Death Proof
Encyclopedia
Death Proof is a 2007 American action
thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino
. The film centers on a psychopathic
stunt man who stalks young women before murdering them in staged car accidents using his "death-proof" stunt car. The film pays homage
to exploitation
, muscle car
s, and slasher film
genres of the 1970s, and stars Kurt Russell
, Rosario Dawson
, Vanessa Ferlito
, Jordan Ladd
, Rose McGowan
, Sydney Tamiia Poitier
, Tracie Thoms
, Mary Elizabeth Winstead
and Zoë Bell
as herself.
Death Proof was released theatrically in the United States as part of a double feature
with Robert Rodriguez
’s Planet Terror
under the collective title Grindhouse in order to replicate the experience of viewing exploitation film
double features in a "grindhouse
" theater. The films were released separately outside the United States and on DVD, with Death Proof going on sale in the United States on September 18, 2007.
), Shanna (Jordan Ladd
), and radio DJ “Jungle” Julia Lucai (Sydney Tamiia Poitier
) -– drive down Colorado Street in Austin, Texas
, on their way to celebrate Jungle Julia's birthday. While bar-crawling, Julia reveals that she made a radio announcement earlier that morning, offering a free lap dance
from Arlene in return for addressing her as "Butterfly," buying her a drink, and reciting a segment of the poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
.” They are unaware they are being stalked by an aging and sadistic Hollywood stunt double
, “Stuntman” Mike (Kurt Russell
). After trailing them to a bar, Mike follows the instructions from the radio announcement to get the lap-dance. Despite some initial trepidation, due to having seen Mike's car earlier in the day, and asking if he has been following them, Mike puts her at ease (partly by saying she's chicken), and Arlene agrees to the dance.
The three women prepare to depart, while Pam (Rose McGowan
), another intoxicated female bar patron, has been impressed by Mike and accepts a ride home from him, considering him to be teetotaler
and a safe ride. Mike takes Pam to his matte black 1971 Chevy Nova, which is a stunt car rigged with a safety cage inside. As Mike drives Pam off, it becomes clear he is trying to kill her, reminding her that his car is "death proof", but only to the driver. Since the passenger side has no safety restraints at all, he kills her by driving recklessly and then slamming on the brakes, which smashes her skull into the dashboard. Mike speeds off, leaving behind photos he took earlier of the three other women, so as not to get caught with any evidence. He eventually comes on their car on an empty road, and drives at full speed directly into it. The force of the impact kills all four women. (There was an older lady driver in the car known as Lena Frank, who they met up with earlier at the bar.)
The local hospital finds Mike with only minor injuries, and asserts that since Mike was sober while the four women were intoxicated, he cannot be charged. This concerns Texas Ranger
Earl McGraw
, who is convinced Mike is guilty but cannot investigate without evidence. McGraw warns Mike that should this happen again, he'd better "make damn sure" it was not in Texas.
Fourteen months later, three young women, Abernathy Ross (Rosario Dawson
), Kim Mathis (Tracie Thoms
), and Lee Montgomery (Mary Elizabeth Winstead
), are traveling through Lebanon, Tennessee
. They stop briefly at a convenience store, where Mike is resting in his new ride, a 1969 Dodge Charger
, and is intrigued by the women. The women, unaware of Mike, pick up their friend, stuntwoman Zoë Bell
(who is playing herself), from the airport. Zoe informs them she wants to test-drive a white 1970 Dodge Challenger
, exactly the same type of car from the 1971 film, Vanishing Point, which just happens to be nearby. After they get to the car's location, Abernathy tries to convince the owner, Jasper, to let them "test drive" it alone. He refuses at first, but after Abernathy tells him Lee will stay behind (under the false pretense that they are in town to film a porno, of which Lee is the star), he agrees. In the process of all this, Zoe reveals to Abernathy and Kim that she has an ulterior motive in taking the car; she wants to play a game called "Ship's Mast", where she rides on the car's hood using only leather belts to hold onto, while Kim drives it at high speeds.
