» BACKGROUND

“O” was completed in 1999 — but has had setbacks due to violent content, a rape scene and racial themes.

“The studio’s afraid to release it, because they don’t want people to associate it with Columbine,” Stiles said in Rolling Stone magazine.


» STORY

[Synopsis]

A modernized retelling of William Shakespeare’s Othello, O changes its setting to an elite private school in the American South. Odin (Mekhi Phifer) is the only black student at Palmetto Grove and also the star basketball player, with hopes of reaching the NBA. A popular student, he is dating Desi Brable (Julia Stiles), the daughter of the school’s dean (John Heard), and they are deeply devoted to each other despite their different backgrounds. His best friend Hugo (Josh Hartnett) is a starter on the basketball team, and the son of the hard-driving coach Duke Goulding (Martin Sheen), who considers Odin as much his son as Hugo. Hugo is jealous of Odin’s widespread popularity, so he hatches a scheme to ruin Odin’s reputation with the help of Roger (Elden Henson), his rich roommate who will do anything to be popular and get Desi’s attention. Through carefully planned revenge, he begins to make Odin believe that Desi is carrying out an affair with teammate Michael (Andrew Keegan). As Odin begins to receive merely coincidental signs to prove it, he begins to slowly lose his grounding and turns to Hugo for help, not knowing that he is being set up. As the basketball season comes to a close, Odin’s jealousy begins to consume him, resulting in the loss of everything he cares about the most. O was sometime actor Tim Blake Nelson’s directorial follow-up to his well-received debut Eye of God.

© Allmovie


» CAST

Andrew Keegan as Michael Cassio – Josh Hartnett as Hugo Goulding – Mekhi Phifer as Odin

Mekhi Phifer … Odin James
Josh Hartnett … Hugo Goulding
Andrew Keegan … Michael Cassio
Julia Stiles … Desi Brable
Rain Phoenix … Emily
Elden Henson … Roger Rodriguez
Martin Sheen … Coach Duke Goulding
John Heard … Dean Bob Brable

Entire castlist @ IMDB

» DESI

Julia is the popular Desi (ie Desdemona), who’s dating O (Mekhi Pfifer), the only black kid in a white prep school and the top basketball star.


» JULIA SAYS

“The more you keep those kids in the dark, the more they’re going to want to shoot each other.”

“They were so afraid that the media were going to say we were exploiting current events, that they delayed the release, so then the media played up the controversy even more.”

“Miramax kept thinking that they were going to have the ending changed. Luckily, this was basically an indie movie that just sort of grew big. If it had been a studio film they’d have reshot the ending,” she pulls a face, “so that they all lived happily ever after.”

“It was hard for me, because it was a different kind of character than I’d played before — very open and trusting. It’s easier to play somebody who’s cynical.”


» MONEY TALKS

Domestic Total Gross: $16,025,437
Foreign Total Gross: $3,185,398
Opening Weekend: $5,655,658
Widest Release: 1,464 theaters
Production Budget: NA

© Box Office Mojo


» DVD INFORMATION

Released: 18th February 2003
Available in Widescreen

Bonus Materials Extended Edition DVD:

Audio Commentary 1. Tim Blake Nelson
Basketball Scene
Analysis by Tim Blake Nelson and Cinematographer Russell Lee Fine
Deleted Scenes with Commentary
More info?


» REVIEWS

Received 53 metascore out of 100 based on 26 reviews @ Metacritic.com [09/29/07]
Overall grade breakdown: A’s: 17 11.3% B’s: 59 39.1%

New York Post
Entertainment Weekly
USA Today

More @ Rotten Tomatoes



» AWARD

1.      2001 Best Director (Nelson) Golden Space Needle Award – Seattle International Film Festival


» LINKS

IMDB – Official Site – Wikipedia