Gangs of New York


2h 45m 2002
Gangs of New York

Brief Synopsis

In 1860's lower Manhattan, the Five Points section is a dark, teeming corner of the city known for vice and chaos. Into this frontier of lawlessness arrives the young Irish American, Amsterdam Vallon. Amsterdam is the orphaned son of the slain Priest Vallon--once chief warrior of the Dead Rabbits ga

Film Details

MPAA Rating
Genre
Action
Adaptation
Crime
Drama
Period
Release Date
Dec 20, 2002
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Initial Entertainment Group; Miramax Film Corp.; P.E.A. Films; Touchstone Pictures
Distribution Company
Miramax Film Corp.
Country
Italy and United States
Location
Cinecitta Studios, Rome, Italy; Astoria, New York, United States; New York City, New York, United States; Rome,Italy
Screenplay Information
Suggested by the book The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld by Herbert Asbury (New York, 1928).

Technical Specs

Duration
2h 45m

Synopsis

In 1846 New York, "Priest" Vallon is watched by his young son as he prepares to lead his gang of Irish immigrants, known as the Dead Rabbits, into battle against a gang of "Nativist" Americans. The Nativists are led by the bloodthirsty Bill "The Butcher" Cutting, who hopes to oust the Irish from the "Five Points" area of New York City, which he believes should remain under the control of native-born Americans. Priest is determined to obtain a peaceful existence for the immigrants, who have been harrassed by the Nativists and live in slum-like conditions. During the battle, which the Nativists win, Bill mortally wounds Priest, and his son rushes to his side. At Priest's request, Bill delivers the final blow, then orders his men to apprehend the crying child and send him to an orphanage. Sixteen years later, after living at the Hellgate House of Reform, Priest's son, now a sturdy young man, is released and returns to "Paradise Square" in the Five Points. Although he tries to conceal his identity, he is recognized by Johnny Sirocco, who attempted to help him escape after Priest was killed. Johnny, who now must pay tribute to Bill, along with the other Irish gang members, entices his friend into entering a burning house to loot it, and he saves Johnny's life by dragging him from the collapsing building. As he is exiting, young Vallon is devastated to see Bill, who is there with Tammany Hall politician William Marcy "Boss" Tweed and other volunteer firefighters. The young Irishman soon learns that New York is a city divided, with rampant political corruption, mostly controlled by Bill and Tweed. Bill despises the immigrants, although Tweed tries to persuade him that they, and their votes, are New York's future. Later, when Johnny takes young Vallon to meet Bill, the Irishman introduces himself simply as "Amsterdam," and Bill does not recognize him as Priest's son. Wanting to test the youths, Bill then sends them to rob a boat quarantined in the harbor. Upon arriving at the boat, Amsterdam and his men discover that a rival gang has stripped the vessel and killed the crew, but the enterprising Amsterdam takes a body and sells it to a medical school. Impressed by Amsterdam's ingenuity, fighting skills and education, Bill embraces him as his protégé, little suspecting that the younger man intends to kill him during the annual commemoration of his defeat of Priest. As time passes, Amsterdam becomes attached to the charismatic Bill, despite his desire for revenge, and even learns from Bill, who enjoys butchering meat, how to use a knife for the most effective kill or devastating wound. Amsterdam also finds himself attracted to Jenny Everdeane, an independent Irish pickpocket who has an enigmatic connection to Bill. One day, Tweed and Bill decide that in order to stem growing concern on the part of well-to-do reformers, four men should be hanged in the Five Points to prove that law and order still prevails. At the hanging, Amsterdam is deeply moved by the sight of a young boy watching his father die. That night, Jenny chooses Amsterdam to dance at an event sponsored by the Protestant mission. Later, they are outside making love when Amsterdam notices a long scar on Jenny's belly, which she explains came when a baby was cut out of her. Amsterdam also spots a locket he knows was purchased by Bill, and when Jenny refuses to explain why Bill gave it to her, the young Irishman angrily rejects her. Soon after, Amsterdam and Bill attend a presentation of Uncle Tom's Cabin , and the racist Bill, who loathes Lincoln and the Union cause, leads the audience in throwing vegetables at the actors. Suddenly, someone shoots Bill in the shoulder, but Amsterdam, almost despite himself, saves Bill from serious harm and captures the assailant. That night, after a party celebrating Bill's survival, Amsterdam finds that he can no longer fight his attraction to Jenny, and the couple give in to their feelings for each other. Amsterdam is awakened by a restless Bill, who relates how he once fought Priest in a ferocious fistfight. Although he was clearly the winner, Priest did not kill Bill, who could not look him in the eye out of shame. Bill then cut out his own left eye and sent it to Priest, whom he calls "the only man I ever killed worth remembering." After Bill departs, Jenny explains to Amsterdam that Bill took her in when she was a homeless twelve-year-old, but that after she became pregnant by him and her baby was cut out, he was no longer romantically interested in her. Although Jenny emphasizes that Bill never touched her until she asked him to, Amsterdam is still distressed. On the night of the sixteenth anniversary of Bill's victory over Priest, Johnny, who is jealous that Jenny chose Amsterdam over him, reveals to Bill Amsterdam's identity and plans for revenge. At the celebration, Bill taunts Amsterdam by almost killing Jenny during a display of knife throwing, then, when the young man attempts to murder him, overcomes him. Bill does not kill Amsterdam, however, preferring to scar his face and force him to live with the shame of his defeat. Undeterred, and spurred on by Walter "Monk" McGinn, who fought with his father, Amsterdam revives the Dead Rabbits. Bill sends Happy Jack Mulranney, once a member of the Dead Rabbits but now a policeman, to murder Amsterdam, but instead Amsterdam kills him and strings him up in the square as a warning to Bill. In return, Bill tortures Johnny, who had confessed his betrayal to Amsterdam, and Amsterdam is forced to kill Johnny to end his suffering. Realizing how influential Amsterdam is becoming, Tweed approaches him, offering to ally with him against Bill if he will rally the Irish to vote for Tammany. Amsterdam agrees to the deal, providing that Tweed backs Monk in the upcoming election for sheriff. With Tweed and Amsterdam's support, Monk wins, much to the chagrin of Bill. Bill attempts to challenge Monk to a duel, but when Monk publicly declines, embarrassing Bill, Bill murders him in cold blood. As Monk's body is carried through the Five Points, Amsterdam challenges Bill to a fight to determine control of the territory. Meanwhile, the first draft is instituted by the Union, which desperately needs soldiers. The poorer citizens of New York are outraged by an exemption to the draft, allowing those who can pay three hundred dollars to be released from their obligations. On the day the first draftees are called, a small riot breaks out, but wealthy New Yorkers believe that it will be short-lived. The poor continue to organize the next day, however, while Amsterdam, Bill and their men prepare to fight. Jenny, who has decided to escape the bloodshed by moving to San Francisco, is caught up in the riots as people swarm the streets, attacking blacks, police and the rich. Just as the battle in the Five Points is beginning, Union soldiers enter the city and ships in the harbor begin shelling the area. Many of the gang members are killed by the shelling, although Amsterdam and Bill continue to fight. Finally, Bill is wounded by a shell fragment, and the two men kneel in the blood-covered street. Surveying the damage to the square, Bill states, "Thank God I die a true American," and the infuriated Amsterdam kills him with the knife Bill used to slay his father. Jenny makes her way back to the Five Points and finds Amsterdam, and the couple survives the next four days and nights, during which the riots are quelled. Eventually, Bill is buried next to Priest, and as New York City continues to grow and change, their graves deteriorate and are forgotten.

