| Dallas Buyers Club | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Jean-Marc Vallée |
| Written by | |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Yves Bélanger |
| Edited by | John Mac McMurphy Martin Pensa |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Focus Features |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 117 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $5 million[1] |
| Box office | $55 million[2] |
Dallas Buyers Club is a 2013 Americanbiographicaldrama film written byCraig Borten andMelisa Wallack, and directed byJean-Marc Vallée. The film tells the story ofRon Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey), a cowboy diagnosed withAIDS in the mid-1980s, a time when both theetiology and the treatment ofHIV/AIDS are poorly understood and its sufferers subject tostigma. As part of an ongoing experimental AIDS treatment movement, Woodroof smuggles unapproved pharmaceutical drugs into Texas to treat his symptoms. Here, he distributes them to fellow people with AIDS by establishing the "Dallas Buyers Club", all the while facing opposition from theFood and Drug Administration (FDA). Two fictional supporting characters, Dr. Eve Saks (Jennifer Garner), and Rayon (Jared Leto), were composite roles created from interviews withtransgender AIDS patients, activists, and doctors. Presidential biographer and PEN-USA winnerBill Minutaglio wrote the first magazine profile of the Dallas Buyers Club in 1992. The article, which featured interviews with Woodroof and also recreated his dramatic international exploits, attracted widespread attention from filmmakers and journalists.[3]
Screenwriter Borten interviewed Woodroof in 1992 and wrote the script, which he polished with writer Wallack in 2000, and then sold to producerRobbie Brenner. Several other actors, directors, and producers were attached at various times to the development of the film, but left the project.Universal Pictures also tried to make the film, but did not. A couple of screenwriters wrote drafts that were rejected. In 2009, producer Brenner involved Matthew McConaughey because of his Texan origins, the same as Woodroof's. Brenner selected the first draft, written by Borten and Wallack, for the film and then Vallée was set to direct.Principal photography began in November 2012 inNew Orleans, continuing for 25 days of filming, which also included shooting inBaton Rouge. Brenner andRachel Winter co-produced the film. The official soundtrack album featured various artists, and was released digitally on October 29, 2013, by theRelativity Music Group.
Dallas Buyers Club premiered at the2013 Toronto International Film Festival and was released theatrically in the United States on November 1, 2013, byFocus Features, entering wide release on November 22. The film grossed $55 million worldwide against a $5 million budget and received widespread critical acclaim, resulting innumerous accolades. Critics praised the performances of McConaughey and Leto, who respectively received theAcademy Award for Best Actor and theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor at the86th Academy Awards, making thisthe first film sinceMystic River (2003), and only the fifth film ever to win both awards. The film won the award forBest Makeup and Hairstyling and garnered nominations forBest Picture,Best Original Screenplay, andBest Editing.
In 1985, promiscuousDallas electrician and rodeo cowboyRon Woodroof is diagnosed withHIV/AIDS and told that he has about 30 days to live. At first, he refuses to accept the diagnosis until he remembers having unprotected sex with a prostitute who was anintravenous drug user. Woodroof's family and friends ostracize him, mistakenly assuming he contracted AIDS fromgay sex. He is fired from his job and evicted from his home. His doctor, Eve Saks, tells him anantiretroviral drug calledzidovudine (AZT)—the only drug yet approved for testing in humanclinical trials by theFDA—is thought to prolong the life of AIDS patients. Saks informs him that half of the trial patients receive the drug and the other half aplacebo since this is the only way to determine if the drug works.
