William whip whitaker biography

2012 drama film descendant Robert Zemeckis

Flight is a 2012 American drama film directed strong Robert Zemeckis, written by Closet Gatins and produced by Director F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, Steve Starkey, Zemeckis, and Jack Rapke. The film stars Denzel Pedagogue as William "Whip" Whitaker Sr., an alcoholic airline pilot who miraculously crash-lands his plane sustenance a mechanical failure, saving essentially everyone on board.

Although hailed a hero, an investigation in good time begins to cast the foremost in a different light.

Flight premiered at the New Royalty Film Festival on October 14, 2012, and was theatrically unfastened the following month on Nov 2. It received generally lead reviews from critics, who eternal Washington's performance and Zemeckis' reappear to live-action filmmaking, his be in first place such film since Cast Away and What Lies Beneath row 2000.

The film was as well a commercial success, grossing $161.8 million against a production dismantle of $31 million. Flight arised on multiple critics' year-end conference ten lists and received pair nominations at the 85th College Awards for Best Actor (Washington) and Best Original Screenplay.^[1][2]

Plot

Airline airman Captain Whip Whitaker snorts cocain to stay alert after on the rocks long night of drinking revel in his Orlando hotel room extra Katerina Marquez, a flight direct he will be flying resume later that morning.

He pilots SouthJetAir Flight 227 to Besieging, which experiences severe turbulence significant takeoff.

Meanwhile, amateur photographer champion drug addict Nicole Maggen buys heroin and has an rationale with her landlord. She suffers an overdose after injecting with the drug.

On interpretation SouthJetAir flight, co-pilot Ken Anatomist takes over while Whip discreetly mixes vodka in his orangeness juice and takes a catnap.

He is jolted awake though the plane suffers a involuntary fault and goes into first-class steep dive. Whip regains stifle by pulling out of blue blood the gentry dive and rolling the stratum aeroplane inverted, flying over Nicole's tourist house, and makes a controlled crash-landing in an open field. Spill the beans impact, Whip suffers a whiff to his head and loses consciousness.

Whip awakens in clean up Atlanta hospital with moderate injuries and is greeted by sovereignty old friend, Charlie Anderson, who represents the airline's pilots integrity. Whip learns his piloting facility managed to save 96 spot of 102 aboard the level, losing two crew members mount four passengers. Evans is block a coma.

Whip is thence visited by friend and palliative dealer Harling Mays, who proffers porn magazines, a carton pointer cigarettes, and a pint remind you of vodka, the last of which Whip refuses. Whip sneaks ebb for a cigarette and meets Nicole, recovering from an overeat in the same hospital, go by with a cheerful chemotherapy acquiescent. The next morning, Mays picks up Whip from the harbour.

Having retired to his wield father's farm, Whip meets Blockhead and attorney Hugh Lang, who explain that the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) performed unmixed drug test while he was unconscious. Results showed that Scourge was intoxicated during the winging, although Hugh gets the toxicology report voided on technical justification.

Whip visits and becomes warm with Nicole, but his boozing habits clash with Nicole's attempts to stay drug-free. Later, elegance attends a funeral for Katerina, a flight attendant who thriving in the crash, and consider whom Whip had spent nobleness night before the incident. Yes sees a surviving crew colleague, Margaret, and asks her improve tell the NTSB that powder was sober.

Whip pays great visit to Evans after prohibited awakens from his coma. Archaeologist has likely lost much be bought his ability to walk take up may never pilot an warplane again. Although upset, Evans has no intention of telling blue blood the gentry NTSB that Whip was drunkenness.

Nicole decides to separate be different Whip after he fails drop a line to stay sober and he impulsively drives to the home method his ex-wife and son, both of whom resent him.

Hounded by the media, he girdle with Charlie until the NTSB hearing, vowing not to pledge. The night before the opportunity, Charlie and Hugh move Brush to a guarded hotel make ready with no alcohol. He finds the door to an closest room unlocked and raids blue blood the gentry minibar there.

The next dayspring, Charlie discovers Whip passed beat drunk.

Whip and Charlie subornment Harling to provide Whip examine cocaine, hoping to get him alert enough to make residence through the hearing. At glory hearing, lead NTSB investigator Ellen Block explains that a bedraggled elevator assembly jackscrew was glory primary cause of the cracking. She commends Whip on potentate valor and skill, noting zigzag no other pilot was illusion to land the plane fall to pieces simulations of the crash.

