Themes: Race Against Time, Mind Games, Haunted By the Past
Main Cast: Michael Douglas, Sean Bean, Brittany Murphy, Skye McCole Bartusiak, Guy Torry
Release Year: 2001
Country: US
Run Time: 110 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
This psychological thriller from screenwriter Patrick Smith Kelly reunites him with his A Perfect Murder (1998) star Michael Douglas. Dr. Nathan Conrad (Douglas) is a respected adolescent therapist faced with a nightmarish scenario when his young daughter (Skye McCole Bartusiak) is snatched by Koster (Sean Bean), a criminal with a talent for high-tech surveillance. Conrad learns that the kidnapper is desperate for a critical piece of information known only to Elisabeth Burrows (Brittany Murphy), one of his catatonic pro bono patients. While his wife Aggie (Famke Janssen) remains at home, bedridden due to a broken leg, Conrad races to unlock the secret stored in Elisabeth's fractured mind, while a New York City detective (Jennifer Esposito) inches closer to discovering the Conrads' dilemma. Don't Say a Word co-stars Oliver Platt and Guy Torry and is directed by Gary Fleder, who follows up his suspense smash Kiss the Girls (1997). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Gary Fleder - Director, Gyles Isham - Composer (Music Score), Arnold Kopelson - Producer, Arnon Milchan - Producer, Anne Kopelson - Producer, Patrick Smith Kelly - Screenwriter, Tony Peckham - Screenwriter, Andrew Klavan - Book Author, Howard A. Anderson Company - Title Design
Mark Isham's score for the thriller Don't Say a Word is tense, subtle, and, above all, lean, comprising eight compositions at just over 30 minutes. Pieces like "Heist," "Kidnapped," "Mishka," and "A Family" don't overstate the film's emotions; while this works perfectly within the movie's context, it doesn't always make for the most gripping listening outside of the theater. Still, there's enough here to make this album worthwhile for serious score buffs. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
Don Williams (Percussion), Mark Isham (Programming), Mark Isham (Producer), Jeff Beal (Programming), Jeff Beal (Orchestration), Jeff Beal (Assistant), Bruce Fowler (Trombone), Bill Reichenbach Jr. (Trombone), Sue Raney (Bass), Jim Walker (Flute), Sid Page (Violin), Joan Beal (Choir Master), Robert Becker (Viola), Steve Becknell (Horn), Charlie Bisharat (Violin), Jacqueline Brand (Violin), Robert Brosseau (Violin), Denyse Buffum (Viola), Darius Campo (Violin), Mathew Cooker (Cello), Peter Doell (Assistant Engineer), Chuck Domanico (Bass), Steve Edelman (Bass), Arni Egilsson (Bass), Christine Ermacoff (Cello), Alan Estes (Percussion), James Kanter (Bass), Katie Kirkpatrick (Harp), Stephen Krause (Engineer), Stephen Krause (Mixing), Armen Ksadjikian (Cello), Ken Kugler (Conductor), Ken Kugler (Orchestration), Roger Lebow (Cello), Charles Loper (Trombone), David Low (Orchestra Contractor), Rene Mandel (Violin), Malcolm McNabb (Trumpet), Joe Meyer (Horn), Todd Miller (Horn), Dan Neufeld (Viola), Brian O'Connor (Horn), Simon Oswell (Viola), Eric Persing (Programming), Barbara Porter (Violin), Karie Prescott (Viola), Richard Ruttenberg (Keyboards), David Shostac (Flute), Haim Shtrum (Violin), Kurt Snyder (Horn), David Speltz (Cello), Polly Sweeney (Violin), Phil Teele (Trombone), Robert Townson (Executive Producer), Cecilia Tsan (Cello), JoAnn Turovsky (Harp), Josephina Vergara (Violin), Brad Warnaar (Horn), Margaret Wooten (Violin), Gayle Levant (Harp), Elenore Choate (Harp), Tony Cooke (Cello), Marcia Dickstein (Harp), Matt Funes (Viola), Daniel Kelley (Horn), Jon Lewis (Trumpet), Sebastian Toettcher (Cello), Mario Diaz de Leon (Violin), Sandy DeCrescent (Orchestra Contractor), Lisa Sutton (Violin), Kevin Connolly (Violin), Tom Carlson (Music Editor), Janice Hayen (Music Preparation), Timothy Landauer (Violin), Rafael Rishik (Violin), Patrick Weber (Assistant Engineer), Amy Wilkins (Harp), Darrin McCann (Viola), Sara Parkins (Violin), Alan Grunfield (Violin), Phillipe Levy (Violin), David Parmeter (Bass), Steven Gordon (Viola), Irina Voloshina (Violin), Britt Swenson (Violin), Michael Valerio (Bass), Robert Gerry (Violin), Jason Lloyd (Assistant Engineer), Trevor Handy (Cello), Jason LaRocca (Programming), Karen Van Sant (Viola), Samuel Formicola (Violin), Piotr Jandula (Viola), Pat Johnson (Violin), Andy Ackland (Assistant Engineer), Andy Ackland (Mixing Assistant), Maria Casale (Harp), Mark Robertson (Violin), Steve Richards (Cello)
In 1991, a group of thieves steal a rare $10 million gem, but in the process, two of the men double cross their leader Patrick (Sean Bean), and take off with the precious stone. Ten years later on the day before Thanksgiving, prominent private practice Manhattan child psychiatrist Dr. Nathan R. Conrad (Michael Douglas) is invited by his friend and former colleague Dr. Louis Sachs (Oliver Platt), to examine a disturbed young woman named Elisabeth (Brittany Murphy) at the state sanatorium. Having been released on November 4, Patrick's gang breaks into an apartment which overviews Conrad's family apartment, including his wife Aggie (Famke Janssen) who has a broken leg from a skiing accident, and bright daughter Jessie (Skye McCole Bartusiak) who has learned some of her father's psychological tricks. That evening, Patrick kidnaps Nathan's daughter - while Detective Sandra Cassidy (Jennifer Esposito) is called to investigate the unexplained murders of the driver and his sister of Patrick's gang four days earlier. The next morning Patrick forces Nathan to attempt during the holiday to get Elisabeth to reveal a secret six-digit number which will ultimately lead Patrick to the whereabouts of the precious gem that has eluded him.
Like many modern films, most of the filming for costs reasons was undertaken in Canada. The Canal Streetsubway station was actually filmed in a set constructed in Toronto's "Bay Lower" unused subway station, with columns, beams, mosaics and dressing covering all the existing surfaces . The Toronto Transit Commission was so impressed with the work of American production designer Nelson Coates' conversion to the New York subway that they actually requested the set to be left up after filming was completed to attract future filming revenue, but fire inspectors deemed its long term installation hazardous and it was taken down three weeks later. The final scenes of the film which are set in Potter's Field on Hart Island in the middle of the East River north of Manhattan, were actually filmed indoors in an enormous warehouse, with more than 4000 tons of earth, 38 mature trees, 180,000 leaves, three buildings, and 126 graves, as well as a collapsing 50'x10'x8' grave trench. An air conditioning system and misting machines were installed to create visible breath.
Surveillance and technology features heavily in the film, so much that in characterisation the shots of Bean speaking to Douglas and Janssen on the cell phone is real. Janssen's character has to play with a Game Boy at one point in the film, a skill taught to her by Skye McCole Bartusiak.
Soundtrack
The films musical score was composed by Mark Isham. The soundtrack contains eight songs from various scene including; the Heist, the Kidnapping, and the horrific events at the Subway.[1]
Some of the music in the film includes the following songs and performers:
