BlacKkKlansman

BlacKkKlansman
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Spike Lee
Produced by
Screenplay by
Based on Black Klansman
by Ron Stallworth
Starring
Music by Terence Blanchard
Cinematography Chayse Irvin
Edited by Barry Alexander Brown
Production
company
Distributed by Focus Features
Release date
  • May 14, 2018 (2018-05-14) (Cannes)
  • August 10, 2018 (2018-08-10) (United States)
Running time
 135 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $15 million[2]
Box office $83.4 million[2]

BlacKkKlansman is a 2018 American biographical comedy-drama film directed by Spike Lee and written by Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, and Lee, based on the 2014 memoir Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth. The film stars John David Washington as Stallworth, along with Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, and Topher Grace. Set in 1970s Colorado Springs, the plot follows the first African-American detective in the Colorado Springs police department, who sets out to infiltrate and expose the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.

The film is produced by Lee, Raymond Mansfield, Shaun Redick, Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, and Jordan Peele. Redick purchased the film rights to the book in 2015, and Lee signed on as director in September 2017. Much of the cast joined the following month, and filming began in New York State.

BlacKkKlansman premiered on May 14, 2018 at the Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or and won the Grand Prix. It was theatrically released in the United States on August 10, 2018, coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the white supremacist Unite the Right rally. The film received acclaim from critics, with many praising the performances (particularly of Washington and Driver) and timely themes, as well as noting it as a return to form for Lee.

Plot

In the early 1970s, Ron Stallworth is hired as the first black officer in the Colorado Springs, Colorado police department. Stallworth is initially assigned to work in the records room, where he faces racial slurs from his coworkers. Stallworth requests a transfer to go undercover, and is assigned to infiltrate a local rally at which national civil rights leader Kwame Ture is to give a speech. At the rally, Stallworth meets Patrice Dumas, the president of the black student union at Colorado College. While taking Ture to his hotel, Patrice is stopped by patrolman Andy Landers, a corrupt, racist officer in Stallworth's precinct, who threatens Ture and sexually assaults Patrice.

After the rally, Stallworth is reassigned to the intelligence division. While reading the paper, he finds an advertisement to join the Ku Klux Klan. Stallworth calls and pretends to be a white man, and speaks with Walter Breachway, the president of the Colorado Springs chapter. Stallworth recruits his Jewish coworker, Flip Zimmerman, to act as him in order to meet the Ku Klux Klan members in person. Zimmerman attends a meeting and meets Walter, along with the more radicalized member Felix Kendrickson. Zimmerman also speaks with another member named Ivanhoe, who cryptically refers to an upcoming attack.

Zimmerman and Stallworth continue to cultivate their relationship with the local Klan chapter. Calling Klan headquarters in Louisiana to expedite his membership, Stallworth speaks with David Duke, the Grand Wizard, with whom he begins regular conversations on the phone. Kendrickson makes Zimmerman take a "Jewish lie detector test" at gunpoint, but Stallworth throws a rock through the Kendrickson family window to distract everyone. Stallworth begins dating Patrice, but does not tell her that he is a police officer. After passing on information to the Army CID about active duty members, he learns from a meeting with an FBI agent that two of the chapter's members are military personnel stationed at NORAD headquarters.

Duke visits Colorado Springs for Stallworth's induction into the Klan; over the real Stallworth's protests, he is assigned to a protection detail for Duke. After Zimmerman, masquerading as Stallworth, is initiated, Felix's wife Connie leaves the ceremony to place a bomb at a civil rights rally. Stallworth realizes her intentions and alerts local police officers. Acting on Felix's backup plan, Connie tries to plant the bomb in Patrice's mailbox; finding that it will not fit, she leaves it under Patrice's car instead. Stallworth tackles her as she tries to flee, but uniformed officers detain and beat him over his protests that he is working undercover. Felix, Ivanhoe, and bomb maker Walker (who had recognized Zimmerman from a prior arrest and conviction) arrive and park next to Patrice's car. They set off the bomb, not knowing where Connie had hidden it, and are killed in the explosion. Zimmerman arrives and frees Stallworth, and Connie is arrested. While celebrating the closed case that night, Stallworth wears a hidden microphone and tricks a drunken Landers into bragging about his assault on Patrice; with the confession on tape, Landers is arrested.

