American Made(film)

American Madeis a 2017 Americanaction comedy filmdirected byDoug Liman,written by Gary Spinelli, and starringTom Cruise,Domhnall Gleeson,Sarah Wright,Alejandro Edda,Mauricio Mejía,Caleb Landry Jones,andJesse Plemons.It is inspiredby the life ofBarry Seal,a formerTWApilot who became a drug smuggler for theMedellín Cartelin the 1980s and then, in order to avoid jail time, became an informant for theDEA.

American Made
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Doug Liman
Written by	Gary Spinelli
Produced by	Brian Grazer Brian Oliver Doug Davison Kim Roth Ray Angelic Tyler Thompson
Starring	Tom Cruise Domhnall Gleeson Sarah Wright Olsen Jesse Plemons Caleb Landry Jones
Cinematography	César Charlone
Edited by	Andrew Mondshein
Music by	Christophe Beck
Production companies	Cross Creek Pictures Imagine Entertainment Quadrant Pictures Vendian Entertainment Hercules Film Fund
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	September 29, 2017(2017-09-29)
Running time	115 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$50 million
Box office	$134.9 million

The film was first released in Taiwan on August 18, 2017, and then in the United States on September 29, 2017. It is the first film directed by Liman to be released byUniversal PicturessinceThe Bourne Identityin 2002, and played in 2D andIMAXin select theaters.It grossed $134 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Cruise's performance.

Plot

In 1978,Baton RougepilotBarry Seal,who flies commercial jets forTWA,is recruited byCIAcase officer Monty Schafer. He asks Seal, who has been smugglingCuban cigarsinto the country, to fly reconnaissance missions overCentral Americausing anAerostar600, outfitted with aerial surveillance cameras. Seal accepts the job, but hides it from his wife, Lucy.

In the 1980s, Schafer asks Seal to act as a courier between the CIA andGeneral NoriegainPanama.During a mission, theMedellín Cartelpicks Seal up and asks him to fly cocaine on his return flights to the U.S. Seal accepts and flies the cartel's cocaine toLouisiana,airdropping the drug in the countryside. The CIA turns a blind eye to the drug smuggling, but theDEAtracks Seal down. To avoid the authorities, Seal and his family relocate toMena, Arkansas,and his wife comes to accept the wealth generated by his side job. The small town becomes wealthy as the hub of U.S. cocaine trafficking.

Later, Schafer asks Seal to run guns to theNicaraguan ContrasinHonduras.Realizing the Contras are not serious about the war and just want to get rich, Seal starts trading the guns to the cartel. The CIA sets up a Contra training base in Mena and Seal flies the Contras in, but many of them escape as soon as they arrive.

Seal makes so much money he buries it in suitcases in the backyard. Seal's freeloading, unemployed brother-in-law JB moves in. JB starts stealing money and is arrested with a briefcase full of cash. With JB out on bail, Seal gives him money and a plane ticket toBora Borafor his safety. JB demands weekly cash and insults Lucy. As Seal chases after him, JB is killed by a car bomb placed by the Medellín Cartel, who had previously promised to "take care" of the JB problem.

The FBI catches wind of the sudden exuberance on the streets of Mena, not helped by JB's reckless spending. Eventually, the CIA shuts down the program and abandons Seal, who is arrested by theFBI,DEA,ATFandArkansas State Policesimultaneously. Seal escapes prosecution by making a deal with theWhite House,which wants evidence of theSandinistasbeing drug traffickers. They ask Seal to get photos that tie the Medellín Cartel to the Nicaraguan Sandinistas. Seal manages to get the pictures, but the White House releases them as propaganda against the Sandinistas. Seal is prominently shown in the pictures, which leads to his indictment by the crusading state attorney general, and the cartel plotting revenge.

Seal is convicted but sentenced to only 1,000 hours ofcommunity service.Moving frommotelto motel makingvideo recordingsof his experiences, Seal fears anexplosionanytime he starts his car. As his community service is performed at the sameSalvation Armybuilding every night, Seal cannot hide from the cartel and is shot dead by assassins. The CIA destroys all evidence connecting them to Seal and continues smuggling, insteadusing Iran to get guns to the Contras,as proposed by Schafer.