Cast

Leonardo Dicaprio

Amsterdam Vallon

Daniel Day-lewis

Bill "The Butcher" Cutting

Cameron Diaz

Jenny Everdeane

Jim Broadbent

[William Marcy] Boss Tweed

John C. Reilly

Happy Jack [Mulranney]

Henry Thomas

Johnny Sirocco

Liam Neeson

"Priest" Vallon

Brendan Gleeson

Walter "Monk" McGinn

Stephen Graham

Shang

Eddie Marsan

Killoran

Alec Mccowen

Reverend Raleigh

David Hemmings

Mr. Schermerhorn

Larry Gilliard Jr.

Jimmy Spoils

Cara Seymour

Hell-Cat Maggie

Roger Ashton-griffiths

P. T. Barnum

Peter Hugo Daly

One-armed priest

Cian Mccormack

Young Amsterdam

Andrew Gallagher

Young Johnny

Philip Kirk

O`Connell Guard leader

Rab Afleck

Plug Uglies leader

Bill Barclay

Shirtails leader

Nick Bartlett

Chichesters leader

Robert Goodman

Forty Thieves leader

Tim Pigott-smith

Calvinist minister

Liam Carney

Bill the Butcher's gang #1

Gary Mcormack

Bill the Butcher's gang #2

David Mcblain

Bill the Butcher's gang #3

Dick Holland

True Blue American speaker

Katherine Wallach

Jenny's girl

Carmen Hanlon

Jenny's girl

Ilaria D'elia

Jenny's girl

Laurie Ventry

Resident woman

Ford Kiernan

Black Joke chief

Alec Mcmahon

Resident man

Nevan Finnegan

Dead Rabbits gang member

Dominque Vandenberg

Dead Rabbits gang member

Stuart Ong

Chinese at Sparrow's Pagoda

Basil Chung

Elderly Chinese at Pagoda

Finbar Fury

Satan's Circus singer

Sean Gilder

Rat Pit game master

Richard Graham

Card player, Harvey

Richard Strange

Undertaker

Douglas Plasse

Medical student

Bruce Steinheimer

Army recruiter

David Bamber

Passenger on omnibus

Barbara Bouchet

Mrs. Schermerhorn

Michael Byrne

Horace Greeley

Lucy Davenport

Miss Schermerhorn

Maura O'connell

Street singer

Alec Howden

Assistant hangman

James Ramsay

Condemned man, Arthur

Iain Mccoll

Condemned man, Seamus

Louie Brownsell

Legless soldier

Gennaro Condemi

She-He

Kiernan Hurley

Recruiter

John Sessions

Harry Watkins/Lincoln

Michael H. Billingsley

Uncle Tom

Steven C. Matthews

Mr. Shelby

Giovanni Lombardo Radice

Mr. Legree

Alexia J. Murray

Topsy

Flaminia Fegarotti

Miss Eliza

Bronco Mcloughlin

Assassin

Channing Cook Holmes

Tap dancer

Elaine Chappius

Chinese whore

Roberta Quaresima

Whore #1

Marta Pilato

Whore #2

Jian Su

Chinese acrobat

Man Cao

Chinese general

Kathy Shao-lin Lee

Chinese dancer

Alexander Deng

Chinese boy singer

Peter Berling

Knife act caller

Patrick Gordon

Surgeon

Brendan White

Archbishop

Brendan Dempsey

Provost Marshal registrar

Taddeo Harbutt

Unruly man

Nazzareno Natale

Don Whiskerandos

Colin Hill

Nativist candidate

Robert Linge

One-armed veteran

Richard Syms

Drunken repeater

Christian Burgess

The mayor

Gerry Robert Byrne

Draft official

Dave Nicholls

O`Connell Guard leader

Tim Faraday

Plug Uglies leader

Sean Mcginley

Forty Thieves leader

John Murphy

Kerryonians leader

Terry O'neill

Chichesters leader

Vincent Pickering

American Guard leader

Nick Miles

Atlantic Guard leader

Ian Pirie

Slaughter Housers leader

John Mcglynn

Bowery Boys leader

Larry Kaplan

Bloody bureaucrat

Leo Burmeister

Telegraph operator voice #1

Justin Brennan

Telegraph operator voice #2

Brian Mallon

Telegraph operator voice #3

Joseph Reidy

Police chief

Joel Strachan

Telegraph operator

Bill Murdoch

Robber on dock

Angela Pleasance

Woman accomplice

Ian Agnew

General Wool

Michael Hausman

Gunboat captain

Bob Colletti

Soldier in mist

Martin Scorsese

Head of family in house robbed by Jenny

Caitlin Brennan

Hot corn girl

Crew

Daniele Abeille

Action unit/2d unit Assistant prod Manager

Daniel Acon

Special Effects Coordinator

Renato Agostini

Head Italian Special Effects tech

G. A. Aguilar

Stunt Coordinator

Gerardo Albero

Assistant unit Manager

Alessandro Alberti

Art Director

Jon Alexander

Computer graphics Supervisor

Amy E. Allen

Prod Assistant

Cecilia Alvarenga

Action unit/2d unit prod Coordinator

Hossein Amini

Contract Writer

Pippi Anoustis

Assistant to Harvey Weinstein

Vic Armstrong

2d unit Director for fight scenes

Myles Aronowitz

Still Photographer

Rosie Nic Athlaioch

"The Hands that Built America" viola

Jeff Atmajian

"Brooklyn Heights" orch

Deanna Avery

Researcher

Carlo Awisato

Action unit/2d unit props

Daniele Bacciu

Action unit/2d unit props

Voxi Baerenklau

Action unit/2d unit gaffer

Giampaolo Bagala

Action unit/2d unit key grip

Eleonora Baldwin

Action unit/2d unit Screenplay Supervisor

Florian Ballhaus

Action unit/2d unit Director of Photographer

Michael Ballhaus

Director of Photography

Donald Banks

Boom Operator

Maria Teresa Barbasso

Art Director

Costanza Bastanti

Cutters Assistant

Randall Bean

Scanning

Michele Bergstrom

Video playback

Vladimir Bogak

Tech support

Marianne Bower

Researcher

Alessio Bramucci

Best Boy

Patrick Bramucci

Head gaffer, Italy

Julie Brennan

Assistant to Mr. Scorsese

Justin Brennan

Research Assistant

Connie Brink

Insert Photographer Special Effects/Pyrotechnic

Scott Brock

1st Assistant Editor

Andrew Brown

"Brooklyn Heights" Conductor

Ronn Brown

Digital matte artist

Ronan Browne

Composer

Jim Bruening

Music crew

Michael Brunsfeld

Art Director

Pat Buba

Addl Editor

Judith Lauren Buckley

Art Department research Coordinator

Gerry Robert Byrne

Associate Producer

Manuela Cacciamani

Prod Secretary

Gretchen Campbell

Executive Assistant to Mr. Scorsese

Sabrina Canale

Prod Secretary

Giuseppe Cancellara

Head blacksmith

Mario Capellari

Digital Effects artist

Dimitri Capuani

Art Director

Inti Carboni

2d Assistant Director, Italy

Patricia Carlin

Music Editor

Alex Corven Caronia

Action unit/2d unit 1st Assistant Director

Mario Cassar

Action unit/2d unit Special Effects tech

Karn Chan

Foley Editor

Joshua Chapel

Digital Effects artist

Aloura Charles

Assistant to Mr. Scorsese, Rome

Da-can Chen

Composer

Emanuele Chiari

Action unit/2d unit focus puller

Kathleen Chopin

Casting Associate

Laura Civiello

Dial Editor

Jay Cocks

Screenwriter

Jay Cocks

Story

Marco Contaldo

Action unit/2d unit best boy

Robert Corna

Production Assistant

Andrea Corr

"The Hands that Built America" tin whistle

Sharon Corr

"The Hands that Built America" violin

Giovanni Corridori

Italian Special Effects Supervisor

Marko Costanzo

Foley artist

John Cowell

Costume painter

Marco Cuzzupoli

"A" Camera loader

Stella D'onofrio

Action unit/2d unit Screenplay Supervisor

Marie D'origny

Assistant to Mr. Lewis [sic]