The three enjoy the stunt, until Mike shows up and rear ends their car at high speed. The two cars engage in a harrowing high-speed chase for a distance before they both spin out on opposite sides of the roads, and Zoe is finally thrown from the car's hood. Mike gets out to brag to the girls but Kim fires a gun, wounding him in the shoulder. As Mike gets back in the car and flees, Zoe shows that she is okay, and the three women agree to get revenge on Mike. Wounded, Mike is not able to outrun the women, and eventually his car is T-boned
by the women in their car. The women pull him from the car and beat him savagely in the head until he falls unconscious. After a short credits sequence, Abernathy delivers a final axe kick to Mike's head.
featuring a deranged stuntman who stalks and murders sexy young women with his “death-proof” car. Tarantino remembers, “I realized I couldn't do a straight slasher film, because with the exception of women-in-prison films
, there is no other genre quite as rigid. And if you break that up, you aren't really doing it anymore. It's inorganic, so I realized—let me take the structure of a slasher film and just do what I do. My version is going to be fucked up and disjointed, but it seemingly uses the structure of a slasher film, hopefully against you.” According to Robert Rodriguez, “[Tarantino] had an idea and a complete vision for it right away when he first talked about it. He started to tell me the story and said, ‘It’s got this death-proof car in it.’ I said, ‘You have to call it Death Proof.’ I helped title the movie, but that’s it.” Of the car chases, Tarantino stated, “CGI
for car stunts doesn’t make any sense to me—how is that supposed to be impressive? […] I don't think there have been any good car chases since I started making films in ’92—to me, the last terrific car chase was in Terminator 2. And Final Destination 2
had a magnificent car action piece. In between that, not a lot. Every time a stunt happens, there’s twelve cameras and they use every angle for Avid editing
, but I don’t feel it in my stomach. It’s just action.”
Quentin Tarantino acted as cinematographer
on Death Proof. Although Robert Rodriguez had previously worked as the cinematographer on six of his own feature films, Death Proof marked Tarantino's first credit as a cinematographer.
Tarantino attempted to cast John Travolta
, Willem Dafoe
, John Malkovich
, Mickey Rourke
, Ron Perlman
, Bruce Willis
, Kal Penn
and Sylvester Stallone
in Death Proof, but none were able to work due to prior commitments. In an interview, Tarantino revealed that he decided to cast Kurt Russell
as the killer stunt driver because “for people of my generation, he's a true hero…but now, there's a whole audience out there that doesn't know what Kurt Russell can do. When I open the newspaper and see an ad that says ‘Kurt Russell in Dreamer
,’ or ‘Kurt Russell in Miracle
,’ I'm not disparaging these movies, but I'm thinking: When is Kurt Russell going to be a badass again?” Eli Roth
, Planet Terror leading actress Rose McGowan and Tarantino himself appear in small roles.
After being impressed by stuntwoman Zoë Bell, who worked as Uma Thurman's stunt double in Tarantino's earlier film Kill Bill
, Tarantino wrote her the leading female role. This was her first on-screen acting which Bell initially thought was going to be a cameo role. The character Zoë was based on the stuntwoman herself and includes small stories based around her real life experiences, some with Tarantino. When her name was featured on the film posters opposite Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson and Rose McGowan, she realized how big the role was.
Death Proof uses various unconventional techniques to make the film appear more like those that were shown in grindhouse theaters in the 1970s. Throughout the feature, the film was intentionally damaged to make it look like many of the exploitation films of the 1970s
which were generally shipped around from theater to theater and usually ended up in bad shape. A notable example of one of the film's deliberate jump-cuts is seen at the beginning, when the title Quentin Tarantino's Thunderbolt is shown for a split second before abruptly being replaced by an insert with the title Death Proof, appearing in white lettering on a black background. (Exploitation films were commonly retitled, especially if they received bad press on initial release.)
On the editing of Death Proof, Tarantino stated “There is half-an-hour’s difference between my Death Proof and what is playing in Grindhouse. […] I was like a brutish American exploitation distributor who cut the movie down almost to the point of incoherence. I cut it down to the bone and took all the fat off it to see if it could still exist, and it worked.” An extended, 127-minute version of Death Proof was screened in competition for the Palme d'Or
at the 60th Cannes Film Festival
. Tarantino is quoted as saying “It works great as a double feature, but I'm just as excited if not more excited about actually having the world see Death Proof unfiltered. […] It will be the first time everyone sees Death Proof by itself, including me.”
soundtrack. Both albums featured dialogue excerpts from the film.
as part of a double feature
under the title Grindhouse. Both films were released separately in extended versions internationally, approximately two months apart. The additional material includes scenes that were replaced in the American theatrical release version with a “missing reel” title card, such as the lap dance
scene. A total of 27 minutes were added for this version. One of the first screenings of Death Proof was made at the Edinburgh International Film Festival
on August 20, 2007, with star Zoë Bell attending the screenings. The Dutch poster artwork for Death Proof claimed that the film would feature “coming attractions” from Robert Rodriguez. In the United Kingdom, Death Proof was released on September 21, 2007, and in Australia on November 1, 2007. Explaining the split in foreign releases, Tarantino stated “Especially if they were dealing with non-English language countries, they don’t really have this tradition … not only do they not really know what a grindhouse is, they don’t even have the double feature tradition. So you are kind of trying to teach us something else.”
based on 38 reviews.
