Gran Torino
Encyclopedia
- Not to be confused with Il Grande Torino.
Gran Torino is a 2008 American drama film directed by, produced by, and starring Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
. The film marks Eastwood's return to a lead acting role after four years, his previous leading role having been in Million Dollar Baby
Million Dollar Baby
Million Dollar Baby is a 2004 American sports drama film directed, co-produced, and scored by Clint Eastwood and starring Eastwood, Hilary Swank, and Morgan Freeman...
, and Eastwood has stated that this is his final film as an actor. The film features a large Hmong American
Hmong American
A Hmong American is a resident of the United States who is of ethnic Hmong descent. Hmong Americans are one group of Asian Americans. Many Lao Hmong war refugees resettled in the U.S. following the communist takeover of Laos in 1975...
cast, as well as one of Eastwood's younger sons, Scott Eastwood
Scott Eastwood
-Life and career:Reeves was born in Carmel, California but grew up in Hawaii. He is the son of actor-director Clint Eastwood and flight attendant Jacelyn Reeves, elder brother of Kathryn Reeves -Life and career:Reeves was born in Carmel, California but grew up in Hawaii. He is the son of...
, playing Trey. Eastwood's oldest son, Kyle Eastwood
Kyle Eastwood
Kyle Eastwood is an American jazz musician. He studied film at the University of Southern California for two years before embarking on a music career. After becoming a session player in the early '90s and leading his own quartet, he released his first solo album, From There to Here, in 1998...
, provided the score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
. The film opened to theaters in a limited release in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
on December 12, 2008, and later to a worldwide release on January 9, 2009.
The story follows Walt Kowalski, a recently widowed Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
veteran who is alienated from his family and angry at the world. Walt's young Hmong
Hmong people
The Hmong , are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Hmong are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity in southern China...
neighbor, Thao, is pressured into trying to steal Walt's prized 1972 Ford Gran Torino by his cousin for his initiation into a gang. Walt then develops a relationship with the boy and his family.
Gran Torino was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $260 million worldwide.
Plot
Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood), a gruff retired Polish AmericanPolish American
A Polish American , is a citizen of the United States of Polish descent. There are an estimated 10 million Polish Americans, representing about 3.2% of the population of the United States...
Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
factory worker and Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
veteran, has recently been widowed after 50 years of marriage. His neighborhood near Detroit in Highland Park
Highland Park, Michigan
- Geography :According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.- Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there were 16,746 people, 6,199 households, and 3,521 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,622.9 per square mile . There were 7,249...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, formerly populated by working-class white families, is now dominated by poor Asian immigrants, and gang
Gang
A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...
violence is commonplace. He vehemently turns down a suggestion by one of his estranged sons to move to a retirement community, and lives alone with his labrador retriever
Labrador Retriever
The Labrador Retriever is one of several kinds of retriever, a type of gun dog. A breed characteristic is webbed paws for swimming, useful for the breed's original purpose of retrieving fishing nets. The Labrador is the most popular breed of dog by registered ownership in Canada, the United...
, Daisy. Walt suffers from coughing fits, occasionally coughing up blood, but keeps this from his family. Father Janovich, the young Catholic priest in whom his wife had confided, tries to comfort him, but Walt openly disdains the much younger, inexperienced man.
The Hmong
Hmong people
The Hmong , are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Hmong are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity in southern China...
Vang Lor family resides next door to Walt. Initially, he wants nothing to do with his new neighbors, particularly after he catches Thao attempting to steal his beloved 1972 Gran Torino as a coerced initiation into a Hmong gang run by Thao's cousin. The Hmong gang is infuriated and attacks Thao, but Walt confronts them with an M1 Garand
M1 Garand
The M1 Garand , was the first semi-automatic rifle to be generally issued to the infantry of any nation. Called "the greatest battle implement ever devised" by General George S...
rifle and chases them off, earning the respect of the Hmong community. As penance, Thao's mother makes Thao work for Walt. Walt has him do odd jobs around the neighborhood, and gradually the two form a grudging respect for each other, aided by Thao's sister Sue. Walt helps Thao get a construction job and gives him advice on dating a popular Hmong girl, Youa, who Walt nicknames "Yum Yum."