Woodroof bribes a hospital worker to get him AZT, which, exacerbated by hiscocaine andalcohol abuse, causes his health to deteriorate. Recuperating in the hospital, he meets Rayon, a drug-addicted, HIV-positivetrans woman he is initially hostile toward. As his health worsens, he drives to a makeshift Mexican hospital to get more AZT. The facility is run by an American, Dr. Vass, whose medical license was revoked because his work with people with AIDS had violated US regulations. Vass warns Woodroof against AZT, telling him it is "poisonous." Instead, he prescribes a cocktail of drugs and nutritional supplements centered onddC and the proteinpeptide T, which are not yet approved for use in the United States by the FDA. Three months later, Woodroof finds his health much improved and realizes he could make money by importing the drugs and selling them to other HIV-positive patients. He is able to get the drugs over the border by masquerading as a priest with cancer and claiming they are for personal use. Dr. Saks starts to notice the adverse effects of AZT, but her supervisor, Dr. Sevard, tells her the trials cannot be discontinued.
Woodroof starts selling the drugs in Dallas on the street, atgay nightclubs, anddiscotheque bars. He reluctantly partners with Rayon since she can bring in more customers. The pair establishes the Dallas Buyers Club, charging $400 per month for membership and giving away the drugs to members to circumvent the laws that made it illegal to sell the drugs. The club is extremely popular, and Woodroof gradually begins to respect Rayon as a friend. When Woodroof is hospitalized for aheart attack caused by an overdose of recently acquiredinterferon from Japan, Dr. Sevard learns of the club and its alternative drugs and is angry that the buyers club is interfering with his trial. The FDA confiscates the interferon and threatens to have Woodroof arrested. Dr. Saks agrees that there are benefits toclubs for HIV drugs but feels powerless to change anything. The process the FDA uses to research, test, andapprove drugs is considered flawed and part of the problem for people suffering from AIDS. At that time, the United States and the FDA were particularly conservative by international standards in testing and approving anti-AIDS drugs. They were hostile to imported drugs to the point they were made contraband.[4] Dr. Saks and Woodroof begin a friendship.
The FDA gets a warrant to raid the Buyers Club but can do nothing but fine Woodroof. The FDA changes itsregulations in 1987, making any unapproved drug illegal. With the club strapped for cash, Rayon begs her father for money and tells Woodroof that she has sold herlife insurance policy to raise money. Woodroof travels to Mexico to get more peptide T. Upon his return, he finds that Rayon has died in the hospital and is extremely upset by her death. Dr. Saks is asked to resign when the hospital discovers she has been sending patients to the buyers club, but she refuses and insists they will have to fire her instead.
After Rayon's death, Woodroof begins to show more compassion towardLGBT members of the club, and making money becomes less of a concern; his priority becomes providing the drugs as peptide T gets increasingly challenging to acquire. Woodroof files a lawsuit against the FDA in late 1987, seeking the legal right to take the protein, which has been confirmed as nontoxic but is still not FDA-approved. The judge is sympathetic toward him and admonishes the FDA but lacks the power to do anything. The FDA later allows Woodroof to take peptide T for personal use. He dies of AIDS in 1992, seven years later than his doctors initially had predicted.
