Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer

Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer (Hebrew: ,נורמן: עלייתו המתונה ונפילתו התלולה של מאכער אמריקאי‎) (previously titled Oppenheimer Strategies) is a 2016 American-Israeli political drama film directed and written by Joseph Cedar. The film stars Richard Gere and Lior Ashkenazi. Filming began on February 8, 2015 in New York City. The film played at the 2016 Telluride Film Festival [6] and the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.[7][8]

Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJoseph Cedar
Produced byMiranda Bailey
Lawrence Inglee
David Mandil
Oren Moverman
Eyal Rimmon
Gideon Tadmor
Written byJoseph Cedar
StarringRichard Gere
Lior Ashkenazi
Hank Azaria
Steve Buscemi
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Michael Sheen
Dan Stevens
Music byJun Miyake
CinematographyYaron Scharf
Edited byBrian A. Kates
Production
companies
Tadmor
Cold Iron Pictures
The Rabinovich Foundation
The Jerusalem Film Fund
Keshet International
Distributed bySony Pictures Classics
Release date
  • 3 September 2016 (2016-09-03) (Telluride)[1]
  • 8 March 2017 (2017-03-08) (Israel)[2]
  • 14 April 2017 (2017-04-14) (United States)[3]
Running time
117 minutes [4]
CountryUnited States / Israel
LanguageEnglish / Hebrew
Box office$5.2 million[5]

Premise

Norman Oppenheimer's life dramatically changes after the young politician he befriended three years before becomes Prime Minister of Israel. As a small-time "fixer" whose business involves arranging quiet deals among politicos and other power brokers, opportunistic Norman Oppenheimer makes a golden connection when a politician he once befriended later becomes Israel's prime minister.

Cast

Production

On November 14, 2014, Richard Gere was set to star in the political thriller Oppenheimer Strategies, written by Joseph Cedar who would also direct the film.[9] On January 14, 2015, Charlotte Gainsbourg was added to the cast to play the female lead.[11] On February 6, Michael Sheen, Steve Buscemi and Josh Charles were added to the cast to star along with Dan Stevens, Isaach de Bankolé and Lior Ashkenazi.[10]

Filming was originally set to begin on January 12, 2015 in New York City, but it began on February 8, 2015.[12] On February 12, filming was taken place around 93rd Street and Amsterdam Ave in Manhattan.[13]

Release

The film played at the Telluride Film Festival in September 2016,[14] and then had its international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Prior to, Sony Pictures Classics acquired distribution rights in North America, Benelux, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, and Asia (excluding Korea) to the film and it was then the previous title changed from Oppenheimer Strategies to Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer.[15]

The US theatrical release was on April 14, 2017.

Reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 75 based on six reviews.[16] Richard Gere was praised by both Variety and The Guardian for his "strong performance" portraying a "Court Jew" archetype.[17][18] Indeed, Cedar's fictional character 'Norman Oppenheimer' was inspired in part by the real life court Jew Joseph Süß Oppenheimer, whose life in turn inspired the 1934 British film Jew Süss, as well as the 1940 Nazi propaganda film Jud Süß.[19]

References
  1. "43rd Telluride Film Festival Program" (PDF). 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-10-19. Retrieved 2017-03-03.
  2. Hannah Brown (March 5, 2017). "Richard Gere to Visit Israel for Film Premiere". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  3. "Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer". 2017. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  4. "NORMAN: THE MODERATE RISE AND TRAGIC FALL OF A NEW YORK FIXER". Toronto International Film Festival. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
  5. "Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer (2017)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
  6. Peter Debruge (4 September 2016). "Telluride Film Review: 'Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer'". Variety. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  7. "NORMAN: THE MODERATE RISE AND TRAGIC FALL OF A NEW YORK FIXER [programme note]". Toronto International Film Festival. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  8. "TIFF 2016 Adds Terrence Malick's 'Voyage of Time', Ken Loach's 'I, Daniel Blake', and More". Collider. 16 August 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  9. Fleming Jr, Mike (November 14, 2014). "Richard Gere To Star In 'Oppenheimer Strategies'". deadline.com. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
  10. McNary, Dave (February 6, 2015). "Berlin: 'Oppenheimer Strategies' Draws Michael Sheen, Steve Buscemi". variety.com. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
  11. Sneider, Jeff (January 14, 2015). "'Nymphomaniac's' Charlotte Gainsbourg Joining Richard Gere in Thriller 'Oppenheimer Strategies' (Exclusive)". thewrap.com. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
  12. "On the Set for 2/9/15: Will Ferrell Wraps 'Daddy's Home', Kate Beckinsale Starts Shooting 'Love & Friendship' & More". ssninsider.com. February 9, 2015. Archived from the original on September 30, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
  13. "Richard Gere has started filming 'Oppenheimer Strategies' in NYC". onlocationvacations.com. February 12, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
  14. "43rd Telluride Film Festival Announces Its 2016 Program Lineup" (PDF) (Press release). Telluride Film Festival. 1 September 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  15. Dave McNary (8 August 2016). "Sony Classics Buys Richard Gere's Fixer Movie 'Norman'". Variety. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  16. "Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
  17. Debruge, Peter (September 4, 2016). "'Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer' Review". Variety.
  18. Lee, Benjamin (September 5, 2016). "Norman: the Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer review – Richard Gere ups his game in iffy film". The Guardian.
  19. Alexander, Neta (March 3, 2017). "Joseph Cedar Talks 'Norman,' His Religious Upbringing and His Empathy for Corrupt Politicians". Haaretz.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.