J. Patrick Daily

Key grip

Marcello De Dominicis

Prod Music adv

Elisabetta De Leonardis

Action unit/2d unit key hairdresser

Stefano De Nardis

Wardrobe master

Daniel De Rossi

Editorial intern, Italy

Bruno De Santa

Mr. DiCaprio's Costume

Mariano De Simone

Prod Music adv

Claudio Del Gobbo

Dolly grip

John Dell

Butchering adv

Massimiliano Dessena

Best Boy

Alessandro Di Meo

"A" Camera loader

Mark Dornfeld

Visual Effects Supervisor

Kate Dowd

Co-casting, UK

Tommaso Dubla

Head painter

Nika Dunne

Digital paint & roto

Brian Dunning

Composer

Jennifer Dunnington

Music Editor

Kathy Durning

Music Editor

John J. Egan Iii

Production Assistant

Louis Elman

ADR voice casting

Antonello Emidi

Action unit/2d unit focus puller

Simon Emmerson

Composer

David Fanshawe

Composer

Filippo Fassetta

Action unit/2d unit 1st Assistant Director

Laura Fattori

Co-producer

Randi Feinberg

Insert Photographer line prod

Dante Ferretti

Production Design

Edoardo Ferretti

Production Assistant

Edoardo Ferretti

3rd Assistant Director, Italy

Chris Fielder

Assistant Sound Editor

Anastasios Filipos

Music Editor

Maria Fiorito

Accountant

Tom Fleischman

Re-rec mixer

Tom Foligno

1st Assistant Editor

Ivy Fong

Tech support

Geoff Foster

"Brooklyn Heights" addl rec and mixing by

Federico Foti

Unit Manager, Italy

Mario Francini

Studio/Backlot Manager

Antonio Fraulo

Props Master

Jennifer Freed

Post prod accounting

Dawn Freer

Insert Photographer Screenplay Supervisor

G. W. E. Friedrich

Composer

Peter Gabriel

Composer

Fabrizio Garuccio

Production Assistant

Randy Gaul

Digital matte artist

Eugene Gearty

Re-rec mixer/Sound Effects Designer/Ed

Camille Geier

Visual Effects prod

Susan Shin George

Visual Effects prod

Francesca Ghiotto

Action unit/2d unit 1st Assistant Director

Giovanni Gianese

Sculptor

Gianni Giannelli

Action unit/2d unit 2d Assistant Camera

Angelo Giovagnoli

Prod Music Coordinator

Raffaella Giovannetti

Assistant set dec

Alessandro Giuseppini

Assistant to Mr. Scorsese, Rome

Carl Glanville

"The Hands that Built America" eng and mixed by

Eileen Gorman

Production Assistant

Jeff Grace

Tech Coordinator

Dale Grahn

Col timer

Augusto Grassi

Leather master

Mario Grasso

Production Assistant

David Greenbaum

Assistant to Harvey Weinstein

Giorgio Gregorini

Hairstylist

Rachel Griffiths

Script Supervisor

Sian Grigg

Makeup artist for Mr. DiCaprio

Alberto Grimaldi

Producer

Maurizio Grimaldi

Executive Producer

Naisola Grimwood

Post prod research

Gordon Grinberg

2d Assistant Editor

Robert Guerra

Tech art Director

Paolo Guglielmotti

Editorial intern, Italy

Annie Hadley

Chief Costume cutter

Michael Hausman

Executive Producer

Michael Hausman

Unit Production Manager

Jack Haye

Digital modeler

Chris Heaney

"The Hands that Built America" [Carl Glanville] Assistant by

Ruth Hernandez

Assistant Sound Editor

Harry Higgins

Re-Recording

Edward Hirsh

Visual Effects co-Supervisor

Dean Hood

Prod accountant

Paul Huston

Lead digital matte artist

Massimo Iacobis

Action unit/2d unit prod Manager

Michael A. Jackman

Addl Photographer line prod

Michael A. Jackman

Post prod Supervisor

Kenton Jakub

ADR Editor

Anxi Jiang

Chinese performance Coordinator

Jeff Johnson

Composer

Bob Kaiser

Col timer

Johnny Kalsi

Composer

Larry Kaplan

Unit Publicist

Kurt Kaufman

Digital matte artist

Nadia Kazan

Assistant casting, Italy

Frank Kern

Supervisor Foley Editor

Bill Kimberlin

Ed

Graham King

Co-Executive prod

Charlotte Kirchgaesser

Prod cast liaison/Post prod Coordinator

James Kwei

Addl Editor

Giuseppe La Rocca

Head plasterer

Luca Lachin

1st Assistant Director, Italy

Brigitte Lacombe

Still Photographer

Greg Laporta

Electronic programmer

Tom Lappin

1st Assistant Camera

George Lara

Foley mixer

Terry Laudermilch

Re-Recording

Federico Laurenti

Makeup Artist

Tom Lazarus

"Brooklyn Heights" addl mixing by

Sabina Lepri

Art Department Coordinator

Hal Levinsohn

ADR Editor

Erica Levy

Production Assistant

Ellen Lewis

Casting

Debora Lilavois

Assistant Sound Editor

Eric Liljestrand

"Brooklyn Heights" rec and mixed by

Marissa Littlefield

Supervisor ADR Editor

Siobhan Lo

Digital Effects artist

Francesca Lo Schiavo

Set Decoration

Alan Lomax

Composer

Anna Lombardi

Costume buyer

Fabrizio Lombardo

Miramax prod Coordinator for Italy

Kenneth Lonergan

Screenwriter

Sharon Long

2d Assistant Costume Designer

