The Burial | |
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![]() Release poster | |
Directed by | Maggie Betts |
Screenplay by |
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Story by | Doug Wright [1] |
Based on | "The Burial" by Jonathan Harr |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Maryse Alberti |
Edited by | |
Music by | Michael Abels |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Amazon Prime Video |
Release dates |
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Running time | 126 minutes [2] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $32.5 million [3] |
The Burial is a 2023 American legal drama film directed by Maggie Betts and written by Betts and Doug Wright. It is loosely based on the true story of lawyer Willie E. Gary and his client Jeremiah Joseph O'Keefe's lawsuit against the Loewen funeral company, as documented in the 1999 New Yorker article of the same name by Jonathan Harr. [4] It stars Jamie Foxx as Gary, Tommy Lee Jones as O'Keefe, Jurnee Smollett, Mamoudou Athie, and Bill Camp.
It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2023, and was released by Amazon MGM Studios in a limited release on October 6, 2023, prior to streaming via Prime Video on October 13, 2023.
In 1995, financially troubled funeral home owner Jeremiah Joseph O'Keefe is forced to sell parts of his business to meet financial demands by the Mississippi State Insurance Commission after losing tons of money from a Ponzi scheme by one of his business associates. He makes a contract with Raymond Loewen of the Loewen Group, who offers to buy three funeral homes but O'Keefe demands that the Loewen Group must not sell funeral insurance to settle the deal. 4 months later, the Loewen Group still delays their payment for the purchase of the three funeral homes. Furthermore, Raymond never honored the oral agreement between him and Jeremiah of not selling funeral insurance. His young lawyer Hal Dockins suggests that Loewen is intentionally trying to run O‘Keefe into bankruptcy by delaying the payment to snatch up his entire business at a cheaper cost.
An enraged O'Keefe hires Willie E. Gary, a flashy Florida personal injury lawyer, at Dockins' suggestion, because he thinks that his white contract lawyer Mike Allred will be unable to convince the presumably black jury. Initially, Allred wants a settlement of $8 million but Gary fires back confidently that they could get 100 million dollars in settlement instead. With such a huge potential payout, O'Keefe names Gary as his lead attorney and even re-mortgages his own home to pay for his services. Upon receiving the offer, Loewen hires a black lawyer team fronted by Mame Downes for similar reasons.
In court, O'Keefe is cornered when Downes questions his character and points out his financial troubles stem from business deals with a now-convicted felon. Blaming Gary, O'Keefe replaces him with Allred as lead attorney. Dockins produces a valuable witness who insinuates that Loewen overcharges minority communities. Downes in turn questions Allred and reveals that his grandfather was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. When Gary stands up for Allred, his angered black legal team leaves him. Allred realizes he is too compromised and retracts from the case to give the team a higher chance to win.
Just when O'Keefe decides to drop the case, Dockins digs up a lead to the black National Baptist Church, revealing that the Loewen group did exploit the church members to sell overpriced packages to other members of the black community. When Raymond Loewen is confronted with this in court and shows no remorse, the jury is swayed in O'Keefe's favor, awarding him $500 million in damages—$100 million in compensatory damages and $400 million in punitive damages. Two years later, Ray Loewen gets fired from his position and the company eventually goes into bankruptcy.
The film is an adaptation of Jonathan Harr's article "The Burial", published in 1999 by The New Yorker . [13] In March 2018, Amazon Studios announced it was developing the film with Doug Wright writing the script and Alexander Payne in talks to direct. [14] By November 2020, Maggie Betts came on board to direct with Jamie Foxx attached to star and produce. [15] In October 2021, Tommy Lee Jones joined the cast in a role Harrison Ford was considered for. [16] In November, Jurnee Smollett was added to the cast. [6] Principal photography took place in New Orleans, starting in March 2022. [5] [17] [18] [19]
The Burial premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2023. [20] [21] It was released by Amazon MGM Studios in a limited release on October 6, 2023, prior to streaming via Prime Video on October 13, 2023. [22]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 92% of 122 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.2/10.The website's consensus reads: "A solid courtroom drama led by a pair of nicely contrasted performances, The Burial hits the expected genre beats -- and remains a crowd-pleasing treat at every turn." [23] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 74 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [24]
Douglas Wright is an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. Wright first earned acclaim earning the Obie Award for Best Playwright for his darkly satirical play Quills (1995) about the final days of the French sadist and author Marquis de Sade. He later adapted it into the 2000 film of the same name earning a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay. He went on to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play in Broadway debut play I Am My Own Wife (2004).