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The film is based on the real life ofRon Woodroof, a patient ofHIV andAIDS, who was the subject of a lengthy 1992 article inThe Dallas Morning News written by journalist and author Bill Minutaglio.[18] A month before Woodroof died in September 1992, screenwriterCraig Borten was told about the story by his friend, so he went and interviewed him to create the screenplay; Borten recorded many hours of interviews with Woodroof and had access to his personal journals.[19][20] Borten wrote a script for what he believed would make a great movie and attempted to attract interest in making the film in mid 1996, withDennis Hopper attached to direct.[21]Columbia Pictures was set to buy the script but the film was unable to secure financial backing.[22]
In an interview, Borten revealed that he metMelisa Wallack in 2000 and asked her to help with the script, to which she said yes.[23] In 2001, after one year of working on the script, they sold it to producerRobbie Brenner, who then setMarc Forster to direct the film forUniversal Pictures, but left due to some personal delays.[24] In June 2008,Craig Gillespie andRyan Gosling were in talks to join the film, which was to be produced by David Bushell andMarc Abraham for Universal Pictures andStrike Entertainment.[25] Chase Palmer was writing the script that time around, and screenwritersGuillermo Arriaga andStephen Belber had reportedly also written the subsequent drafts for the film.[25] In 2009, producer Robbie Brenner got involved again and rejected all the rewrites of the script, and the original version by Borten and Wallack was sent to actor Matthew McConaughey to see if the Texas native would be interested in playing the role.[21][23] On March 9, 2011,Jean-Marc Vallée was confirmed to direct the film based on the script by Borten and Wallack.[5][20]Rachel Winter also attached to produce the film.[9]
On November 14, 2012, it was announced thatRemstar Films had acquired the Canadian rights whileEntertainment One would handle the United Kingdom rights for the film.[26] On April 23, 2013,Focus Features acquired the United States and Latin American distribution rights for the theatrical release of the film.[27] In May 2013,Voltage Pictures and Truth Entertainment closed a deal to produce the film.[28]
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In 1996,Woody Harrelson was attached to the film to play Ron Woodroof, but left the film because of financing issues.[21] In 2002,Brad Pitt was attached to play the lead role.[25] In June 2008,Ryan Gosling was in talks to join the film for the lead role to play Woodroof, but couldn't take the role.[25] In 2009, producer Brenner sent the script to actorMatthew McConaughey and got him involved to star in the film.[21] Wondering whether theUvalde, Texas native was interested in playing another Texas native, Brenner says that he asked himself:"'Who is Ron Woodroof?' And in my mind, it was Matthew. Like Ron, he's from Dallas, he's handsome, and he has a twinkle in the eye. Matthew also has intensity and intelligence like Ron did, mixed with that cowboy charisma and fighter's spirit. He was beyond perfect for the role." Writer Borten said: "Ron was a very charismatic, funny and persuasive, a real salesman. Even if he was making fun of you, you wanted him to continue because he was so charming. Matthew possesses a lot of those same qualities."[23] On March 9, 2011,Los Angeles Times confirmed that McConaughey would star in the film as Woodroof and quoted McConaughey as saying: "It's a great script and a great story. And I think it can be a great movie."[5]
On May 11, 2011,Hilary Swank was reportedly in talks to join the film with McConaughey's role confirmed.[29] On October 3, 2012, it was announced that Swank had dropped out of the film and thatGael García Bernal was in talks to play an HIV patient who meets Woodroof in the hospital and helps him in the club.[30] On November 6,The Hollywood Reporter confirmed thatJared Leto would be returning to acting to play the role which Bernal was previously in talks to play.[9] In January 2014, Jared Leto admitted that he was sent a script 15 years ago but never read it.[31] When Leto was asked about his role, he said: "This was a really special movie. I think it was the role of a lifetime. It's one of the best things I've ever done." He also said that he tried to stay focused on the role because he knew it was an incredible opportunity.[32] On November 14,Dallas Roberts andSteve Zahn joined the film; Roberts would play David Wayne, Ron's defense attorney, while Zahn would play a Dallas police officer who is sympathetic to Ron.[14] On November 26,Griffin Dunne,Denis O'Hare, andBradford Cox joined the cast when the shooting was underway in New Orleans.[13]
McConaughey lost 47 pounds (21 kg) for the role, going from 183 pounds (83 kg) to 136 pounds (62 kg).[33] Leto lost over 30 pounds (14 kg) for the role and said that he had stopped eating to lose weight quicker; his lowest record weight was 114 pounds (52 kg).[34]
Principal photography began on November 11, 2012, inNew Orleans.[35][36] Filming also took place inBaton Rouge.[37]Jennifer Garner has stated that the film was shot very quickly over just 25 days and has remarked that McConaughey "gave an even wilder performance in takes that didn't appear onscreen".[38] McConaughey stated that "I was riding a new way of making a film. There were no lights, one camera, 15-minute takes."[38] Half of the shots were lit with artificial light and the other half were not. Vallée said: "I now had a perfect opportunity to try to shoot an entire movie without artificial lights, using theAlexa digital camera. Like theRED, the Alexa offers a broad spectrum of colors and shadows in even the darkest natural lighting conditions. I felt that the approach was right for this project. The look and feel became that we were capturing reality; even thoughDallas Buyers Club is not a documentary in content or structure, it could have that subtle quality. We shot the movie 100% handheld with two lenses, a 35-millimeter and a 50-millimeter. These get close to the actors and don't skew the images. (Director of Photography)Yves Belanger adjusted for every shot at 400 or 1600 ASA (light sensitivity), displaying different color balance."[39]
Jared Leto, who played Rayon, an AIDS patient andtrans woman with a drug problem, refused to break character for the whole 25 days of shooting. Interviews of cast and crew who were involved in the film revealed that, in a sense, they never really met Leto until months after the shoot was over. Leto said about his character, "That phrasestaying in character to me really means commitment, focus, and for a role like this that's so intense and challenging and extreme in a lot of ways, it demanded my full attention."[40]
The film does not feature an original score, but several original and incorporated songs, released as a separate album.[41] The albumDallas Buyers Club (Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture) was released on October 30, 2013, by theRelativity Music Group.[42] The soundtrack album featured various artists, include Leto's bandThirty Seconds to Mars,Tegan and Sara,Awolnation,The Naked and Famous,T. Rex,My Morning Jacket,Fitz and the Tantrums,Blondfire,Neon Trees,Cold War Kids,Capital Cities,The Airborne Toxic Event, and more.[42] It was announced that 40 cents of every sale of album atiTunes would go to the AIDS relief charityProject Red's Global Fund.[43]
The firsttrailer was launched on August 27, 2013.[44] The filmpremiered at the2013 Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, on which Deadline's Pete Hammond said, "It would seem an absolute no-brainer that both (McConaughey and Leto) will be sitting front and center come March 2nd at theDolby Theatre when Oscar winners are announced. If there are two better performances by anyone this year I have not seen them."[45] Focus Features released the film on November 1, 2013.[46]
Dallas Buyers Club was released onDVD andBlu-ray on February 4, 2014.[47] In the United States, the film has grossed $4,532,240 from DVD sales and $3,097,179 from Blu-ray sales, making a total of $7,629,419.[48]
The film's release was previously set for December 5, but hoping to gain a competitive edge amid a crowded playing field, Focus Features shifted the release date to November 1, believing the new date was ideal to launch a platform release in the awards season,[46] and expecting to do a wide release for 5-dayThanksgiving weekend (November 27 – December 1).[49] Because the film was an awards contender, Focus set the date in November for an Oscars strategy like that for 2013 Oscar winnerArgo, which was released in October 2012.[50]
Over its opening weekend from November 1–3 of limited release inLos Angeles,New York,Toronto andMontreal,[51] the film grossed $260,865 from 9 theaters with an average of $28,985 per theater,[2] In second weekend from November 8–10, film grossed $638,704, making total of $993,088 with an average amount of $18,249 from 35 theaters.[2] And it was expanded to 184 locations in its third week of release and it grossed $1,751,359 from Nov 15–17, with an average of $9,518, making total of $3,012,295.[52] It opened wide on November 22 (the weekend before Thanksgiving) in 666 theaters and grossed $2,687,157 from November 22–24, with a total of $6,374,058 and average of $4,035 per location.[2][46] The wide release coincided with the Screen Actors Guild Awards ballots deadline, and was before the Golden Globe Awards ballots. TheScreen Actors Guild mailedScreen Actors Guild Award nomination ballots to its voters on November 20,[53] and the nomination ballots for theGolden Globe Awards were mailed to theHollywood Foreign Press Association members on or before November 27.[54]
