Summer of Sam

Summer of Sam (1999)

Timing: 2:22 (142 min)

6.482/10
442

6.69/10
3791

6.7/10
44000

All about film

Video 2

Photo 4

Actors and characters

Release date

1999-06-28

Country

United States

Production

Touchstone Pictures, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks

Genre

Thriller, Drama, Crime

Budget

$22 000 000

Revenue

$19 288 130

Website

Director

Spike Lee

Actors

John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody, Mira Sorvino, Jennifer Esposito, Michael Rispoli, Saverio Guerra, Brian Tarantina, Al Palagonia, Ken Garito, Bebe Neuwirth
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Spike Lee, Victor Colicchio

Producer

Jon Kilik, Spike Lee, Michael Imperioli, Jeri Carroll-Colicchio

Operator

Ellen Kuras

Composer

Terence Blanchard

Artist

Charles E. McCarry

Audition

Aisha Coley

Editing

Barry Alexander Brown, Jay Cannold
All team (175)

• Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio del Toro were initially considered for the lead role.
• Director Spike Lee faced strongly negative reactions to the film from some relatives of the victims, who feared that the focus would be on the killer. Because of this, the script had to be rewritten to emphasize the public's reaction rather than the murderer himself.
• The scene of the argument between John Leguizamo and Mira Sorvino in the cemetery was improvised. Spike Lee instructed the actor to suddenly and without warning spit in his partner's face.
• According to the script, Richie was the main character, and Vinny was secondary, but Spike Lee was so impressed with John Leguizamo's improvisations that he gave his character additional screen time; for example, the scene where Vinny spills coffee on Gloria was one such improvisation.
• Two minutes of screen time were cut from the film, primarily reducing a club orgy, in order to secure an R rating (under 17 requires accompanying parent or guardian) rather than an NC-17 rating (no one 17 or under admitted).
• During filming, disgruntled Americans left racist slogans and inscriptions on the equipment or on the set, directly targeting Spike Lee.
• The letters read in the film are a verbatim copy of actual letters written by David Berkowitz (also known as the Son of Sam, a serial killer) to journalist Jimmy Breslin (1928-2017).
• During a staged beating, actor Adrien Brody accidentally had his nose broken.