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Class Action [DVD] [1991] [Multilingual] [Region 1]

1 disc
Region 1 USA/CA (info)

Director Michael Apted rehearsed his actors for three weeks prior to shooting, an unusually long time for a feature film. He believes that this resulted in more natural performances from his actors, especially the dynamic that grew between Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Gene Hackman. Hackman said that rehearsing and working like this gave him the opportunity to explore issues that may come up with one of his own two daughters. Shot entirely on location in San Francisco and the Bay Area. Hackman's law office in the film is the actual office of J. Tony Serra, the lawyer depicted by James Woods in the film "True Believer." Mastriantonio's law office is a high-rise building at 75 Hawthorne Place. The courtroom scenes were shot in San Francisco's City Hall, and even in the never-before filmed Supervisor's Chambers. Michael Apted is also a noted director of documentary films. He created the series of documentaries following the lives of 14 British citizens at seven year intervals. The last film in this series was "35 Up" (1992). He also did the recent documentary on the case of wrongly imprisoned Native American activist Leonard Peltier, "Incident at Oglala" (1992). The film was entered in the Moscow International Film Festival before Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America announced a boycott of export to the then Soviet Union to protest their illegal pirating of American films. Film had an estimated budget of $17 million.
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Additional Info

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): 1869
Credits

Gene Hackman, Eugene Alder, Joanna Merlin, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Critic Reviews

"...Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio give passionate, riveting performances..."
Rolling Stone
"...A remarkably well-made and well-mannered film...A perfectly formed performance from Larry Fishburne..."
Sight and Sound
"...CLASS ACTION is good, chewy entertainment....Under Michael Apted's warm and meticulous direction, Hackman and Mastrantonio give beautifully matched performances..."
Los Angeles Times