George Axelrod

George Axelrod is one of the main characters in the 2012 psychological thriller film Elevator. He's a comedian who is among 9 people that get stuck in an elevator with a bomb inside and has to fight to get out alive.
He was played by Joey Slotnick.
==Biography==
George's story is unknown, the only thing to add is being a comedian. He first appears in the film warming up with some jokes for the party at Barton Industries. He's third after Martin Gossling to board the elevator and tells the man that stood in front of it he would sub in for Bob Berris as the comedian but he has claustrophobia. He looks at security guard Mohammed and says an insult relating to his race calling him a terrorist. Even though he told him he was a security guard, George jokingly replied in suspicion and then says another insult relating to his race calling him Osama bin Laden. When Henry Barton and his spoiled granddaughter Madeline arrive, George complains on his claustrophobia to the man. While Mr. Barton greets everyone, George introduces himself before he can get to him and tells the man to get the elevator up. Before the doors could close, Celine Fouquet runs in and boards the elevator. George's claustrophobia gets worse as the elevator starts moving. 
George's claustrophobia worsens as the elevator goes up a few floors to where Martin tried to calm him down. Martin tries to tell him that he was on the same elevator and nothing bad happened to it. Madeline decided to play with George's claustrophobia and pushes the emergency stop button stopping the elevator in the process. George, who was the only one who clearly seen Madeline's intentions, tries to convince everyone that she pressed the button on purpose but Madeline lied and said it was an accident. George and Madeline argue and is stopped by Mr. Barton, who fired George for calling his granddaughter the b-word but George didn't care and decides to take the stairs instead. When Mr. Barton tries to get the elevator moving by pressing the stop button and park button, the elevator does not move. George began to panic and swore three times making Mohammed tell him to stop because there were women and children inside. George gets frustrated and again says another claim about his culture. Celine is confused on why they were arguing so much. After Mr. Barton presses the stop button again, the elevator moves but only in a slight motion. George's claustrophobia was really beginning to get to him, making him panic further having Martin tell him again that it could be a glitch then George answers that he said the elevator never gets stuck which Martin restates that the elevator "stopped". Mr. Barton presses some more buttons but the elevator still wouldn't budge. While doing this, George says he couldn't breathe. Jane Redding offers him a flask of Irish Whiskey to make him cool down. Martin tries to tell him that drinking wasn't a good idea but George didn't listen. 
Moments later, the 9 people are still stuck on 49th floor. Mr. Barton apologizes to everyone that his building had stopped on them but George blames his granddaughter who still says it was an accident. George tells her that liars go down to hell having Mr. Barton tell him that he had said enough about his granddaughter. George questions if he'll fire him again and then says that they wouldn't be in that position if it wasn't for her. Celine says that she heard that people have been stuck on elevators for days with George adding that it felt like it was a week already. Martin asks Mr. Barton if he was retiring since he had a 75 million dollar payout. George thought it was obscene. After Jane mentions the 1944 film Lifeboat, Celine asks if someone was eaten in that movie while George says that if they have to wait any longer where they’d have to eat each other out of hunger, he'd eat Maureen. Don tells him to watch what he says which George answers that he was trying to say what everyone else thought. Jane asks George for the flask. He takes one last sip and gives it to her. After Jane falls over, George and most of the others tend to her care. Jane asks if anyone else needs the flask and George takes it. Jane asks if they were forgotten with Martin answering if they weren't with Mr. Barton they'd be with George replying depending whatever kind of boss. Seconds later, Jane asks George that since he was a comedian and that they were all basically an audience that if he could tell a joke and he obliged. George tells them the joke he made earlier in the film but Don already knows it and finishes it himself making George frustrated. Jane however thought it was funny. Madeline though called him stupid and George tries to tell her he once opened for Dice Clay but Madeline still thought it was stupid which makes George call her stupid. George drinks some more of the flask and accidentally backs into Martin who tells him sit down. George responds that the elevator would have more room if he skipped a cupcake once in a while. Martin, feeling offended, tells George that he hopes he suffocates from his claustrophobia. After Mohammed tells Jane that his family comes from Iran, George figures he's a Muslim and that he had known it. Mohammed questions that if he's Muslim, he couldn't be an American where George answers that it's possible but he's a suspect. Maureen also questions George about her culture that since her family is Indian, she has to have a dot on her forehead which George answers again that it couldn't be ignored. George then states that after 5000 years of suffering he has a certain sensitivity. After Mohammed solves George's statement with his answer being a Jew, George once again says another claim about Mohammed's culture with Mohammed calling him an imbecile. 
