HUSTLE & FLOW

Year: 2005
USA: Paramount Classics
UK: UIP (UK)
Cast: Terrence Howard, Anthony Anderson, Taryn Manning, Taraji P Henson, D J Qualls, Ludacris, Paula Jai Parker, Elise Neal, Isaac Hayes, Juicy J, William "Poon" Engram, Bobby "I-20" Sandimanie, Haystak, Claude Phillips, Josey Scott, John Still, Jay Munn, Michael Hooks Jr, Jerome Toles, DJ Paul, Al Kapone, Jennifer Bynum Green, Kelvin Birrus, Tiran D Boyland, H Renee Cogar, Brandon Seiferth, Deborah Manning Thomas, Terrence Brown, T C Sharpe, Lindsey Roberts, Free Sol, Clarence Mabon, Mark Goodfellow, Latasha Texas, Tracy Davis, Erica Miller, Helen Bowman
Director: Craig Brewer
Country: USA
USA: 114 mins
UK: 116 mins
USA Rated: R for sex and drug content, pervasive language and some violence
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong language, violence, drug and sex references
USA Release Date: 22 July 2005
UK Release Date: 11 November 2005


UK Distributor

Synopsis

HUSTLE & FLOW is the redemptive story of a streetwise Memphis hustler trying to find his voice and realize his long-buried dreams. Though DJay (Terrence Howard) has always had a way with words, that gift has long been misused; this philosopher-hustler lives a dead-end life at the fringes of society. Anything more feels out of reach. Still, DJay wonders what happened to all the big dreams he had for his life.

A chance encounter with an old friend, Key (Anthony Anderson), a sound engineer who has always wanted to make it in the music business, spurs DJay: if he's ever going to make his mark, it has to happen now. He begins to write down his freestyle raps - his flow - and the two team up with Shelby (D J Qualls), a church musician with a beat machine, to lay down bass-thumping crunk tracks.

DJay's metamorphosis affects his entire house, as the women in his life - Shug (Taraji P Henson) and Nola (Taryn Manning) - find ways to contribute to the creative process. With the impending visit to Memphis of hometown platinum-selling rapper Skinny Black (Ludacris), DJay has to make one last hustle if he's ever going to flow.

Winner of the Audience Award at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, HUSTLE & FLOW is produced by John Singleton (BOYZ N THE HOOD, 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS, FOUR BROTHERS) and Stephanie Allain (BIKER BOYZ, SOMETHING NEW) and written and directed by newcomer Craig Brewer. Paramount Classics, MTV Films, and New Deal Entertainment present a Crunk Pictures/Homegrown Pictures production, a Craig Brewer film, HUSTLE & FLOW.