Driven (2001 film)

Last updated

Driven
Driven (2001 film) poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Renny Harlin
Screenplay by Sylvester Stallone [1]
Story by
  • Jan Skrentny
  • Neal Tabachnick
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Mauro Fiore
Edited by
  • Steve Gilson
  • Stuart Levy
Music by BT
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date
  • 27 April 2001 (2001-04-27)(United States)
Running time
117 minutes [2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$72–$94 million [3] [4]
Box office$54.7 million [4]

Driven is a 2001 American action sports film directed by Renny Harlin and starring Sylvester Stallone, who also wrote and produced. It centers on a young racing driver's effort to win the CART FedEx Championship Series auto racing championship. Prior to production, Stallone was seen at many Formula One races, but he was unable to procure enough information about the category due to the secrecy with which teams protect their cars, so he decided to base the film on Champ Car.

Contents

Driven received generally negative reviews from critics, and was a commercial failure.

Plot

Halfway through the 2000 Champ Car Season, rookie sensation Jimmy Bly has already won five races. His success has drawn the ire of the defending champion and current points leader Beau Brandenburg, who believes he is not doing as well as he should because of his fiancée Sophia becoming "a distraction". Beau breaks up their engagement and regains his winning streak at Chicago.

As Beau returns to form, Jimmy's paraplegic team owner Carl Henry is concerned that he is making more driving errors. He sees parallels to his former driver and Champ Car champion, Joe Tanto, whom he convinces to come out of retirement to mentor Jimmy. Joe agrees and is brought in to replace teammate Memo Moreno. Joe's ex-wife Cathy Heguy is now married to Memo. Despite all this, Joe and Memo are still friends.

In Canada, Jimmy leads and Beau is a close second. Jimmy cannot pull away from him, so Carl orders Joe to pit and holds him there until the leaders are about to come by, despite Joe's protests. Joe leaves the pit just in time to block out Beau, allowing Jimmy to win the race. Jimmy's brother/business manager Demille takes a dislike to Joe's mentoring, implying that Joe should just act as a blocker. Joe urges Beau to reconcile with Sophia, while Jimmy's growing bond with her causes him to further lose his form on the track during the next race in Japan and crash.

At a party in Chicago, prototypes of the next season's cars are being introduced. There, Beau and Sophia reconcile, much to Jimmy's disappointment. Sophia apologizes to Jimmy, who lashes out at her and Beau, then takes one of the new cars and races it out of the convention center. Joe hops into another of the new cars and chases Jimmy down the streets, eventually calming him down.

In the coming race in Germany, Carl decides to reinstate Memo while making Joe mentor Jimmy from the pit lane. The next race begins in the middle of the rain, with Jimmy and Beau once again fighting it out for first. Jimmy needs one more win to take the championship, and Memo is instructed to block for him and keep out of his way. However, Cathy convinces Memo to go for the win, and as a result, he collides with Jimmy in a crash that sends him flying into a lake on the far end of the course. Jimmy and Beau dive into the lake and rescue Memo just as a burning tree collapses and ignites the car's leaking fuel, causing an explosion. This event causes Beau to warm up to Jimmy, saying that he is a good man and that he didn't want to win the championship this way.

Angered that Jimmy has sacrificed his championship hopes to rescue another racer, Carl decides to replace him with Beau for the coming season and negotiates a deal with Demille, who will now represent Beau. Demille tries to get Beau to sign the new contract, but he rips it up and Sophia punches Demille in the face for the way he previously treated her. Initially, Jimmy is barred from competing due to a foot injury he sustained during the rescue, but Carl eventually decides to clear him for the race after he passes Carl's strength test. Jimmy thanks both Sophia and Beau for refusing his brother's deal.

