Michael Clayton

Theatrical Release Date: 2007 10 05 (USA - Limited) / 2007 10 12 (USA)

UPC: 085391140344

Studio: Warner Home Video

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Violence, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Profanity]

Summary: Michael Clayton (George Clooney) handles all of the dirty work for a major New York law firm, arranging top-flight legal services and skirting through loopholes for ethically questionable clients. But when a fellow "fixer" decides to turn on the very firm they were hired to clean up for, Clayton finds himself at the center of a conspiratorial maelstrom. Once an ambitious D.A., Clayton is now a shell of his former dynamic self, thanks to a divorce, an unfortunate business venture, and astronomical debt. Though he longs to leave the cutthroat, ethically dubious world of corporate law behind, Clayton's poor financial situation and devotion to firm head Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack) leave him little choice but to remain on the job and tough it out. Meanwhile, litigator Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) finds her entire company's future hinging on the outcome of a multi-billion-dollar settlement overseen by Clayton's friend, star lawyer Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson). When Edens snaps and decides to blow the whistle on the questionable case, sabotaging the defense, Clayton must decide between his loyalty and his conscience. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Category: Thriller

Awards: In Competition – Venice International Film Festival Film Presented – Toronto International Film Festival Film Presented – Chicago International Film Festival Best Picture – National Board of Review Best Actor – National Board of Review Best Picture – New York Film Critics Online Best Actor – San Francisco Film Critics Circle Best Actor – Washington D.C. Film Critics Association Best Picture – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Actor – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Writer – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Picture - Drama – null Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama – null Best Supporting Actress – null Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – null Best Picture – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Director – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Original Screenplay – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Actor – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress – Chicago Film Critics Association Most Promising Director – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Picture – American Film Institute Best Picture – Southeastern Film Critics Association Best Actor – Southeastern Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress – Golden Satellite Award Best Original Screenplay – Golden Satellite Award Best Actor – Screen Actors Guild Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Screen Actors Guild Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Golden Satellite Award Best Supporting Actress – Screen Actors Guild Best Actor – Detroit Film Critics Society Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Detroit Film Critics Society Best Supporting Actress – Detroit Film Critics Society Best Picture – Utah Film Critics Best Picture – Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Best Actor – Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Best Picture – African American Film Critics Best Director – Directors Guild of America Best Original Screenplay – Writers Guild of America Best Supporting Actress – National Society of Film Critics Best Actor – Toronto Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress – Toronto Film Critics Association Best Screenplay – Toronto Film Critics Association Best First Film – Toronto Film Critics Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Alliance of Women Film Journalists Best Picture – Dallas/Fort Worth Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress – Dallas/Fort Worth Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actress – Kansas City Film Critics Association Best Art Direction in a Contemporary Film – Art Directors Guild Best Picture – Producers Guild of America Best Original Screenplay – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Actor – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Supporting Actress – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Editing – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Supporting Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Directing – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Score – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Supporting Actor – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actor – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Supporting Actor – Screen Actors Guild Best Supporting Actor – Golden Satellite Award Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Moti – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Supporting Actor – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Supporting Actor – Alliance of Women Film Journalists Best Supporting Actor – Detroit Film Critics Society Best Supporting Actor – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: Additional scenes
Commentary by writer/director Tony Gilroy and editor John Gilroy

Michael Clayton

Format: DVD

Release Date: 02/19/2008

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, DDS2.0 Dolby Digital w/ 4 channels

Runtime: 120 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English,French,Spanish

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Michael Clayton
1. Big Law [4:52]
2. Card Room [3:36]
3. Hit and Run [3:58]
4. The Field [3:23]
5. Make an Offer... [5:07]
6. U/North [5:25]
7. Milwaukee [3:53]
8. Who Is This Guy? [3:13]
9. Realm & Conquest [3:06]
10. 3 Billion Dollars [4:04]
11. Memo #229 [4:15]
12. Pick up the Phone... [4:52]
13. Start Digging [3:10]
14. 80k [3:31]
15. Bagman [5:12]
16. Everybody Listening? [5:25]
17. Upstate [2:46]
18. Visitors [2:16]
19. In Your Heart [3:14]
20. Incomprehensible [4:54]
21. More Than a Favor [4:23]
22. The Book [5:07]
23. We Have a Situation [5:31]
24. Countdown [8:51]
25. The Package [3:30]
26. 10 Million [5:27]
27. End Credits [6:31]