Ermanno Lubich

"A" Camera Assistant

Rosa Luciani

Action unit/2d unit key hairdresser

Jesse Lutz

Assistant to Ms. Diaz

Stuart Macphee

Post prod Coordinator

Roberto Magagnini

Swing gang foreman

Bernard Maisner

Hand lettered props

Marco Maldonado

Insert Photographer motion control

Fabio Mancini

Transportation Manager

Film Details

MPAA Rating
Genre
Action
Adaptation
Crime
Drama
Period
Release Date
Dec 20, 2002
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Initial Entertainment Group; Miramax Film Corp.; P.E.A. Films; Touchstone Pictures
Distribution Company
Miramax Film Corp.
Country
Italy and United States
Location
Cinecitta Studios, Rome, Italy; Astoria, New York, United States; New York City, New York, United States; Rome,Italy
Screenplay Information
Suggested by the book The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld by Herbert Asbury (New York, 1928).

Technical Specs

Duration
2h 45m

Award Nominations

Best Actor

2002

Set Decoration

2002

Best Cinematography

2002

Best Costume Design

2002

Best Director

2002
Martin Scorsese

Best Editing

2002

Best Original Screenplay

2002

Best Picture

2002

Best Song

2002

Best Sound

2002

Articles

Gangs of New York (2002)


Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York (2002) finds the historical roots of the ongoing debate about immigration in the U.S. in the conflicts in 1840s New York between native-born Protestants and Irish-Catholic immigrants. An all-star cast headed by Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Jim Broadbent and Liam Neeson, many of them playing characters based on actual historical figures, brings to life a turbulent two decades that helped set the tone of American democracy. The film also marks the first collaboration between Scorsese and DiCaprio, who would go on to make five more films together, with a sixth, Killers of the Flower Moon, slated for release in 2022. DiCaprio was so eager to make the film he even changed agents.

The film covers almost two decades, starting with a violent gang war pitting Bill “The Butcher” Cutting’s (Day-Lewis) Nativists against “Priest” Vallon’s (Neeson) Irish-Catholic Dead Rabbits. Bill kills Priest in battle, and years later Priest’s son (DiCaprio) returns to New York seeking revenge. He works his way into Bill’s confidence until his identity is revealed. This sets the stage for a violent confrontation against the backdrop of the 1863 Draft Riots, during which tens of thousands of armed men and women took to the streets to protest the institution of a draft that unfairly targeted the poor.

Scorsese had long been fascinated with New York history. In 1970, he read Herbert Asbury’s 1927 book “The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld.” He optioned the film rights in 1977 but was not yet well-enough established as a filmmaker to get financing for an expensive historical epic.

DiCaprio’s interest helped land the film at Harvey Weinstein’s Miramax Films in 1999. Scorsese had already been working on the script with Jay Cocks, with whom he had worked on The Age of Innocence (1993). They built their plot around real-life figures like Bill ‘The Butcher’ (whose real surname was Poole) and Boss Tweed, while adding a fictional story with characters they created for the film. He brought on Steven Zaillian to help re-structure it and Kenneth Lonergan to deepen the characterizations. The script was not finished when the film started shooting in December 2001.

Scorsese initially announced Robert De Niro as Bill “The Butcher,” but he withdrew because of a scheduling conflict. After Willem Dafoe turned it down, Day-Lewis came on board for his first film role since 1997.

New York had changed so much it was impossible to film exteriors there. Instead, Scorsese took the production to Rome’s Cinerite studios, where the art department under Dante Ferretti’s supervision built more than a mile of mid-19th century city streets. Among the locations they duplicated were the Five Points slum, the East River waterfront with two full-sized sailing ships and Tammany Hall, headquarters of the political organization that ran New York State for well over a century and a half. Costume designer Sandy Powell, (Shakespeare in Love ,1998; Scorsese’s The Aviator, 2004) had to create costumes for the lower echelons of society by attacking the fabrics with sandpaper and graters and hanging them with weights in the pockets so they would look appropriately worn.

