton, which she won.

## Plot

Michael Clayton is a "fixer" for a prestigious New York City law firm, using his connections and knowledge of legal loopholes for the benefit of the firm's clients. One night, Michael leaves a poker game to attend to a client who struck a pedestrian with his vehicle in Westchester County. Driving home, Michael sees three horses standing at the top of a hill near some leafless trees. He stops, gets out of his car and approaches them. Behind him, a bomb detonates in his car.
Four days earlier, the firm dispatched Clayton to deal with a crisis that had been created when Arthur Edens, one of the firm's litigators, suffered a manic episode in the middle of a deposition. Edens had been conducting the defense of U-North, an agricultural conglomerate, in a six-year-long multi-billion-dollar class action lawsuit. His manic episode now threatens both the firm's reputation and U-North's interests. Michael bails Arthur out of jail in Milwaukee and learns Arthur is no longer taking his medication. Arthur escapes from his hotel room during the night and returns to New York.
Michael approaches Marty Bach, the firm's managing partner, requesting a loan to cover a failed investment in a restaurant Michael made with his ne'er-do-well brother, Timmy. Marty suggests Michael will be rewarded if he can get Arthur back on track but warns the firm will be finished if he fails.
Karen Crowder, U-North's general counsel, discovers that Arthur has a confidential U-North memo proving the company knew its weed killer was carcinogenic and caused the hundreds of deaths that sparked the lawsuit. U-North CEO Don Jeffries, whose signature is on the memo, puts Crowder in contact with two operatives, who follow Arthur and bug his apartment and phone.
Michael finds Arthur on a Manhattan street and confronts him about calls he made to Anna Kaiserson, the plaintiff being deposed during his episode, leading Arthur to realize that his calls are monitored. Nonetheless, Arthur calls Michael's son Henry, who tells him about a fantasy book, Realm & Conquest, and about the idea of the vision quest and the summoning of the hero to his quest. Arthur calls his own voicemail at the firm and says he will go public with the memo. Informed of this, Karen then calls in the operatives, who break into Arthur's apartment, murder him by means of lethal injection, and make it look like suicide by drug overdose.
Michael learns of Arthur's death but becomes suspicious when he discovers that U-North was planning a settlement just a few days before, and that Arthur had booked a flight to New York for Anna. He finds Anna and learns that she told no one of her conversations with Arthur, yet the firm somehow knew. With help from his brother Gene, a police officer, Michael breaks into Arthur's apartment, which is sealed as a crime scene. Michael finds Arthur's dogeared copy of Realm & Conquest, which contains an illustration of a horse on a hill with barren trees, and several pages Arthur highlighted and annotated. The book also contains a receipt from a photocopy shop, which Michael pockets. Two police officers soon arrive on a tip from the operatives, who have been trailing Michael. Michael is arrested, but Gene bails him out.
Taking the receipt to the copy shop, Michael discovers that Arthur ordered 3,000 bound copies of the confidential U-North memo. Michael takes them, but one of the hit men also procures a copy. Marty offers Michael the money he requested as a bonus, but insists Michael also sign a three-year employment contract and a non-disclosure agreement covering his vast knowledge of the firm and its personnel. On the night of the poker game, the hit men rig Michael's car with a bomb and follow him through Westchester. After he gets out of the car to view the horses on the hill, it explodes. Michael hides with his brother Timmy's help.
At a U-North board meeting, Karen proposes that the board approve a new settlement in the lawsuit. Michael confronts her in the foyer and goads her into offering him $10 million for his silence. When Karen agrees, Michael reveals that he is wearing a wire, with Gene and other NYPD detectives listening. As the police move in to confront Don and Karen, Michael gets into a cab and rides away.

## Cast

* George Clooney as Michael Clayton, attorney at Kenner, Bach, and Ledeen
* Tom Wilkinson as Arthur Edens, attorney at Kenner, Bach, and Ledeen
* Tilda Swinton as Karen Crowder, counsel at U-North
* Sydney Pollack as Marty Bach, managing partner at Kenner, Bach, and Ledeen
* Michael O'Keefe as Barry Grissom, attorney at Kenner, Bach, and Ledeen
* Sean Cullen as Gene Clayton, Michael's brother, a police detective
* David Lansbury as Timmy Clayton, Michael's brother
* Ken Howard as Don Jeffries, U-North's CEO
* Merritt Wever as Anna, one of the plaintiffs against U-North
* Austin Williams as Henry Clayton, Michael's young son
* Denis O'Hare as Mr. Greer
* Julie White as Mrs. Greer
* Bill Raymond as Gabe Zabel
* Robert Prescott as Verne, the principal hit man
* Terry Serpico as Iker, the second hit man

## Production
### Casting

Denzel Washington was offered the lead role. He liked the script, but turned it down due to concern about a first-time director. He regretted the decision.