Police Chief Bridges congratulates the team for their successful operation, but orders them to end it and keep all details from the public. As he is packing up, Stallworth receives one last call from Duke. Stallworth reveals to Duke that he is a black man before hanging up. Later, Patrice and Stallworth discuss their future together, only to be interrupted by a knock on the door. Through the window, they see a large flaming cross on a distant hillside surrounded by Klan members.

The film closes with footage from the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, including footage of the white supremacists, David Duke giving a speech to the attendees, counter-protesters, the car attack, and President Trump's statements after the events. The film ends with a memorial to Heather Heyer, the car attack victim, and an upside-down American flag, which fades to black and white.

Cast

Production

In July 2015 screenwriters/co-producers Charlie Wachtel and David Rabinowitz discovered the book Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth. They interviewed Stallworth and wrote a spec screenplay, then pitched the script to producers Shaun Redick and Ray Mansfield.[3] They brought the property to QC Entertainment, which had co-produced the successful 2017 film Get Out. QC again teamed up with Jason Blum's company Blumhouse Productions, and Jordan Peele's company Monkeypaw Productions, to produce the project.[4][5]

In September of that year, Spike Lee signed on as director and John David Washington was in negotiations to star.[6] The following month, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace, and Corey Hawkins had joined the cast.[7][8][9][10] In November, Paul Walter Hauser, Jasper Pääkkönen, and Ryan Eggold joined the cast,[11][12][13] with Ashlie Atkinson joining a month later.[14]

Filming began in October 2017.[15] Ossining, New York was one location used in October.[16]

Harry Belafonte appears in the film recounting the lynching of Jesse Washington; according to Lee, he commanded his crew on the day of filming Belafonte's scene to dress to the occasion in suits and dresses to honor Belafonte.[17][18]

Release

Lee and the cast at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival

On April 12, 2018, the film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered on May 14.[1][19] It opened in the United States on August 10, 2018, which was chosen to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the Charlottesville rally.[20]

Historical accuracy

Although based on a true story, the plot of the film is considerably more dramatic than the events of the book, and the time period has been shifted. Notably:

  • As of the film's production, the true identity of Stallworth's partner is unknown; due to his face-to-face interaction with the Klan, he has never gone public with his story. It was Lee's decision to make him Jewish for dramatic purposes.
  • The events depicted in the film took place in 1972, rather than 1979.
  • While the first third of the film is relatively accurate, the KKK's bomb plot is a fabrication to add dramatic tension; the real chapter that Stallworth and his partner infiltrated was primarily concerned with insinuating its members into high-ranking military positions. As a result of the investigation, four members of the US military were reassigned, with Stallworth joking that they were "sent to the North Pole."[21]

Reception

Box office

As of October 10, 2018, BlacKkKlansman has grossed $48.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $35.1 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $83.4 million, against a production budget of $15 million.[2]

In the United States and Canada, BlacKkKlansman was released alongside Slender Man and The Meg, and was projected to gross around $10 million from 1,512 theaters in its opening weekend.[22] It made $3.6 million on its first day (including $670,000 from Thursday night previews).[23] It went on to debut to $10.8 million, finishing fifth at the box office and marking Lee's best opening weekend since Inside Man ($29 million) in 2006.[24] It made $7.4 million in its second weekend and $5.3 million in its third, finishing seventh and eighth, respectively.[25][26]

Critical response

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 95% based on 310 reviews, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "BlacKkKlansman uses history to offer bitingly trenchant commentary on current events—and brings out some of Spike Lee's hardest-hitting work in decades along the way."[27] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 83 out of 100, based on 56 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[28] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it an 85% positive score and a 67% "definite recommend".[24]

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film three out of five stars, writing: "It's an entertaining spectacle but the brilliant tonal balance in something like Jordan Peele's satire Get Out leaves this looking a little exposed. Yet it responds fiercely, contemptuously to the crassness at the heart of the Trump regime and gleefully pays it back in its own coin."[29] For IndieWire, David Ehrlich gave the film a grade of "B+" and wrote that it is "far more frightening than it is funny," and "packages such weighty and ultra-relevant subjects into the form of a wildly uneven but consistently entertaining night at the movies."[30]