Sally Menke
, trailers, and an international poster gallery. On December 16, 2008, a BD
release of identical content followed.
A Japanese DVD release has the films Grindhouse, Death Proof and Planet Terror, with extras and fake trailers, in a six-DVD box set (English with optional Japanese subtitles). Death Proof was also released as a German HD DVD
, believed to be the last film published in the now-defunct format.
The Grindhouse double feature was eventually released on Blu-ray Disc in October 2010.
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
. The film centers on a psychopathic
Psychopathy
Psychopathy is a mental disorder characterized primarily by a lack of empathy and remorse, shallow emotions, egocentricity, and deceptiveness. Psychopaths are highly prone to antisocial behavior and abusive treatment of others, and are very disproportionately responsible for violent crime...
stunt man who stalks young women before murdering them in staged car accidents using his "death-proof" stunt car. The film pays homage
Homage
Homage is a show or demonstration of respect or dedication to someone or something, sometimes by simple declaration but often by some more oblique reference, artistic or poetic....
to exploitation
Exploitation film
Exploitation film is a type of film that is promoted by "exploiting" often lurid subject matter. The term "exploitation" is common in film marketing, used for all types of films to mean promotion or advertising. These films then need something to exploit, such as a big star, special effects, sex,...
, muscle car
Muscle car
Muscle car is a term used to refer to a variety of high-performance automobiles. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines muscle cars as "any of a group of American-made 2-door sports coupes with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving." Usually, a large V8 engine is fitted in a...
s, and slasher film
Slasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
genres of the 1970s, and stars Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
, Rosario Dawson
Rosario Dawson
Rosario Isabel Dawson is an American actress, singer, and writer. She has appeared in films such as Kids, Men in Black II, 25th Hour, Sin City, Clerks II, Rent, Death Proof, The Rundown, Eagle Eye, Alexander, Seven Pounds, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Unstoppable.-Early...
, Vanessa Ferlito
Vanessa Ferlito
-Personal life:An Italian American, Ferlito was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her father died when she was three. Her mother and stepfather own a hair salon in Brooklyn...
, Jordan Ladd
Jordan Ladd
Jordan Elizabeth Ladd is an American actress. She began taking small film roles before landing her first high-profile role in Never Been Kissed . Since then, Ladd has portrayed supporting as well as lead roles in films, including Cabin Fever , Club Dread , and Death Proof...
, Rose McGowan
Rose McGowan
Rose Arianna McGowan is an actress and singer. She is known for her role as Paige Matthews in The WB Television Network supernatural drama series Charmed. She played Ann-Margret alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Elvis Presley in the CBS mini-series Elvis...
, Sydney Tamiia Poitier
Sydney Tamiia Poitier
Sydney Tamiia Poitier is an American actress known for her work on television.- Biography :Sydney is the daughter of famous Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier....
, Tracie Thoms
Tracie Thoms
Tracie Nicole Thoms is an American television, film, and stage actress. She is best known for her roles in Rent, Cold Case, The Devil Wears Prada, Death Proof, and the short-lived Fox television series Wonderfalls....
, Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Mary Elizabeth Winstead is an American actress. She is best known for her scream queen roles in the horror films Final Destination 3, Black Christmas, Death Proof, and The Thing...
and Zoë Bell
Zoë Bell
Zoë E. Bell is a stuntwoman and actress from New Zealand. Some of her most notable stunt work includes doubling for Lucy Lawless on Xena: Warrior Princess and for Uma Thurman in Kill Bill. As an actress, she has appeared both on television and in feature films and also starred in the web series...
as herself.
Death Proof was released theatrically in the United States as part of a double feature
Double feature
The double feature, also known as a double bill, was a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatre managers would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown.The double feature, also known as...
with Robert Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez
Robert Anthony Rodríguez is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician. He shoots and produces many of his films in his native Texas and Mexico. He has directed such films as Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, The Faculty, Spy Kids, Sin City, Planet...
’s Planet Terror
Planet Terror
Planet Terror is a 2007 American action horror film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, about a group of people attempting to survive an onslaught of zombie-like creatures as they feud with a military unit, including a go-go dancer searching for a way to use her "useless talents." The film, a...
under the collective title Grindhouse in order to replicate the experience of viewing exploitation film
Exploitation film
Exploitation film is a type of film that is promoted by "exploiting" often lurid subject matter. The term "exploitation" is common in film marketing, used for all types of films to mean promotion or advertising. These films then need something to exploit, such as a big star, special effects, sex,...
double features in a "grindhouse
Grindhouse
A grindhouse is an American term for a theater that mainly shows exploitation films. It is named after the defunct burlesque theaters located on 42nd Street in New York City, where 'bump n' grind' dancing and striptease were featured.- History :...
