15 MINUTES
Year: 2001
USA: New Line Cinema
UK: Entertainment
Cast: Robert De Niro, Edward Burns, Vera Farmiga, Kelsey Grammer, Avery Brooks, Melina Kanakaredes, Tygh Runyan, Janean Christine Mariani, Christine Abrusci, Sophia Alexis, John DiResta, Kata Dobo, Joe Lisi, Leda Mulholland, Sebastian Roche
Director: John Herzfeld
Country: USA
USA: 119 mins
UK: 120 mins
USA Rated: R for strong violence, language and some sexuality
UK Certificate: 18 contains strong violence and language and moderate sexual references
USA Release Date: 9 March 2001
UK Release Date: 23 March 2001
Synopsis
Never before in history have fame and the law been so closely, and so dangerously, aligned. With today's insatiable demand for high-octane television news, everyone, from criminals and cops to lawyers and politicians, has joined the ranks of attention-grabbing celebrities and hype generators as they vie for their shot at the limelight. There's no denying that in today's world, they bring ratings, money and power. So just how far will society's most desperate people go in order to get their "fifteen minutes"? And just how willing is the public to watch?
At the center of 15 MINUTES is a New York City double murder that must be solved. But the fast-paced story isn't so much about figuring out the truth of the murder, as following who controls that truth. This is the thriller as seen through an eye-popping new lens - that of the media's hunt for shocking imagery, no matter the cost. In 15 MINUTES, as the cops chase the murderers, the media chases the cops, and the whole thing fuels an escalating firestorm.
Two-time Academy Award-winner Robert De Niro stars as superstar homicide detective Eddie Flemming, who knows how to handle high-profile homicides. However with a crime that has ended in a grisly fire, Flemming must team up with a rival; the low-key, media-despising arson investigator Jordy Warsaw (Edward Burns). As they track down a pair of Eastern European killers on a rampage across the city, they wrangle with each other over the use of the media. But Eddie and Jordy soon fall one step behind the ferociously unpredictable and clever men they are after - because these criminals have learned how to spin their own stardom into an explosion of media and judicial madness.