Motherless Brooklyn is a film directed by Edward Norton. It is a neo-noir crime film.
Let’s dive into some trivia and facts about this film
- Motherless Brooklyn is a 2019 American neo-noir crime film
- It is written, produced and directed by Edward Norton
- It is based on the 1999 novel of the same name by Jonathan Lethem
- Set in 1957 New York City, the film follows a private investigator with Tourette’s syndrome who must solve the murder of his mentor
- Norton also stars in the film
- Along with Bruce Willis, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Bobby Cannavale, Cherry Jones, Dallas Roberts, Alec Baldwin, and Willem Dafoe
- A passion project of Norton’s ever since he read Lethem’s novel in 1999
- The film took nearly 20 years to go into production
- Although the book is set in modern times, Norton felt the plot and dialogue lent themselves more to a noir setting, moving it to the 1950s
- Other members of the cast joined by February 2018
- Principal photography began that same month
- The film had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2019
- It is scheduled to be released in the United States on November 1, 2019, by Warner Bros. Pictures
- It received generally favorable reviews from critics
- Norton had been developing the film since the early 2000s
- Acquiring the rights following completing American History X
- Although he was uncertain as to whether he would direct
- In February 2014, the project was set, with Norton directing
- Although the novel takes place in a modern 1999 setting, Norton rewrote the story for the 1950s, because the “characters are written in a very 1950s hardboiled detective style…and if we try to make a film about the ’90s in Brooklyn with guys acting like ’50s gumshoes, it will feel ironic”
- He also added the character Moses Randolph to the story
- Who is based on the controversial New York City city planner, Robert Moses
- Production commenced in February 2018 in New York City
- With Norton, Willem Dafoe, Bruce Willis, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Alec Baldwin, among others, set to star
- Bobby Cannavale and Dallas Roberts joined the cast a few weeks later
- On March 22, a fire broke out in the cellar of the Harlem building where production was taking place, beneath the film’s set
- The resulting blaze killed FDNY Firefighter (posthumously promoted to Lieutenant) Michael R. Davidson of Engine 69
- Production was temporarily suspended the next day, and was resumed a week later
- Several lawsuits were filed in the aftermath of the blaze
- Among others by Michal R. Davidson’s widow against Norton’s production company Class 5 Productions for the wrongful death of her husband
- And by Class 5 Productions against the building’s landlord
- Additional filming took place in December 2018 in Troy, New York
- Radiohead singer Thom Yorke wrote a song for the film, “Daily Battles”, with horns by his Atoms for Peace bandmate Flea
- Norton enlisted jazz musician Wynton Marsalis to rearrange the song as a ballad reminiscent of 1950s Miles Davis
- Both versions were released on streaming services on 21 August
- And will be released as a vinyl single on 4 October
- Motherless Brooklyn had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on August 30, 2019
- It also screened at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2019, and will be released in the United States on November 1, 2019
- It was screened at the San Diego International Film Festival
- And as the closing film of the 2019 New York Film Festival
- In the United States and Canada, Motherless Brooklyn will be released alongside Terminator: Dark Fate, Harriet and Arctic Dogs
- It is projected to gross $5- 9 million in its opening weekend
- On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 65%
- Based on 60 reviews
- With an average rating of 6.17/10
- The website’s critics consensus reads: “Motherless Brooklyn’s imposing length requires patience, but strong performances and a unique perspective make this a mystery worth investigating”
- Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 62 out of 100
- Based on 15 critics
- Indicating “generally favorable reviews”
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