The film ends with Schafer getting promoted for his idea, though it is soon discovered by the public with reporters askingPresident ReaganandVice President Bushabout the scandal. Lucy and her kids move back toBaton Rouge,where she is seen contentedly working in fast food. One of her expensive pieces of jewelry is seen on her wrist.

Cast

• Tom CruiseasBarry Seal
• Domhnall Gleesonas Monty 'Schafer'
• Sarah Wrightas Lucy Seal
• Jesse Plemonsas Sheriff Downing
• Caleb Landry Jonesas JB
• Lola Kirkeas Judy Downing
• Jayma Maysas Dana Sibota
• Alejandro EddaasJorge Ochoa
• Benito Martinezas James Rangel
• E. Roger Mitchellas Agent Craig McCall
• Jed Reesas Louis Finkle
• Frank Licarias ATF Officer #1
• Fredy Yate asCarlos Lehder
• Mauricio Mejía asPablo Escobar
• Connor TrinneerasGeorge W. Bush
• Alberto Ospino asManuel Antonio Noriega

Production

Development

In the summer of 2013, screenwriter Gary Spinelli was looking for a project that was based on real events. On the bonus feature ofAmerican Made,Spinelli said:

I was looking for little hidden pieces of history. Small stories that affected larger global events and I came across the Mena story. And I always wanted to do a gangster film.Goodfellasis one of my favorite movies and I was always on the hunt to try to find my version of that. And once I started researchingCIA's involvement in Mena, the same name kept popping up, was thisBarry Sealcharacter. As soon as I found Barry, I knew I had a movie.

The film was originally titledMenaand in 2014 was featured onThe Black List,a survey showcasing the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood.On January 14, 2015, it was announced thatTom CruiseandEdge of TomorrowdirectorDoug Limanwould reunite for what was originally titledMena.

Casting

Sarah Wright,Jayma MaysandDomhnall Gleesonwere added to the cast in April.Jesse Plemons,Caleb Landry JonesandLola Kirkewere added to the cast in May 2015. Robert Farrior played "Lt Col Oliver North".

Filming

Principal photographyon the film began on May 18, 2015 inAtlanta,Georgia.Filming locations there include countiesCherokee,Clayton,DeKalb,Fulton,Gwinnett,MorganandPickens.Filming on the Georgia Unit wrapped on July 12, 2015. On August 20, 2015, Cruise arrived inMedellín,Colombia, and on August 31, inSanta Martato scout filming locations for the film.Filming in Colombia commenced on August 26, 2015 and wrapped on September 11, 2015. Production on the film resumed February 3, 2016 inNew Orleans,Louisiana as filming has been suspended due to a plane crash in Colombia that occurred in September 2015. Reshoots occurred in late January 2017 in Atlanta.

Plane crash

A plane crash on the set of the film in Colombia on September 11, 2015, killed two people and caused serious injuries to another member of the crew. The plane (a twin-enginePiper Aerostar), which was carrying crew members (three American pilots), was returning toEnrique Olaya Herrera AirportinMedellínwhen it ran into bad weather and the crash occurred.The dead were identified as Carlos Berl andAlan Purwin,who was the founder and president of Helinet Aviation, a company which provides aerial surveillance technology to government agencies and law enforcement, and a film pilot who had worked in top films. American pilot Jimmy Lee Garland was seriously injured and rushed to a local hospital.

Release

In May 2015, Universal set the film for release on January 6, 2017.On August 8, 2016, the film's release was pushed to September 29, 2017, and its title changed fromMenatoAmerican Made.It was released in Europe on August 23, 2017, and in the United States on September 29, 2017, and also screened at theDeauville Film Festivalon September 1, 2017.

Reception

Box office

American Madegrossed $51.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $83.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $134.9 million, against a production budget of $50 million.

