HIGH SCHOOL BIG SHOT (Kevin Klawitter of MN)
Director: Vince Gilligan
Screenwriter: Vince Gilligan, based on the original screenplay by Joel Rapp
Cinematographer: Adam Stone
Editor: Steven Gonzales
Production Design: Mark S. Freeborn
Art Direction: Bjarne Sletteland
Original Music: Lucero & Pyramid
Executive Producer: Zac Efron, Peter Berg
Produced by: Vince Gilligan, David Gordon Green
Main Cast:
Zac Efron: Marvin 'Marv' Grant
Ashley Greene: Betty Alexander
Josh Pence: Vince Rumbo
Christopher Meloni: Mr. Grant
Chris Pine: Mr. Carter
John Hawkes: Mr. Mathews
Michael Shannon: Steve
Tagline: He'll take a shot... but never recover
Synopsis: Zac Efron continues his journey into the echelons of adult acting with this searing drama based on the classic B-movie written and directed by Joel Rapp, and brought into the modern day by a team of some of the best filmmakers of American rural drama in the country, including David Gordon Greene (George Washington) , Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights), and Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad), who chose the project as his feature-length directorial debut.
Efron stars as Marv Grant, a bright high school student who has to work as a clerk at a shipyard in order to support his unemployed, alcoholic father (Christopher Meloni). It’s a lonely existence, uplifted only by the presence of the English teacher (Chris Pine) who sees his true potential and is trying to qualify him for a scholarship to college. One week, however, everything seems to improve. The High School’s dreamboat, Betty (Ashley Greene) appears to dump her jock boyfriend (Josh Pence) to be with Marv, and Marv’s father announced that he’s been given a recommendation for a good job.
Marv and Betty bond over their schoolwork, but it eventually comes out that Betty wants Marv to write her term paper for her, as she can’t graduate without a passing grade in English. A lovestruck Marv decides to do it, against his better judgment. Later that night at his job, he accidentally overhears his boss (Willem Dafoe) arrange for a shipment of $2 million in heroin and cash to the yard with a local criminal (Michael Shannon). Marv doesn’t report it to the police for fear of losing his job.
Later, Marv and Betty are held after class by Mr. Carter. He says he can tell Marv was the one who wrote Betty’s term paper, and has no choice but to fail them both. To make matters worse, when Marv returns home he finds that his father had been rejected from his job and has used what little money he and Marv have left to buy all the alcohol he can afford. When confronted by Marv, he laments his own role as a drain on Marv’s life, that he hasn’t been a worthwhile father in years, that he lost Marv’s mother due to his own carelessness, etc.
The phone rings, and it turns out to be Betty, calling for help. She says her father has gone off the deep and has started to beat her. As Marv tries to console her, he hears an explosion in the room behind him and turns to discover that his killed himself with the pistol they kept for protection. Grabbing the gun, Marv runs to Betty’s house, where he sees her being menaced by her father. In the ensuing struggle, Betty’s father gets shot. Trying to console her, Marv impulsively mentions the money and drugs, saying that if he steals them from the shipyards they can run away together. As he heads off to the shipyard, Betty calls Vince, who she’s been dating behind Marv’s back, and reveals that she only wanted to goad Marv into killing her father for the inheritance. She tells Vince about the drug money, and says that he should try to steal it from Marv.
At the shipyard, Marv holds Mr. Mathews and Steve at gunpoint, demanding the heroin and cash. Vince ambushes him and gets shot in the struggle, revealing with his dying breath that Betty who set him up. Steve is impressed by Marv’s ruthlessness, and offers to give him a cut of the profits if he agrees to distribute the drugs at the school. Realizing that the profits will eventually amount to a lot more than $2 million, and with nothing else to live for, he agrees. Later that night, he finds Betty in her house and brutally murders her for betraying him.