Since national origins play an important role in the conflict, Scorsese hired dialect coach Tim Monich to work with the actors to create dialects specific to their countries of origin. To recreate how working-class native-born New Yorkers spoke in the mid-19th century, Monich studied period poems and songs and the police department’s “Rogue’s Lexicon,” a dictionary of criminal slang. With DiCaprio, he developed an accent that reflected both his character’s Irish birth and his U.S. upbringing. Monich also advised the actors on what slang terms would have been used in that era, so that they knew to refer to addicts as “hop fiends” rather than “dope fiends” and to call the British “lime juicers” rather than “limeys.”

Known for his painstaking research into characters, Day-Lewis prepared for the role by reading everything from the Police Gazette to the poems of Walt Whitman. He studied butchery in a Queens meat shop and flew in a master of the art from London to give him some fine points. He never broke character during filming, even when Scorsese and DiCaprio persuaded him to join them for dinner, which terrified their waitress.

Scorsese and Weinstein clashed throughout the production over Scorsese’s vision and the film’s length, causing delays that drove the budget to about $103 million and postponed the planned 2001 release for more than a year. Miramax also feared certain scenes would upset audiences so soon after the 9/11 attacks. The film’s final shots of modern-day New York included the World Trade Center. There was talk of removing the towers digitally, but Scorsese and Miramax ultimately decided to leave them in. After delivering a work print that ran more than three hours, Scorsese, with some prodding from Weinstein, cut the film to its current two hour and 47-minute length.

Originally, Weinstein wanted to release the film on Christmas Day, 2002. That created a conflict for DiCaprio, whose Catch Me If You Can (2002) was also slated to premiere that day. Weinstein was eventually convinced that Gangs of New York was not really a Christmas movie, and the release was moved to December 20, so the film would still qualify for year-end awards, which seemed likely given critical response. 

Variety’s Todd McCarthy called it “a richly impressive and densely realized work that bracingly opens the eye and mind to untaught aspects of American history.” The film was listed in more than 15 year-end ten-best lists, including those of Rolling Stone, Time Magazine and The New York Times.

Daniel Day-Lewis got Best Actor Awards from the New York Film Critics, the Los Angeles Society of Film Critics, the Screen Actors Guild and the British Film Academy, among others. Scorsese won Best Director at the Golden Globes.  The picture received ten Oscar® nominations, with Day-Lewis particularly favored to win. On Oscar® night, however, it came up empty handed, with Chicago (2002) dominating most of the craft awards and beating it for Best Picture. Scorsese lost Best Director to Roman Polanski for The Pianist (2002), while Best Actor went to Adrien Brody for the same film. 

Source:
Bordewich, Fergus. “Martin Scorsese’s Meanest Streets Yet: Rediscovering the 19th Century Gangs of New York.” Smithsonian Magazine (December 2002)

Gangs Of New York (2002)

Gangs of New York (2002)

Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York (2002) finds the historical roots of the ongoing debate about immigration in the U.S. in the conflicts in 1840s New York between native-born Protestants and Irish-Catholic immigrants. An all-star cast headed by Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Jim Broadbent and Liam Neeson, many of them playing characters based on actual historical figures, brings to life a turbulent two decades that helped set the tone of American democracy. The film also marks the first collaboration between Scorsese and DiCaprio, who would go on to make five more films together, with a sixth, Killers of the Flower Moon, slated for release in 2022. DiCaprio was so eager to make the film he even changed agents.The film covers almost two decades, starting with a violent gang war pitting Bill “The Butcher” Cutting’s (Day-Lewis) Nativists against “Priest” Vallon’s (Neeson) Irish-Catholic Dead Rabbits. Bill kills Priest in battle, and years later Priest’s son (DiCaprio) returns to New York seeking revenge. He works his way into Bill’s confidence until his identity is revealed. This sets the stage for a violent confrontation against the backdrop of the 1863 Draft Riots, during which tens of thousands of armed men and women took to the streets to protest the institution of a draft that unfairly targeted the poor.Scorsese had long been fascinated with New York history. In 1970, he read Herbert Asbury’s 1927 book “The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld.” He optioned the film rights in 1977 but was not yet well-enough established as a filmmaker to get financing for an expensive historical epic.DiCaprio’s interest helped land the film at Harvey Weinstein’s Miramax Films in 1999. Scorsese had already been working on the script with Jay Cocks, with whom he had worked on The Age of Innocence (1993). They built their plot around real-life figures like Bill ‘The Butcher’ (whose real surname was Poole) and Boss Tweed, while adding a fictional story with characters they created for the film. He brought on Steven Zaillian to help re-structure it and Kenneth Lonergan to deepen the characterizations. The script was not finished when the film started shooting in December 2001.Scorsese initially announced Robert De Niro as Bill “The Butcher,” but he withdrew because of a scheduling conflict. After Willem Dafoe turned it down, Day-Lewis came on board for his first film role since 1997.New York had changed so much it was impossible to film exteriors there. Instead, Scorsese took the production to Rome’s Cinerite studios, where the art department under Dante Ferretti’s supervision built more than a mile of mid-19th century city streets. Among the locations they duplicated were the Five Points slum, the East River waterfront with two full-sized sailing ships and Tammany Hall, headquarters of the political organization that ran New York State for well over a century and a half. Costume designer Sandy Powell, (Shakespeare in Love ,1998; Scorsese’s The Aviator, 2004) had to create costumes for the lower echelons of society by attacking the fabrics with sandpaper and graters and hanging them with weights in the pockets so they would look appropriately worn.Since national origins play an important role in the conflict, Scorsese hired dialect coach Tim Monich to work with the actors to create dialects specific to their countries of origin. To recreate how working-class native-born New Yorkers spoke in the mid-19th century, Monich studied period poems and songs and the police department’s “Rogue’s Lexicon,” a dictionary of criminal slang. With DiCaprio, he developed an accent that reflected both his character’s Irish birth and his U.S. upbringing. Monich also advised the actors on what slang terms would have been used in that era, so that they knew to refer to addicts as “hop fiends” rather than “dope fiends” and to call the British “lime juicers” rather than “limeys.”Known for his painstaking research into characters, Day-Lewis prepared for the role by reading everything from the Police Gazette to the poems of Walt Whitman. He studied butchery in a Queens meat shop and flew in a master of the art from London to give him some fine points. He never broke character during filming, even when Scorsese and DiCaprio persuaded him to join them for dinner, which terrified their waitress.Scorsese and Weinstein clashed throughout the production over Scorsese’s vision and the film’s length, causing delays that drove the budget to about $103 million and postponed the planned 2001 release for more than a year. Miramax also feared certain scenes would upset audiences so soon after the 9/11 attacks. The film’s final shots of modern-day New York included the World Trade Center. There was talk of removing the towers digitally, but Scorsese and Miramax ultimately decided to leave them in. After delivering a work print that ran more than three hours, Scorsese, with some prodding from Weinstein, cut the film to its current two hour and 47-minute length.Originally, Weinstein wanted to release the film on Christmas Day, 2002. That created a conflict for DiCaprio, whose Catch Me If You Can (2002) was also slated to premiere that day. Weinstein was eventually convinced that Gangs of New York was not really a Christmas movie, and the release was moved to December 20, so the film would still qualify for year-end awards, which seemed likely given critical response. Variety’s Todd McCarthy called it “a richly impressive and densely realized work that bracingly opens the eye and mind to untaught aspects of American history.” The film was listed in more than 15 year-end ten-best lists, including those of Rolling Stone, Time Magazine and The New York Times.Daniel Day-Lewis got Best Actor Awards from the New York Film Critics, the Los Angeles Society of Film Critics, the Screen Actors Guild and the British Film Academy, among others. Scorsese won Best Director at the Golden Globes.  The picture received ten Oscar® nominations, with Day-Lewis particularly favored to win. On Oscar® night, however, it came up empty handed, with Chicago (2002) dominating most of the craft awards and beating it for Best Picture. Scorsese lost Best Director to Roman Polanski for The Pianist (2002), while Best Actor went to Adrien Brody for the same film. Source:Bordewich, Fergus. “Martin Scorsese’s Meanest Streets Yet: Rediscovering the 19th Century Gangs of New York.” Smithsonian Magazine (December 2002)

