| Silkwood | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Mike Nichols |
| Written by | Nora Ephron Alice Arlen |
| Based on | Who Killed Karen Silkwood? by Howard Kohn |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Miroslav Ondříček |
| Edited by | Sam O'Steen |
| Music by | Georges Delerue |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 131 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10 million |
| Box office | $35.6 million[2] |
Silkwood is a 1983 Americanbiographicaldrama film directed byMike Nichols, and starringMeryl Streep,Kurt Russell, andCher. The screenplay byNora Ephron andAlice Arlen was adapted from the bookWho Killed Karen Silkwood? byRolling Stone writer and activist Howard Kohn, which detailed the life ofKaren Silkwood, anuclear whistle-blower and alabor unionactivist who investigated alleged wrongdoing at theKerr-McGeeplutonium plant where she worked. In real life, her inconclusive death in a car crash gave rise to a 1979 lawsuit,Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee, led by attorneyGerry Spence. The jury rendered its verdict of $10 million in damages to be paid to the Silkwood estate (her children), the largest amount in damages ever awarded for that kind of case at the time. The Silkwood estate eventually settled for $1.3 million.[3]
The development ofSilkwood spanned nine years, with the project originating withWarner Bros., who intended to castJane Fonda as Silkwood. Warner Bros. ultimately abandoned the project after producer Buzz Hirsch wassubpoenaed by an Oklahoma City judge to disclose all of the film's research materials, an effort that was overruled by a10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. The project was later acquired byABC Motion Pictures, with Nichols directing and Streep cast in the title role.Silkwood was shot largely inNew Mexico andTexas on a budget of $10 million. Factual accuracy was maintained throughout the script. One scene in particular involved Silkwood activating a radiation alarm at the plant; Silkwood herself had forty times thelegal limit of radioactive contamination in her system.
Streep had just finished filmingSophie's Choice (1982) when production began. The film marked a departure for some of its stars: it is noted for being one of the first serious works of Cher, who had been previously known mostly for her singing, and for Russell, who was at the time widely known for his work in the action genre.
The film received positive reviews and was a box office success, with particular attention focused on Nichols' direction and Streep's performance. At the56th Academy Awards,Silkwood received five nominations in total, including Streep forBest Actress, Cher forBest Supporting Actress and Nichols forBest Director.
Karen Silkwood, a worker at theKerr-McGeeCimarron Fuel Fabrication Site (nearCrescent, Oklahoma), shares a ramshackle house with two co-workers, her boyfriend Drew Stephens and herlesbian friend Dolly Pelliker. She makesMOXfuel rods fornuclear reactors, where she deals with the threat ofexposure toradiation. She has become a union activist, concerned that corporate practices may adversely affect the health of workers. She is also engaged in a conflict with her formercommon-law husband in an effort to have more time with their three children.
Because the plant has ostensibly fallen behind on a major contract – fabricating MOX fuel rods for abreeder reactor at theHanford Site inWashington state – employees are required to work long hours and weekends of overtime. She believes that managers are falsifying safety reports and cutting corners wherever possible, risking the welfare of the personnel. Karen approaches the union with her concerns and becomes active inlobbying for safeguards. She travels toWashington, D.C. to testify before theAtomic Energy Commission.
When Silkwood and other workers become contaminated by radiation, plant officials try to blame her for the incident. When she seesweld sample radiographies of fuel rods being retouched to hide shoddy work, and that records of inadequate safety measures had been altered, she decides to investigate further herself. Complications arise in her personal life when Angela, a funeral parlour beautician, joins the household as Dolly's lover. Unable to deal with Silkwood's obsession with gathering evidence, and suspecting her ofinfidelities, Drew moves out.
Once she feels she has gathered sufficient documentation, Silkwood contacts a journalist fromThe New York Times and arranges a nighttime meeting. She first attends a union meeting, carrying documentation of her findings on her way to meet with the journalist. En route, she sees approaching headlights in herrear-view mirror, which draw so close that they distract and blind her, preventing her from seeing the road ahead, leading to her fatal one-car crash. No documents are found in the wreckage of her car.
