Holes

**Holes** is an American live-action film that was released on April 18, 2003.

## Plot

In Texas, the Yelnats family has been cursed to be unlucky, which they blame on their ancestor Elya's failure to keep a promise to fortune teller Madame Zeroni years ago in Latvia. One day, Stanley Yelnats IV is wrongfully convicted of stealing a pair of sneakers that were donated to charity by baseball player Clyde "Sweet Feet" Livingston and is sentenced to 18 months at Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention camp, in lieu of jail time.

He arrives to find that the camp is a dried-up lake run by the warden, Louise Walker, her assistant Mr. Sir, and camp counsellor Dr. Kiowa Pendanski. Prisoners who are known by their nicknames – including Zero, Zig-Zag, Armpit, Squid, X-Ray, and Magnet – spend each day digging holes in the desert; they may earn a day off if the inmates find anything interesting. For one night, Mr. Sir rescues Stanley from a yellow-spotted lizard, which he warns Stanley are aggressive, venomous, and lethal. After finding a golden lipstick tube initialled K.B. and a fossil, Stanley is accepted into the group and is given the nickname Caveman.

After taking the blame for Magnet's stealing of Mr. Sir's sunflower seeds, Stanley is taken to the warden's house where old wanted posters and newspapers lead him to realize that "KB" stands for Katherine "Kissin' Kate" Barlow, a schoolteacher turned outlaw from the past. Walker asks Stanley to grab her box of nail polish and mentions that it contains rattlesnake venom. After he and Mr. Sir explain what happened with the sunflower seeds, Walker injures Mr. Sir and allows Stanley to return to his hole.

Camp Green Lake's history is revealed in a series of flashbacks: In the 19th century, Green Lake is a flourishing lakeside community. Barlow is involved in a love triangle with the wealthy Charles "Trout" Walker, whom Barlow rejects, and an African-American onion seller named Sam, whom Barlow loves. One night, the jealous Walker and the town's citizens burn down the schoolhouse and kill Sam. In retaliation, Barlow kills the local sheriff who ignored her pleas for help and becomes an outlaw hunting down Walker's men; at one point, she steals a chest of gold from Stanley Yelnats Sr., Elya's son. Twenty years later, the now-bankrupt Walkers track down Barlow and demand she hand over her treasure. Barlow refuses and tells them to dig for the treasure, after which Barlow dies from a lizard bite and the Walkers set about digging for the treasure.

In the present, when Pendanski mocks Zero, whose name is actually Hector Zeroni, the latter hits Pendanski with a shovel and runs off. After some deliberation, Stanley searches for Hector. The pair have difficulty surviving in the desert without water. Eventually, Stanley carries the now ill Hector up the mountain where they find a wild field of onions and a source of water, helping them regain strength; at the same time, Stanley unknowingly fulfils his ancestor's promise to the fortune teller and breaks the curse. While camping on the mountain, Hector tells Stanley that he stole Livingston's sneakers and threw them over the bridge to evade the police, only for them to inadvertently hit Stanley's head.

Returning to the camp, Stanley and Hector investigate the hole where Stanley found the lipstick and discover a chest before they are discovered by Walker, Mr. Sir, and Pendanski. They soon realize that Walker, who is Trout's granddaughter, is using the inmates to search for Kate Barlow's treasure. The adults are unable to steal the chest from the boys, as the hole has swarmed with lizards, passive to Stanley and Hector due to the onions they ate earlier. The adults decide to wait for the morning, when the lizards will retreat to the shade.

The next morning, the attorney general and Stanley's lawyer arrive, accompanied by police officers; the chest Stanley found is discovered to have belonged to his namesake great-grandfather. Walker; Mr. Sir, who is revealed to be a paroled criminal named Marion Sevillo; and Pendanski, who is a criminal impersonating a doctor, are arrested. Stanley and Zero are released and it rains in Green Lake for the first time in over 100 years. The Yelnats family claims ownership of the chest which contains jewels, deeds, and promissory notes, which they share with Hector, who uses it to hire private investigators to locate his missing mother, and both families live a life of financial ease as neighbours.