Quotes

Trivia

Notes

The following written disclaimer appears at the end of the onscreen credits: "While this motion picture is based upon historical events, certain characters' names have changed, some main characters have been composited or invented and a number of incidents fictionalized." Another end credit reads: "Footage from `Djembefeloa' provided courtesy of Laurent Chevallier, P.O.M. Films, Freddy Denaës & Gael Teicher." The onscreen credit for Industrial Light & Magic reads: "Special Visual Effects by Industrial Light & Magic, A Division of Lucas Digital, LTD., Marin County, California." Intermittent narration by Leonardo DiCaprio, as "Amsterdam Vallon," is heard throughout the film.
       As stated in the disclaimer, the picture is based on several historical incidents and people. The area depicted in the picture, New York's Five Points, no longer exists, but in the 1800s was considered the worst slum in the world. The intersection of what were then Worth, Little Water, Mulberry, Cross and Orange streets, culminating in "Paradise Square," was the Five Points area. Located in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the Five Points was home to thousands of immigrants from the early 1800s onward. Irish immigrants flooded into the Five Points, particularly from the 1840s, and as noted in the film, by the mid-1800s, approximately fifteen thousand Irish were arriving in New York harbor every week. After leaving Ireland due to the staggering poverty, famine and disease in their native country, the Irish landing in America were met with hatred from the so-called "Native Americans," mostly of Anglo-Dutch ancestry. The Protestant "Nativists," as they were then called, were especially virulent about the immigrants' Catholic religion, as they felt the Irish would "give loyalty to their Church before the nation," according to studio press notes on the film. [In the picture, "Bill `The Butcher' Cutting" makes numerous, disparaging remarks about Catholicism.] Nativists also feared that the Irish and other immigrants, as well as freed slaves, would work for less money than native-born Americans and therefore affect employment.
       The gangs depicted in the film, such as the Dead Rabbits (which comes from a Gaelic term meaning "a violent, angry hulk"), the Bowery Boys and the Slaughter Housers, were real gangs that roamed Manhattan, terrorizing citizens, protected by various factions of the police and political organizations and constantly warring with one another. Of the characters in the film, several are based on real people, including Bill, who was based on Bill "The Butcher" Poole. Although Poole actually died in 1855, before the main action of the film occurs, he was a well-known Nativist gang leader who fought against the Irish and was eventually killed in a brawl with an Irish gang member. Poole's purported last words were "Goodbye boys, I die a true American!"
       Hell-Cat Maggie, a bouncer in an Irish bar, was known for wearing artificial brass fingernails to kill her opponents and for keeping a jar of ears as souvenirs of her battles. William Marcy "Boss" Tweed [d. 1878] is considered by many scholars to have been the most corrupt politician in American history. The leader of Tammany Hall, Tweed orchestrated the election of hand-picked candidates and was incessantly in search of opportunities for graft. Some historians note that despite his massive corruption, Tweed was important in the history American immigration for his help in obtaining jobs for immigrants and for persuading them to vote, which few of them had ever done in their native countries. As shown in the film, Tweed often relied on various gangs to help him stuff ballot boxes by coercing, or forcing, people to vote several times for Tammany candidates.
       The incident in the film in which Bill and his men approach the Catholic cathedral in Five Points, but are turned away by hundreds of parishioners and their priests, was based on a real incident. In 1835, a group of Nativists attempted to storm the old St. Patrick's Cathedral on Mulberry Street, but were repulsed by the parishioners, led by Bishop Hughes. The first major riot between New York gangs in the Five Points occurred on July 4, 1857, when a group of Dead Rabbits and Plug Uglies fought the Bowery Boys. It is estimated that 1,000 people participated in the fight, with hundreds being injured.
       The Draft Riots, which are depicted at the conclusion of the film, were the worst riots in American history, and resulted in the greatest loss of life in New York City until the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln instituted the country's first military draft, as the Union Army was badly in need of soldiers. Thirty thousand men, six thousand of whom were to come from Brooklyn, were called up, although an exemption to the draft allowed those who could pay $300 to avoid being drafted and send a substitute in their place. Many poorer citizens resented the exemption, and on July 13, 1863, riots broke out in New York City to protest the draft. According to historical sources, rioters in the tens of thousands spread throughout the city, with virtually every city policeman being killed or wounded, and dozens of African-Americans being brutally murdered. An orphanage for African-American children was one of the many buildings burned to the ground during the riots, which lasted for four days before being quelled by Union soldiers.
       The following information about the production of Gangs of New York comes from studio publicity, magazine articles and trade paper news items: Director Martin Scorsese first read Herbert Asbury's account of 1800s New York gang life on January 1, 1970. Scorsese was immediately fascinated by the book and intended to make a film based on it. On June 16, 1977, producer Alberto Grimaldi ran a two-page ad in Daily Variety, announcing imminent production of a film based on the book, with Scorsese listed the director. Scorsese could not obtain financing for the picture and so worked on other productions, although he and his frequent collaborator, screenwriter and former Time magazine critic Jay Cocks, had completed the first draft screenplay of Gangs of New York by 1977. In 1991, Grimaldi brokered a deal for Universal to produce the picture for a budget of $30 million. At the time, the only cast member set for the film was Robert De Niro, who was to play Bill. Universal eventually assigned the underlying rights to the book and the project to Disney in 1997, according to a January 3, 2000 Variety news item.
       In 1998, Michael Ovitz, Scorsese's friend and agent, suggested that he consider casting DiCaprio as Amsterdam. DiCaprio, who had heard about the long-intended project several years earlier, states in studio press notes that he "was so determined to do this project with Marty [Scorsese] that I actually changed agencies when I was seventeen in order to be in closer contact [with him]." With DiCaprio attached to the project, Ovitz was able to re-interest Disney Studios in the project, which had been dormant. According to an October 11, 1999 Hollywood Reporter article, "Disney had agreed to co-finance the film after [Scorsese and Cocks] rewrote the script, which added a love story." Eventually, however, Disney chairman Joe Roth decided that due to the violent nature of the film, it "was not an appropriate Disney-themed movie," according to a April 7, 2002 New York Times article.
       Scorsese, Ovitz and producer Rick York then attempted to interest Warner Bros. in producing the picture, as Scorsese was contractually obligated to direct a film for that company, but Warner Bros. also declined. After several companies, including Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount and M-G-M, turned down the project, Miramax, a subsidiary of Disney, offered to take over the domestic distribution of the picture and help finance the production. In order to obtain the necessary funds for what was projected to be a large budget, Miramax head Harvey Weinstein sold the foreign distribution rights to Gangs of New York to Initial Entertainment Group [IEG], headed by Graham King, for approximately $65 million. Touchstone, a division of Disney, eventually became allied with Miramax in supplying funding for the production, in exchange for a portion of the proceeds from domestic distribution.
       On January 3, 2000, Grimaldi filed suit against Universal, IEG, Disney, Ovitz and several others, alleging breach of promise. Grimaldi's suit stated that he had been forced out of the project after it moved from Universal to Disney, even though he had originally optioned and developed the material. Grimaldi asked for a $10 million award, as well as sole producer credit. In April 2000, the suit was settled, with Grimaldi being awarded $3 million, as well as the right to be listed as the sole producer instead of as a co-producer with Scorsese. In addition, Grimaldi's son, Maurizio Grimaldi, who had worked on the project, was awarded an executive producer credit, and the rights were to revert to Grimaldi if the picture was not made by the end of 2001. According to news items, Scorsese's ex-wife and frequent producer, Barbara DeFina, was no longer involved in the production of Gangs Of New York, nor was their joint production company, Cappa Productions. [DeFina is in the list of individuals and companies thanked by the filmmakers in the ending credits.]