The 9 people are still stuck in the elevator with Jane telling a story that her son Geoff died in Iraq and asks to be helped up. George, Don, and Maureen do that as Jane continues her story. When Jane has a panic attack turned into a heart attack, George, Celine, Don, and Maureen attempt to save her while Martin called the hospital. Mohammed then came in to tend for her care. After Jane denounces she has a bomb, she passes away said by Mohammed. George assumes she probably had a stroke but Mohammed assures him it was not because he was a medic in the army. Mr. Barton kept pressing the emergency button but the elevator people did not reply. George thinks he has frustrated them. Mr. Barton says that they lost their money as facilitators with George replying he had blood on his hands. Mr. Barton tells George to shut up having George try to test him by throwing him off the elevator. 
While Celine was searching Jane for the bomb, Madeline asks her grandfather about the bomb and Mr. Barton said there wasn't one in order for her to keep calm. George however told her Jane's husband shot his brains out. Mr. Barton was fed up with what George had said because she was too young to hear anything like that. After looking at a sheet that was about Neil Redding killing himself, Mr. Barton, who had assumed he was well and drinking in Queens, thought wrong. Since there wasn't any bombs in neither of Jane's purses, Martin thinks they should check under her clothes making everybody believe he felt someway towards elder women but Martin wants to find out for sure if she has a bomb. After one of the remaining 8 in the elevator assume it was something else, George again assumed it was a bomb to where Mr. Barton tells him a second time to stop saying that it was and George tells him to fire him. Everyone is stunned when the bomb is discovered. After Don fails to find an escape hatch, they all have to think of something else. George asks if anyone has a deck of cards. When Maureen found out Don had a child with Celine, George said it was the perfect time to confess it but Don silenced him. When Madeline cries in fear of dying, Mr. Barton tries to calm her down but George thinks he's trying to make another guarantee on it. Mr. Barton calls George an a**hole while George says it takes one to know one. Martin believed George was enjoying everything that was going on and George told him he was a pessimist who expected the worst and never gets disappointed. Mr. Barton tells George that it might have been a fake bomb used to scare everyone. George believed that a fake bomb would only be used to show off. Celine believed that she was gonna show it at the party which was why she hid it while Mr. Barton stated that explosive material wasn't easy to get to and Mohammed responds that it could be bought with George blurting out another racist claim relating to his culture. This enrages Mohammed because George had said several insults relating to his race and culture the whole night and he puts George in a chokehold. 
After things cool down, they decide to open the elevator doors to let someone know they were stuck on the elevator but everyone in the building seemed to have evacuated after hearing about the bomb. Don thinks that he should open up the doors and throw the bomb out by lining up the doors but George says that they're all on the same circuit. Furthermore, when they find out that the bomb has a timer on it, they quickly decide to press the buttons. Don used Jane's cane to reach since the buttons were too high up. When Don manages to press the button, things go awry as the elevator lowered a few floors down; Don and Mr. Barton are both injured with Don losing his hand and Mr. Barton sustaining a gash on the right side of his face. Mohammed went over to treat Don's wound using his tie to prevent it from letting out too much blood. George went over to stop Mr. Barton from pressing the buttons and to sit him down to keep Madeline company. When a now remorseful Madeline repeatedly says it's all her fault for everything that just happened, George tried to calm her down while still blaming her because he was the only one who seen her press the stop button on purpose. George believed that things could be worse before getting into an argument with Celine. George explained it's what people like him do and that he annoys himself but it didn't make any difference to the bomb. George apologized for being one of the people she had to be in the elevator with as he also explained that he was a last minute substitution. He finally stated that he is the guy that takes people's place in almost getting on a plane that crashed being ok with those words being his last if the bomb went off then. Everyone is shocked when the bomb maker denounced the bomb had least 10 minutes left of detonating. Maureen's producer Martha called to talk about how the bomb was only 10 minutes away from blowing up. George asked her if they heard the part about more less as Martha asked her who was talking. He soon stated that the TV ratings would stand in their way. Things weren't looking too good but George had another idea: they'd line up the elevator doors in case the police arrived to fix them so they tried opening the doors to see if it worked. George planned to have Madeline out first if the doors were lined up. None of the five were able to get the doors open so they all had to let go. They all discussed how they got it open before and Martin answered that they had Don and assumed Mohammed had restless leg syndrome causing it to get in the way. George then gets Mr. Barton to help them open the doors but there is only a wall. 
