The Accused (1988 film)

Development

Screenwriter Tom Topor was inspired to write the film after the real trial of Cheryl Araujo became national news.^[1] Dawn Steel called him to ask if he'd be interested in doing a movie on the subject and following which Sherry Lansing and Stanley Jaffe from Paramount Pictures, where signed on to produce the film. Topor interviewed 30 rape victims and numerous rapists, prosecutors, defense attorneys and scrub nurses.^[1] Jonathan Kaplan met Steel following the dawn of Araujo's trail and discussed the possibility of having a film on the subject. The original draft of the script focused on the lawyer's story while the rape victim was just that — a victim, a prop. Kaplan wanted the rape victim character to be front and center with the lawyer, while the script also had the pool table (similar from the real life incident), but the producers were concerned of being sued, so it was changed to a pinball machine.

Following the test screenings, the film received lowest scores in the history of Paramount. According to Lansing, "The audience thought that Jodie's character deserved the rape."^[1] The studio executives wanted to put the film on the shelf and were looking for ways to not get it released. Lansing asked for another screening with just women. She got that screening, and it went through the roof. Of the 20 women in the room, 18 had experience with rape — that either they or someone they knew had been raped. When tested again months later, it got among the highest scores in studio's history.^[1]

Casting

The casting process of the film was extremely muddling. The studio was looking for a banakable actress who could sell the film. Numerous actresses were considered for the part of Sarah Tobias, including; Valerie Bertinelli, Jennifer Grey, Meg Ryan, Mia Sara, Annabeth Gish, Joan Cusack, Jennifer Beals, Alyssa Milano, Uma Thurman, Ally Sheedy and Kelly Preston but all of them rejected it due to the film's gruesome and controversial themes. Foster, who had recently graduated from Yale and didn't make any successful film in that period wasn't the fruitful choice for the producers. Following numerous auditions she was finally casted for the part. Jane Fonda was initially attached to play Kathryn Murphy but left the project as she found the script exploitive and poorly written. Ellen Barkin, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sigourney Weaver, Debra Winger, Meryl Streep and Geena Davis were also considered for the part. Kelly McGillis, who just came off Top Gun (1987) was casted for the bankable prospects of the film.^[1] McGillis was initially offered to play Sarah but declined, citing her personal experience.^[3] She acknowledged at the time of film's release that she had survived an attack and rape. Based on her experience, she took on the role of Murphy. Brad Pitt auditioned for the part of Ken Joyce.

Foster viewed the film as a last ditch effort to give her acting career a much needed boost. She had taken a sabbatical from Hollywood to attend Yale, which was prolonged due to John Hinckley's assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan (which he carried out as a means to impress Foster with whom he had obsessed after seeing her in Taxi Driver) in March 1981. After recovering from the media frenzy surrounding her following the incident, she had experienced a bit of a dry spell upon her return to acting. Most of her films had a lukewarm response both with critics and at the box office. She stated that she would have retired from acting had The Accused followed suit. Ultimately, the film's success revitalised her career.

Filming

Principal photography for The Accused began on April 22, 1987 and was concluded on June 2, 1987. Although set in Washington DC, it was filmed in Vancouver, Canada. The gang rape scene was highly controversial at the time of its release, as being the longest, most graphic and boldest representation of the assault in cinematic history. It took five days to complete and the filming was a difficult experience for the cast and crew involved. Everyone felt protective of Foster and worried how traumatic the situation could be for her. In an interview, Foster explained that the rape scene was meticulously rehearsed beforehand, so there would be no unpleasant surprises for anyone involved in the actual scene. She herself has admitted that she does not remember filming the scene and completely blacked-out. Contrarily, the male actors were overwhelmingly upset.^[4][5] Leo Rossi (who played Cliff "Scorpion" Albrect, the by-stander), recalled the experience of Woody Brown (who played Danny, one of the rapists), following the filming of the scene, being bolted and throwing up in his trailer.^[1]

Box Office

In its opening weekend in North America, The Accused was #1 at the box office, grossing $4.3 million in 796 theaters. The film grossed a total of $37.07 million worldwide, against a $6 million budget becoming a major commercial success.^[7]

Critical Response

Jodie Foster's performance as Sarah Tobias garnered widespread critical acclaim thus, marking her breakthrough into adult roles and earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress.

The Accused received positive reviews from critics upon release with major acclaim drawn towards Foster's performance. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 95% based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads : "Simultaneously gut-wrenching and provocative, The Accused provides with a harrowing and haunting rape drama, layered by an outstanding performance by Jodie Foster".^[8] On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 65 out of 100 indicating "generally favourable reviews".^[9]

In a positive review, writing of the two criminal prosecutions in the film, Roger Ebert finds that the lesson of the trial "may be the most important message this movie has to offer...that verbal sexual harassment, whether crudely in a saloon back room or subtly in an everyday situation, is a form of violence - one that leaves no visible marks but can make its victims feel unable to move freely and casually in society. It is a form of imprisonment."^[10] Rob Beattie from Empire, gave the film five out of five stars, calling it phenomenal and called the controversial rape scene; devastating, harrowing and utterly convincing.^[11]

Marjorie Heins, in the 1998 book The V-Chip Debate: Content Filtering from Television to the Internet, said that educators worried that the film would "receive V ratings and be subject to at least a presumption against curricular use in many public schools."^[12]

Awards and nominations

At the 61st Academy Awards, Foster won the award for Best Actress. This was the film's solo nomination, thus, marking the first occurrence of such an event since 1961 (when Sophia Loren won for Two Women) that the winner of the aforementioned category won for a film with a singular nomination. In 2006, her performance as Sarah Tobias was ranked #56 on Premiere's 100 Greatest Film Performances of all-time.^[13]