In North America,American Madewas released alongside the openings ofFlatlinersand'Til Death Do Us Part,as well as the wide expansion ofBattle of the Sexes,and was projected to gross $12–15 million from 3,023 theaters in its opening weekend.It made $960,000 from Thursday night previews, the lowest total by a Cruise-led film in recent years, and $6.1 million on its first day. Initially, studio estimates had the film opening to $17 million, finishing third at the box office, behind holdoversIt($17.3 million) andKingsman: The Golden Circle($17 million). The following day, actual results had the film debuting to $16.8 million, withKingsmanbeating outItby a gross of $16.93 million to $16.90 million. 91% of its opening weekend audience was over the age of 25.In its second weekend, the film grossed $8.1 million (a drop of 51%), finishing 6th.

The film was released in 21 countries on August 25, 2017, and grossed a total of $6.1 million over the weekend. It finished number one in 11 of the territories, including the UK, where it replaced five-time champDunkirk.

Critical response

OnRotten Tomatoes,the film has an approval rating of 85% based on 273 reviews, with an average rating of 6.95/10. The site's critical consensus states, "American Made's fast-and-loose attitude with its real-life story mirrors the cavalier – and delightfully watchable – energy Tom Cruise gives off in the leading role. "OnMetacriticthe film has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on reviews from 50 critics.Audiences polled byCinemaScoregave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, whilePostTrakreported filmgoers gave it a 55% "definite recommend".

Variety's Guy Lodge wrote: "A sweat-slicked, exhausting but glibly entertaining escapade on its own terms,American Madeis more interesting as a showcase for the dateless elasticity of Cruise's star power. It feels, for better or worse, like a film he could have made at almost any point in the last 30 years. " Leslie Felperin ofThe Hollywood Reporterwrote: "This is yet another hyper-competent, boyishly devil-may-care character that offers Cruise, famous for his derring-do on set, a chance to do his own stunts and fly a plane; it's not a role all that far out of the ageing megastar's wheelhouse."

Historical accuracy

Further information:Allegations of CIA drug trafficking

The film's opening credits make clear it is not entirely factually accurate, with a "Based on a true story" disclaimer. Liman has described the film as "a fun lie based on a true story." When asked by Abraham Riesman ofVultureif the film was abiopic,director Doug Liman said "You know, we're not making a biopic. Tom Cruise doesn't look like Barry Seal. His character is inspired by the stories we learned about Barry." Although Cruise reportedly gained weight for the role, he is only 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) tall, and Seal was an obese man who reportedly weighed 300 pounds (140 kg).

Despite the film's suggestion Seal was recruited by the CIA while working for TWA, Seal denied in court that he had ever worked for the CIA. Monty Schafer was a fictional character and not based on a real-life CIA officer.A 1996 report by the CIA inspector general acknowledged that the agency had conducted a covert training exercise at theMena Intermountain Municipal Airportwith another federal agency, but found no evidence that the agency had been involved in any illegal activities.

Seal was fired from TWA in 1974 for falsely claiming medical leave when he was involved in a smuggling scheme. Seal's connections with cartel bosses were also not direct when he was running his drug operations, and he did not meet Pablo Escobar and the Ochoa brothers in person until 1984, when he was working as an informant for the DEA on an undercover operation, following his arrest.

Seal's third wife Deborah, loosely adapted into the character Lucy, stated Seal started his drug smuggling business in 1975, not 1980 like the film suggests, and also stated the smuggling was centered around marijuana before it involved cocaine. Seal's DEA record also noted he expanded to smuggling cocaine in 1978 and claimed that he was smuggling marijuana as early as 1976. Additionally, Seal's ties to the Medellín Cartel did not begin after being kidnapped while refueling his plane in Colombia, but when he met a smuggler who flew for cartel operativeJorge Ochoaduring a flight home from Honduras where he served nine months in a local jail after being caught smuggling drugs in 1979.

Liman has also acknowledged that the film's zero-gravity love scene was his idea and that he received the inspiration for it after he and Cruise collided in the cockpit while filming a flight scene.

Seal was unapologetic about his weapons and drug smuggling operations, even stating once in a television interview, "Whether you call it soldier of fortune or what, it's a way of life for me. I enjoy it and I'm going to keep doing it."He also never crash-landed into a suburban neighborhood.

External links

• American MadeatIMDb