Michael Clayton

Michael Clayton
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Tony Gilroy
Written by	Tony Gilroy
Produced by	Sydney Pollack Steven Samuels Jennifer Fox Kerry Orent
Starring	George Clooney Tom Wilkinson Tilda Swinton Sydney Pollack
Cinematography	Robert Elswit
Edited by	John Gilroy
Music by	James Newton Howard
Production companies	Samuels Media Castle Rock Entertainment Mirage Enterprises Section Eight Productions
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures (North America) Summit Entertainment (International)
Release date	August 31, 2007 (2007-08-31) (Venice) October 5, 2007 (2007-10-05) (United States)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$21.5 million[1]
Box office	$93 million[2]

Michael Clayton is a 2007 American legal thriller film written and directed by Tony Gilroy in his feature directorial debut and starring George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, and Sydney Pollack.^[3] It chronicles the attempts by attorney Michael Clayton to cope with a colleague's apparent mental breakdown and the corruption and intrigue surrounding a major client of his law firm being sued in a class action case over the effects of toxic agrochemicals.

Released on October 5, 2007, the film grossed $93 million worldwide. It was praised for Gilroy's direction, the performances, and the screenplay; Swinton's performance was particularly lauded. Michael Clayton was nominated for seven Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Score, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor for Clooney, Best Supporting Actor for Wilkinson, and Best Supporting Actress for Swinton, which she won.

Plot[]

Michael Clayton is a "fixer" for a prestigious New York City law firm, using his connections and knowledge of legal loopholes for clients' benefit. One night, he receives a call about a client who was involved in a hit-and-run accident, leaving his high-stakes poker game to attend to the matter. Later, he drives into the countryside and in the early morning, he suddenly stops to approach a trio of horses in a field, when a bomb detonates in his car parked nearby.

Four days earlier, Arthur Edens, one of the firm's leading attorneys, has a manic episode in the middle of a deposition in Milwaukee involving a multibillion-dollar, six-year-long class action lawsuit against client U-North, an agricultural products conglomerate. Michael arrives in Milwaukee and bails Arthur out of jail after finding out he is no longer taking his medication, but Arthur escapes from their hotel room in the middle of the night and returns to New York. Meanwhile, Michael is $75,000 in debt from an investment he entered with his brother Timmy, which collapsed when Timmy used the restaurant's funds to feed his drug addiction. Michael, having gone to a loan shark to raise the money, is held responsible for the debt and given one week to come up with the money. Michael asks his boss, Marty Bach, for a loan to cover the expenses; Marty insinuates that the firm will be finished if Michael doesn't get Arthur under control.

Karen Crowder, U-North's general counsel, discovers that Arthur had come into possession of a confidential U-North document, a 1991 memo proving the company knew their brand weed killer was carcinogenic, which led to 468 deaths and the class-action lawsuit. Karen brings this to the attention of U-North's CEO Don Jeffries, whose signature is on the memo. Don puts her in contact with two hitmen secretly held on retainer. She contracts them to follow Arthur and bug his apartment and phone. Michael finds Arthur on a Manhattan street and confronts him about calls that he made to Anna Kaiserson, one of the plaintiffs in the U-North suit. Arthur realizes that his calls are being monitored. Arthur calls his own voicemail at the firm and reads from the 1991 memo, and says he will go public with it and ruin U-North. When the hitmen tell Karen that Arthur is building a case to expose U-North, she approves of their taking "drastic measures." They break into Arthur's apartment, kill him, and make it look like a suicide.

After learning of Arthur's death, Michael becomes suspicious when he discovers that U-North was planning a settlement just a few days before, and that Arthur had booked a flight to New York for Anna. He finds Anna and learns that no one knew of her conversations with Arthur, not even her attorney, yet Michael's firm knew of Arthur's conversations with the U-North plaintiffs. Michael breaks into Arthur's sealed apartment with the plan to reseal it with a police seal obtained from his brother Gene, a police officer. He finds a bottle of champagne and two glasses in the refrigerator and suspects Arthur arranged to have Anna come to his apartment. There is also a copy of a fantasy novel beloved by Michael's son Henry, with several pages highlighted and annotated by Arthur. A receipt from a photocopy shop was being used as a bookmark.