Jurnee Diana Smollett is an American actress. She began her career as a child actress appearing on television sitcoms, including On Our Own (1994–1995) and Full House (1992–1994). She gained greater recognition with her role in the critically acclaimed Kasi Lemmons directed film Eve's Bayou (1997), which earned her a Critics' Choice Movie Award.
Raymond L. "Ray" Loewen is a Canadian businessman, best known as the former owner of Loewen Funeral Group, as depicted in the 2023 film The Burial. Loewen also had a brief political career, serving as an MLA in British Columbia in the late 1970s.
Jeremiah Joseph O'Keefe III was an American fighter ace, Democratic Party politician, insurance executive, and funeral director. As a Marine pilot in World War II he received the Navy Cross for five of the seven kills he recorded over Okinawa. After the war he entered politics, serving as a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1960 to 1964 and as the mayor of Biloxi, Mississippi, from 1973 to 1981. The most prominent funeral homeowner in Biloxi, he won a $500 million jury award in a contractual dispute with the rival funeral home company Loewen Group, later settling for $175 million.
The following is the filmography of American actor, singer, songwriter, record producer, and comedian Jamie Foxx.
Bill Camp is an American actor. He has played supporting roles in many films such as Lincoln (2012), Compliance (2012), Lawless (2012), 12 Years a Slave (2013), Love & Mercy (2015), Loving (2016), Molly's Game (2017), Vice (2018), Wildlife (2018), Joker (2019), News of the World (2021), and Sound of Freedom (2023); the HBO miniseries The Night Of in 2016 and The Outsider in 2020; and the Netflix miniseries The Queen's Gambit in 2020. He had a recurring role in the HBO drama series The Leftovers from 2015 to 2017 and the Hulu space drama series The First in 2018.
Misha Green is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. She is best known as the showrunner of the supernatural series Lovecraft Country on HBO and creator and executive producer of the historical drama Underground.
Margaret Betts is an American filmmaker. Her debut feature Novitiate was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and received a Jury Award for her direction.
Isabel May is an American actress. She starred as Katie Cooper on the Netflix series Alexa & Katie and had a recurring role as Veronica Duncan on the CBS series Young Sheldon. She held the lead role of Zoe Hull in the film Run Hide Fight. She portrays Elsa Dutton as the narrator and protagonist of the Paramount+ series 1883 (2021), reprising the role as the narrator of its sequel series 1923 (2022–2024).
Willie E. Gary is an American lawyer. Gary and his wife Gloria established Martin County's first Black law firm at the age of 27, presently known as, Gary, Williams, Parenti, Watson, Gary & Gillespie, P.L.L.C. Gary is portrayed by actor Jamie Foxx in the 2023 film The Burial.
Finestkind is a 2023 American crime drama thriller film written and directed by Brian Helgeland and starring Ben Foster, Toby Wallace, Jenna Ortega and Tommy Lee Jones.
Back in Action is an upcoming American action comedy film directed by Seth Gordon from a screenplay he co-wrote with Brendan O'Brien. The film stars Cameron Diaz, Jamie Foxx, Kyle Chandler, Andrew Scott, Jamie Demetriou, and Glenn Close.
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The Burial (Amazon Original Motion Picture Score) is the score album to the 2023 film of the same name directed by Maggie Betts and starred Tommy Lee Jones and Jamie Foxx. Featuring musical score by Michael Abels, the soundtrack featuring 23 cues from his score, released on October 6, 2023 through Amazon Content Services.