Erin Brockovich
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Steven Soderbergh
Julia Roberts
David Brisbin
Dawn Didawick
Albert Finney
Valente Rodriguez
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Erin Brockovich, a twice-divorced, unemployed mother of two young children and an infant, consults lawyer Ed Masry of the Van Nuys, California firm Masry and Vititoe, regarding claims for injuries she suffered in an automobile accident that was not her fault. Although Ed assures her that he can get her a large settlement, he loses the case. Some time later, Erin, who has been unable to get work, bullies her way into a job as a file clerk with Ed's firm. Erin also meets a new neighbor, George, who has a passion for motorcycles and whom her children adore. One day, while filing, Erin comes across a pro-bono case against the San Francisco-based Pacific Gas & Electric Co. that Ed is handling on behalf of residents of Hinkley, California. When Erin asks Ed if she can assist with the case, he absent-mindedly agrees and Erin soon drives to Hinkley. There she meets with housewife Donna Jensen, who explains that both she and her husband Peter are seriously ill and that PG&E, a significant presence in the community, has been paying the family's medical bills as well as trying to buy their house. The Jensens suspect that hexavalent chromium, known as Chromium 6, in use at the PG&E plant, may be causing their illness. Later, Erin learns from a UCLA professor that chromium 6 is added to water as an anti-corrosive and that certain levels of chromium 6 contamination can cause all kinds of illnesses, some of which can prove fatal. On the professor's recommendation, Erin goes to the Lahontan Regional Water Board, which serves Hinkley, and by playing up to the naïve young, male clerk, is able to browse through hundreds of old records. Her rearch uncovers a cleanup and abatement order to PG&E to remove hexavelent chromium, because it is contaminating groundwater over a large area. When Erin returns to Ed's office, she learns that she has been fired, as he had misunderstood what she was doing. At home, although Erin is reluctant to become involved with another man, she begins a relationship with George. Later, Ed comes to see Erin, who is still unemployed, to tell her that the UCLA professor has examined the papers she found in Hinkley and concluded that the levels of chromium there could be responsible for the cancer in the Jensen family. Ed apologizes to Erin and, after she apprises him of her other discoveries, is persuaded to rehire her, with a raise and benefits. Weeks later, a PG&E representative meets with Ed and Erin and informs them that the company has made a generous offer to buy the Jensens' home, but denies any responsibility for their medical expenses. Soon, Tom and Mandy Robinson, who used to live across the street from the Jensens, come to tell Erin that Mandy has suffered five miscarriages and that their chickens have died with strange tumors, prompting them to wonder if they are also victims of the chromium use. Ed and Erin then go to Hinkley, meet with other residents and inform them that his firm will represent them against PG&E. If they win the case, his fee will be forty percent of whatever is awarded, but if they lose, his fee will be zero. Erin then interviews several other families with serious illnesses, hoping to add more families to the claim. Although Ed, who is close to retirement age, begins to worry about battling a giant company like PG&E, knowing that they could keep him in court, at great expense, for years, he is willing to continue, if Erin can produce significant evidence. Erin then collects water samples around Hinkley. Nine months later, Ed and Erin attend a