" theater. The films were released separately outside the United States and on DVD, with Death Proof going on sale in the United States on September 18, 2007.
Plot
Three friends -– Arlene (Vanessa FerlitoVanessa Ferlito
-Personal life:An Italian American, Ferlito was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her father died when she was three. Her mother and stepfather own a hair salon in Brooklyn...
), Shanna (Jordan Ladd
Jordan Ladd
Jordan Elizabeth Ladd is an American actress. She began taking small film roles before landing her first high-profile role in Never Been Kissed . Since then, Ladd has portrayed supporting as well as lead roles in films, including Cabin Fever , Club Dread , and Death Proof...
), and radio DJ “Jungle” Julia Lucai (Sydney Tamiia Poitier
Sydney Tamiia Poitier
Sydney Tamiia Poitier is an American actress known for her work on television.- Biography :Sydney is the daughter of famous Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier....
) -– drive down Colorado Street in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, on their way to celebrate Jungle Julia's birthday. While bar-crawling, Julia reveals that she made a radio announcement earlier that morning, offering a free lap dance
Lap dance
A lap dance is a type of sex work performed in some strip clubs in which a naked or topless dancer performs an erotic dance either in immediate contact with a seated patron, or within a very short distance. With full-contact lap dances, the stripper may engage in non-penetrative sexual contact...
from Arlene in return for addressing her as "Butterfly," buying her a drink, and reciting a segment of the poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is a poem written in 1922 by Robert Frost, and published in 1923 in his New Hampshire volume. Imagery and personification are prominent in the work...
.” They are unaware they are being stalked by an aging and sadistic Hollywood stunt double
Stunt double
A stunt double is a type of body double, specifically a skilled replacement used for dangerous film or video sequences, in movies and television , and for other sophisticated stunts...
, “Stuntman” Mike (Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
). After trailing them to a bar, Mike follows the instructions from the radio announcement to get the lap-dance. Despite some initial trepidation, due to having seen Mike's car earlier in the day, and asking if he has been following them, Mike puts her at ease (partly by saying she's chicken), and Arlene agrees to the dance.
The three women prepare to depart, while Pam (Rose McGowan
Rose McGowan
Rose Arianna McGowan is an actress and singer. She is known for her role as Paige Matthews in The WB Television Network supernatural drama series Charmed. She played Ann-Margret alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Elvis Presley in the CBS mini-series Elvis...
), another intoxicated female bar patron, has been impressed by Mike and accepts a ride home from him, considering him to be teetotaler
Teetotalism
Teetotalism refers to either the practice of or the promotion of complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages. A person who practices teetotalism is called a teetotaler or is simply said to be teetotal...
and a safe ride. Mike takes Pam to his matte black 1971 Chevy Nova, which is a stunt car rigged with a safety cage inside. As Mike drives Pam off, it becomes clear he is trying to kill her, reminding her that his car is "death proof", but only to the driver. Since the passenger side has no safety restraints at all, he kills her by driving recklessly and then slamming on the brakes, which smashes her skull into the dashboard. Mike speeds off, leaving behind photos he took earlier of the three other women, so as not to get caught with any evidence. He eventually comes on their car on an empty road, and drives at full speed directly into it. The force of the impact kills all four women. (There was an older lady driver in the car known as Lena Frank, who they met up with earlier at the bar.)
The local hospital finds Mike with only minor injuries, and asserts that since Mike was sober while the four women were intoxicated, he cannot be charged. This concerns Texas Ranger
Texas Ranger Division
The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...
Earl McGraw
Earl McGraw
Earl McGraw is a fictional character played by Michael Parks. He appears in several feature films by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino.-Overview:...
, who is convinced Mike is guilty but cannot investigate without evidence. McGraw warns Mike that should this happen again, he'd better "make damn sure" it was not in Texas.
Fourteen months later, three young women, Abernathy Ross (Rosario Dawson
Rosario Dawson
Rosario Isabel Dawson is an American actress, singer, and writer. She has appeared in films such as Kids, Men in Black II, 25th Hour, Sin City, Clerks II, Rent, Death Proof, The Rundown, Eagle Eye, Alexander, Seven Pounds, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Unstoppable.-Early...
), Kim Mathis (Tracie Thoms
Tracie Thoms
Tracie Nicole Thoms is an American television, film, and stage actress. She is best known for her roles in Rent, Cold Case, The Devil Wears Prada, Death Proof, and the short-lived Fox television series Wonderfalls....
