BLACKkKLANSMAN (2018)

RATING: 8/10✅

Biography/Thriller/Comedy

The film starts with footage of a wounded Confederate soldier lying in the streets of Atlanta, Georgia from Gone with the Wind in 1939 which transitions to a black-and-white PSA, where a man (named as Dr. Kennebrew Beauregard) comically fumbles a hate-filled screed decrying minorities. The film abruptly jumps ahead to the central plot.

📽NOMINATIONS - 107

✅WINS - 28

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THE FUTURE OF PORTABLE CINEMA

Details:

Directed by: Spike Lee

Produced by: Jason Blum, Spike Lee, Raymond Mansfield, Sean McKittrick, Jordan Peele, Shaun Redick

Written by: Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee

Based on: Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth

Starring: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace

Music by: Terence Blanchard

Cinematography: Chayse Irvin

Edited by: Barry Alexander Brown

Production Company: Blumhouse Productions, Monkeypaw Productions, QC Entertainment, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, Legendary Entertainment, Perfect World Pictures

Distributed by: Focus Features

Release Date: May 14, 2018

Running Time: 135 minutes

Country: United States

Language: English

Budget: $15 million

Box office: $92.6 million

Production

In July 2015, screenwriters/co-producers Charlie Wachtel and David Rabinowitz discovered the book Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth. They interviewed Stallworth and wrote a spec screenplay, then pitched the script to producers Shaun Redick and Ray Mansfield. They brought the property to QC Entertainment, which had co-produced the successful 2017 film Get Out. QC again teamed up with Jason Blum's company Blumhouse Productions, and Jordan Peele's company Monkeypaw Productions, to produce the project.

In September of that year, Spike Lee signed on as director and John David Washington was in negotiations to star. The following month, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace, and Corey Hawkins had joined the cast. In November, Paul Walter Hauser, Jasper Pääkkönen, and Ryan Eggold joined the cast, with Ashlie Atkinson joining a month later.

Filming began in October 2017. Ossining, New York was one location used in October.

Harry Belafonte appears in the film recounting the lynching of Jesse Washington; according to Lee, he commanded his crew on the day of filming Belafonte's scene to dress to the occasion in suits and dresses to honor Belafonte.

Lee ends the film with a tribute to peaceful counter-protester Heather Heyer, who died on August 12, 2017 in the Charlottesville car attack during the Unite the Right rally.