At the season finale in Detroit, Jimmy and Beau contend for the championship. With Memo now hospitalized, Joe races again as Jimmy's teammate. In the final laps, Joe takes the lead but damages his front suspension by avoiding a crash, preventing him from contending for the win. In the final lap, Jimmy starts to have a mental lapse, but upon hearing Joe's words, he pulls ahead of Beau by just some inches, while Joe's spinning car crosses in third. In front of a crowd of spectators, including Sophia and Demille, who shows he is proud of his brother, Jimmy is named the new champion and he celebrates his victory with Joe and Beau.

Cast

Cameo appearances

Montoya, Gugelmin, and Blundell lent their car and helmet likeness to Brandenburg, Tanto and Bly respectively, Blundell's helmet being suitably changed from an "MB" logo to "JB". Team Penske with 2 drivers Hélio Castroneves, Gil De Ferran and team owner Roger Penske was originally to be featured on the film but they were removed when it was learned Penske was moving his team to the rival Indy Racing League series.

Production

Development and writing

Stallone became interested in the world of racing while making Judge Dredd in Europe, and decided to make a film with that backdrop. [5] He had originally intended to make a film based on Formula One, attending the 1997 Italian Grand Prix [6] and stating his goal in a press conference. However, the plan was subsequently dropped.

Stallone said he wrote about twenty-five drafts.

And of those, about 20 were about this one man's journey, myself, through this film, and all his trials and tribulations. He'd fallen from a great height career-wise. He was a drunkard with all these problems and accidents because he and his wife Cathy, who's played by Gina Gershon, had this very tumultuous relationship. (Laughs) I'm giving you a little biographical hint here. And he just started to come apart. So he was brought back as kind of like how people should never be. It's like taking kids who are truants and then taking them to prison to see where they'll end up and scaring them straight. So I was brought back to basically prove to young Jimmy Bly how he should never be, as a bad example. And then the more we worked on it, it became the dark side, a little seedy, and I didn't know where the upside of it was ever going to be. So we began to reduce his role and make it more of an ensemble, so he's just there as a guy who did his job, wasn't very spectacular, would race like hell, sometimes he'd win, sometimes lose, but he had a certain work ethic code, that old school that could be applied to Jimmy. So that all made it more ensemble, and then in the editing we reduced it even more. I originally had a relationship going with the reporter. But that began to de-emphasise the other people, so we put that on the back burner... So we did shoot it but it we said, "Nah, it's not really flying." [7]

Stallone said the film was autobiographical in a lot of ways.

Racing's very much like the world of acting. You have your front runners and you have guys that are there for the long race, and you have other guys that block for other people, that are called supporting and character actors. It's all the same kind of situation. And you realize that you can't always be No. 1. You just can't be the guy in front all the time. So what you can do is lend support to, and help and nourish and encourage someone else. So it's like your experiences live on in someone else. If you can find some young actor and you can say, 'Listen, don't do this and don't do that and avoid this and that,' and share your experiences, and he does succeed, you can say, 'You know what, I kind of contributed to that.' As an actor did you have to learn you can't always be No.1 the hard way? (Laughs) Unfortuantely[sic] I did [7]

Stallone says it took four years to get the finance to make the film.

Stallone and Harlin had previously worked together on Cliffhanger. Harlin had been trying to develop a film on the life of Ayrton Senna and when that fell through signed on to make Driven. [8] [9]

Filming

The film was shot primarily in Toronto, Canada, from 6 July 2000 until 12 October 2000, as well as at a variety of worldwide races which were sanctioned by CART. [10] The German race was filmed at the Continental test track in Hanover rather than the Lausitzring oval that was actually used by CART.

When Sylvester Stallone's character arrives at a race early in the film, there's a long shot of him walking in, saying hello to various people. One very brief uncredited cameo contains Dustin Hoffman, in racing gear.

Post-production

Matt Hullum of Rooster Teeth Productions fame was the visual effects producer. [11]

The film premiere took place at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, [12] with several CART competitors driving and demonstrating pit stops in modified Champ Cars down Hollywood Blvd.

According to director Harlin's commentary, his first cut was four hours long. Only 51 minutes of deleted footage was included as special feature on DVD.