), and Lee Montgomery (Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Mary Elizabeth Winstead is an American actress. She is best known for her scream queen roles in the horror films Final Destination 3, Black Christmas, Death Proof, and The Thing...
), are traveling through Lebanon, Tennessee
Lebanon, Tennessee
Lebanon is a city in Wilson County, Tennessee, in the United States. The population was 20,235 at the 2000 census. It serves as the county seat of Wilson County. Lebanon is located in middle Tennessee, approximately 25 miles east of downtown Nashville. Local residents have also called it...
. They stop briefly at a convenience store, where Mike is resting in his new ride, a 1969 Dodge Charger
Dodge Charger
The Dodge Charger is an American automobile manufactured by the Dodge division of Chrysler. There have been several different Dodge vehicles, built on three different platforms and sizes, all bearing the Charger nameplate...
, and is intrigued by the women. The women, unaware of Mike, pick up their friend, stuntwoman Zoë Bell
Zoë Bell
Zoë E. Bell is a stuntwoman and actress from New Zealand. Some of her most notable stunt work includes doubling for Lucy Lawless on Xena: Warrior Princess and for Uma Thurman in Kill Bill. As an actress, she has appeared both on television and in feature films and also starred in the web series...
(who is playing herself), from the airport. Zoe informs them she wants to test-drive a white 1970 Dodge Challenger
Dodge Challenger
The Dodge Challenger is the name of three different generations of automobiles marketed by the Dodge division of Chrysler.The first generation Dodge Challenger was a pony car built from 1970 to 1974, using the Chrysler E platform and sharing major components with the Plymouth Barracuda. The second...
, exactly the same type of car from the 1971 film, Vanishing Point, which just happens to be nearby. After they get to the car's location, Abernathy tries to convince the owner, Jasper, to let them "test drive" it alone. He refuses at first, but after Abernathy tells him Lee will stay behind (under the false pretense that they are in town to film a porno, of which Lee is the star), he agrees. In the process of all this, Zoe reveals to Abernathy and Kim that she has an ulterior motive in taking the car; she wants to play a game called "Ship's Mast", where she rides on the car's hood using only leather belts to hold onto, while Kim drives it at high speeds.
The three enjoy the stunt, until Mike shows up and rear ends their car at high speed. The two cars engage in a harrowing high-speed chase for a distance before they both spin out on opposite sides of the roads, and Zoe is finally thrown from the car's hood. Mike gets out to brag to the girls but Kim fires a gun, wounding him in the shoulder. As Mike gets back in the car and flees, Zoe shows that she is okay, and the three women agree to get revenge on Mike. Wounded, Mike is not able to outrun the women, and eventually his car is T-boned
Side collision
Side collisions are vehicle crashes where the side of one or more vehicles is impacted. These crashes often occur at intersections, in parking lots, when two vehicles pass on a multi-lane roadway, or when a vehicle hits a fixed object....
by the women in their car. The women pull him from the car and beat him savagely in the head until he falls unconscious. After a short credits sequence, Abernathy delivers a final axe kick to Mike's head.
Cast
- Kurt RussellKurt RussellKurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
as Stuntman Mike McKay: A sociopathic stuntman/serial killer who kills women in and with his "death proof" car. - Rosario DawsonRosario DawsonRosario Isabel Dawson is an American actress, singer, and writer. She has appeared in films such as Kids, Men in Black II, 25th Hour, Sin City, Clerks II, Rent, Death Proof, The Rundown, Eagle Eye, Alexander, Seven Pounds, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Unstoppable.-Early...
as Abernathy Ross: Make-up artist who feels that she is always excluded from the exciting things that Zoe and Kim do. - Vanessa FerlitoVanessa Ferlito-Personal life:An Italian American, Ferlito was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her father died when she was three. Her mother and stepfather own a hair salon in Brooklyn...
as Arlene / Butterfly: A close friend of Julia and Shanna, who plan to go on holiday together after spending a night out. - Jordan LaddJordan LaddJordan Elizabeth Ladd is an American actress. She began taking small film roles before landing her first high-profile role in Never Been Kissed . Since then, Ladd has portrayed supporting as well as lead roles in films, including Cabin Fever , Club Dread , and Death Proof...
as Shanna: Friend of Arlene and Julia whose father owns a lake house they are intending to use. - Rose McGowanRose McGowanRose Arianna McGowan is an actress and singer. She is known for her role as Paige Matthews in The WB Television Network supernatural drama series Charmed. She played Ann-Margret alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Elvis Presley in the CBS mini-series Elvis...
as Pam: A blonde customer at Warren's bar who needs a lift home. - Sydney Tamiia PoitierSydney Tamiia PoitierSydney Tamiia Poitier is an American actress known for her work on television.- Biography :Sydney is the daughter of famous Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier....