community picnic in Hinkley, seeking to add more names to their growing list of four hundred and eleven plaintiffs. The case is costing a great deal and Ed is forced to take a second mortgage on his house. He feels that the punitive damages claim hinges on whether the PG&E head office in San Francisco was aware of what was going on in Hinkley and uses a legal ploy of bringing a preliminary suit against PG&E in the San Bernardino County Court for damages and medical expenses due to ground water contamination. Although PG&E submits a motion to strike the claim, the judge rules in favor of the residents and reprimands PG&E's lawyers, who later offer Ed and Erin a twenty-million dollar settlement, which they decline. Meanwhile, Erin's relationship with George and her children is deteriorating, as she is seldom home. George asks her to quit her job, but she cannot because it has brought her recognition, along with great self-respect, and she no longer is willing to adjust her life to the needs of the men in her life. Although Erin asks George to stay, he reluctantly leaves. Erin is angered when she learns that Ed has engaged a new partner, Kurt Potter, an expert in toxic cases, to work on the Hinkley litigation, but Kurt has given Ed a check covering all expenses to date. Later, Ed presents Erin with a check for five thousand dollars and buys her a new car. The case now has six hundred and thirty-four plaintiffs and Kurt devises a new legal strategy. Feeling that if they go to trial, PG&E could stretch out the matter with appeals for ten years or more, he recommends that they agree to binding arbitration whereby the case is heard only by a judge, whose decision is final and cannot be appealed. Erin reminds Ed that the residents are expecting a trial, but he agrees with Kurt. Erin, who feels that Ed is pushing her out of the case, has difficulties with Teresa, Kurt's prim, condescending co-counsel, but surprises her with her knowledge of the plaintiffs' backgrounds. Kurt tells Ed that they must establish that the PG&E head office knew that the water was bad prior to 1987 and did nothing about it. In order to use the binding arbitration strategy, it is necessary that ninety percent of the plaintiffs agree to it, so Ed addresses a meeting at the Hinkley community center and eventually convinces almost everyone that this is their best chance to get money needed to meet ongoing medical expenses. However, they are still about two hundred and fifty signatures short, so Erin stays in a nearby motel and goes door-to-door, seeking the additional signatures. She asks George to come there and look after the children and he agrees. One night, after securing a bartender's signature, Erin is approached by Charles Embry, whom she thinks is trying to pick her up, but Charles tells her that he used to work at the plant and that his forty-one-year-old cousin has just died from cancer after working in the water cooling towers. Charles tells Erin that he was assigned to destroy a lot of documents, most of which were dull, but some of which were related to water readings in holding pools and test wells. After getting information from the documents that Charles did not destroy, Ed and Erin present Kurt with the necessary six hundred and thirty-four signatures plus incriminating memos from the PG&E head office to the Hinkley plant. Later, Erin and George return to Hinkley, and Erin takes him to meet Donna. Erin tells Donna the news that the judge has ruled that PG&E will pay the plaintiffs three hundred and thirty-three million dollars. She then tells the overjoyed and relieved Jensens that they will receive five million dollars. Back in the office, the still-contentious Erin is working on another case when Ed gives her a bonus check, but warns her that the figure is not exactly what they discussed. Erin is outraged that Ed is underestimating her value, but rendered speechless when she sees that the check is for two million dollars.