Reception

Box office

Driven was a commercial failure, and grossed only $32 million against a $72 million budget. [13] This poor performance ended a modestly successful recovery (with 1999 film Deep Blue Sea and 1996 film The Long Kiss Goodnight ) from director Harlin's critical and financial failure Cutthroat Island . However, it was Stallone's first #1 opening film since Cop Land . [14]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 14% score based on 111 reviews, with an average rating of 3.60/10. The site's consensus states: "Underdeveloped characters, silly plot dynamics, and obvious CG effects." [15] On Metacritic it has a score of 29 out of 100 rating based on 26 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". [16] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale. [17]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said Harlin "has made better pictures [...] but delivers the goods here". Ebert was critical of the editing, the lack of character conflict and the all too happy ending. He gave it 2.5 out of 4. [18] Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman called it "Mostly preposterous, and it has no dramatic center, but the racing scenes hold you in their death-trip grip" and gave it a grade C+. [19] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "Harlin's skill compensates for a lot of narrative preposterousness, even it is overmatched this time around." [20]

When Jay Leno appeared as a guest critic on the television show Ebert & Roeper , both Leno and Richard Roeper described Driven as the worst car film ever made, and a terrible depiction of auto racing.[ citation needed ] Stallone has said he regrets making the film. [21]

Accolades

The film earned seven nominations at the 22nd Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst Screen Couple (Reynolds and Stallone) and twice for Worst Supporting Actor (Reynolds and Stallone), with Estella Warren winning Worst Supporting Actress (also for Planet of the Apes ).[ citation needed ]

Other media

Video game

A video game Driven based on the film was released in 2001 for the Game Boy Advance, GameCube, and PlayStation 2. [22]

Related Research Articles

<i>Rocky</i> 1976 American sports drama film by John G. Avildsen

Rocky is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the Rocky franchise and also stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burgess Meredith. In the film, Rocky Balboa (Stallone), a poor small-time club fighter and loanshark debt collector from Philadelphia, gets an unlikely shot at the world heavyweight championship held by Apollo Creed (Weathers).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvester Stallone</span> American actor and filmmaker (born 1946)

Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone is an American actor and filmmaker. He has received numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Critics' Choice Award, as well as nominations for three Academy Awards and two BAFTA Awards. Stallone is one of only two actors in history to have starred in a box-office No. 1 film across six consecutive decades.

<i>Rocky IV</i> 1985 American boxing film directed by Sylvester Stallone

Rocky IV is a 1985 American sports drama film written, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone. The film is the sequel to Rocky III (1982) and the fourth installment in the Rocky film series. It also stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Brigitte Nielsen, and Dolph Lundgren. In the film, Rocky Balboa (Stallone) confronts Ivan Drago (Lundgren), a Soviet boxer responsible for a personal tragedy in Balboa's life.

<i>Rocky II</i> 1979 American boxing film directed by Sylvester Stallone

Rocky II is a 1979 American sports drama film written, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone. The film is the sequel to Rocky (1976) and the second installment in the Rocky film series. It also stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burgess Meredith. In the film, Rocky Balboa (Stallone), struggling to adjust to his newfound fame and family life, finds himself in a rematch fiercely demanded by Apollo Creed (Weathers).

<i>Rocky V</i> 1990 American film

Rocky V is a 1990 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the sequel to Rocky IV (1985) and the fifth installment in the Rocky film series. It also stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Sage Stallone in his film debut, Tommy Morrison, and Burgess Meredith. In the film, a financially struggling Rocky Balboa (Stallone) agrees to train protégé Tommy Gunn (Morrison) at the gym once owned by Balboa's trainer, Mickey Goldmill (Meredith).

<i>Cobra</i> (1986 film) 1986 film by George P. Cosmatos

Cobra is a 1986 American action film directed by George P. Cosmatos and written by Sylvester Stallone, who also stars in the titular role. The film co-stars Reni Santoni, Brigitte Nielsen and Andrew Robinson. Loosely based on the novel A Running Duck by Paula Gosling, Cobra follows police detective Marion "Cobra" Cobretti as he investigates a string of violent crimes while also protecting a witness targeted by the perpetrators.

