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AMERICAN GANGSTER
Scheduled for release: November 2, 2007
Genre: Drama
Cast: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Josh Brolin,
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Carla Gugino, John Hawkes,
Ted Levine, RZA, T.I., Yul Vazquez
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Writer: Steve Zaillian
Produced by: Brian Grazer
Executive Producers: Nick Pileggi, Steve Zaillian, Branko Lustig,
Karen Kehela Sherwood, James Whitaker,
Michael Costigan
Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Brian Grazer, Steve Zaillian and Ridley Scott team to tell the true juggernaut success story of a cult hero from the streets of 1970s Harlem in American Gangster.
Nobody used to notice Frank Lucas (Oscar® winner Washington), the quiet driver to one of the inner city's leading black crime bosses. But when his boss suddenly dies, Frank exploits the opening in the power structure to build his own empire and create his own version of the American Dream. Through ingenuity and a strict business ethic, he comes to rule the inner-city drug trade, flooding the streets with a purer product at a better price. Lucas outplays all of the leading crime syndicates and becomes not only one of the city's mainline corrupters, but part of its circle of legit civic superstars.
Richie Roberts (Oscar® winner Crowe) is an outcast cop close enough to the streets to feel a shift of control in the drug underworld. Roberts believes someone is climbing the rungs above the known Mafia families and starts to suspect that a black power player has come from nowhere to dominate the scene. Both Lucas and Roberts share a rigorous ethical code that sets them apart from their own colleagues, making them lone figures on opposite sides of the law. The destinies of these two men will become intertwined as they approach a confrontation where only one of them can come out on top.
Washington (Training Day) and Crowe (Gladiator) lead a spectacular cast of accomplished and rising stars—including Josh Brolin, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Carla Gugino, T.I., RZA and John Ortiz—in this blistering tale of a true American entrepreneur directed by Oscar® nominee Ridley Scott (Gladiator) and produced by Academy Award® winner Brian Grazer (A Beautiful Mind) from a screenplay by Academy Award® winner Steve Zaillian (Schindler's List).
Birth Name
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr.
Nickname
D
Height
6' 0½" (1.84 m)
Mini Biography
Tall, strikingly handsome leading man of films and television in the 1980s and 1990s, Denzel Washington was born in 1954 in Mount Vernon, New York. He was the middle child of the 3 children of a Pentecostal minister father and a beautician mother. After graduating from high school, Denzel enrolled at Fordham University intent on a career in journalism. However, he caught the acting bug while appearing in student drama productions and upon graduation he moved to San Francisco and enrolled at the American Conservatory Theater. He left A.C.T. after only 1 year to seek work as an actor. With his acting versatility and powerful sexual presence, he had no difficulty finding work in numerous television productions. He made his first big screen appearance in Carbon Copy (1981) with George Segal. Through the 1980s he worked in both movies and television and was chosen for the plum role of Dr. Chandler in NBC's hit medical series "St. Elsewhere" (1982), a role that he would play for 6 years. In 1989 he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Tripp, the runaway slave in Edward Zwick's powerful historical masterpiece Glory (1989).
Through the 1990s Denzel co-starred in such big budget productions as The Pelican Brief (1993); Philadelphia (1993); Crimson Tide (1995); The Preacher's Wife (1996); and Courage Under Fire (1996) - a role for which he was paid $10 million. He lives quietly in Los Angeles with his wife Pauletta and their 4 children. Cerebral and meticulous in his film work, he made his debut as a director in 2002 with Antwone Fisher (2002).
Born in New Zealand, Russell has made his home in Australia since he was a small child. The son of movie set caterers, Russell got the acting bug early in life. Beginning as a child star on a local Australian TV show, Russell's first big break came with two films the first, Romper Stomper (1992), gained him a name throughout the film community in Australia and the neighboring countries. The second, The Sum of Us (1994), helped put him on the American map, so to speak. Sharon Stone heard of him from Romper Stomper (1992) and wanted him for her film, The Quick and the Dead (1995). But filming on The Sum of Us (1994) had already begun. Sharon is reported to have held up shooting until she had her gunslinger-Crowe, for her film. |
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