as Jungle Julia: Radio DJ - Zoë BellZoë BellZoë E. Bell is a stuntwoman and actress from New Zealand. Some of her most notable stunt work includes doubling for Lucy Lawless on Xena: Warrior Princess and for Uma Thurman in Kill Bill. As an actress, she has appeared both on television and in feature films and also starred in the web series...
as Zoe: A stuntwoman from New Zealand who visits Abernathy, Kim and Lee on their days off from filming. - Tracie ThomsTracie ThomsTracie Nicole Thoms is an American television, film, and stage actress. She is best known for her roles in Rent, Cold Case, The Devil Wears Prada, Death Proof, and the short-lived Fox television series Wonderfalls....
as Kim Mathis: A foulmouthed stuntwoman and close friend of Zoe, Abernathy and Lee. - Mary Elizabeth WinsteadMary Elizabeth WinsteadMary Elizabeth Winstead is an American actress. She is best known for her scream queen roles in the horror films Final Destination 3, Black Christmas, Death Proof, and The Thing...
as Lee Montgomery: An upcoming actress - Jonathan LoughranJonathan LoughranJonathan Loughran is an American actor who is in most Happy Madison films with his friend Adam Sandler.-Filmography:* Sexbomb* Bulletproof* The Waterboy* Big Daddy* Little Nicky...
as Jasper: The owner of the Dodge Challenger. The character also appears in Kill Bill Volume 1Kill BillKill Bill Volume 1 is a 2003 action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is the first of two volumes that were theatrically released several months apart, the second volume being Kill Bill Volume 2....
as the man who tried to rape Beatrix Kiddo in the hospital. - Michael ParksMichael ParksMichael Parks is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in almost fifty films and has made frequent TV appearances, but is probably best known for his work in recent years with Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, and Kevin Smith as well as the 1969 television series Then Came...
as Earl McGrawEarl McGrawEarl McGraw is a fictional character played by Michael Parks. He appears in several feature films by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino.-Overview:...
: Texas Ranger (also the same Texas Ranger in the Kill Bill series, From Dusk till DawnFrom Dusk Till DawnFrom Dusk till Dawn is a 1996 horror film directed by Robert Rodriguez and written by Quentin Tarantino. The movie stars Harvey Keitel, George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino and Juliette Lewis.-Plot:...
and Planet TerrorPlanet TerrorPlanet Terror is a 2007 American action horror film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, about a group of people attempting to survive an onslaught of zombie-like creatures as they feud with a military unit, including a go-go dancer searching for a way to use her "useless talents." The film, a...
). - Monica StaggsMonica StaggsMonica Staggs is an American stuntwoman and actress.-Early life:Staggs was born in Boulder, Colorado, the oldest daughter of Thomas Staggs, an architect, and Nova, a teacher. She enjoyed frequent trips to Casa Bonita and developed a lifelong, diehard love for the Denver Broncos...
as Lena Frank: A drug-dealing friend of Julia, Shanna, and Arlene. - Marley SheltonMarley SheltonMarley Eve Shelton is an American film and television actress.Shelton began her acting career in her late teens, and appeared in several 1990s' television movies and shows. She made her film debut in the critically acclaimed drama Grand Canyon , and was cast in the films The Sandlot , Nixon , and...
as Dr. Dakota Block: An emergency medicine specialist and Sheriff Earl McGraw's daughter. Like her father, Block is developed more extensively in Planet TerrorPlanet TerrorPlanet Terror is a 2007 American action horror film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, about a group of people attempting to survive an onslaught of zombie-like creatures as they feud with a military unit, including a go-go dancer searching for a way to use her "useless talents." The film, a...
. - Quentin TarantinoQuentin TarantinoQuentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
as Warren: The owner of the bar.
Production
The story for Death Proof developed from Quentin Tarantino's fascination for the way stuntmen would “death-proof” stunt cars so a driver could survive horrific, high-speed crashes and collisions. This inspired Tarantino to create a slasher filmSlasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
featuring a deranged stuntman who stalks and murders sexy young women with his “death-proof” car. Tarantino remembers, “I realized I couldn't do a straight slasher film, because with the exception of women-in-prison films
Women in prison films
Women in prison film is a subgenre of exploitation film that began in the late 1960s and continues to the present day.Their stories feature imprisoned women who are subjected to sexual and physical abuse, typically by sadistic male or female prison wardens and guards...