71st Golden Globe Awards were announced on January 12, 2014, with Dallas Buyers Club winning both of its nominations,[55] and the film earned six 86th Academy Awards nominations that were announced on January 16.[56] The twelfth weekend after limited release, the film's theater run jumped from 125 screens to a total of 419 and the film grossed $17,813,220 with an average of $2,246 per theater from January 17–19.[2][57] After the20th Screen Actors Guild Awards were announced on January 18 with Dallas Buyers Club winning two of its three nominations,[58] during the thirteenth weekend from January 24–26, 2014, the film expanded to 1,110 locations (highest playing of the film) and grossed $2,028,570 more in that weekend with an average of $1,828.[2][52] Until that weekend the top grossing markets were Los Angeles, New York,San Francisco,Chicago andDallas.[59]
After a total of 182 days, the film ended its American theatrical run on May 1, 2014, with a gross of $27,298,285 in North America.[52] It grossed $27,900,000 in foreign countries including $8,755,794 of the United Kingdom, $2,761,258 of Australia, making a worldwide total gross of $55,198,285.[2]
Upon itspremiere at the2013 Toronto International Film Festival,Dallas Buyers Club received universal acclaim by critics and audiences, who greatly praised the film for its acting[60] (particularly for McConaughey and Leto), screenplay and direction. On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 92% of 266 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "Dallas Buyers Club rests squarely on Matthew McConaughey's scrawny shoulders, and he carries the burden gracefully with what might be a career-best performance."[61]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 77 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[62]
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Richard Corliss ofTime considered McConaughey's portrayal to be a "bold, drastic and utterly persuasive inhabiting of a doomed fighter", remarking that "if the camera occasionally suffers a fashionable case of the jitters, the movie transcends its agitated verismo to impart dramatic and behavioral truth".[20] Chris Bumbray reviewed the film forJoBlo.com and gave it 9 out of 10, and said, "Like Woodroof, the film never wants your pity, and while tears will no doubt be shed while watching it, they're well-earned."[63]The Philadelphia Inquirer'sSteven Rea talked about McConaughey's role, "Just about everything is right withDallas Buyers Club, beginning with Matthew McConaughey's literally transformative portrayal. McConaughey's performance isn't just about the weight loss. It's about gaining compassion, even wisdom, and it's awesome."[64]
Mick LaSalle of theSan Francisco Chronicle said, "Dallas Buyers Club" takes audiences back to the worst of the AIDS crisis, where the disease was a death sentence, and the public's terror and hostility were at its height."[65] Film criticRichard Roeper reviewed the film for his own website, and talked about McConaughey: "Once we get past McConaughey's stunning transformation, we're transfixed by a performance that reminds us of why this guy became a movie star in the first place."[66] Ann Hornaday gave the film 4 out of 4 ratings, and then gave her remarks on McConaughey's remarkable performance forThe Washington Post, "McConaughey delivers the performance of his career, characterized not just by an astonishing physical transformation but by a wellspring of deep compassion and fearlessness."[67]
TheOrange County Register's film criticMichael Sragow gave the film grade "A" and commented on three lead characters, "A trio of terrific performers imbues a riveting AIDS drama with heart and mind as well as pertinence."[68] Film criticTy Burr reviewed the film forThe Boston Globe and criticized, "The movie's often touching and very watchable, but what gets you past the script's sincere calculation is the growing sense of rage toward amedical–industrial complex that saw AIDS sufferers as guinea pigs and sources of profit."[69]
