Finding Forrester

2000 American drama filmTemplate:SHORTDESC:2000 American drama film

* Sean Connery
* F. Murray Abraham
* Anna Paquin
* Busta Rhymes
* Rob Brown
* December 22, 2000 (2000-12-22)

***Finding Forrester*** is a 2000 American drama film written by Mike Rich and directed by Gus Van Sant. In the film, a black teenager, Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown), is invited to attend a prestigious private high school. By chance, Jamal befriends a reclusive writer, William Forrester (Sean Connery), through whom he refines his talent for writing and comes to terms with his identity. Anna Paquin, F. Murray Abraham, Michael Pitt, Glenn Fitzgerald, April Grace, Busta Rhymes, and Charles Bernstein star in supporting roles.

Although the film is not based on a true story, film critics have compared the character portrayed by Connery with real life writer J. D. Salinger. Connery later acknowledged that the inspiration for his role was indeed Salinger.

## Plot

In the Bronx, sixteen-year-old Jamal Wallace downplays his potential as a gifted student, preferring to play basketball with his friends. They are watched by William Forrester, a recluse who never leaves his apartment and has become a neighborhood urban legend. Dared by his friends, Jamal sneaks into the apartment, but is surprised by Forrester and flees, leaving his backpack behind. Forrester later drops the backpack onto the street, having edited Jamal’s personal writings. Jamal asks him to read more of his writing, but Forrester angrily tells him to begin with 5,000 words on why he should "stay out of my home." Jamal does so, leaving the essay on Forrester’s doorstep, and is invited inside.

Due to his high test scores, Jamal is offered a full academic scholarship and transfers to Mailor-Callow, a prestigious Manhattan private school, with the understanding that he will join the basketball team. Jamal learns that Forrester is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of a famous novel, *Avalon Landing*, but never published another book. Forrester agrees to help Jamal with his writing as long as he does not ask about Forrester’s life or tell anyone about him. They bond as Forrester gives Jamal his own work to rewrite, on the condition that their writing never leaves the apartment. Jamal's writing improves, leading one of his professors, Robert Crawford, to suspect him of plagiarism.

Jamal befriends his classmate Claire and excels on the basketball court, but is alienated from his old friends. He convinces Forrester to attend a game with him at Madison Square Garden, but they become separated and Forrester, overwhelmed by the crowd, has an anxiety attack. With his brother Terrell’s help, Jamal takes Forrester onto the empty field at Yankee Stadium, where an emotional Forrester reveals he often came with his brother. He tells Jamal about his brother's trauma returning home from World War II – the basis for his book – and how Forrester's indirect role in his death, followed by the deaths of their parents, led him to become a recluse.

Still suspicious, Crawford forces Jamal to complete his next assignment in his presence. Running out of time to enter the school’s essay competition, Jamal submits one of Forrester's exercises to the contest, and humiliates Crawford during class. He is called before Crawford and the school board, who reveal that Forrester had published the article upon which Jamal based his essay. Asked to prove he had the author’s permission to use his material, Jamal keeps his promise to Forrester and says nothing. Crawford demands he read a letter of apology to his classmates, but Jamal refuses, endangering his scholarship. Telling Forrester what he has done, Jamal asks his friend to defend him, but Forrester is angry Jamal betrayed his trust by taking their writing, and is still unwilling to leave his home.

The school assures Jamal that the plagiarism charges will be dropped if he wins the state basketball tournament, but he deliberately misses the final free throws, costing them the championship. Watching the game on TV, Forrester manages to ride his bicycle through the city. Terrell gives him a letter from Jamal, who arrives at school for the essay contest. Forrester appears, and reads a heartfelt essay to the captive audience. He acknowledges his friendship with Jamal, whom he explains had his blessing to use his material, but Crawford declares that this will not influence the school’s decision. Forrester reveals that the essay he recited was actually the letter Jamal had written, and the headmaster overrules Crawford and clears Jamal’s name. Jamal leaves with Forrester, who plans to visit his native Scotland.

One year later, Jamal is preparing to graduate from Mailor-Callow. He meets with Sanderson, an attorney, who explains that Forrester has died, having been diagnosed with cancer before he met Jamal. Forrester has bequeathed his apartment to Jamal, with a letter thanking him for rekindling his desire to live. Jamal is also given the manuscript of Forrester's second novel, for which he is expected to write the foreword, and joins his old friends in a basketball game.