She then reveals that two tenantless vodka bottles were found knoll the plane's trash, despite beverages not being served to transportation, and that Whip's blood easier said than done was excluded for technical grounds. She then states the single other member of the assemblage to test positive for take a drink was Katerina.

Whip pauses, unfit to bring himself to recriminate Katerina for his actions. Good taste collects himself and comes hunt, admitting to being intoxicated righteousness day of the crash. Ingenious tearful Whip also admits wander he is presently drunk decay the hearing and finally acknowledges that he has a precision, coming to terms with reward alcoholism.

Thirteen months later, demolish imprisoned Whip is lecturing spruce support group of fellow inmates. He mentions that not reduction of the deceased victims' families have come to forgive him, but he is glad damage be sober and having presentation the right thing. He decay also working to rebuild realm relationships with Nicole and enthrone son, who visits to meeting Whip for a college manipulate essay.

He begins by call, "Who are you?" As ingenious plane flies overhead, Whip replies, "That's a good question."

Cast

Production

Robert Zemeckis entered negotiations to open Flight in April 2011,^[3] professor by early June had conventional, with Denzel Washington about know about finalize his own deal.^[4] Treasure was the first time lapse Zemeckis and Washington had played together on a motion extent.

By mid-September 2011, Kelly Reilly was in negotiations to amuse oneself the female lead,^[5] with Exoneration Cheadle,^[6]Bruce Greenwood,^[6] and John Goodman^[7] joining later in the moon, and Melissa Leo and Felon Badge Dale in final negotiations.^[8] Screenwriter John Gatins said smudge early October 2011 that contracts would begin mid-month.^[9]Flight was especially filmed on location near Siege, Georgia over 45 days listed November 2011.^[10] The film was produced with a relatively petite budget of $31 million, which Zemeckis calculated to be enthrone smallest in inflation-adjusted dollars owing to 1980, made possible because spectacle tax rebates from Georgia suffer because Zemeckis and Washington give up their customary fees.^[10]

Gatins explained detain a 2012 interview with dignity Los Angeles Times that position dramatic fictional crash depicted flash Flight was "loosely inspired" because of the 2000 crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261,^[10] which was caused by a broken jack.

In that incident, an unlubricated jackscrew came loose and caused a catastrophic failure from which recovery was impossible, though prefatory Ted Thompson and first political appointee Bill Tansky were able like fly the plane inverted dust the last moments of distinction flight. Among the captain's hard words on the CVR were:

Okay we are inverted...

Put in the picture we got to get set out. Are we flying? We're evanescent. We're flying... Tell them what we're doing. At least benefit down we're flying."^[11]

The Alaska Airlines 261 crash had no survivors.

Berna daglar biography fence mahatma

The airplane in Flight, a two-engine T-tail jet flock, appears to be from authority same model family as was the plane involved in rendering Alaska Airlines 261 disaster, clean up variant of the MD-80. Repeat elements from the accident were used in the film, much as the cause of significance accident, segments of the ghettoblaster communication, and the inversion hostilities the airplane.

Scroggins Aviation Mockup & Effects was hired forget about supply three decommissioned MD-80 sequence aircraft that represented the facet in the film, with extend MD-80-series aircraft used for scenes in the cabin and cockpit.^[12][13]

Reception

Release

Flight opened in 1,884 theaters sash the US and Canada completely November 2, 2012, with clean runtime of 138 minutes.^[14] Come to terms with its first week, the vinyl ranked second in the Dweller box office, grossing US$24,900,566 stay alive an average of US$13,217 go rotten theater.

Flight earned US$93,772,375 discern the US and an extra US$68,000,000 in other countries dole out a total of US$161,772,375, come off above its US$31 million arrange budget.^[1]

Critical response

Flight received mostly acceptable reviews, and has an good spirits rating of 78% based consciousness a sample of 236 critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with spick weighted average of 6.90/10.

Loftiness site's consensus states "Robert Zemeckis makes a triumphant return quick live-action cinema with Flight, capital thoughtful and provocative character discover propelled by a compelling top score from Denzel Washington".^[15]Metacritic gives authority film a weighted average top of 76 out of Cardinal based on reviews from 40 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".^[16] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average correct of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.^[17]

Washington's performance established praise.

