Themes: Innocence Lost, Prison Life, Escape From Prison
Main Cast: Willem Dafoe, Edward Furlong, Seymour Cassel, Mickey Rourke, Steve Buscemi
Release Year: 2000
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
Plot
Actor-turned-director Steve Buscemi follows up on his restrained 1996 directorial debut Trees Lounge (1996) with this gritty, understated prison drama. Twenty-one-year-old suburban kid Ron (Edward Furlong) got busted for dealing drugs and slapped with an especially severe jail sentence. Though he tries to keep a low profile at prison, he soon attracts unsavory attention of various sex-starved goons. Fearing rape, he appeals directly to Earl (Willem Dafoe), a fellow prisoner who runs the place like it was his own fiefdom. Though Ron's request is strictly against this rarified culture's baroque rules, Earl takes him under his wing, and soon he is a part of Earl's inner circle. Slowly Ron learns the breadth of Earl's power, ranging from the easy procurement of drugs to the violent dispatching of a prisoner who gets out of line. As Ron grows increasingly indebted to Earl, he wonders how he is expected to repay him. Yet Earl, who shows his fondness for the lad with fatherly tenderness counterbalanced with repressed yearning, never pushes his advantage. Other members of the cast include Tom Arnold as a salivating hill-billy and an almost unrecognizable Mickey Rourke as a cross-dressing prison queen. This film was highly praised at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
Review
Steve Buscemi's follow-up to his rightfully acclaimed 1996 film Trees Lounge is The Shawshank Redemption without the Stephen King twistiness, but an effective, potent prison picture all the same. Buscemi directs with assurance, and leads Willem Dafoe and Edward Furlong wonderfully convey aggression and compassion with equal measure, elevating the film to a higher level than the standard prison flick. One of the movie's strengths is its offbeat casting, including Mickey Rourke as a cross-dressing inmate, and Tom Arnold as a hillbilly rapist -- surprisingly, this works to the film's advantage. Even though Animal Factory doesn't offer a new perspective on life in the lockup, it's well-crafted and furthers Buscemi's considerable talents behind the camera. In an odd decision, the film was snatched up by cable television, where it played after a limited release around the country -- peculiar, considering its warm reception at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide
Tom Arnold - Buck Rowan; John Heard - James Decker; Danny Trejo - Vito; Edward Bunker - Buzzard; Michael Buscemi - Mr. Herrell
Credit
Roswell Hamrick - Art Director, Sheila Jaffe - Casting, Edward Bunker - Co-producer, Tracee Stanley - Co-producer, Steve Buscemi - Director, Kate Williams - Editor, Edward Bunker - Executive Producer, Danny Trejo - Executive Producer, John Lurie - Composer (Music Score), Lynn Geller - Musical Direction/Supervision, Steve Rosenzweig - Production Designer, Phil Parmet - Cinematographer, Steve Buscemi - Producer, Andrew Stevens - Producer, Elie Samaha - Producer, Edward Bunker - Screenwriter, John Steppling - Screenwriter, Edward Bunker - Book Author
Edward Furlong plays a young man named Ron Decker, who is sent to prison for drug possession, and Willem Dafoe is veteran con Earl Copen who takes Decker under his wing and introduces him into his own gang. Copen is the type of prisoner who has been behind bars long enough that, unlike most prisoners, he prefers his cell to society. Not only does Copen know how to survive behind bars, he knows how to thrive in the small society of prison convicts. Copen's knowledge of the legal system and the administrative side of the prison are shown as especially useful in this regard.
Production
Animal Factory was filmed on location at Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[1] Filming was completed in 30 days, two days longer than originally scheduled. Buscemi employed hundreds of prisoners from Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility,[2] the prison that replaced Holmesburg Prison in 1995.
The film is based upon the novel The Animal Factory by writer Edward Bunker, with whom Buscemi starred in Reservoir Dogs.