Perry Seibert

Tony Gilroy's elegantly structured script for Michael Clayton offers a series of plot developments and character details that don't build so much as accumulate in the viewer's mind, until a thunderously entertaining final scene -- the kind of confrontation an old-time Hollywood mogul might call a "corker" -- pays them all off in a thrilling verbal face-off. As a first-time director, Gilroy maintains a steady, measured pace. His style serves his low-key but involving script, quietly adding layers to the characters while moving the plot along. The first-rate editing juggles timelines in the best possible way, allowing events to have a much different meaning when you see them a second time. George Clooney gives another first-rate performance as Clayton, a man who can keep his clients' lives in order, but not his own. We know, because he is so good at his job, that he will figure out how to get himself out of the seemingly impossible position he gets himself into when his closest friend, an older attorney at the firm, has a mental breakdown while defending a chemical company facing a multi-million-dollar class-action suit. As the friend, Tom Wilkinson gets to deliver all of the film's colorful monologues. Unafraid to recall Peter Finch's performance in Network, Wilkinson offers a realistic portrait of manic depression while also reveling in the florid theatricality of his character's expansive orations. He manages to be simultaneously over-the-top and realistic -- as well as sympathetic. Tilda Swinton, shot in a way that lets the audience know how Gilroy feels about corporate functionaries, makes for an original adversary -- her obsessively detail-oriented character is the one most in over her head. Sydney Pollack, a woefully underappreciated actor, not only hits every note he is asked to play, but gives the film even more credibility as an updated '70s paranoid thriller simply because of his presence. Midway into the film, Gilroy stages a murder that offers a grueling commentary on the cold-blooded efficiency of modern corporate life. The murder happens close-up. It is hands-on, bloodless, and mechanical, leaving the viewer with an unshakeable sense of unease. The act happens as simply and with as much understatement as everything else in the movie; Gilroy feels no need to punctuate his material with either ominous music or lingering shots of outraged faces. The director never indicates to his audience how horrible what we are seeing is, he takes it for granted that we have the humanity to be appropriately shocked. This is what Gilroy gets very right throughout the film -- he trusts his audience. He repays that trust with that grandly entertaining final scene, where he finally lets the audience release all of the emotions he has kept efficiently bottled up for two hours. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Cast and Crew: George Clooney  Executive Producer 
Jennifer Fox  Producer 
James Newton Howard  Composer (Music Score) 
Anthony Minghella  Executive Producer 
Kerry Orent  Producer 
Sydney Pollack  Producer 
Steven Soderbergh  Executive Producer 
Tony Gilroy  Director 
Tony Gilroy  Screenwriter 
James Holt  Executive Producer 
Steven Samuels  Producer 
George Clooney  Actor 
Tom Wilkinson  Actor 
Tilda Swinton  Actor 
Sydney Pollack  Actor 
Michael O'Keefe  Actor 
Robert Prescott  Actor 
Terry Serpico  Actor 
Merritt Wever  Actor 
Kevin Hagan  Actor 
Austin Williams  Actor 
David Lansbury  Actor 
Tom McCarthy  Actor 
Heidi Armbruster  Actor 
Jennifer Van Dyck  Actor 
Frank Wood  Actor 
Denis O'Hare  Actor 
Julie White  Actor 
Jonathan Walker  Actor 
Sharon Washington  Actor 
Cynthia Mace  Actor 
Michael Countryman  Actor 
Ken Howard  Actor 
Amy Hargreaves  Actor 
Susan Pellegrino  Actor 
Rachael Black  Actor 
Matthew Detmer  Actor 
John Thompson  Actor 
Bill Raymond  Actor 
Brian Poteat  Actor 
Christopher Mann  Actor 
Edward Furs  Actor 
Katherine Waterston  Actor 
John Gerard Franklin  Actor 
Alberto Vasquez  Actor 
Brian Koppelman  Actor 
Jason Strong  Actor 
Pun Bandhu  Actor 
David Zayas  Actor 
Danielle Skraastad  Actor 
Remy Auberjonois  Actor 
Pamela Gray  Actor 
Andrew Sherman  Actor 
Richard Hecht  Actor 
Julia Gibson  Actor 
Sean Cullen  Actor 
Susan Egbert  Actor 
Wai Chan  Actor 
Paul Oquist  Actor 
Doug McGrath  Actor 
Gregory Dann  Actor 
Cathy Diane Tomlin  Actor 
Sam Gilroy  Actor 
Maggie Siff  Actor 
Sarah Nichols  Actor 
Susan McBrien  Actor 
Jordan Lage  Actor 
Neal Huff  Actor 
Paul Juhn  Actor 
Mike Scelza  Actor 

Country: USA