Development of a film adaptation of Karen Silkwood's life spanned approximately nine years before the film began production.[4] Executive producers Buzz Hirsch and Larry Cano, while both graduate students at theUniversity of California, Los Angeles, became fascinated by Silkwood's story and sought to bring it to the screen.[5] Within a year of graduating, Hirsch and Cano began developing the project.[6]Warner Bros. initially expressed interest in producing the film withJane Fonda portraying Silkwood, but the project dissipated after the Silkwood estate filed a lawsuit againstKerr-McGee, Silkwood's former employer.[4] Kerr-McGee subsequently subpoenaed Hirsch to appear at a deposition in Oklahoma City, requesting that he produce all of the audition tapes, script notes, and other research materials for the studio's planned film adaptation.[4] Federal Judge Luther Eubanks ruled in Kerr-McGee's favor, requiring that Hirsch disclose all research materials acquired for the film.[4] In June 1977, a10th Circuit Court of Appeals inDenver, Colorado, agreed to hear Hirsch's appeal of Eubanks' ruling, with theWriters Guild of America West voting to lend legal assistance to Hirsch in the process, declaring they would file anamicus curiae, "arguing that Hirsch has aFirst Amendment right to shield his film materials from subpoena."[4] In September that year, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Eubanks' ruling, ordering additional proceedings in Oklahoma City.[4]
In the fall of 1980,ABC Motion Pictures began revamping Hirsch's original project withNora Ephron andAlice Arlen writing the screenplay.[4] ProducerFrank Yablans, though not credited on the film, was involved in the project's development and was approached by directorMike Nichols, who was hired to direct.[4]
Meryl Streep was cast as Karen Silkwood in October 1981.[4] Nichols cast Cher in the role of Silkwood's lesbian roommate, Dolly Pelliker, after seeing her in the Broadway production ofCome Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean,[7] feeling she possessed the necessary "vitality, humor and surprising depth."[8]
The film was shot on location inAlbuquerque andLos Alamos inNew Mexico, andDallas,Howe,Texas City, andTom Bean inTexas from September 7 to November 26, 1982.[4] Arthur Hirsch and Larry Cano were the producers of the film and received Executive Producer credits. They began working on the movie while graduate film students atUCLA. Their involvement in the making ofSilkwood set a precedent in the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the protection under theFirst Amendment of confidential sources for film-makers, as is done for journalists.[citation needed]
On December 8, 1983,20th Century Fox held a local community screening of the film in Oklahoma City, inviting five executives from Kerr-McGee to attend.[4] Only one of the company's employees, communications manager Ann Adams, attended.[4] Following the screening, Adams remarked that the film was a "highly fictionalized dramatization" that depicted the company in a "false and defamatory manner."[4] The film premiered the following week in the United States, on December 14, 1983, in alimited theatrical release showing at 257 theaters.[4][9]
Silkwood grossed $1,218,322 during its opening weekend, ranking #12 at the box office.[2] The film opened widely on January 27, 1984, during which, in its seventh week of release, it had expanded to 816 screens and reached #1.[2] It eventually earned a total of $35,615,609 in the U.S. and Canada.[2]
Silkwood received largely favorable reviews from critics.[10]Vincent Canby ofThe New York Times called the film "a precisely visualized, highly emotionalmelodrama that's going to raise a lot of hackles" and "a very moving work." He added, "There are, however, problems, not unlike those faced byCosta-Gavras in hisState of Siege andMissing, and they are major. Mr. Nichols and his writers ... have attempted to impose a shape on a real-life story that, even as they present it, has no easily verifiable shape. We are drawn into the story of Karen Silkwood by the absolute accuracy and unexpected sweetness of itsMiddle American details and then, near the end, abandoned by a film whose images say one thing and whose final credit card another. The muddle of fact, fiction and speculation almost, though not quite, denies the artistry of all that's gone before." He concluded, "I realize that films shouldn't be judged in bits and pieces, but it's difficult not to seeSilkwood in that way. For most of its running time it is so convincing—and so sure of itself—that it seems a particular waste when it goes dangerously wrong. It's like watching a skydiver execute all sorts of graceful, breath-taking turns, as he appears to ignore gravity and fly on his own, only to have him smash to earth when the chute doesn't open."[11]
Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times rated the film four stars and commented, "It's a little amazing that established movie stars like Streep, Russell and Cher could disappear so completely into the everyday lives of these characters."[12]
David Sterritt ofThe Christian Science Monitor called the film "a fine example of Hollywood's love-hate attitude toward timely and controversial subject matter." He continued, "The movie sides with Silkwood as a character, playing up her spunk and courage while casting wry, sidelong glances at her failings. When it comes to the issues connected with her, though, the filmmakers slip and slide around, providing an escape hatch ... for every position and opinion they offer. This makes the movie less polemical than it might have been, and a lot more wishy-washy ... This is too bad, because on other levelsSilkwood is a strong and imaginative film. Meryl Streep gives the year's most astounding performance by an actress, adding vigor and complexity to almost every scene with her endlessly inventive portrayal of the eccentric heroine. The supporting players skillfully follow her lead."[13]
CriticPeter Travers gave the film an unfavorable review, deeming Streep as miscast and the film overall as "preachy," concluding: "The notion that Eastern Establishment types like Nichols-Ephron-Streep can tell us what it's like to be a worker in Oklahoma is nothing if not patronizing."[14] Angela Bonavoglia ofCinéaste similarly noted that the film features some "painfully patronizing moments", but conceded that it no less "manages an effective portrayal of working class life, especially its monotony and vulnerability."[15]
The film holds a 77% rating onRotten Tomatoes based on 39 reviews, with an average rating of 7.60/10. The consensus reads: "Silkwood seethes with real-life rage -- but backs it up with compelling characters and trenchant observations."[10] It also holds a score of 64 out of 100 onMetacritic based on ten reviews.[16]
Anchor Bay Entertainment released the film on VHS and aregion 1DVD in 1998 and 1999, respectively.[23] The Anchor Bay DVD contained a dual-sided disc featuring bothanamorphic widescreen andfullscreen formats.[24] A second region 1 DVD was released byMGM Home Entertainment on October 7, 2003.[25]
The film was broadcast in high definition (1080i) onSky+ HD.[26]Silkwood was released on DVD andBlu-ray fromKino Lorber on July 25, 2017,[27] under license fromWalt Disney Studios, who acquired the ABC Film Studios catalogue in 1995.[28] The sales for the Kino Lorber Blu-ray totaled $121,094.[29] The film is available forstreaming on HULU in the US.
Silkwood marked a career resurgence for director Nichols, who had not worked in film for nearly a decade prior to the film's release.[30]
TheAmerican Film Institute included Karen Silkwood as the #47 hero inAFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains[31] and the film as #66 inAFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers.[32]