, there is no other genre quite as rigid. And if you break that up, you aren't really doing it anymore. It's inorganic, so I realized—let me take the structure of a slasher film and just do what I do. My version is going to be fucked up and disjointed, but it seemingly uses the structure of a slasher film, hopefully against you.” According to Robert Rodriguez, “[Tarantino] had an idea and a complete vision for it right away when he first talked about it. He started to tell me the story and said, ‘It’s got this death-proof car in it.’ I said, ‘You have to call it Death Proof.’ I helped title the movie, but that’s it.” Of the car chases, Tarantino stated, “CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
for car stunts doesn’t make any sense to me—how is that supposed to be impressive? […] I don't think there have been any good car chases since I started making films in ’92—to me, the last terrific car chase was in Terminator 2. And Final Destination 2
Final Destination 2
Final Destination 2 is a 2003 supernatural horror film and the sequel to the 2000 film Final Destination and was directed by David R. Ellis. It was written by Jeffrey Reddick, Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber. The film stars Ali Larter, A. J. Cook, Michael Landes and Tony Todd...
had a magnificent car action piece. In between that, not a lot. Every time a stunt happens, there’s twelve cameras and they use every angle for Avid editing
Non-linear editing system
In video, a non-linear editing system is a video editing or audio editing digital audio workstation system which can perform random access non-destructive editing on the source material...
, but I don’t feel it in my stomach. It’s just action.”
Quentin Tarantino acted as cinematographer
Cinematography
Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
on Death Proof. Although Robert Rodriguez had previously worked as the cinematographer on six of his own feature films, Death Proof marked Tarantino's first credit as a cinematographer.
Tarantino attempted to cast John Travolta
John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...
, Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe is an American film, stage, and voice actor, and a founding member of the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group...
, John Malkovich
John Malkovich
John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...
, Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
, Ron Perlman
Ron Perlman
Ronald N. "Ron" Perlman is an American television, film and voice over actor. He is known for having played Vincent in the TV series Beauty and the Beast , a Deathstroke figure known as Slade in the animated series Teen Titans, Clarence "Clay" Morrow in Sons of Anarchy, the comic book character...
, Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
, Kal Penn
Kal Penn
Kalpen Suresh Modi , best known by his stage name Kal Penn, is an American film and television actor, producer, and civil servant....
and Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone
Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
in Death Proof, but none were able to work due to prior commitments. In an interview, Tarantino revealed that he decided to cast Kurt Russell
Kurt Russell
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American television and film actor. His first acting roles were as a child in television series, including a lead role in the Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters...
as the killer stunt driver because “for people of my generation, he's a true hero…but now, there's a whole audience out there that doesn't know what Kurt Russell can do. When I open the newspaper and see an ad that says ‘Kurt Russell in Dreamer
Dreamer (2005 film)
Dreamer is a 2005 American family drama film starring Kurt Russell and Dakota Fanning, inspired by the true story of an injured Thoroughbred racehorse named Mariah's Storm. It marked the directing and screenwriting debut of John Gatins.-Plot:...
,’ or ‘Kurt Russell in Miracle
Miracle (film)
Miracle is a 2004 American biographical sports film about the United States men's hockey team, led by head coach Herb Brooks, that won the gold medal in the 1980 Winter Olympics. The USA team's victory over the heavily favored Soviet team in the medal round was dubbed the Miracle on Ice...
,’ I'm not disparaging these movies, but I'm thinking: When is Kurt Russell going to be a badass again?” Eli Roth
Eli Roth
Eli Raphael Roth is an American film director, producer, writer and actor. He is known for his role as Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds for which he won both a SAG Award and a BFCA Critic's Choice Award...
, Planet Terror leading actress Rose McGowan and Tarantino himself appear in small roles.
After being impressed by stuntwoman Zoë Bell, who worked as Uma Thurman's stunt double in Tarantino's earlier film Kill Bill
Kill Bill
Kill Bill Volume 1 is a 2003 action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is the first of two volumes that were theatrically released several months apart, the second volume being Kill Bill Volume 2....
, Tarantino wrote her the leading female role. This was her first on-screen acting which Bell initially thought was going to be a cameo role. The character Zoë was based on the stuntwoman herself and includes small stories based around her real life experiences, some with Tarantino. When her name was featured on the film posters opposite Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson and Rose McGowan, she realized how big the role was.
Death Proof uses various unconventional techniques to make the film appear more like those that were shown in grindhouse theaters in the 1970s. Throughout the feature, the film was intentionally damaged to make it look like many of the exploitation films of the 1970s
1970s in film
The decade of the 1970s in film involved many significant films.----Contents1 World cinema2 Hollywood3 List of films: # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.4 Events-World cinema:...
which were generally shipped around from theater to theater and usually ended up in bad shape. A notable example of one of the film's deliberate jump-cuts is seen at the beginning, when the title Quentin Tarantino's Thunderbolt is shown for a split second before abruptly being replaced by an insert with the title Death Proof, appearing in white lettering on a black background. (Exploitation films were commonly retitled, especially if they received bad press on initial release.)