A. O. Scott, writing for The New York Times, saw the film as both political and provocative in opening up discussion on timely subject matter following Charlottesville. He stated, "Committed anti-racists can sit quietly or laugh politely when hateful things are said. Epithets uttered in irony can be repeated in earnest. The most shocking thing about Flip's (Adam Driver's undercover detective role) imposture is how easy it seems, how natural he looks and sounds. This unnerving authenticity is partly testament to Mr. Driver's ability to tuck one performance inside another, but it also testifies to a stark and discomforting truth. Maybe not everyone who is white is a racist, but racism is what makes us white. Don't sleep on this movie".[31]

In his review for Vulture, David Edelstein found the film to be a potent antidote for previous films which Lee sees as unduly supportive of the racist viewpoint in the past, such as Griffith's The Birth of a Nation. He stated: "Lee himself has a propagandist streak, and he knows nothing ever sold the message of white emasculation and the existential necessity of keeping blacks down as well as Griffith's 1915 film. It revived the Klan and—insult to injury—is still reckoned a landmark of narrative filmmaking. If there were no other reason to make BlackkKlansman, this one would be good enough."[32]

Filmmaker and communist activist Boots Riley, whose feature film debut Sorry to Bother You also premiered in 2018, took to Twitter on August 17 to criticize the film for its political perspective.[33] While Riley acknowledged the craftswork of the film as "masterful" and cited Lee as a major influence on his own work, he felt that the film was dishonestly marketed as a true story, and criticized its attempts to "make a cop the protagonist in the fight against racist oppression," when Black Americans face structural racism "from the police on a day-to-day basis." In particular, Riley argued that the film glossed over Stallworth's time spent working for COINTELPRO to "sabotage a Black radical organization," and objected to the film's choices to portray Stallworth's partner as Jewish and to fictionalize a bombing "to make the police seem like heroes."[34][35][36] Lee responded in an interview with The Times on August 24, stating that while his films "have been very critical of the police... I'm never going to say that all police are corrupt, that all police hate people of colour." [37][38]

Accolades

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref(s)
Cannes Film Festival May 19, 2018 Grand Prix Spike Lee Won [39]
Prize of the Ecumenical Jury Special Mention Won
Locarno International Film Festival August 2018 Audience Award Won [40]
People's Choice Awards November 11, 2018 The Drama Movie of 2018 BlacKkKlansman Pending [41]
The Drama Movie Star of 2018 John David Washington Pending

