The Butler

The Butler (2013)

Timing: 2:12 (132 min)

7.33/10
2981

7.415/10
129537

7.2/10
124000

All about film

Video 1

Photo 24

Actors and characters

Release date

2013-08-16

Country

United States

Production

Laura Ziskin Productions, Lee Daniels Entertainment, Windy Hill Pictures, Follow Through Productions, Salamander Pictures, Pam Williams Productions

Genre

Drama

Budget

$30 000 000

Revenue

$177 313 795

Website

Director

Lee Daniels

Actors

Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo, John Cusack, Jane Fonda, Cuba Gooding Jr., Mariah Carey, Terrence Howard, Lenny Kravitz, Aml Ameen
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Danny Strong

Producer

Laura Ziskin, Lee Daniels, Cassian Elwes, Ari Daniel Pinchot, Buddy Patrick, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Len Blavatnik

Operator

Andrew Dunn

Composer

Rodrigo Leão

Artist

Audition

Billy Hopkins, Leah Daniels Butler

Editing

Joe Klotz, Jen Wall
All team (213)

• US President Barack Obama admitted that he shed tears while watching the film. “My eyes well up at the thought not only of this butler, but of an entire generation of talented and skilled people who were unable to fully realize their potential due to segregation and discrimination,” Obama said.
• The character of Cecil Gaines (played by Forest Whitaker) was based on Eugene Allen, who served as a butler in the White House for over 30 years under 8 presidents: Harry S. Truman (1884-1972), Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969), John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963), Lyndon Johnson (1908-1973), Richard Nixon (1913-1994), Gerald Ford (1913-2006), Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan (1911-2004).
• The original script included a meeting between the main character and Barack Obama. Lee Daniels considered asking Obama himself, the acting president, for permission to film him, but filming took place during the height of the 2012 election campaign, and Daniels cast an actor to play Obama, then completely cut those scenes, inserting archival footage of Obama into the film instead.
• Some episodes of the film differ from what actually happened. In the film, the protagonist steals food at a hotel, is caught, is hired as a waiter at the same hotel, and catches the eye of a White House administrator, making a good impression. In reality, the prototype of the protagonist simply applied for a vacancy at the White House and was hired. The film states that one of the protagonist's sons died in Vietnam, and the other joined the Black Panther Party, a far-left radical organization of African Americans; in fact, the first son returned safely from the Vietnam War and got a job at the State Department, and the plot about his alcoholic wife's infidelity was also invented by the filmmakers.
• Some episodes of the film differ from what actually happened. In the film, the protagonist steals food in a hotel, is caught stealing, is hired as a waiter at the same hotel, and comes to the attention of a White House administrator, making a good impression. In reality, the prototype of the protagonist simply applied for a job at the White House and was hired. The film states that one of the protagonist's sons died in Vietnam, and the other joined the leftist black organization “Black Panthers”; in fact, the first son returned safely from the Vietnam War and got a job at the State Department, and the plot about his alcoholic wife's infidelity was also invented by the filmmakers.