Director
Steven Soderbergh
Cast
Julia Roberts
David Brisbin
Dawn Didawick
Albert Finney
Valente Rodriguez
Conchata Ferrell
George Rocky Sullivan
Pat Skipper
Jack Gill
Irene Olga Lopez
Emily Marks
Julie Marks
Scotty Leavenworth
Gemmenne De La Pena
Erin Brockovich-ellis
Adilah Barnes
Irina V. Passmoore
Aaron Eckhart
Ron Altomare
Charles John Bukey
Marg Helgenberger
Randy Lowell
Jamie Harrold
Sarah Ashley
Scarlett Pomers
T. J. Thyne
Joe Chrest
Meredith Zinner
Michael Harney
William Lucking
Mimi Kennedy
Scott Sowers
Cherry Jones
Kristina Malota
Wade Andrew Williams
Cordelia Richards
Ashley Pimental
Brittany Pimental
Tracey Walter
Larry Martinez
Judge Leroy A. Simmons
Don Snell
Michael Shamberg
Gina Gallego
Peter Coyote
Ronald E. Hairston
Veanne Cox
Scott Allen
Sheila Shaw
Matthew Kimbrough
Jason Cervantes
Crew
Thomas A. Curran
Dale E. Anderson
Julian Andraus
Glenn Arcaro
John Axelrad
James Badstibner
Peter Bankins
Robert Bankins
Bart Barbuscia
Adam Barker
Jason Bedig
Gavin J. Behrman
Rich Bennetti
Bill Bernstein
Randy Berrett
Loren Bess
David Betancourt
Damon Bingham
Larry Blake
Brent Blom
Scott A. Bobbitt
Clelio Boccato
Richard Boris
Julian Bratolyubov
Joe Brennan
Gary Brewer
Corey C. Bronson
Frederic W. Brost
Brumby J. Broussard
Bob Brown
Keri Bruno
Charles Bukey
John Bullard
Sarah Bullion
Gary Burritt
Susan Cabral-ebert
Russell Caldwell
Pat Carman
Jack Carpenter
Jon Carpenter
Glenn M. Carrere
Byron Carter
Richard E. Castro
Thomas Causey
Gary Cheek
Michael Chock
David Clark
Roydon Clark
Bonnie Clevering
Anne V. Coates
Sam Cobb
Martin Coblenz
Michael A. Contreraz
Jordan Corngold
Frank Lucky Costello
Carole Cowley
Sheryl Crow
Carmen Cuba
Natasha Cuba
Keith P. Cunningham
Buck Damon
Monica De Armond
John W. De Blau
Stacy De La Motte
Brad Dean
Richard Dean
Elena Del Rio
Danny Devito
Andy Dewar
Ken Diaz
Tommy Dickson
Louis Dinson
Ronald B. Dinson
Charles Drake
Bill Duffin
Michael Jon Duffin
P. Caleb Duffy
Wayne L. Duncan
Guy Duquette
Ezra Dweck
Frank Endewardt
Tony Eng
Charles Enzen
Rich Epstein
E. J. Butch Ertel
Eddie Esparza
Louie Esparza Jr.
Louie Esparza
Scott Fair
John O. Falvey
Julie Feiner
Bob Fidalgo
Dawn Fintor
Eric Flickinger
Gerard Forrest
Harold Fowler
Isaac Friedman
Jennifer Fukasawa
Brad Furman
J. Armin Garza Ii
Marc C. Geschwind
Hank Giardina
Wiliam W. Gideon
Stephen A. Gindorf
Aaron Glascock
Baylis Glascock
Bernard Glavin
David L. Glavin
Diane Glavin
Leon L. Glavin
Chris Gorden
Bernard Gough
Cheryl Gould
Billy Grace
Susannah Grant
Jane E. Graves
Brian D. Gray
Shane Greedy
Gordon Greer
Werner Hahnlein
Ronald E. Hairston
Cheri Hall
Quentin Halliday
Dave Hallinan
Kevin Hannigan
Tabby Hanson
Donald S. Harback
Tom Hardisty
John Hardy
William Harrison
Keith Hartley
Richard Hartley
Leah Holmes
Chris Horvath
Blair Huizingh
Mike Hutmacher
Barry Idoine
Alicia Irwin
Gregory Jacobs
Karen Jarnecke
J. Larsen Jay
David T. Jernigan
Mirasol Jimenez
James E. Johnson
Pops Johnson
Joseph Keideth
Michael Keller
Steven J. Kerlagon
Paul Kerr
Rich King
Richard Kite
Patricia Klawonn
Andrew Knowland
Karen Kornbau
Thomas M. Krigbaum
Jay Krymis
Bud Kucia
Jeffrey Kurland
Michael La Corte
Richard Lagravenese
Jennifer Lagura
Gary M. Lang
J. T. Lannen
Hal Lary
Ken Lavet
Robin L. Le Chanu
Devlin Lerew
Denise N. Lewis
Mark Tait Lewis
Sindy Lin
Keri Littledeer
Cris Lombardi
Alberto Christiano Lombardo
Arthur G. Lopez
Gail Lyon
Brian Macleod
Mike Malone
Caitlin Maloney
Caitlin Maloney
David Marquette
Bob Marshak
Antoine Mascaro
Masako Masuda
Thomas J. Mcgowan
Janis Mekaelian
Ernie L. Menchaca Jr.