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "The 2018 Official Selection". Cannes Film Festival. April 12, 2018. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 "BlacKkKlansman (2018)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  3. ↑ Rabinowitz, David; Watchel, Charlie (August 10, 2018). "'BlacKkKlansman' Writers On Handing 'Our Baby' to Spike Lee and Finding a Home for Their Screenplay Without an Agent". IndieWire. Penske Business Media. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  4. ↑ Kit, Borys (September 8, 2017). "'Black Klansman' KKK Thriller in the Works From Spike Lee, Jordan Peele (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
  5. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (October 25, 2017). "Adam Driver Joins Spike Lee's 'Black Klansman'". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
  6. ↑ Kroll, Justin (September 8, 2017). "Spike Lee, Jordan Peele Team Up on KKK Crime Thriller 'Black Klansman'". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
  7. ↑ McNary, Dave (October 25, 2017). "Adam Driver Joins Spike Lee's 'Black Klansman' Thriller". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
  8. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (October 25, 2017). "Adam Driver Joins Spike Lee's 'Black Klansman'". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
  9. ↑ Busch, Anita (October 31, 2017). "Topher Grace Joins Spike Lee's 'Black Klansman'". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
  10. ↑ Galuppo, Mia (October 31, 2017). "Corey Hawkins Joins Spike Lee's 'Black Klansman' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
  11. ↑ N'Duka, Amanda (November 9, 2017). "'I, Tonya' Actor Paul Walter Hauser Joins Spike Lee's 'Black Klansman'". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
  12. ↑ Kroll, Justin (November 16, 2017). "Spike Lee's 'Black Klansman' Adds 'Vikings' Actor Jasper Paakkonen (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
  13. ↑ Busch, Anita (November 17, 2017). "Ryan Eggold, Who Played Fan Favorite Tom Keen In 'The Blacklist,' Joins Spike Lee's 'Black Klansman'". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
  14. ↑ N'Duka, Amanda; Hipes, Patrick (December 4, 2017). "Pedro Pascal Joins Barry Jenkins' 'If Beale Street Could Talk'; Ashlie Atkinson Cast In 'Black Klansman'". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved May 14, 2018.
  15. ↑ Barboza, Craigh (November 20, 2017). "Spike Lee Talks 'Black Klansman' Movie and Why He Regrets the Rape Scene in 'She's Gotta Have It' Film". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
  16. ↑ Matsuda, Akiko (October 27, 2017). "Spike Lee filming movie in Ossining". The Journal News. Gannett Company. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  17. ↑ Late Night with Seth Meyers (August 15, 2018). "Spike Lee on the Connection Between Charlottesville and BlacKkKlansman" – via YouTube.
  18. ↑ "Spike Lee - "BlacKkKlansman" and Fighting the Rise of Racism in the Trump Era - Extended Interview - The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (Video Clip) - Comedy Central". Comedy Central.
  19. ↑ Debruge, Peter; Keslassy, Elsa (April 12, 2018). "Cannes Lineup Includes New Films From Spike Lee, Jean-Luc Godard". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  20. ↑ Siegel, Tatiana; Gardner, Chris (May 14, 2018). "Cannes: Spike Lee's 'BlacKkKlansman' Draws 10-Minute Ovation". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
  21. ↑ "Editorial: why the movie 'Blackkklansman' matters". The Roanoke Times. August 17, 2018. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  22. ↑ McClintock, Pamela (August 8, 2018). "Box-Office Preview: Big-Budget 'The Meg' Heads for Tepid $20M-Plus U.S. Debut". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  23. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (August 10, 2018). "'The Meg' Bigger Than Expected At $36M... But Is It Big Enough? – Midday Box Office". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
  24. 1 2 D'Alessandro, Anthony (August 12, 2018). "'August Audiences Get Hooked On 'Meg' Shelling Out $44.5M". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  25. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (August 19, 2018). "'Crazy Rich Asians' Even Richer On Saturday With $10M+; Weekend Bling Now At $25M+ With $34M 5-Day Debut". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  26. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (August 26, 2018). "'Why 'Happytime Murders' Reps A Solo Career B.O. Low For Melissa McCarthy In A 'Crazy Rich' Weekend – Update". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  27. ↑ "BlacKkKlansman (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  28. ↑ "BlacKkKlansman Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  29. ↑ Bradshaw, Peter (May 14, 2018). "BlacKkKlansman review – Spike Lee's clanging rebuke to the New Trump Order". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
  30. ↑ Ehrlich, David (May 14, 2018). "'BlacKkKlansman' Review: Spike Lee Detonates a Funny and Righteously Furious 'Fuck You' to Trump — Cannes 2018". IndieWire. Penske Business Media. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
  31. ↑ Scott, A.O. (August 9, 2018). "America's Heart of Darkness". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  32. ↑ Edelstein, David (August 6, 2018). "Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman Is an Entertaining and Effective Piece of Melodrama". Vulture. New York Media. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  33. ↑ Riley, Boots [@BootsRiley] (August 17, 2018). "Ok. Here's (sic) are some thoughts on #Blackkklansman" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  34. ↑ Kaplan, Ilana (August 19, 2018). "Boots Riley pens essay on problems with 'BlacKkKlansman'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  35. ↑ Dessem, Matthew (August 18, 2018). "Sorry to Bother You Director Boots Riley Has a Blistering Critique of Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman". Slate. The Slate Group. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  36. ↑ Shoard, Catherine (August 20, 2018). "Boots Riley attacks Spike Lee over 'made up' BlacKkKlansman". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  37. ↑ "Spike Lee: Trump is a racist. I don't care if you wear a hood or a suit, that's who you are". The Times. Times Newspapers Limited 2018. August 24, 2018. Retrieved 2018-09-07.
  38. ↑ Darville, Jordan (August 24, 2018). "Spike Lee responds to Boots Riley's BlacKkKlansman criticisms". The Fader. The Fader, Inc. Retrieved 2018-09-07.
  39. ↑ Debruge, Peter (May 19, 2018). "Japanese Director Hirokazu Kore-eda's 'Shoplifters' Wins Palme d'Or at Cannes". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  40. ↑ Blaney, Martin (August 11, 2018). "Locarno's top prize goes to Singapore's 'A Land Imagined'". Screen Daily. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
  41. ↑ Macke, Johnni (September 5, 2018). "2018 People's Choice Awards: Complete List of Nominations". E! News. Archived from the original on September 5, 2018. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
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