On the editing of Death Proof, Tarantino stated “There is half-an-hour’s difference between my Death Proof and what is playing in Grindhouse. […] I was like a brutish American exploitation distributor who cut the movie down almost to the point of incoherence. I cut it down to the bone and took all the fat off it to see if it could still exist, and it worked.” An extended, 127-minute version of Death Proof was screened in competition for the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
at the 60th Cannes Film Festival
2007 Cannes Film Festival
The 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the sixtieth, ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights opened the festival, and Denys Arcand's The Age of Ignorance closed...
. Tarantino is quoted as saying “It works great as a double feature, but I'm just as excited if not more excited about actually having the world see Death Proof unfiltered. […] It will be the first time everyone sees Death Proof by itself, including me.”
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for Death Proof consists entirely of non-original music, including excerpts from the scores of other films. It was released on April 3, 2007, alongside the Planet TerrorPlanet Terror (soundtrack)
The soundtrack to Planet Terror was released on April 3, 2007 from Varèse Sarabande, though the score managed to sell on iTunes a week early. Rodriguez revealed at Comic-Con 2006 that inspiration for his score came from music composed by John Carpenter...
soundtrack. Both albums featured dialogue excerpts from the film.
Release
Death Proof was released in the United States and Canada alongside Planet TerrorPlanet Terror
Planet Terror is a 2007 American action horror film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, about a group of people attempting to survive an onslaught of zombie-like creatures as they feud with a military unit, including a go-go dancer searching for a way to use her "useless talents." The film, a...
as part of a double feature
Double feature
The double feature, also known as a double bill, was a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatre managers would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown.The double feature, also known as...
under the title Grindhouse. Both films were released separately in extended versions internationally, approximately two months apart. The additional material includes scenes that were replaced in the American theatrical release version with a “missing reel” title card, such as the lap dance
Lap dance
A lap dance is a type of sex work performed in some strip clubs in which a naked or topless dancer performs an erotic dance either in immediate contact with a seated patron, or within a very short distance. With full-contact lap dances, the stripper may engage in non-penetrative sexual contact...
scene. A total of 27 minutes were added for this version. One of the first screenings of Death Proof was made at the Edinburgh International Film Festival
Edinburgh International Film Festival
The Edinburgh International Film Festival is an annual fortnight of cinema screenings and related events taking place each June. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival...
on August 20, 2007, with star Zoë Bell attending the screenings. The Dutch poster artwork for Death Proof claimed that the film would feature “coming attractions” from Robert Rodriguez. In the United Kingdom, Death Proof was released on September 21, 2007, and in Australia on November 1, 2007. Explaining the split in foreign releases, Tarantino stated “Especially if they were dealing with non-English language countries, they don’t really have this tradition … not only do they not really know what a grindhouse is, they don’t even have the double feature tradition. So you are kind of trying to teach us something else.”
Critical reception
Death Proof has received a mixed reception and holds a 64 percent on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
based on 38 reviews.
Home media
Death Proof was released on DVD in the United States on September 18, 2007 in a two-disc special edition featuring the extended version of the film, documentaries on the casting of the film, the various muscle cars and Tarantino's relationship with editorFilm editing
Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...
Sally Menke
Sally Menke
Sally JoAnne Menke was an American film editor with more than 20 film credits since 1984. She had a long-time collaboration with director Quentin Tarantino, having edited all of his films...
, trailers, and an international poster gallery. On December 16, 2008, a BD
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
release of identical content followed.
A Japanese DVD release has the films Grindhouse, Death Proof and Planet Terror, with extras and fake trailers, in a six-DVD box set (English with optional Japanese subtitles). Death Proof was also released as a German HD DVD
HD DVD
HD DVD is a discontinued high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format...
, believed to be the last film published in the now-defunct format.
The Grindhouse double feature was eventually released on Blu-ray Disc in October 2010.
See also
- List of American films of 2007
- Grindhouse
- Planet TerrorPlanet TerrorPlanet Terror is a 2007 American action horror film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, about a group of people attempting to survive an onslaught of zombie-like creatures as they feud with a military unit, including a go-go dancer searching for a way to use her "useless talents." The film, a...
- MacheteMachete (film)Machete is a 2010 action film directed by Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis. The "Machete" character originates from the 2001 Spy Kids film, written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. This film is an expansion of a fake trailer that was released together with Rodriguez's and Quentin Tarantino's...