The gang continues to pressure Thao and assaults him on his way home from work. They perform a drive-by shooting
Drive-by shooting
A drive-by shooting is a form of hit-and-run tactic, a personal attack carried out by an individual or individuals from a moving or momentarily stopped vehicle without use of headlights to avoid being noticed. It often results in bystanders being shot instead of, or as well as, the intended target...
on the Vang Lor home, injuring Thao, and kidnap and rape Sue. The next day, Thao seeks Walt's help to exact revenge. Walt tells him to return later in the afternoon. In the meantime, Walt makes preparations, buying a fitted suit, and confessing
Confession
This article is for the religious practice of confessing one's sins.Confession is the acknowledgment of sin or wrongs...
to Father Janovich. When Thao returns, Walt takes him to the basement and shows him his Silver Star
Silver Star
The Silver Star is the third-highest combat military decoration that can be awarded to a member of any branch of the United States armed forces for valor in the face of the enemy....
, which he gives to Thao. Walt tricks Thao, locking him in his basement, and tells him that he has been haunted by the memory of killing an enemy soldier, which he had not confessed to Janovich, and insists that Thao must never experience killing another person.
Walt drives to the house of the gang members. When they spot him, they draw their weapons. Walt talks loudly, drawing the attention of the neighbors. He puts a cigarette in his mouth and asks for a light. He then slowly puts his hand in his jacket and provocatively pulls it out. The gang members all begin firing their guns at Walt, killing him. As he falls to the ground, his hand opens to reveal a lighter; Walt was unarmed. Sue frees Thao and they drive to the crime scene in Walt's Gran Torino. A Hmong police officer tells them the gang will be imprisoned for a long time for murder due to the number of willing witnesses.
Walt's funeral is attended not only by his family, but also by Thao, Sue, and many of the Hmong community, with Father Janovich officiating. He says that Walt called him "an over-educated 27-year-old virgin that never knew the difference between life and death," and the last bit was true until he met Walt. Afterward, Walt's last will and testament is read. To the surprise of his family, Walt leaves his house to the church and his cherished Gran Torino to Thao. As the film ends, Thao is seen driving the car along Lakeshore Drive with Walt's dog, Daisy.
Cast
- Clint EastwoodClint EastwoodClinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
as Walt Kowalski - Bee VangBee VangBee Vang is an American actor. He is the co-star of Clint Eastwood's 2008 film Gran Torino. Before this role, he did not have any known acting experience.- Personal life :...
as Thao Vang Lor, a young Hmong teenager - Ahney HerAhney HerWhitney Cua Her , better known by her stage name Ahney Her, is an American actress.-Early life and education:Ahney Her was born and raised in Lansing, Michigan, where she had completed high school at Sexton High School when cast for Gran Torino...
as Sue Lor, Thao's older sister - Christopher CarleyChristopher CarleyChristopher Murphy Carley is an American actor who is sometimes credited as Chris Carley.He was born in Suffern, New York to Elizabeth Carley and Gerard Carley and grew up in Pearl River, New York. He graduated from Pearl River High School in 1996. He has 2 sisters, Cara and Sarah...
as Father Janovich - Doua Moua as Fong "Spider", Thao's cousin, shot caller of a Hmong street gangGangs in the United StatesStreet gangs in the United States date to the early 19th century. The most publicized street gangs in the U.S. are African-American; black gangs were not recognized as a social problem until after the great migration of the 1910s...
and the main antagonist - Sonny Vue as Smokie, Fong's right-hand man
- Brian HaleyBrian HaleyBrian Haley is an American actor and stand-up comedian. His stand-up act is characterized by playing his all-American looks against manic outbursts and absurd situations...
as Mitch Kowalski, Walt's older son Karen's husband, Josh and Ashley's father - Brian HoweBrian Howe (actor)Brian Howe is an American actor, most famous for his portrayal of stockbroker Jay Twistle in the film The Pursuit of Happyness. His other films include The Majestic, Catch Me If You Can, RV, Déjà Vu, Evan Almighty and Gran Torino...
as Steve Kowalski, Walt's younger son and Mitch's Brother - Geraldine Hughes as Karen Kowalski, Mitch's wife, Walt's daughter-in-law and mother of Ashley and Josh.