We then get an epilogue set one year later, with Marv as the head of a major drug ring that distributes its product through area schools. He has all of the riches, cars, and women he could ask for, and has become a legend for being one of the youngest successful drug dealers in the world. He has indeed become a “High School Big Shot”, but lost his own humanity and everything he loved in the process.
Press Section: Another entry in the growing genre of “rural crime drama” that includes such films as Winter’s Bone and Shotgun Stories as well as TV series like Breaking Bad, High School Big Shot takes it to another level by showing the influence the drug culture has on modern-day high school students. It also shows how crime and corruption can be an insulation and even a source of comfort from the pressures of high school. Zac Efron commands the screen as Marv, bringing a subtlety and emotional power to the character that is reminiscent of Leonardo DiCaprio. Ashley Greene plays a complex role well as Betty, being vulnerable one moment and a manipulative seductress the next, never quite showing us exactly what her character is thinking. Chris Pine has only a few scenes as the teacher who believes in Marv, but still delivers a truly affecting performance nonetheless, as he plays a sort of witness to the changes in the character around him. Christopher Meloni is heartbreaking as Efron’s father, particularly in his drunken monologue, where he never quite says what happened to his wife, but his and Efron’s body language says more than any dialogue ever could.
While we’re never told exactly where the movie takes place, that actually works to the film’s benefit as we can project our own experiences and knowledge into the settings before us. As a result of using a combination of crew members from Breaking Bad and the rural dramas of producer David Gordon Green, the movie never feels less than authentic. The screenplay and direction are all very naturalistic, and Marv’s descent into crime and murder isn’t seen as a dramatic shift, but as a sort of logical extreme to the hand he’s been given. Had he not made his choices, he would have ended up in an entirely different situation. People who have seen the 1959 original will undoubtedly be surprised by the conclusion, which is ever darker than the notoriously depressing original, which up to then it follows very closely.
Awards Consideration:
Best Picture
Best Director - Vince Gilligan
Best Actor - Zac Efron
Best Supporting Actor - Christopher Meloni
Best Supporting Actress - Ashley Greene
Best Adapted Screenplay - Vince Gilligan
Screenwriter: Vince Gilligan, based on the original screenplay by Joel Rapp
Cinematographer: Adam Stone
Editor: Steven Gonzales
Production Design: Mark S. Freeborn
Art Direction: Bjarne Sletteland
Original Music: Lucero & Pyramid
Executive Producer: Zac Efron, Peter Berg
Produced by: Vince Gilligan, David Gordon Green
Main Cast:
Zac Efron: Marvin 'Marv' Grant
Ashley Greene: Betty Alexander
Josh Pence: Vince Rumbo
Christopher Meloni: Mr. Grant
Chris Pine: Mr. Carter
John Hawkes: Mr. Mathews
Michael Shannon: Steve
Tagline: He'll take a shot... but never recover
Synopsis: Zac Efron continues his journey into the echelons of adult acting with this searing drama based on the classic B-movie written and directed by Joel Rapp, and brought into the modern day by a team of some of the best filmmakers of American rural drama in the country, including David Gordon Greene (George Washington) , Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights), and Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad), who chose the project as his feature-length directorial debut.
Efron stars as Marv Grant, a bright high school student who has to work as a clerk at a shipyard in order to support his unemployed, alcoholic father (Christopher Meloni). It’s a lonely existence, uplifted only by the presence of the English teacher (Chris Pine) who sees his true potential and is trying to qualify him for a scholarship to college. One week, however, everything seems to improve. The High School’s dreamboat, Betty (Ashley Greene) appears to dump her jock boyfriend (Josh Pence) to be with Marv, and Marv’s father announced that he’s been given a recommendation for a good job.
Marv and Betty bond over their schoolwork, but it eventually comes out that Betty wants Marv to write her term paper for her, as she can’t graduate without a passing grade in English. A lovestruck Marv decides to do it, against his better judgment. Later that night at his job, he accidentally overhears his boss (Willem Dafoe) arrange for a shipment of $2 million in heroin and cash to the yard with a local criminal (Michael Shannon). Marv doesn’t report it to the police for fear of losing his job.
