PEOPLE I KNOW
Year: 2002
USA: Miramax Films
UK: Momentum Pictures
Cast: Al Pacino, Kim Basinger, Tea Leoni, Ryan O'Neal, Richard Schiff, Bill Nunn, Robert Klein, Mark Webber, Eldon Bullock, Juliet Papa, Ramsey Faragallah, Brian McConnachie, Frank Wood, Rex Reed, Lewis Dodley, Angelique Kidjo, William J. Bratton, Peter Gerety, Daniel Whitner, Jonathan Walker, Ivan Martin Kaity Tong, Keith Siglinger,Regis Philbin, Joy Philbin, Cynthia Santana, Joe Duer, Laurine Towler, Polly Adams, Betsy Aidem, Greg Stebner, Tina Sloan, Paulina Porizkova, Sophie Dahl, Peter Van Wagner, Pat Kiernan, Ajay Mehta, Tirlok Malik, Ben Shenkman, William E Corcoran, Irina Pantaeva, David Marshall Grant, Ted Neustadt, Michael Graves, Lisa Emery, Andrew Davoli, Uzi Parnes, Shelley Kirk, William Hill, Geraldine Bartlett, Steven Randazzo, Jon Hendricks, Terry Urdang, T Scott Cunningham, Roland Algrant, Mr. G.
Director: Daniel Algrant
Countries: USA / Germany
USA & UK: 100 mins
USA Rated: R for language, drug use and brief sexual images
UK Certificate: 15 contains very strong language and infrequent drug use
USA Release Date: 25 April 2003 (Limited Release)
UK Release Date: 13 February 2004
Synopsis
Eli Wurman (Al Pacino) is coming apart at the seams. A legendary New York PR man whose glory days are far behind him, Wurman is lost in the blur of media, celebrity and politics that he not only witnessed over the last thirty years, but helped create. A weakness for alcohol and pharmaceuticals may temporarily dull his senses, but nothing can take the edge off the dark realization that he has spent his life in the shadows.
It's 2:30 in the morning and Eli Wurman is bailing a temperamental starlet (Tea Leoni) out of jail as a favour to Cary Launer (Ryan O'Neal), a world-famous movie star, and Eli's last important client. In the ensuing hours, Eli finds himself lost in a murky haze, entangled in a political conspiracy and a murder that is quietly concealed by unseen powers.
All of this almost derails the publicist's current priority - organizing a benefit for a group of Nigerians who have been unjustly detained by the Mayor in a Manhattan jail. Motivated by memories of his 1960s political activism, Eli ignores his deteriorating health and pours his manic energies into pleading, seducing, cajoling and recruiting all the people he knows (Manhattan's movers and shakers) to come out and support his cause. He frantically enlists Launer, who has his eye on a U.S. Senate seat, Reverend Lyle Blunt (Bill Nunn) an incendiary Harlem minister with a team of bodyguards and Elliot Sharansky (Richard Schiff) a civic-minded billionaire with significant secrets to hide.