## Cast

* Sean Connery as William Forrester
* Rob Brown as Jamal Wallace
* F. Murray Abraham as Robert Crawford
* Anna Paquin as Claire
* Busta Rhymes as Terrell
* April Grace as Ms. Joyce
* Michael Pitt as Coleridge
* Michael Nouri as Dr. Spence
* Matt Damon as Sanderson
* Gerry Rosenthal as Student Speaker
* Glenn Fitzgerald as Massie

## Production

New York poet Geoffrey Cruickshank-Hagenbuckle provided several notebooks' worth of poetry to display as Jamal's work. Principal photography was shot entirely in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn (many Mailor Academy scenes were filmed at Regis High School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan), with some scenery and pick-up shots made in suburban Toronto, Ontario during post-production. Parts of the film were also shot in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Rob Brown auditioned for the film, hoping to make enough money to pay his $300 cell phone bill. Gus Van Sant had him read a second time and then cast him as one of the leads. Before Sean Connery was cast as William Forrester, Bill Murray was considered for the role.

## Reception

### Box office

The film received limited release on December 21, 2000 in 200 theaters, grossing USD $701,207 in the opening weekend. It later received commercial release where it opened at #1 in theaters in 2001, grossing $11,112,139 in the opening weekend. It went on to gross $51,804,714 in the United States and Canada and $28,245,050 elsewhere for a worldwide total of $80,049,764.

### Critical response

Upon its initial release, *Finding Forrester* received generally positive reviews. It garnered two thumbs up from Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper, with Roeper considering it one of the 10 best films of the year. In late 2009, Roeper included the film at number 64 on his list of the 100 best movies of the decade.

The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 74%, based on reviews from 128 critics, with an average score of 6.5/10. The site's consensus states: "Despite the predictability of its plot and its similarity to *Good Will Hunting*, *Finding Forrester* has an honest, solid feel to it and good rapport between Connery and Brown." Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 62, based on 27 reviews. CinemaScore reported that audiences gave the film a rare "A+" grade.

### "You're the man now, dog!"

The YTMND website originated in 2001 from creator Max Goldberg's original website, "yourethemannowdog.com", which he registered after seeing a trailer for *Finding Forrester* in which Connery says the line.

## Soundtrack

Template:Tracklist

"Coffaro's Theme" was originally composed as part of soundtrack of an Italian successful movie, La scuola.

The film's score was composed by Terence Blanchard.

The song "Gassenhauer", from *Schulwerk* by Carl Orff and arranged and produced by Bill Brown is a notable track that appears in the actual film but was not included on the soundtrack. It is played during Forrester's bike ride.

## Novelization

* *Finding Forrester: A Novel* by James Ellison, Mike Rich (Screenplay by). 2000. Template:ISBN

## Television adaptation

In November 2020, it was reported that NBC was developing a television series adaptation of film. The series will be produced by Stephen Curry's Unanimous Media and Sony Pictures Television with TJ Brady and Rasheed Newson as executive producers and writer and Tim Story as director.

## See also

* Drama films of the 2000s
* YTMND

## References

1. ↑ The Numbers.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Finding Forrester. *Box Office Mojo*.
3. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Holden, Stephen (19 December 2000). "Finding Forrester (2000) FILM REVIEW; Got Game. And Pen. And Mentor". *The New York Times*. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
4. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
5. ↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. (29 January 2010). Secret J.D. Salinger Documentary & Book, Now Revealed (Mike Has Seen The Film).
6. ↑ Finding Forrester (2000) - Filming locations. Internet Movie Database.
7. ↑ BBC Films Interview (20 February 2001).
8. ↑ Locke, Greg W. (26 August 2011). The Top 25 Roles Bill Murray Didn't Take.
9. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181536/business
10. ↑ Roeper, Richard (December 31, 2009). The 100 best movies of the decade..
11. ↑ Finding Forrester.
12. ↑ Finding Forrester Reviews. CBS Interactive.
13. ↑ Archived copy.
14. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Feldman, Brian (15 May 2019). "Influential Early Website YTMND Shuts Down". *Intelligencer*. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
15. ↑ Legendary Early Internet Meme Site YTMND Has Shut Down for Good (en).
16. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Rutkoff, Aaron (8 November 2005). "Sean Connery Delivers A Line That Eventually Sparks an Internet Fad". *Wall Street Journal*. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
17. ↑ Bill Brown Composer - Film & Television Music Samples Template:Webarchive from BillBrownMusic.com
18. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (November 23, 2020). 'Finding Forrester' TV Series Reboot In Works At NBC From Stephen Curry, Tim Story & 'The Chi' Duo. *Deadline Hollywood*.

## External links

Template:Wikiquote

* *Finding Forrester* at IMDb
* Template:Allmovie title
* Template:Mojo title
* Template:Rotten-tomatoes
* Template:Metacritic film

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