       The film's screenplay underwent numerous re-writes and, according to a May 24, 2002 Entertainment Weekly article, the script was not fully completed by the time production began on September 18, 2001. As noted by the Entertainment Weekly article, Hossein Amini was one of the writers who worked on the film's screenplay, although he is not credited onscreen. According to studio press notes, Steven Zaillian "worked on the structure of the story" and Kenneth Lonergan "concentrated on further development of the characters."
       By the time the film was ready to begin production, De Niro was forced to drop out due to "personal reasons," according to a November 15, 1999 Hollywood Reporter news item, and Scorsese considered Willem Dafoe for the role of Bill. Dafoe apparently declined the role, which was then accepted by Daniel Day-Lewis, who had not appeared onscreen since the 1997 production The Boxer. News items indicate that Pete Postlethwaite was considered for a role, although he does not appear in the completed film. According to a 23-30 August 2002 Entertainment Weekly article, "virtually every important young actress" was auditioned for the part of "Jenny Everdeane" before Cameron Diaz was cast. A book on Scorsese states that actresses Anna Friel, Claire Forlani, Heather Graham, Monica Potter and Mena Suvari were among those considered. The source also states that Barbara Bouchet was cast as "Jenny's mother," but she instead appears as "Mrs. Schermerhorn."
       According to the presskit, Day-Lewis apprenticed to a real butcher to learn Bill's trade, while a January 2003 Premiere article about the production reports that he also "could throw knives with frightening accuracy." The distinctive glass eye worn by Bill, which features a blue bald eagle as the pupil, was achieved by a glass contact lens worn by Day-Lewis. Diaz studied with "a gentleman reputed to be Rome's premier pickpocket" according to a February 2001 W article. In order to assure the authenticity of the slang spoken in the film, The Rogue's Lexicon, compiled by New York City police chief George Matsell in 1859, was consulted, according to a December 2002 Smithsonian article. The presskit states that dialect coach Tim Monich also relied upon "period sources, humorous writings, poems, ballads and newspaper clippings," as well as an early recording of New Yorker Walt Whitman to determine the various accents used in the picture. The studio presskit states that part of the film's authenticity was achieved through the use of over 850,000 items that had recently been unearthed in the Five Points area by an archeological team. After production was completed, however, almost the entire collection was destroyed, while being kept in one of the World Trade Center buildings.
       One of the main challenges in recreating the area of the Five Points was that few photographs of the time period depicted in the film exist. In press notes, production designer Dante Ferretti, who collaborated with Scorsese on four previous films, relates that he was influenced by the photographs of Jacob Riis, who took many well-known photographs of New York slums in the 1870s. Some of the buildings erected on the vast Cinecittà Studios set for the movie-which covered more than one square mile-included real buildings of the time, such as the Old Brewery. Built in the 18th century, the Old Brewery became a notorious tenement, occupied by thousands of people. Other sets based on actual buildings included Sparrow's Chinese Pagoda. Ferretti also designed two full-sized ships in the water section of the Cinecittà backlot and constructed a replica of New York harbor, in addition to several blocks representing other areas of Manhattan. According to the 2001 W article, Gangs of New York was the largest epic shot at Cinecittà since the 1963 Twentieth Century-Fox production Cleopatra (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1961-70).
       According to the studio presskit, the picture contains more than one hundred speaking parts, and "before filming was complete, a total of 22,000 background player man-hours would be logged." Scorsese carefully chose light-skinned Italian extras who could portray Irish immigrants, while "a large group [of extras] was also recruited from local US Army and Naval bases," according to the presskit. Second-unit director of photography Florian Ballhaus is the son of director of photography Michael Ballhaus, who had worked with Scorsese on five earlier films. Several sources note that Scorsese and Ballhaus were inspired by the paintings of 17th century Dutch painter Rembrandt in creating the film's lighting.
       Many sources report that the film's budget was increased from approximately $83 million to at least $103 million during shooting, which was often plagued by bad weather and other delays. According to a April 7, 2002 New York Times article, Scorsese and DiCaprio "agreed to pay a combined $7 million to help defray the cost overruns." The film eventually became the most costly production ever made by either Scorsese or Miramax, as of January 2003. According to the January 2003 Premiere article, filming was completed after "going eight weeks over schedule." Numerous reports surfaced as to extra shooting done after principal photography was completed, with everything from inserts of special effects models to close-ups of lead actors to a clarified, new ending being shot. The exact dates of additional filming are vague, although a January 2003 American Cinematographer article reveals that Silvercup Studios in Astoria, NY was used for additional shooting.
       Harvey Weinstein originally hoped to release the film at Christmas 2001, but after the terrorist attacks on New York City, Scorsese and his editing team took a two-month hiatus, delaying post-production. Miramax also feared that it was not a "politically correct" time to release such a violent film, with its negative portrayals of police officers and firefighters, according to a October 26, 2001 Screen International article and an October 8, 2001 Daily Variety news item. Various sources state that tensions existed between Scorsese and Weinstein due to the film's length, which in October 2001, reportedly ran approximately three hours and forty minutes. Despite alleged disagreements between Weinstein and Scorsese, a May 14, 2001 Daily Variety news item noted that Scorsese had signed a five-year, "first look deal with Miramax as an extension of his `Gangs' deal."
       On May 20, 2002, a twenty-minute "preview" of the picture, with French sub-titles, was shown at the Cannes Film Festival. According to a May 21, 2002 Daily Variety news item, Scorsese and editor Thelma Schoonmaker, with whom he frequently works, spent seven weeks compiling the preview trailer, which was well received. According to the news item, after completing the trailer, Scorsese returned to "editing the film and is also in the midst of shooting some pickups." Gangs of New York was next scheduled to be released on July 12, 2002, but that date was also pushed back until December 25, 2002. On October 18, 2002, Entertainment Weekly reported that the film's music score was not yet complete, as the music written by Elmer Bernstein was being discarded in favor of a score by Howard Shore. Although a August 16, 2002 Wall Street Journal article stated that the filmmakers intended to retain a "portion" of Bernstein's music in the film, he is not listed in the onscreen credits. The January 2003 American Cinematographer article states that the special effects done by Industrial Light & Magic, which took approximately two years to complete, were "being refined right up until the film's release." The December 25, 2002 release date became controversial due to the simultaneous release of the DreamWorks production Catch Me If You Can, which also stars DiCaprio. Eventually, Miramax decided to release Gangs of New York on 20 December 2002.
       In addition to being named one of AFI's top ten films of 2002, Gangs of New York received Golden Globe Awards for Best Director and Best Original Song ("The Hands that Build America" by U2). The film also garnered Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Diaz) and for Best Actor-Drama (Day-Lewis). The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Day-Lewis), Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Original Song ("The Hands That Built America") and Best Sound. Day-Lewis was named Best Actor by film critics in New York, Boston and Seattle, and tied with Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt in the awards given by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Day-Lewis also was selected as Best Lead Movie Actor by SAG, and BAFTA awarded him as Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. The film was nominated by the PGA for its Darryl Zanuck Producer of the Year Award, and Scorsese was nominated by the DGA for Outstanding Achievement in Feature Film. At the time of Scorsese's DGA nomination, it was announced that the guild also had selected the director to be the recipient of their 2003 career achievement award.
       Herbert Asbury's book was also the basis for the 1938 Republic production Gangs of New York, directed by James Cruze and starring Charles Bickford and Ann Dvorak, although the earlier film was set in the 1930s and was completely fictional in tone.