Later, Marv and Betty are held after class by Mr. Carter. He says he can tell Marv was the one who wrote Betty’s term paper, and has no choice but to fail them both. To make matters worse, when Marv returns home he finds that his father had been rejected from his job and has used what little money he and Marv have left to buy all the alcohol he can afford. When confronted by Marv, he laments his own role as a drain on Marv’s life, that he hasn’t been a worthwhile father in years, that he lost Marv’s mother due to his own carelessness, etc.
The phone rings, and it turns out to be Betty, calling for help. She says her father has gone off the deep and has started to beat her. As Marv tries to console her, he hears an explosion in the room behind him and turns to discover that his killed himself with the pistol they kept for protection. Grabbing the gun, Marv runs to Betty’s house, where he sees her being menaced by her father. In the ensuing struggle, Betty’s father gets shot. Trying to console her, Marv impulsively mentions the money and drugs, saying that if he steals them from the shipyards they can run away together. As he heads off to the shipyard, Betty calls Vince, who she’s been dating behind Marv’s back, and reveals that she only wanted to goad Marv into killing her father for the inheritance. She tells Vince about the drug money, and says that he should try to steal it from Marv.
At the shipyard, Marv holds Mr. Mathews and Steve at gunpoint, demanding the heroin and cash. Vince ambushes him and gets shot in the struggle, revealing with his dying breath that Betty who set him up. Steve is impressed by Marv’s ruthlessness, and offers to give him a cut of the profits if he agrees to distribute the drugs at the school. Realizing that the profits will eventually amount to a lot more than $2 million, and with nothing else to live for, he agrees. Later that night, he finds Betty in her house and brutally murders her for betraying him.
We then get an epilogue set one year later, with Marv as the head of a major drug ring that distributes its product through area schools. He has all of the riches, cars, and women he could ask for, and has become a legend for being one of the youngest successful drug dealers in the world. He has indeed become a “High School Big Shot”, but lost his own humanity and everything he loved in the process.
Press Section: Another entry in the growing genre of “rural crime drama” that includes such films as Winter’s Bone and Shotgun Stories as well as TV series like Breaking Bad, High School Big Shot takes it to another level by showing the influence the drug culture has on modern-day high school students. It also shows how crime and corruption can be an insulation and even a source of comfort from the pressures of high school. Zac Efron commands the screen as Marv, bringing a subtlety and emotional power to the character that is reminiscent of Leonardo DiCaprio. Ashley Greene plays a complex role well as Betty, being vulnerable one moment and a manipulative seductress the next, never quite showing us exactly what her character is thinking. Chris Pine has only a few scenes as the teacher who believes in Marv, but still delivers a truly affecting performance nonetheless, as he plays a sort of witness to the changes in the character around him. Christopher Meloni is heartbreaking as Efron’s father, particularly in his drunken monologue, where he never quite says what happened to his wife, but his and Efron’s body language says more than any dialogue ever could.
While we’re never told exactly where the movie takes place, that actually works to the film’s benefit as we can project our own experiences and knowledge into the settings before us. As a result of using a combination of crew members from Breaking Bad and the rural dramas of producer David Gordon Green, the movie never feels less than authentic. The screenplay and direction are all very naturalistic, and Marv’s descent into crime and murder isn’t seen as a dramatic shift, but as a sort of logical extreme to the hand he’s been given. Had he not made his choices, he would have ended up in an entirely different situation. People who have seen the 1959 original will undoubtedly be surprised by the conclusion, which is ever darker than the notoriously depressing original, which up to then it follows very closely.
Awards Consideration:
Best Picture
Best Director - Vince Gilligan
Best Actor - Zac Efron
Best Supporting Actor - Christopher Meloni
Best Supporting Actress - Ashley Greene
Best Adapted Screenplay - Vince Gilligan