TheChicago Tribune's film criticMichael Phillips talked about "How Woodroof became his own brand of AIDS activist is the stuff ofDallas Buyers Club, which does a few things wrong but a lot right, starting right at the top with McConaughey."[70]Bob Mondello criticized the film's character forNPR in these words: "Dallas Buyers Club is just about a selfish boor who arguably gets a pass in terms of posterity, because while looking out for No. 1, he paved the way for change for everyone else."[71]Dana Stevens ofSlate praised McConaughey's performance, highlighting that the movie "traffics in deep hindbrain emotions: fear and rage and lust and, above all, the pure animal drive to go on living."[72]
A. O. Scott reviewed the film forThe New York Times and said, "Matthew McConaughey brings a jolt of unpredictable energy toDallas Buyers Club, an affecting if conventional real-life story of medical activism."[73]
The Wall Street Journal's film critic thinks "Matthew McConaughey continues to amaze."[74]David Denby ofThe New Yorker talked about McConaughey's physical transformation in his words, "It's McConaughey's spiritual transformation that is most remarkable. His gaze is at once desperate and challenging."[75]Rolling Stone'sPeter Travers said, "[Matthew McConaughey's] explosive, unerring portrayal defines what makes an actor great, blazing commitment to a character and the range to make every nuance felt."[76] Film criticRex Reed reviewed the film forThe New York Observer and said, "Dallas Buyers Club represents the best of what independent film on a limited budget can achieve-powerful, enlightening and not to be missed."[77]TheWrap'sAlonso Duralde said why he watched the film, "McConaughey is the only reason to seeDallas Buyers Club, but he's enough of a reason to seeDallas Buyers Club."[78]
Film critic Betsy Sharkey reviewed for theLos Angeles Times, "[McConaughey and Leto] elevate the movie beyond ordinary biography or overplayed tragedy, and give Oscar-worthy performances in the process." Sharkey expressed her compliments about Leto's performance, "Leto's performance, though, is the revelation. ... It's a hauntingly authentic performance; the tailored suit he puts on to meet with his disapproving father is one of the film's most moving scenes."[79] Peter Debruge ofVariety said, "Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto give terrific performances in this riveting and surprisingly relatable true story."[80]
Leto's portrayal of Rayon, a drug-addictedtrans woman withAIDS who befriends McConaughey's character Ron Woodroof, received critical acclaim.[40] The writers created Rayon, to show "Woodroof's gradual acceptance of a subculture he had dismissed."[40]Time's Richard Corliss noted, "Leto captures the sweet intensity and almost saintly good humor of a glamorous, poignant and downright divoon creature — a blithe Camille who may surrender her health but never her panache."[20][40] Leto was awarded anAcademy Award,Golden Globe, aScreen Actors Guild Award, and a variety of film critics' circle awards.
After the86th Academy Awards ceremony, the casting of a non-transgender actor was critiqued as a missed opportunity, with someLGBTQ activists criticizing the choice astransmisogynistic.[81][82][83] A guest blogger published on theL.A. Times website compared the issue to white actorsappropriating, and exploiting, the roles ofEast Asians andAfricans in the past;[82] and guest contributors noted inThe Guardian andThe Independent that transgender actors are often relegated to roles such as prostitutes, corpses and "freaks."[84][85]
Dallas Buyers Club received six nominations at the86th Academy Awards:Best Picture,Best Actor for McConaughey,Best Supporting Actor for Leto,Best Original Screenplay,Best Film Editing for Martin Pensa and Vallée (Vallée being credited under the pseudonym "John Mac McMurphy"),[86] andBest Makeup and Hairstyling for Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews. McConaughey and Leto won Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively – the first film sinceMystic River 10 years earlier to receiveboth awards and only the fifth overall to do so.[87] Lee and Mathews won theBest Makeup and Hairstyling, although Mathews had a budget of only $250.[88]
The film received twoScreen Actors Guild Awards, forBest Actor (McConaughey) andBest Supporting Actor (Leto); it was also nominated forBest Cast.[89] At the71st Golden Globe Awards McConaughey and Leto again wonBest Actor – Motion Picture – Drama andBest Supporting Actor – Motion Picture respectively.[90] The film was also nominated forBest Original Screenplay at theWriters Guild of America Awards,[91] while Leto's performance won a range of awards from critics groups, including theNew York Film Critics Circle[92] and theLos Angeles Film Critics Association.[93] TheNational Board of Review namedDallas Buyers Club one of the top ten independent films of 2013.[94]
