Erin Brockovich (2000) Erin Brockovich (2000)
A biographical legal drama directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Susannah Grant, starring Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich, a twice-divorced mother of three who builds the largest direct-action lawsuit in American history against Pacific Gas and Electric Company for contaminating the groundwater in Hinkley, California. Albert Finney plays Ed Masry, the small-firm attorney who becomes her partner. The film was shot in eleven weeks across Ventura, Hinkley, Barstow, and Los Angeles, and Soderbergh approached it as a Ken Loach-style naturalistic drama — no ironic distance, no stylistic flourish, just a woman in every scene of her own movie.
"It's rare to find human-sized heroes, and I was just captivated by her and her relationship with Ed and the fact that it was a story about people who made certain sacrifices and stood on certain principles without being a screed." — Steven Soderbergh, Wikipedia — Erin Brockovich (film) (2000)
Quick Facts
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Director | Steven Soderbergh |
| Writer | Susannah Grant |
| Stars | Julia Roberts, Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart, Marg Helgenberger |
| Composer | Thomas Newman |
| Cinematographer | Ed Lachman |
| Editor | Anne V. Coates |
| Producers | Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher |
| Production Companies | Jersey Films / Universal Pictures / Columbia Pictures |
| Distributor | Universal Pictures (US/Canada) |
| Budget | $52 million |
| Box Office | $256.3 million worldwide ($125.6M domestic) |
| Release Date | March 17, 2000 |
| Running Time | 130 minutes |
| MPAA Rating | R |
| Filmed In | Ventura, Hinkley, Barstow, and Los Angeles, California |
Key Pages
- _Index
- Plot Summary (Erin Brockovich)
- Cast and Characters (Erin Brockovich)
- Production History (Erin Brockovich)
- Themes and Analysis (Erin Brockovich)
- Critical Reception and Legacy (Erin Brockovich)
- Physical Media Releases (Erin Brockovich)
- Backbeats (Erin Brockovich)
The Story in Brief
Erin Brockovich is broke, twice-divorced, unemployable, and furious about all of it. After losing a personal injury case because she cursed out a defense attorney on the stand, she bullies her way into a filing job at Ed Masry's small law office. A routine real-estate file contains medical records that should not be there. Erin drives to Hinkley, meets the families PG&E has been quietly poisoning for decades, and builds a case that no credentialed attorney could have built — because no credentialed attorney would have spent eighteen months learning the plaintiffs' phone numbers, medical histories, and children's names by heart. The $333 million settlement was the largest direct-action lawsuit in American history at the time. (wikipedia, imdb)
"If you're trying to sneak something under the wire, it's nice to have one of the world's most bankable stars sneaking under with you." — Steven Soderbergh, Deep Focus Review (2000)