Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story
Encyclopedia
Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story is a (2004
) TV-movie starring Jamie Foxx
and Lynn Whitfield
. The film
was directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall
. Other cast members in the film include Lee Thompson Young
and CCH Pounder
.
street gang
, principally his life in the streets and his life in prison
. It also shows some of the work he did while incarcerated to help decrease gang violence
in the world. The film was shot in 2003 while Williams was still imprisoned. On December 13, 2005, Williams was executed by lethal injection
in California
.
After its debut at The Sundance Film Festival, the film was released in January 2004 via the FX cable network
on television and went on to become a successful venture for the network. The film was nominated for 19 different awards and won 11 of them. Among the awards the film was nominated for include American Cinema Editors
, Black Reel Awards
, Golden Globes, NAACP Image Awards, Independent Spirit Awards
, MovieGuide, Satellite Award, Screen Actors Guild
, and Writers Guild of America
. At the Golden Globes, Jamie Foxx was nominated for three performances: Redemption, Ray
and Collateral
.
Shot in 38 days during July and August 2003, all of the filming took place in Toronto (except for one full day in South Central Los Angeles and one 1/2 day of exteriors in San Francisco). The Toronto water treatment plant was used as a double for the exterior of San Quentin State Prison
. Production was almost shut down when Michael Mann refused to release Jamie Foxx from his rehearsal schedule on Collateral. But Foxx, who had met with Stanley Williams for many hours at San Quentin convinced Mann to give him a 3 week window. Jamie's performance was shot over only 3 six day shooting weeks in Toronto. During that period, Toronto suffered a massive city wide blackout
, and the production only had power from its backup generators. Jamie Foxx's dialogue coach during the shoot was a former inmate of San Quentin.
2004 in film
The year 2004 in film involved some significant events. Major releases of sequels took place. It included blockbuster films like Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Passion of the Christ, Meet the Fockers, Blade: Trinity, Spider-Man 2, Alien vs. Predator, Kill Bill Vol...
) TV-movie starring Jamie Foxx
Jamie Foxx
Eric Marlon Bishop , professionally known as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, singer-songwriter, stand-up comedian, and talk radio host. As an actor, his work in the film Ray earned him the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Actor as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a...
and Lynn Whitfield
Lynn Whitfield
Lynn Whitfield is an American actress.Whitfield began her acting career in television and theatre, before progressing to supporting roles in film. She won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special and a NAACP Image Award for her performance as Josephine Baker in the...
. The film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
was directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall
Vondie Curtis-Hall
Vondie Curtis-Hall is an American actor and film director.As an actor, he is best known for his role as Dr. Dennis Hancock on the CBS medical drama Chicago Hope created by David E. Kelley.-Early life:...
. Other cast members in the film include Lee Thompson Young
Lee Thompson Young
Lee Thompson Young is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his teenage role as the title character on the Disney Channel television series The Famous Jett Jackson...
and CCH Pounder
CCH Pounder
Carol Christine Hilaria Pounder , known professionally as C. C. H. Pounder , is a Guyanese-American film and television actress...
.
Background
The film deals with the life of Stanley Tookie Williams, the co-founding member of the CripsCrips
The Crips are a primarily, but not exclusively, African American gang. They were founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969 mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams...
street gang
Gang
A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...
, principally his life in the streets and his life in prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
. It also shows some of the work he did while incarcerated to help decrease gang violence
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
in the world. The film was shot in 2003 while Williams was still imprisoned. On December 13, 2005, Williams was executed by lethal injection
Lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of causing the immediate death of the subject. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide...
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
After its debut at The Sundance Film Festival, the film was released in January 2004 via the FX cable network
FX Networks
FX is the name of a number of related pay television channels owned by News Corporation's Fox Entertainment Group...
on television and went on to become a successful venture for the network. The film was nominated for 19 different awards and won 11 of them. Among the awards the film was nominated for include American Cinema Editors
American Cinema Editors
Founded in 1950, American Cinema Editors is an honorary society of film editors that are voted in based on the qualities of professional achievements, their education of others, and their dedication to editing itself. The society is not to be confused with an industry union, such as the I.A.T.S.E...
, Black Reel Awards
Black Reel Awards
The Black Reel Awards began in 2000 and were designed to annually recognize and celebrate the achievements of black people in feature, independent and television films...
, Golden Globes, NAACP Image Awards, Independent Spirit Awards
Independent Spirit Awards
The Independent Spirit Awards , founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films. In 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit...
, MovieGuide, Satellite Award, Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
, and Writers Guild of America
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
. At the Golden Globes, Jamie Foxx was nominated for three performances: Redemption, Ray
Ray (film)
Ray is a 2004 biographical film focusing on 30 years of the life of rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles. The independently produced film was directed by Taylor Hackford and starred Jamie Foxx in the title role; Foxx received an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance.Charles was set to...
and Collateral
Collateral (film)
Collateral is a 2004 crime thriller film starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. It was directed by Michael Mann and written by Stuart Beattie. It was Mann's first feature film to be shot mostly with high-definition cameras. Mann had previously used the format for portions of Ali and for his CBS drama...