The characters of Rayon and Dr. Eve Saks were fictional; the writers had interviewed transgenderAIDS patients, activists, and doctors for the film and combined these stories to create the two composite supporting roles.[95] However, Woodroof did lose all his friends after they found out he wasHIV-positive. In his interviews with Borten, Woodroof implied that this, along with interactions with gay people living with AIDS through the buyers club, led to a rethinking of his apparentanti-gay sentiments and changed his views ongay people. Other people who knew him said that he did not harbor anti-gay sentiments; the real Woodroof was openlybisexual and assumed he had contracted HIV from sexual encounters with men.[96][97] Also, while arodeo enthusiast, he never rode any bulls himself.[95] Although the film shows Woodroof diagnosed in 1985, he told Borten that a doctor had informed him he might have had the disease well before that; Woodroof believed that he may have been infected in 1981, something that was briefly alluded to in a flashback in the film.[19]
While Woodroof was known for outlandish behavior, according to those who knew him, both the film and McConaughey made him rougher than he actually was;The Dallas Morning News has reported that Woodroof was "outrageous, but not confrontational" and that people who knew him felt that his portrayal as "rampantly homophobic" early in the film was inaccurate.[98] The real Woodroof also had a sister and a daughter who were not approached by the writers and were left out of the script to make the film more of a character study.[19]
The visual blogInformation is Beautiful deduced that, while taking creative license into account, the film was 61.4% accurate when compared to real-life events, summarizing that the film seemed "like an authentically true-story with liberties taken".[99]
The film implies that the drug and vitamin regimen promoted by Woodroof was safer and more effective than the drugs being issued in hospitals and tested by theFDA at the time, but this has been criticized by numerous observers. Daniel D'Addario, in an article inSalon, suggests that "the film's take is perilously close to endorsingpseudoscience."[100]
Woodroof frequently declares that the drug AZT (azidothymidine) is ineffective and counter-productive, yet years later it is still prescribed to patients with AIDS, albeit at a much lower dose (as mentioned in theepilogue).[101]Medical historian Jonathan Engel, who wroteThe Epidemic: A History of AIDS, states that AZT was in fact a relatively effective treatment for the period, consistently prolonging lives for a year at a time when AIDS had a 100% mortality rate.[102] JournalistDavid France, who directed the documentaryHow to Survive a Plague, suggested that AZT was actually "the first element of a cocktail of drugs that ended the era of AIDS-as-death sentence".[100] Initial attempts to use high doses of AZT proved to be no more effective than smaller doses, but HIV/AIDS activistPeter Staley (who was consulted by the filmmakers) believes this was not the result of any conspiracy – initially medical researchers had to guess what dose would be effective and they feared a low dose would be ineffective.[102] Eventually, researchers realized that AZT was ineffective in the long term because the HIV virus mutated and became resistant to the treatment. By the mid-1990s,David Ho and other researchers found AZT was quite effective when used in conjunction with two otheranti-virals, which decreased the chances of virus developing resistance to any one drug.[102][4]
The treatments that Woodroof did promote were less-effective at best, or at worst, dangerous. According to Staley, Woodroof became a proponent ofPeptide T, a treatment which "never panned out. It's a useless therapy, and it never got approved, and nobody uses it today, but the film implies that it helped him."[102]DDC, also promoted by Woodroof, did prove to be an effective antiviral treatment, but it also proved to have worse side effects than AZT, with the potential to cause irreversiblenerve damage in some cases. As a result, it was only used by doctors for a relatively short time.[102] A third treatment promoted by Woodroof, called Compound Q (Trichosanthin), was specifically linked to two deaths during trials, and therefore, was not used by doctors thereafter. Most "buyers clubs" stopped providing it as well, but Woodroof continued to dispense it, part of the reason for Woodroof's conflict with the FDA.[102]