<i>F.I.S.T.</i> (film) 1978 film by Norman Jewison

F.I.S.T. is a 1978 American neo-noir crime drama film produced and directed by Norman Jewison and starring Sylvester Stallone. Stallone plays a Cleveland warehouse worker who becomes involved in the labor union leadership of the fictional "Federation of Inter-State Truckers" (F.I.S.T.). The film is loosely based on the Teamsters Union and their former President Jimmy Hoffa. The screenplay was by Joe Eszterhas and Stallone, from a story by Eszterhas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cristiano da Matta</span> Brazilian racing driver (born 1973)

Cristiano Monteiro da Matta is a Brazilian former professional racing driver. He won the CART Championship in 2002, and drove in Formula One with the Toyota team from 2003 to 2004.

<i>Cliffhanger</i> (film) 1993 American film

Cliffhanger is a 1993 American action thriller film directed and co-produced by Renny Harlin and co-written by and starring Sylvester Stallone alongside John Lithgow, Michael Rooker and Janine Turner. Based on a concept by climber John Long, the film follows Gabe (Stallone), a mountain climber who becomes embroiled in a heist of a U.S. Treasury plane flying through the Rocky Mountains. The film premiered at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival, and was released in the United States on May 28, 1993, by TriStar Pictures. It received positive reviews and earned $255 million worldwide, becoming the 7th highest-grossing film of 1993.

<i>Over the Top</i> (1987 film) 1987 American sports drama film by Menahem Golan

Over the Top is a 1987 American sports drama film starring Sylvester Stallone. It was produced and directed by Menahem Golan, and its screenplay was written by Stirling Silliphant and Stallone. The original music score was composed by Giorgio Moroder. The main character, Lincoln Hawk, played by Stallone, is a long-haul truck driver who tries to win back his estranged son, Michael, while becoming a champion arm wrestler.

<i>Get Carter</i> (2000 film) 2000 film by Stephen Kay

Get Carter is a 2000 American action thriller film directed by Stephen Kay, written by David McKenna, and starring Sylvester Stallone, Rachael Leigh Cook, Alan Cumming, Mickey Rourke, John C. McGinley, Rhona Mitra, and Michael Caine. Based on the Ted Lewis' novel Jack's Return Home, the film is a remake of the 1971 film of the same name, in which a younger Caine played the title role.

<i>Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot</i> 1992 American film by Roger Spottiswoode

Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot is a 1992 American buddy cop action comedy directed by Roger Spottiswoode and starring Sylvester Stallone and Estelle Getty. The film was released in the United States on February 21, 1992. The film received highly negative reviews upon release but grossed $70.6 million worldwide.

<i>Tango & Cash</i> 1989 American buddy cop action comedy film

Tango & Cash is a 1989 American buddy cop action comedy film starring Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell, Jack Palance, and Teri Hatcher. The film follows the titular pair of rival police detectives who are forced to work together after a criminal mastermind frames them for murder.

<i>Cannonball</i> (film) 1976 film by Paul Bartel

Cannonball is a 1976 American comedy film directed by Paul Bartel and starring David Carradine. The film is one of two released in 1976 that were based on a real illegal cross-continent road race that took place for a number of years in the United States. The same topic later became the basis for the films The Cannonball Run, Cannonball Run II and Speed Zone. The film was written and directed by Paul Bartel, who also directed Death Race 2000.

<i>The Specialist</i> 1994 film by Luis Llosa

The Specialist is a 1994 American action thriller film directed by Luis Llosa and starring Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, James Woods, Eric Roberts, and Rod Steiger. It is loosely based on "The Specialist" series of novels by John Shirley. The film was met with negative critical response, but became a box office success, and Gloria Estefan's version of "Turn the Beat Around" became a dance sensation, becoming #1 on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Memo Gidley</span> American racing driver

José Guillermo "Memo" Gidley is a Mexican-born racing driver, of German and Canadian ancestry, born in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico on September 29, 1970. He holds dual citizenship - American and Mexican.

