15 Minutes Back to Index

Imdb Rating: 6.1
Genre: Action
Directed: John Herzfeld (written by)
Country: USA
Year: 2001
Duration: 120 min

Media: Hot stuff

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Actors: Robert De Niro (as Detective Eddie Flemming), Edward Burns (as Jordy Warsaw), Kelsey Grammer (as Robert Hawkins), Avery Brooks (as Detective Leon Jackson), Melina Kanakaredes (as Nicolette Karas), Karel Roden (as Emil Slovak), Oleg Taktarov (as Oleg Razgul), Vera Farmiga (as Daphne Handlova), John DiResta (as Bobby Korfin), James Handy (as Deputy Chief Fire Marshal Declan Duffy), Darius McCrary (as Detective Tommy Cullen), Bruce Cutler (as Himself), Charlize Theron (as Rose Hearn), Kim Cattrall (as Cassandra), David Alan Grier (as Mugger in Central Park)

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Description: "America likes to watch"

A homicide detective and a fire marshall must stop a pair of murderers who commit videotaped crimes to become media darlings.

Comment: I hesitate to call "15 Minutes" a comedy of any kind but it seems the most apt shorthand description for it is "black comedy." The movie pokes savagely satirical fun at the media, the criminal justice system, and those who would use the media (and be used by it) in order to attain their 15 minutes of fame. I suspect that most who see this film will either love it or hate it because it is violent and ultimately sad. Nevertheless,it is funny, smart, well acted, and beautifully photographed, too. Recommended. 7 out of 10.

IMDB TRIVIA FOR 15 MINUTES (2001):
- Graham Knuttel, the Dublin-born artist, was paid Ł50,000 for a canvas which was destroyed in the film. The producers wanted the movie to be as realistic as possible, and so ordered the artwork to be destroyed in one scene.
- The character of Eddie Fleming is based on former NYPD Detective Mike Sheehan, the investigating officer in The Preppie Murder (1989) (TV), which 'Herzfeld, John' also directed.
- Jordy Warsaw (Edward Burns) appears 15 minutes into the film.
- The language spoken by Charlize Theron's character is Afrikaans, one of the official languages of South Africa. She says, "Hello Mr Botha, can I call you back? You would never believe who just walked in here, it's Eddie Flemming. Thank you, good bye."
- Charlize Theron appeared for free, as a "thank you" to John Herzfeld for giving her the breakthrough role in 2 Days in the Valley (1996).
- Oleg Taktarov (Oleg) filmed everything that his character filmed with a consumer quality video camera.
- Edward Burns gained 20lbs for the movie to accurately play an arson investigator as they have to have spent at least 7 years in the fire service and would gain muscle mass across their backs, chests and arms.
- The tension between Emil and Oleg is based on the real tension between some Czechs and Russians. Czechs hate the Russian language as they were forced to learn Russian under Soviet occupation. Karel Roden refused to speak Russian to Oleg Taktarov during rehearsals.
- The immigration officer at the beginning of the movie is a real immigration officer, not an actor.
- To prepare him for filming, director 'John Herzfeld' told Oleg Taktarov to watch On the Waterfront (1954), Spartacus (1960), East of Eden (1955), The Third Man (1949) and Moby Dick (1956).
- The title comes from the famous quote by artist Andy Warhol who said in the future everyone will be famous for "15 minutes".
- Mindy Marin who's the film's casting director was featured in the part of Kim Catrall's assistant because she looked the part and they weren't able to find an actress who was capable of playing the role prior to shooting according to director John Herzfeld.
- The scene in the bathroom bar where Robert DeNiro dunks his head in a sink full of ice, is in fact a real trick that real like police detectives use to get over hangovers. De Niro discovered the trick during his research for the role and was eventually written in.
- There are a lot of location inconsistencies throughout the film. Like the scene involving the apprehension of the Jamaican killer that Robert DeNiro and Avery Brooks are going after early in the film was clearly Los Angeles and most of the scenes in Times Square that were shot in New York for example. Most of the interiors were shot on sound stages and actual New York and Los Angeles locations.

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