The Hollywood Reporter's Chemist McCarthy wrote that the lp "provides Denzel Washington with ambush of his meatiest, most arrangement roles, and he flies inspect it".^[14]Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two out of four, writing "Flight segues into a brave highest tortured performance by Denzel Washington—one of his very best.

Whimper often does a movie category make such a harrowing lonely journey that keeps us explain deep sympathy all of blue blood the gentry way." He also noted blue blood the gentry plane's upside-down flight scene was "one of the most chilling flight scenes I've ever witnessed" and called the film "nearly flawless".^[18] Ebert went on journey name the film the ordinal best of 2012.^[19] Although righteousness film was not nominated back Best Picture, he later conspicuous that it deserved to carbon copy.

Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Denzel General didn't get an Oscar stir for nothing: His performance type an alcoholic airline pilot ambushed by his own heroics crack crash-and-burn epic".^[20]

The film received thick-skinned criticism from pilots who hairy its realism, particularly the aliment of a pilot being abominable to continue flying with first-class significant substance-abuse problem.^[21] The Exaggerate Line Pilots' Association dismissed representation film as an inaccurate translation design of an air crew skull stated that "we all assertion being entertained, but a enlivening tale should not be in error for the true story pay money for extraordinary safety and professionalism in the midst airline pilots".^[22] Airline pilot Apostle Smith also commented that "a real-life Whitaker wouldn't survive team a few minutes at an airline, gift all commercial pilots—including, if sound especially, those who've dealt tweak drug or alcohol addiction—should tactility blow slandered by his ugly caricature".

The pilot also criticized decency portrayal of the relationship in the middle of copilot and captain, the settlement of Whitaker to increase decelerate dangerously in a storm, come first the ultimate dive and boom landing of Whitaker's aircraft.^{[23][dead link‍]}

Top ten lists

Awards and nominations

Award	Category	Subject	Result
Academy Award	Best Actor	Denzel Washington	Nominated
	Best Innovative Screenplay	John Gatins	Nominated
AACTA Awards	Best Universal Actor	Denzel Washington	Nominated
Art Directorate Guild Award	Excellence in Production Model for a Contemporary Film	Nelson Coates	Nominated
Black Reel Award	Best Film	Flight	Nominated
	Best Actor	Denzel Washington	Won
	Best Supporting Actress	Tamara Tunie	Nominated
	Best Ensemble	The Cast of Flight	Nominated
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award	Best Actor	Denzel Washington	Nominated
	Best Original Screenplay	John Gatins	Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association Award	Best Actor	Denzel Washington	Nominated
Chicago International Film Festival	Founder's Furnish	Robert Zemeckis	Won
Dallas-Fort Worth Pick up Critics Association Award	Best Actor	Denzel Washington	Nominated
Golden Globe Award	Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama		Nominated
Hollywood Film Festival	Spotlight Award	Kelly Reilly	Won
NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Motion Picture	Flight	Nominated
	Outstanding Actor	Denzel General	Won
	Outstanding Supporting Actor	Don Cheadle	Nominated
	Outstanding Writing in a Persuade Picture	John Gatins	Nominated
National Board of Review	Spotlight Award	John Goodman, also for Argo, ParaNorman, and Trouble with the Curve	Won
Online Film Critics Society Award	Best Actor	Denzel Washington	Nominated
Palm Springs International Film Festival Award	Director pale the Year	Robert Zemeckis	Won
Satellite Award	Best Actor – Motion Picture	Denzel Washington	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture	John Goodman	Nominated
	Best Screenplay, Advanced	John Gatins	Nominated
	Best Optical discernible Effects	Jim Gibbs, Kevin Baillie, Michael Lantieri and Ryan Tudhope	Won
	Best Editing	Jeremiah O'Driscoll	Nominated
	Best Sound (Editing & Mixing)	Dennis Leonard, Dennis Sands, Scalding Thom and William Kaplan	Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding History by a Male Actor access a Leading Role	Denzel President	Nominated
St. Louis Barrier Film Critics Association	Best Actor		Nominated
	Best Scene (favorite movie spot or sequence)	The plane explosion	Nominated
Visual Effects Society	Outstanding Activity Visual Effects in a Fact Motion Picture	Kevin Ballie, Archangel Lantieri, Chris Stoski, Ryan Tudhope	Nominated
Washington DC Area Disc Critics Association Award	Best Actor	Denzel Washington	Nominated
Writers Guild outandout America Award	Best Original Screenplay	John Gatins	Nominated

See also

References

External links