## Cast and Characters

* Shia LaBeouf as Stanley "Caveman" Yelnats IV
* Khleo Thomas as Hector "Zero" Zeroni
* Brenden Jefferson as Rex "X Ray" Washburn
* Sigourney Weaver as The Warden/Louise Walker
* Jon Voight as Marion "Mr. Sir" Sevillo
* Patricia Arquette as Katherine "Kissin' Kate" Barlow
* Tim Blake Nelson as Dr. Kiowa "Mom" Pendanski
* Jake M. Smith as Alan/"Squid"
* Byron Cotton as Theodore "Armpit" Johnson
* Miguel Castro as José/"Magnet"
* Max Kasch as Ricky/"Zigzag"
* Dulé Hill as Sam the Onion Man
* Henry Winkler as Stanley Yelnats III
* Siobhan Fallon Hogan as Tiffany Yelnats
* Nathan Davis as Stanley Yelnats Jr.
* Noah Poletiek as Brian/"Twitch"
* Rick Fox as Clyde "Sweet Feet" Livingston
* Scott Plank as Trout Walker
* Eartha Kitt as Madame Zeroni
* Roma Maffia as Atty. Carla Morengo
* Zane Holtz as Louis/"Barf Bag"
* Shelley Malil as Yalnatses' Landlord
* Allan Kolman as Stanley Yelnats Sr.
* Damien Luvara as Elya Yelnats
* Sanya Mateyas as Myra Menke
* Ravil Isyanov as Morris Menke
* Ken Davitian as Igor Barkov
* Steve Koslowski as Lump
* Michael Cavanaugh as Judge Austin Gorg

## Music

The film's music included the Grammy winning single "Just Like You" by Keb Mo', and "Dig It" by The D Tent Boys (the actors portraying the D Tent group inmates), which included a music video that was played regularly on Disney Channel. The soundtrack also included contributions by Eels, Devin Thompson, Dr. John, Eagle Eye Cherry, Fiction Plane, Little Axe, Moby, North Mississippi Allstars, Pepe Deluxé, Shaggy, Stephanie Bentley, and Teresa James and the Rhythm Tramps.

## Production

Holes was filmed in California in the summer of 2002, and produced with a budget of $20 million. When looking for a child actor to play the role of Stanley Yelnats, director Andrew Davis asked for a boy, who was like "a young Tom Hanks". Shia LaBeouf, who ended up receiving the role of Stanley, got his sense of the character from reading the film's script, then going on to read the original novel that the film was based on after getting the role.

LaBeouf was simultaneously doing work for the Disney Channel show Even Stevens, and would work on his role in the film after doing his filming on Even Stevens. In the original book, Stanley is depicted as being obese, shedding considerable amounts of weight as the book progresses; however, the filmmakers chose to drop this aspect from the movie, as it would have been difficult to convincingly portray the loss of weight in a live action film.

The film was shot in several locations, including in Ridgecrest, California. Due to the volatile climate, with heat inside of the holes reaching over 150 °F, the actors went through physical training with a stunt guide, in order to keep in shape for long periods of filming. Filming was a new experience for many of the child actors, particularly for LaBeouf, who had never done filming in such an unpredictable climate before.

To show the seven kids' holes being dug gradually throughout the day, different "phases" were used, for each of which the seven holes were given different levels of deepness. For the yellow spotted lizards, fourteen bearded dragons were used, four of which were used for the main parts, and the rest of which were used as "background atmosphere lizards".

## Release

The film was released theatrically in the United States on April 18, 2003, by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.

### Home Media

The film was released on VHS and DVD on September 23, 2003, by Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Walt Disney Home Entertainment.

## Reception

### Box Office

Holes grossed $16.3 million in its opening weekend, finishing #2 at the box office behind Anger Management's second weekend. The film would go on to gross a domestic total of $67.4 million and an additional $4 million in international revenue, totalling $71.4 million at the box office, against a $20 million budget, making the film a moderate financial success. The film was released in the United Kingdom on October 24, 2003, and opened at #9.

### Critical Response

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 78%, based on 139 reviews, with the site's consensus reading: "Faithful to its literary source, this is imaginative, intelligent family entertainment." On Metacritic, which uses an average of critics' reviews, the film has a 71 out of 100 rating, based on reviews from twenty eight critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".

Roger Ebert, of the Chicago Sun-Times rated the film 3.5 of four stars and wrote "Davis has always been a director with a strong visual sense, and the look of Holes has a noble, dusty loneliness. We feel we are actually in a limitless desert. The cinematographer, Stephen St. John, thinks big and frames his shots for an epic feel that adds weight to the story. I walked in expecting a movie for thirteen somethings, and walked out feeling challenged and satisfied. Curious, how much more grown up and sophisticated Holes is than Anger Management."