- Dreama WalkerDreama WalkerDreama Walker is an American actress. She is known for her role as Hazel Williams on Gossip Girl, based on the book series .-Personal life:...
as Ashley Kowalski, Mitch and Karens daughter and Walt's granddaughter - Michael E. Kurowski as Josh Kowalski, Mitch and Karens son and Walt's grandson
- John Carroll LynchJohn Carroll LynchJohn Carroll Lynch is an American actor, known for his role as Drew Carey's cross-dressing brother on The Drew Carey Show, and for his role as Norm, the unassuming husband of Margie Gunderson in Fargo....
as Martin, an Italian-American barber friend of Walt's - Chee Thao as Grandma Vang Lor, the matriarch of Thao's family
- Choua Kue as Youa; a running gag involves Walt mispronouncing her name as "Yum-Yum"
- Scott EastwoodScott Eastwood-Life and career:Reeves was born in Carmel, California but grew up in Hawaii. He is the son of actor-director Clint Eastwood and flight attendant Jacelyn Reeves, elder brother of Kathryn Reeves -Life and career:Reeves was born in Carmel, California but grew up in Hawaii. He is the son of...
as Trey, Sue's date
Production
Gran Torino was directed by Clint Eastwood and written by Nick SchenkNick Schenk
Nick Schenk is an American screenwriter. His script for the 2008 film Gran Torino was named "Best Screenplay" by the National Board of Review in late 2008.-Life and career:...
. It was produced by Village Roadshow Pictures
Village Roadshow Pictures
Village Roadshow Pictures is an Australian motion picture production company. It is a subsidiary of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, an Australian entertainment company. Most of its films are co-produced in partnership with Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema...
, Media Magik Entertainment and Malpaso Productions
Malpaso Productions
Malpaso Productions, originally known as The Malpaso Company, is Clint Eastwood's production company. It was established in 1967 by Eastwood's financial adviser Irving Leonard for the film Hang 'Em High, using finances from the Dollars trilogy...
for film distributor Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
Eastwood also produced alongside Malpaso partner Robert Lorenz
Robert Lorenz
Robert Lorenz is a producer, best known for his collaborations with Clint Eastwood. He has produced Mystic River , Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima with Eastwood...
and Bill Gerber
Bill Gerber
Bill Gerber is an American film producer, responsible for such films as Queen of the Damned and the remake of The Dukes of Hazzard TV series.- Filmography :* Get Carter executive producer* James Dean executive producer...
. The original script was inspired by the Northeast neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
, but filmmakers chose to film in Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, becoming one of the first productions to take advantage of the state's new law that provided lucrative incentive packages to film productions. Filming began in July 2008; locations included Highland Park
Highland Park, Michigan
- Geography :According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.- Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there were 16,746 people, 6,199 households, and 3,521 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,622.9 per square mile . There were 7,249...
, Detroit, Center Line
Center Line, Michigan
Center Line is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 8,531 at the 2000 census. Completely surrounded by the city of Warren, it was known as Kunrod's Corner during the mid-nineteenth century.-History:...
, Warren
Warren, Michigan
Warren is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The 2010 census places the city's population at 134,056, making Warren the largest city in Macomb County, the third largest city in Michigan, and Metro Detroit's largest suburb....
, Royal Oak
Royal Oak, Michigan
Royal Oak is a city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a suburb of Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 57,236. It should not be confused with Royal Oak Charter Township, a separate community located nearby....
, and Grosse Pointe Park
Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan
Grosse Pointe Park is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 11,555 at the 2010 census. Bordering on Detroit with frontage on southern Lake Saint Clair, it is the westernmost of the noted Grosse Pointe suburbs, with the oldest overall housing stock of the five cities...
. Hmong crew, production assistants, consultants, and extras were used.