PacWest Racing was a Champ Car racing team owned by Bruce McCaw founded in 1993.

The Las Vegas Park Speedway was a horse and automobile racing facility in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was built to be a horse racing facility and it held single races in NASCAR Grand National Series, AAA, and USAC Stock cars before it was demolished. It opened as the Las Vegas Jockey Club.

<i>Bullet to the Head</i> 2012 American film, director Walter Hill

Bullet to the Head is a 2012 American action film directed by Walter Hill. The screenplay by Alessandro Camon was based on the French graphic novel Du plomb dans la tête written by Matz and illustrated by Colin Wilson. The film stars Sylvester Stallone, Sung Kang, Sarah Shahi, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Christian Slater, and Jason Momoa. Alexandra Milchan, Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, and Kevin King-Templeton produced the film. The movie follows a hitman (Stallone) and a cop (Kang) who are forced to work together to bring down a corrupt businessman (Akinnuoye-Agbaje) after they are targeted by the businessman's assassin (Momoa).

<i>Samaritan</i> (film) Superhero film directed by Julius Avery

Samaritan is a 2022 American superhero film directed by Julius Avery and written by Bragi F. Schut. Described as a gritty and dark take on superhero movies, the story was previously adapted into the Mythos Comics graphic novels by Schut, Marc Olivent, and Renzo Podesta. It is a co-production of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Balboa Productions. The film stars Sylvester Stallone in the main role, Javon "Wanna" Walton, Pilou Asbæk, Dascha Polanco, and Moisés Arias. The story follows a kid who suspects that his neighbor is secretly a superhero who was believed to have died many years prior.

References

  1. ↑ SUSAN KING (20 September 2001). "Driven Starts Up on DVD". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  2. ↑ "DRIVEN (PG)". British Board of Film Classification . 1 June 2001. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  3. ↑ "Driven (2001) - Financial Information".
  4. 1 2 "Driven (2001)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  5. ↑ "ESPN.com - Page2 - What drove me to 'Driven'".
  6. ↑ "Williams". Williams.latphoto.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 May 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  7. 1 2 "Driven : Interview With Sylvester Stallone".
  8. ↑ "Lakeland Ledger - Google News Archive Search".
  9. ↑ Head, Steve (13 April 2001). "IGN FilmForce Interview with Sylvester Stallone".
  10. ↑ "ESPN.com - Page2 - Head-spinning experience".
  11. ↑ Rooster Teeth Video Podcast #212. 9 April 2013. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2013– via YouTube.
  12. ↑ Lyman, Rick (27 April 2001). "AT THE MOVIES; Three Directors In New Roles". The New York Times. Mr. Harlin said he was encouraged by the movie's celebrity premiere at Mann's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard.
  13. ↑ "Driven Eases into Top Spot, Nudging 'Bridget Jones' Aside". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  14. ↑ "Driven (2001) - Weekend Box Office Results - Box Office Mojo". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  15. ↑ "Driven (2001)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  16. ↑ "Driven reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  17. ↑ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
  18. ↑ Ebert, Roger (27 April 2001). "Driven movie review". Chicago Sun-Times .
  19. ↑ Owen Gleiberman (26 April 2001). "Driven". Entertainment Weekly .
  20. ↑ Kenneth Turan (27 April 2001). "Cars and Crashes Swifter Than Stallone's 'Driven' Script". Los Angeles Times.
  21. ↑ Harry Knowles (6 December 2006). "Round #5 - Stallone keeps slugging out answers to the AICN Mob!!!". Aint It Cool News . Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  22. ↑ Mirabella III, Fran (4 April 2002). "Driven". IGN . Retrieved 3 February 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.