The Gift (2000)

Starring Cate Blanchett, Keanu Reeves, Katie Holmes, and Hilary Swank.  Cinematography by Jamie Anderson.  Edited by Arthur Coburn and Bob Murawski. Produced by James Jacks, Gary Lucchesi, Tom Rosenberg, and Rob Tapert. Written by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson.  Directed by Sam Raimi.

Annie Wilson (played by Cate Blanchett) is a young widow living in the small town of Brixton, Georgia. She supports herself and her three boys by reading tarot cards for local residents.  One day her psychic abilities are recruited by the Brixton police to help locate a missing girl named Jessica King (played by Katie Holmes).

King’s body is eventually found in the backyard pond of Donnie Barksdale (played by Keanu Reeves), a violent man who Annie has had run-ins with in the past.  Donnie is convicted of the crime, but Annie is not so sure that he is the guilty party. Visions of Jessica continue to haunt Annie well after the case was considered closed.

Billy Bob Thornton and his childhood friend Tom Epperson moved out to Hollywood in 1984 hoping to crack into the movie business. After landing a few small acting roles, the pair finally found success in the early 1990’s when they sold their collaborative script titled One False Move.  Directed by Carl Franklin, One False Move ended up being the sleeper hit of 1992 and subsequently found itself on many film critics’ top-ten lists.

In 1996 two of their scripts were produced; one a relationship drama titled A Family Thing and the other a made-for-cable crime thriller called Don’t Look Back.  In that same year Thornton’s popularity would skyrocket after the incredible reception of his solo project Sling Blade, but fame wouldn’t separate Thornton from his old friend.  He and Epperson were soon hard at work with a fictionalized account of Thornton’s own mother titled The Gift. 

To help with the financial burden of raising a family in the South, Virginia Thornton performed psychic readings at her home.  Young Billy Bob grew up in a small community that was skeptical of their local clairvoyant and her family.  This social alienation and its emotional effects would be the building blocks of his brilliantly assembled screenplay.

Thornton would first work with filmmaker Sam Raimi in 1998 on the set of A Simple Plan, but it was by sheer coincidence that Raimi would end up with a copy of The Gift.  After initially passing the project off as too dark, Raimi was encouraged by his wife to reconsider the script. With his second evaluation, Raimi discovered a tightly woven, character driven story that intrigued him.

Soon his newfound enthusiasm for the script seemed contagious. The small, independent production caught the eye of young starlet Cate Blanchett, who had heard about the project from Thornton on the set of Pushing Tin.  When Blanchett joined the production, Hollywood’s best and brightest stars began lining up for the chance to work with her and new director. 

Despite a limited budget, The Gift was suddenly boasting an all-star cast including Greg Kinnear, Keanu Reeves, Giovanni Ribisi, Katie Holmes, and Hilary Swank. Like A Simple Plan before it, The Gift enjoyed incredible critical recognition and a modest box office performance. But Raimi had little time to enjoy the applause as he was already knee-deep in the mammoth production of Spider-Man before The Gift had even wrapped.

Budget: $9,500,000

Total US Gross: $11,994,719

Genre: Mystery

Runtime: 111 Minutes

US Release Date: 1/19/01

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Awards: none

Tagline: The Only Witness To The Crime Was Not Even There.

Quote: “You're the soul of this town, Ms. Wilson, and you have to keep doing what you are doing.”