Ken Merritt
Kristen Toscano Messina
Philip Messina
Carla Meyer
Rhona Meyers
Deborah Mills-whitlock
Taina Mirach
Dice Miyake
John Moore
James Morioka
Leslie Morris
Rebecca Morton
Christa Munro
Darryl Murchison
Film Details
Technical Specs
Award Wins
Best Actress
Best Actress
Best Actress
Award Nominations
Best Director
Best Original Screenplay
Best Picture
Best Supporting Actor
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The opening and ending cast credits of this film differ slightly in order. The picture concludes with the following superimposed titles: "The settlement awarded to the plaintiffs in the case of Hinkley vs PG&E was the largest in a direct action lawsuit in United States history. PG&E claims they no longer use hexavalent chromium in any of their compressor plants and that all of their holding ponds are lined to prevent groundwater contamination. Erin and Ed have seven other cases pending, including one against PG&E regarding a plant in Kettleman Hills, CA."
As confirmed by a April 14, 1998 Hollywood Reporter news item, Julia Roberts was interested in appearing in Erin Brockovich early in the film's production history. ADaily Variety news item on April 9, 1999 reported that Universal Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment would collaborate to produce Erin Brockovich, splitting costs and profits. Universal would distribute the film in the U.S. and Canada, while Columbia TriStar Distributors Intl. would handle it in the rest of the world. This arrangement was similar to one they had made for the 1999 release The Bone Collector. A New York Times news item of May 14, 1999 estimated that the film's budget would be $55 million, and an article in the Los Angeles Times on March 21, 2000 gave the final budget figure as $50.8 million. The same Los Angeles Times article stated that Roberts was paid $20 million for her role, becoming the first actress in film history to receive that amount. The picture eventually went on to gross over $125,000,000 in the United States and Canada.
Sequences from the television programs The Young and the Restless and Wheel of Fortune were used in the backgrounds of certain scenes of the picture. Portions of Erin Brockovich were filmed on location in Hinkley, Boron, Barstow, Ventura and Los Angeles, CA. According to the film's presskit, some residents of Hinkley who were involved in the actual case appeared in the picture as extras and in secondary roles.
The real Erin Brockovich and Ed Masry appear very briefly in the film in a restaurant sequence, she as a waitress and he as a customer in a booth adjacent to one in which Roberts is sitting. An Los Angeles Times article on March 16, 2000 revealed that Masry had been a minor film actor as a child, appearing in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) and The North Star (1943). Judge LeRoy A. Simmons, who officiated at the original PG&E hearing in Barstow, appeared as himself in the film. According to director Steven Soderbergh's commentary on the DVD release of the film, the first cut of the film ran for three hours and fifteen minutes, over an hour longer than the final release version. Many of the deleted scenes appear as added content on the DVD.
The film opens with the following written statement: "This film is based on a true story." However a disclaimer title at the film's conclusion reads: "While this picture is based upon a true story, some of the characters have been composited or invented, and a number of incidents fictionalized." A Time article of May 1, 2000 quoted one of the film's executive producers, Carla Santos Shamberg, as saying that she bought the rights to the stories of Brockovich and Masry and "you're allowed in movieland to fictionalize, but the essence of the story is true. Unless we buy the rights to everyone's story, we have to fictionalize and condense." In the same article, a PG&E spokesman stated, "The movie is an entertainment vehicle, certainly not a documentary."
On March 28, 2000, the Wall Street Journal printed an article on its editorial page by Hudson Institute fellow Michael Fumento, which stated that the suit against PG&E blamed hexavalent chromium (Chromium 6) for dozens of symptoms ranging from breast cancer to Hodgkin's disease, miscarriages and spinal deterioration. Fumento argued that while the Environmental Protection Agency does consider the chromium a carcinogen, it is linked only to cancers of the lung and septum and is carcinogenic only when inhaled in massive amounts over many years. Fumento added that most of this medical evidence was discovered after PG&E made the settlement in 1996. On April 6, 2000, the Wall Street Journal printed a letter from Brockovich and a legal associate refuting Fumento's article and stating that Chromium 6 has been studied for more than a century and that the EPA and other researchers agree that the chromium can also cause injury as a result of ingestion and dermal exposure.