## Release
### Theatrical

Principal photography took place from January 30 to April 7, 2006. The film premiered on August 31, 2007, at the Venice Film Festival. It was shown at the American Films Festival of Deauville on September 2, 2007, and at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7. It opened in the United Kingdom on September 28, and at the Dubai Film Festival in December. It opened in limited release in the United States on October 5, 2007, and in wide release in the US on October 12. It grossed $10.3 million in the opening week. It was rereleased on January 25, 2008. It grossed $49 million in North America and $92.9 million worldwide.

### Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 19, 2008, and on HD DVD on March 11, 2008.

## Critical reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 90% based on 205 reviews, with an average rating of 7.60/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Michael Clayton is one of the most sharply scripted films of 2007, with an engrossing premise and faultless acting. Director Tony Gilroy succeeds not only in capturing the audience's attention, but holding it until the credits roll." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 82 out of 100, based on 36 critics indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a B on an A+ to F scale.
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave it an A, saying that it was "better than good, it just about restores your faith". Roger Ebert gave it a full four stars and Richard Roeper named it the best film of the year. It was also Richard Schickel's top film of 2007, and he called it "a morally alert, persuasively realistic and increasingly suspenseful melodrama, impeccably acted and handsomely staged by Tony Gilroy". Time wrote, "Michael Clayton is not an exercise in high-tension energy; you'll never confuse its eponymous protagonist with Jason Bourne. But it does have enough of a melodramatic pulse to keep you engaged in its story and, better than that, it is full of plausible characters who are capable of surprising—and surpassing—your expectations". Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic wrote that "Gilroy's film is distinguished beyond its components by its purpose, its compassion, its interest—increasingly manifest—in the soul".
Michael Clayton appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007. It was also on Time magazine's 2012 list of 10 memorable ending scenes.

## Accolades

| Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
| Academy Awards | Best Picture | Sydney Pollack, Steven Samuels, Jennifer Fox and Kerry Orent | Nominated |
| Academy Awards | Best Director | Tony Gilroy | Nominated |
| Academy Awards | Best Actor | George Clooney | Nominated |
| Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Tom Wilkinson | Nominated |
| Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Tilda Swinton | Won |
| Academy Awards | Best Original Screenplay | Tony Gilroy | Nominated |
| Academy Awards | Best Original Score | James Newton Howard | Nominated |
| BAFTA Awards | Best Original Screenplay | Tony Gilroy | Nominated |
| BAFTA Awards | Best Actor | George Clooney | Nominated |
| BAFTA Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Tom Wilkinson | Nominated |
| BAFTA Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Tilda Swinton | Won |
| BAFTA Awards | Best Editing | John Gilroy | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Motion Picture – Drama | | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama | George Clooney | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Tom Wilkinson | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Tilda Swinton | Nominated |
| Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Tilda Swinton | Won |
| Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award | Best Supporting Actress | Tilda Swinton | Won |
| Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award | Best Supporting Actress | Tilda Swinton | Won |
| National Board of Review | Best Actor | George Clooney | Won |
| San Francisco Film Critics Circle | Best Actor | George Clooney | Won |
| Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association | Best Actor | George Clooney | Won |
| Satellite Award | Best Original Screenplay | Tony Gilroy | Nominated |
| Satellite Award | Best Supporting Actor – Drama | Tom Wilkinson | Won |
| Satellite Award | Best Supporting Actress – Drama | Tilda Swinton | Nominated |
| London Film Critics Association | Best British Actor of the year | Tom Wilkinson | Won |
| Edgar Award | Best Motion Picture Screenplay | Tony Gilroy | Won |
| Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards | Best Picture | | Nominated |
| Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards | Best Screenplay | Tony Gilroy | Nominated |
| Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actor | George Clooney | Nominated |
| Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Tom Wilkinson | Nominated |
| Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Tilda Swinton | Nominated |
| Chicago Film Critics Association | Best Picture | | Nominated |
| Chicago Film Critics Association | Best Director | Tony Gilroy | Nominated |
| Chicago Film Critics Association | Best Original Screenplay | Tony Gilroy | Nominated |
| Chicago Film Critics Association | Best Actor | George Clooney | Nominated |
| Chicago Film Critics Association | Best Supporting Actor | Tom Wilkinson | Nominated |
| Chicago Film Critics Association | Best Supporting Actress | Tilda Swinton | Nominated |
| Chicago Film Critics Association | Most Promising Filmmaker | Tony Gilroy | Nominated |
| London Film Critics' Circle | Actor of the Year | George Clooney | Nominated |
| London Film Critics' Circle | British Actor of the Year | Tom Wilkinson | Nominated |
| London Film Critics' Circle | British Supporting Actress of the Year | Tilda Swinton | Nominated |
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | Best Male Actor in a Leading Role | George Clooney | Nominated |
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role | Tom Wilkinson | Nominated |
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role | Tilda Swinton | Nominated |
| Venice Film Festival | Golden Lion | Tony Gilroy | Nominated |

## Soundtrack

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: Michael Clayton was composed by James Newton Howard and released on September 25, 2007, on the Varèse Sarabande label. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score.