Movies - Finding Forrester

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	Movies - Finding Forrester

Finding Forrester is a 2000 movie, written by Mike Rich and directed by Gus Van Sant, about a black teenager, Jamal Wallace, played by Rob Brown, who is accepted into a prestigious private high school. He also befriends a reclusive writer, William Forrester, played by Sean Connery.

Anna Paquin and F. Murray Abraham also star in supporting roles. Joey Buttafuoco makes a brief, blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo appearance. Principal photography was shot entirely in Manhattan 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. The Region 1 DVD includes a documentary entitled "Behind the Scenes: Finding Forrester".

Forrester is based on J.D. Salinger and John Kennedy Toole.

Connections to Salinger and Toole

Both Forrester and Salinger are notoriously reclusive authors.
In the movie Forrester has many unpublished works. Salinger is believed to have several novels and stories that are unpublished.
In the movie Forrester blocked a biography of himself that the character Prof. Robert Crawford was going to have published. Salinger did the same thing through a lawsuit against Ian Hamilton.
Toole wrote A Confederacy of Dunces, but despite his best efforts he couldn't find an interested publisher. Crushed by this, Toole committed suicide. When his Dunces manuscript was found, it was finally published, and went on to win a Pulitzer Prize. In this film, Forrester keeps a veritable treasure trove of unpublished works in a locked filing cabinet because he can't bear the thought of being rejected for even a single work.

Notables

Co-star Rob Brown
is actually from Harlem, and was trying to get a job as an extra in this film. Instead, Van Sant was so impressed with him that he offered Brown the lead role of Jamal Wallace.
During filming, it was discovered that Connery didn't know how to type. All the shots of Forrester's hands typing are, in fact, the hands of a similarly aged extra who knew how to type.
Two of Forrester's more awkwardly delivered lines, "You're the man now, dog!" and ""Punch The Keys For Gods' Sake" have since become part of the internet memes on pop culture websites such as Fark, Something Awful, and even an entire site based on the first line, YTMND.

Plot

The movie begins with Jamal Wallace's life in the rough neck world of the inner city. He lives with his mom. What makes Jamal unique is that he is gifted but no more than an average student who plays basketball, due to his lack of effort. Soon, he sneaks into an old recluse's apartment on a dare and ends up making friends with him. The man helps him with his writing, in exchange for Jamal keeping his secret. He is William Forrester, writer of the Pulitzer prize winning novel, Avalon Landing. When an elite private school, Mailor Callow, sees Jamal's test results, he is offered a scholarship which he accepts. It is a major culture change to go to this elite school, but is immediately befriended by a board member's daughter... Later, a professor named Crawford wants Jamal to write a paper in his office. Jamal is accused of plagiarism by his school's administrators because he used the title of one of Mr. Forrester's essays as his own. In the end, Forrester decides to go to the school and talk to the professor himself.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Finding Forrester ]

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