Miscellaneous Notes

Co-winner of the 2002 award for Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis, shared with Jack Nicholson for "About Schmidt") from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

Nominated for the 2002 award for Best Original Screenplay by the Writer's Guild of America (WGA).

Nominated for the 2002 Best Director award by the Director's Guild of America (DGA).

Voted one of the 10 best films of 2002 by the American Film Institute (AFI).

Winner of the 2002 award for Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) by the Chicago Film Critics Association.

Winner of the 2002 award for Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) by the Las Vegas Film Critics.

Winner of the 2002 award for Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) by the Online Film Critics Society.

Winner of the 2002 award for Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) from the New York Film Critics Circle.

Winner of the 2002 award for Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) from the Screen Actor's Guild (SAG).

Winner of the 2002 award for Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis, shared with Jack Nicholson for "About Schmidt") by the Broadcast Film Critics Association.

Winner of the 2002 award for Best Supporting Actor (John C. Reilly) from the Las Vegas Film Critics.

Winner of the 2002 Eddie Award for Best Edited Dramatic Feature from the American Cinema Editors (ACE).

Released in United States Winter December 20, 2002

Released in United States on Video July 1, 2003

Released in United States February 2003

Shown at Berlin International Film Festival (Closing Night) February 6-16, 2003.

Released in United States Winter December 20, 2002

Released in United States on Video July 1, 2003

Released in United States February 2003 (Shown at Berlin International Film Festival (Closing Night) February 6-16, 2003.)

Co-winner of the 2002 award for Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis, shared with Jack Nicholson for "About Schmidt") by the Broadcast Film Critics Association. Also nominated for Best Picture and Best Director.