In the early 1990s, Schenk became acquainted with the history and culture of the Hmong while working in a factory in Minnesota. He also learned how they had sided with the South Vietnamese forces and its U.S. allies during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, only to wind up in refugee camps, at the mercy of northern Communist forces, when American troops pulled out and the government forces were defeated. Years later, he was deciding how to develop a story involving a widowed Korean War veteran trying to handle the changes in his neighborhood when he decided to place a Hmong family next door and create a culture clash
Culture Clash
Culture Clash may refer to:* Culture Clash , American performance troupe* Culture Clash , British band which plays Harare Jit music...
. He and Dave Johannson, Schenk's brother's roommate, created an outline for the story. Some industry insiders told Schenk that he could not produce a film starring elderly characters as it could not be sold. Through a friend Schenk sent the screenplay to Warner Bros. producer Bill Gerber. Eastwood was able to direct and star on the project as filming for Invictus
Invictus (film)
Invictus is a 2009 biographical sports drama film directed by Clint Eastwood starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon.The story is based on the John Carlin book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed a Nation about the events in South Africa before and during the 1995 Rugby World...
was delayed to early 2009, leaving sufficient time for filming during the previous summer. Eastwood said that he had a "fun and challenging role, and it's an oddball story."
Producer Robert Lorenz said that while the script was originally set in Minnesota, he chose Michigan as the actual setting as Kowalski is a retired car plant worker. Eastwood wanted Hmong as cast members, so casting director Ellen Chenoweth enlisted Hmong organizations and set up calls in Detroit, Fresno
Fresno
Fresno is the fifth largest city in California.Fresno may also refer to:-Places:Colombia* Fresno, TolimaSpain* Fresno, a ghost village in Nidáliga, Valle de Sedano, Burgos* Aldea del Fresno, Madrid* Fresno de la Vega, Ribera del Esla, León...
, and St. Paul; Fresno and St. Paul have the two largest Hmong communities in the United States, while Detroit also has an appreciable population of Hmong. (However, most of the 4,000 or so Hmong in Detroit live on the east side of the city; very few live in Highland Park, which is more than 93 percent African-American.) Chenoweth recruited Bee Vang in St. Paul and Ahney Her in Detroit.
Theatrical run
In the film's opening weekend of wide release in the U.S., it grossed $29.5 million; as of August 21, 2009, has taken in $269,541,625 worldwide.Home media release
The film was released on June 9, 2009 in the United States in both standard DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
format and Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
. The disc includes bonus materials and extra features. A featurette is included and a documentary about the correlation of manhood and the automobile. The Blu-ray version presents the film in 2.40:1 ratio format, a digital copy, and the audio in multiple languages.
About 3,751,729 DVD units have been sold as of November 1, 2009 generating $56,684,999 in revenue. This does not include Blu-ray sales.
Reviews
After seeing the film, The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
noted the requiem
Requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead or Mass of the dead , is a Mass celebrated for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using a particular form of the Roman Missal...
tone captured by the film, describing it as "a sleek, muscle car of a movie made in the U.S.A., in that industrial graveyard called Detroit." Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with A.O. Scott. She was formerly a chief film critic for the Los Angeles Times, the film editor at the LA Weekly, and a film critic at The Village Voice. She has written for a variety of publications, including Film Comment and...
compared Eastwood's presence on film to Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry is a 1971 American crime thriller produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan....
and the Man with No Name
Man with No Name
The man with no name is a stock character in Western films, but the term usually applies specifically to the character played by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's "Dollars Trilogy."...
, stating, "Dirty Harry is back, in a way, in Gran Torino, not as a character but as a ghostly presence. He hovers in the film, in its themes and high-caliber imagery, and of course most obviously in Mr. Eastwood’s face. It is a monumental face now, so puckered and pleated that it no longer looks merely weathered, as it has for decades, but seems closer to petrified wood." The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
also praised Eastwood's performance and credibility as an action hero at the age of 78. Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan is an American film critic and Lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California.-Background:...
said of Eastwood's performance, "It is a film that is impossible to imagine without the actor in the title role. The notion of a 78-year-old action hero may sound like a contradiction in terms, but Eastwood brings it off, even if his toughness is as much verbal as physical. Even at 78, Eastwood can make 'Get off my lawn' sound as menacing as 'Make my day,' and when he says 'I blow a hole in your face and sleep like a baby,' he sounds as if he means it." Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
wrote that the film is "about the belated flowering of a man's better nature. And it's about Americans of different races growing more open to one another in the new century."