The hitmen, who have been trailing Michael, call the police as he enters the apartment. Michael is caught and arrested for trespassing, but Gene bails him out. Using the receipt, Michael discovers that Arthur had ordered 3,000 copies of the confidential U-North document. Michael takes one copy of the document with him. The hitmen also obtain a copy, which they provide to Karen. Believing Michael is blackmailing the firm, Marty offers him a renewed contract and the $80,000 he had requested, on the condition he signs a non-disclosure agreement. Michael realizes that Marty and Barry know about U-North's cover-up. After paying Timmy's debt, he goes to a poker game.

One of the assassins rigs Michael's car with a bomb, but is forced to leave the job unfinished when Michael suddenly abandons his poker game after receiving a phone call summoning him to meet a client involved in a hit-and-run. The assassins detonate the radio-controlled bomb. When the bomb explodes, Michael runs back to his burning car, throws some of his personal effects into it, and escapes into the woods.

Later, at a U-North board meeting at the New York Hilton Midtown hotel, Karen proposes that the board approve a new settlement in the lawsuit. She is shocked when Michael confronts her in the foyer, since she believed him to be dead. He informs her that he has the memo, and knows about her role in Arthur's murder and the subsequent attempt on his own life. He goads Karen into offering him $10 million for his silence. Karen reluctantly agrees, whereupon Michael reveals that he is wearing a wire, with NYPD detectives listening on the other end. As Karen and Don are arrested, Michael gets into a cab, and rides away.

Cast[]

• George Clooney as Michael Clayton, attorney at Kenner, Bach, and Ledeen
• Tom Wilkinson as Arthur Edens, attorney at Kenner, Bach, and Ledeen
• Tilda Swinton as Karen Crowder, counsel at U-North
• Sydney Pollack as Marty Bach, managing partner at Kenner, Bach, and Ledeen
• Michael O'Keefe as Barry Grissom, attorney at Kenner, Bach, and Ledeen
• Sean Cullen as Gene Clayton, Michael's brother, a police detective
• Ken Howard as Don Jeffries, U-North's CEO
• Merritt Wever as Anna, one of the plaintiffs against U-North
• Austin Williams as Henry Clayton, Michael's young son
• Denis O'Hare as Mr. Greer
• Bill Raymond as Gabe Zabel
• Robert Prescott as Verne, a hit man
• Terry Serpico as Iker, another hit man

Release[]

Theatrical[]

The film premiered August 31, 2007 at the Venice Film Festival. It was shown at the American Films Festival of Deauville on September 2, 2007, and at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7. It opened in the United Kingdom on September 28, 2007, and at the Dubai Film Festival in December 2007. It opened in limited release in the United States on October 5, 2007, and in wide release in the US on October 12, 2007. It grossed $10.3 million on the opening week. It was re-released on January 25, 2008. It has grossed $49 million in North America, and a total $92.9 million worldwide.^[2]

Home media[]

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on February 19, 2008. The DVD contains deleted scenes and a commentary by writer/director Tony Gilroy. On March 11, 2008 the movie was also released on HD DVD.

Critical reception[]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 91% based on 203 reviews, with an average rating of 7.63/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Michael Clayton is one of the most sharply scripted films of 2007, with an engrossing premise and faultless acting. Director Tony Gilroy succeeds not only in capturing the audience's attention, but holding it until the credits roll."^[4] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 82 out of 100, based on 36 critics indicating "universal acclaim".^[5] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B" on an A+ to F scale.^[6]

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave it an "A" saying that it was "better than good, it just about restores your faith". Roger Ebert gave it a full four stars^[7] and Richard Roeper named it the best film of the year.^[8] It was also Richard Schickel's top film of 2007, and he called it "a morally alert, persuasively realistic and increasingly suspenseful melodrama, impeccably acted and handsomely staged by Tony Gilroy".^[9] Time magazine said that "Michael Clayton is not an exercise in high-tension energy; you'll never confuse its eponymous protagonist with Jason Bourne. But it does have enough of a melodramatic pulse to keep you engaged in its story and, better than that, it is full of plausible characters who are capable of surprising—and surpassing—your expectations".^[9] Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic wrote- "Gilroy's film is distinguished beyond its components by its purpose, its compassion, its interest--increasingly manifest--in the soul".^[10]

The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.^[11]

Accolades[]

Soundtrack[]

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: Michael Clayton was composed by James Newton Howard and released on September 25, 2007 on the Varèse Sarabande label.^[14] It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score.

Notes and references[]

External links[]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Michael Clayton

• Michael Clayton at IMDb
• Michael Clayton at AllMovie
• Michael Clayton at Rotten Tomatoes
• Michael Clayton at Metacritic
• Michael Clayton at Box Office Mojo
• Michael Clayton at Soundtrack Collector