They almost accepted their fates but George thought to open the doors again having no choice but to cut Jane's corpse in two to get the bomb from around her and throw it down the shaft since it seemed to be their last resort to living. Celine asked who would volunteer so George handed the picker to her but she refused because she had already volunteered in searching Jane. He tried handing it to Martin who said he'd only help. Tried handing it to Maureen but she said that she couldn't but would assist whoever did. George is left to it. George didn't know where to start but Martin believed they should go under the ribs. George ignored him and asked Mohammed where to start since he was the former medic and Mohammed suggested the stomach. Before George got to it, he asked Maureen if she'd have sex with him if they got out but she answered "no". George tried to get it to sound like if she said she would then there wouldn't be any hope before Celine told him to get on with it. George nearly does so but stopped. Mr. Barton comes up agreeing to cut Jane. While he is doing this, he explained that he spent the summers in his high school days working in a butcher shop. Mr. Barton struggled to cut deeper so he asked George to remove the organs but he refused so Mohammed volunteered. Eventually, George helped out. It was a nasty process for the four removing the organs struggling to reach the spine so they roll the corpse over. George told Mr. Barton that if they got out, give all of them a million dollars including Celine's unborn child. All the adults rolled the corpse over but that became difficult because the corpse was getting stiff. The bomb squad answered the elevator and they lowered the elevator to the next floor. The bomb squad opened the doors and everyone is helped out, except for Martin due to his weight. George wanted to help Martin out but the bomb squad told him they would have to lower the elevator to the basement and the doors were shut. 
Outside of the building, George asked Mohammed a final question about his race relating to Iran having a nuclear weapon. Mohammed asked George if he was always an a**hole and George answered that question by saying that Mohammed was not a good security guard which he had to concede on. A news anchor came up to ask George how he kept his hopes alive during the situation. He explained that people do what they had to do. When Mr. Barton walked by, George reminded him that they had a deal but it was clear the deal was off since everyone but Martin got out. His wife called not knowing what had happened. She asked him about the toilet paper that was talked about when George first arrived to the building. He left to purchase it. 
===Appearance===
In the movie, George wore a suit with a black coat, an orange suit shirt and tie with it. He wore black pants with the suit. 
===Personality===
George is a man with comedic skill. He said himself that he was a pessimist replying to Martin when he thought he was enjoying the awry events in the elevator. When he first seen Mohammed, he made racist claims towards him and continued to say them about him angering Mohammed to the point where he has him in a chokehold. His views toward cultures had Maureen also question him. He is also a jerk as he not only was racist to Mohammed but antagonized many of the people in the elevator except for Jane Redding. Later on in the film, George was willing to think of any possible way to get them all out of the elevator to avoid being blown up, even going as far as to attempt to cut Jane’s lifeless body in two in order to remove the bomb and throwing it down the shaft, and when Martin wasn't able to get out himself because of his weight, George kept trying to convince the bomb squad into doing something different to prevent Martin from being killed inside the elevator as the bomb was only seconds away from detonating.
==External Links==
Movie.
https://youtu.be/6tC8GGJZ1TQ?si=tuwOdtSBPgGYPl8m
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