Upon the film's release, several residents of Hinkley were angered, as they felt they had been portrayed "as a bunch of hicks." The Time article of May 1, 2000 reported that the Hinkley residents believed the film makes it appear that justice was done when, in fact, only six hundred of the town's one thousand residents received a monetary award. They also stated that the film's success had made it difficult for them to obtain health insurance and had frightened off potential property buyers. The article was also stated that the residents, who were sworn to secrecy as part of the agreement with PG&E, received varying, inequitable awards.
An article in The Observer(London) on April 16, 2000 reported that a number of the beneficiaries were preparing to sue Masry's firm, claiming that the lawyers kept the money for six months without paying interest and that there was no logic to the varying amounts of money they received, which were frequently substantially less than the approximately $300,000 each plaintiff should have received from the $196 million net amount remaining after lawyers' fees. The article stated that neither the lawyers nor PG&E would release records of their accounting.
An October 18, 2001 Los Angeles Times article reported that Brockovich was now director of environmental research for Masry's law firm and was active on the lecture circuit. Brockovich was sued by her second husband, Steven Brockovich, for defamation after she alleged that he failed to pay child support for their daughter. The outcome of the suit has not been determined. Brockovich was also targeted by her first husband, Shawn Brown, and her ex-boyfriend, Jorg Halaby (who is portrayed in the film by Aaron Eckhardt), who attempted to extort $310,000 from her by threatening to claim that she had had an affair with Masry. With the help of Brockovich, the FBI arrested Halaby and Brown, and although the charges against them were later dropped, their lawyer, John Reiner, was found guilty of two counts of attempted extortion and one count of conspiracy to commit extortion in late March 2001.
Brockovich and Masry remained in the public eye after the film's release. On December 21, 2001, Brockovich hosted the first of a new reality-based television series. The initial program focused on efforts to rebuild a New York City playground following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In late November 2001, Masry was elected to the Thousand Oaks City Council and now serves as Mayor Pro Tem. In addition to being selected as one of AFI's top ten films of 2000, Erin Brockovich was nominated for the following Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director (Soderbergh was also nominated in the same year for Traffic), Best Screenplay written directly for the screen and Best Supporting Actor (Finney), and Roberts won the award for Best Actress. Golden Globe Awards nominations received by the picture included Best Picture, Drama, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor, with Roberts winning for Best Actress, Drama.
Miscellaneous Notes
Nominated for the 2000 award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Feature Film from the Directors Guild of America (DGA).
Nominated for the 2000 Golden Laurel Award for Best Motion Picture from the Producers Guild of America (PGA).
Voted one of the 10 best films of 2000 by the American Film Institute (AFI).
Winner of 2000 award for Best Director from the New York Film Critics Circle.
Winner of the 2000 award for Best Actress (Julia Roberts) by the London Film Critics Circle.
Winner of the 2000 award for Best Director from the National Society of Film Critics.
Winner of the 2000 award for Excellence in Contemporary Costume Design for Film by the Costume Designers Guild (CDG).
Winner of the 2000 awards for Best Director and Best Actress (Julia Roberts) from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
Winner of two 2000 awards, including Best Actress (Erin Brokovich) and co-winner of Best Director along with "Traffic" (USA/2000) by the Broadcast Film Critics Association. Also nominated for the award for Best Picture.
Winner of two 2000 awards, including Best Actress (Julia Roberts) and Best Supporting Actor (Albert Finney), from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG).
Winner of two 2000 awards, including Best Director and Best Actress (Julia Roberts) from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.
Released in United States Spring March 17, 2000
Expanded Release in United States April 7, 2000
Released in United States on Video August 15, 2000
Began shooting May 25, 1999.
Completed shooting August 6, 1999.
Re-released in United Kingdom March 23, 2001.
Released in United States Spring March 17, 2000
Expanded Release in United States April 7, 2000
Released in United States on Video August 15, 2000
Nominated for the 2000 award for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen from the Writers Guild of America (WGA).