However, not everyone enjoyed the film. Mark Harris, columnist for Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, described it as "fantasy pretending to be social commentary," and accused it of peddling "the delusion that even the bigot next door has something to teach us all about heroism and self-sacrifice," adding "no, he doesn't." Conversely, Nicole Sperling, also of Entertainment Weekly, perceived it in the exact opposite manner. She called it a drama with "the commercial hook of a genre film" and described it further as "a meditation on tolerance wrapped in the disguise of a movie with a gun-toting Clint Eastwood and a cool car."
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 80% of critics gave the film "Certified Fresh" positive write-ups, based upon a sample of 211, with an average score of 7.1/10 and the site's consensus stating: "Though a minor entry in Eastwood's body of work, Gran Torino is nevertheless a humorous, touching, and intriguing old-school parable." At Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 72, based on 33 reviews.
Awards and nominations
Gran Torino was recognized by the American Film InstituteAmerican Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
as one of the Ten Best Films of 2008. Clint Eastwood's performance has also garnered recognition. He won an award for Best Actor from the National Board of Review, he was nominated for the Broadcast Film Critics Association
Broadcast Film Critics Association
The Broadcast Film Critics Association is the largest film critics organization in the United States and Canada , representing approximately 250 television, radio and online critics....
(Critics' Choice Awards) and by the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards for Best Actor. An original song from the film, "Gran Torino", was nominated for the Golden Globe Awards for Best Original Song. The music is Jamie Cullum
Jamie Cullum
Jamie Cullum is an English pop and jazz-pop singer-songwriter. Though he is primarily a vocalist/pianist he also accompanies himself on other instruments including guitar and drums. Since April 2010, he has been presenting a weekly jazz show on BBC Radio 2, broadcast on Tuesdays from 19:00.- Early...
, Kyle Eastwood
Kyle Eastwood
Kyle Eastwood is an American jazz musician. He studied film at the University of Southern California for two years before embarking on a music career. After becoming a session player in the early '90s and leading his own quartet, he released his first solo album, From There to Here, in 1998...
, and Michael Stevens
Michael Stevens (composer)
Michael Stevens is an American jazz musician and composer. He has collaborated with friend Kyle Eastwood on numerous projects, including the film scores to Clint Eastwood's films, Letters from Iwo Jima in 2006, Gran Torino in 2008 and Invictus in 2009...
, with Cullum penning the lyrics, although Eastwood composed and performed the title track to the film. The Art Directors Guild
Art Directors Guild
The Art Directors Guild is an American labor union and branch of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees representing almost 2,000 motion picture and television professionals....
nominated Gran Torino in the contemporary film category.
The film, however, was ignored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
at the 81st Academy Awards
81st Academy Awards
The 81st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2008 and took place February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST...
when it was not nominated for a single Oscar, which led to heated criticism from critics, who felt that the Academy had also deliberately snubbed The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight (film)
The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins...
, Revolutionary Road
Revolutionary Road (film)
Revolutionary Road is a 2008 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes, from screenplay by Justin Haythe, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. It is based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Richard Yates....
and Changeling
Changeling (film)
Changeling is a 2008 American drama film directed by Clint Eastwood and written by J. Michael Straczynski. Based on real-life events in 1928 Los Angeles, the film stars Angelina Jolie as a woman who is reunited with her missing son—only to realize he is an impostor. She confronts the city...
from the five major categories.
In 2010, the film was named Best Foreign Film
César Award for Best Foreign Film
This is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Foreign Film .-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
at the César Award
César Award
The César Award is the national film award of France, first given out in 1975. The nominations are selected by the members of the Académie des arts et techniques du cinéma....
s in France.
External links
- http://www.ias.umn.edu/media/GranTorino.phpDiscussion of film with Hmong actors at Institute for Advanced Study at University of MinnesotaInstitute for Advanced Study at University of MinnesotaThe Institute for Advanced Study, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is one of six University-wide centers at the University of Minnesota. The Institute for Advanced Study supports and encourages interdisciplinary and collaborative research and creative work across the University and fosters...
]