.
Shot in 38 days during July and August 2003, all of the filming took place in Toronto (except for one full day in South Central Los Angeles and one 1/2 day of exteriors in San Francisco). The Toronto water treatment plant was used as a double for the exterior of San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men in unincorporated San Quentin, Marin County, California, United States. Opened in July 1852, it is the oldest prison in the state. California's only death row for male inmates, the largest...
. Production was almost shut down when Michael Mann refused to release Jamie Foxx from his rehearsal schedule on Collateral. But Foxx, who had met with Stanley Williams for many hours at San Quentin convinced Mann to give him a 3 week window. Jamie's performance was shot over only 3 six day shooting weeks in Toronto. During that period, Toronto suffered a massive city wide blackout
Northeast Blackout of 2003
The Northeast blackout of 2003 was a widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Ontario, Canada on Thursday, August 14, 2003, just before 4:10 p.m....
, and the production only had power from its backup generators. Jamie Foxx's dialogue coach during the shoot was a former inmate of San Quentin.
Cast
- Jamie FoxxJamie FoxxEric Marlon Bishop , professionally known as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, singer-songwriter, stand-up comedian, and talk radio host. As an actor, his work in the film Ray earned him the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Actor as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a...
... Stan 'Tookie' Williams - Lynn WhitfieldLynn WhitfieldLynn Whitfield is an American actress.Whitfield began her acting career in television and theatre, before progressing to supporting roles in film. She won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special and a NAACP Image Award for her performance as Josephine Baker in the...
... Barbara Becnel - Lee Thompson YoungLee Thompson YoungLee Thompson Young is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his teenage role as the title character on the Disney Channel television series The Famous Jett Jackson...
... Charles Becnel - Brenden Jefferson ... Young Stan Williams
- Brenda Bazinet ... Barbara's Agent
- Wes Williams ... Tony Bogard
- Greg Ellwand ... Prison Chief
- CCH PounderCCH PounderCarol Christine Hilaria Pounder , known professionally as C. C. H. Pounder , is a Guyanese-American film and television actress...
... Winnie Mandela - Barbara Barnes-Hopkins ... Mrs. Williams
- Tom Barnett ... Jim Kates
- Karl Campbell ... Deuce-Five
- Joseph Pierre ... 17yr. Old Ray Washington
- Vibert Cobham ... Buddha
- David Fraser ... Strange Man
- Kahmaara Armatrading ... Stan Williams (9-12)
- Marcus JohnsonMarcus JohnsonMichael Allen "Marcus" Johnson is an American football guard who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the second round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He played college football at Mississippi.Johnson has also been a member of the Oakland Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and...
... Monroe Kid - Garfield Williams ... Envoy
- Aaron MeeksAaron MeeksAaron Joseph Meeks is an NAACP Image Award-winning American actor. He is best known for his role as Ahmad Chadway on the Showtime television series Soul Food.-Series:...
... Banger #1 - Donovan Palma ... Banger #2
- Philip Craig ... Warden Gomez
- Rosemary DunsmoreRosemary DunsmoreRosemary Dunsmore is a Canadian TV, film and theatre, actress, born in 1953.She has starred in some well known Canadian productions, that include, The Campbells, Anne of Green Gables, Road to Avonlea and Murdoch Mysteries.-External links:...
... Warden Woodford - Shane Daly ... Associate Warden Scanlon
- Calvin Green ... Balfour Armstrong
- Alison MacLeod ... Mrs. Moore
- Hadley Sandiford ... Ancient Man
- Scott WickwareScott WickwareScott Wickware is an actor. He is mostly known for his performances in the TV Series Goosebumps, as the Haunted Mask. Over his career, he has acted in many television series and movies, most of them Canadian...
... Security Detective - John BaylissJohn BaylissJohn Bayliss was a British poet and significant literary editor of the World War II period; later in life a civil servant. He was born in Gloucestershire, and was an undergraduate at St Catharine's College, Cambridge...
... Robert Lee Morgan - Barbara GordonBarbara GordonBarbara Gordon is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by DC Comics and in related media, created by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino...
... Mrs. Morgan - Laura DeCarteret ... Morgan Spokesperson
- Reg Dreger ... Rosen Executive
- Derek Keurvorst ... Professor Keach
- Dan DuranDan Duran (broadcaster)Dan Duran is a Canadian actor and broadcaster, best known as a former co-anchor with Carla Collins of the Canadian entertainment news series ENow...
... Campus Reporter - Liz West ... Publisher #3
- J.C. Kenny ... TV Reporter #1
- Tim Gammon ... TV Reporter #2
- Stefanie Samuels ... Female Guard
- Arnold Pinnock ... Guard #1
- Ted Ludzik ... Guard #2
- Jean Daigle ... Guard #3
- Martin RoachMartin RoachMartin Jamie Roach is a Canadian actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles on Aaron Stone as T. Abner Hall and in the films Cube Zero, Diary of the Dead, and The Lookout.-Filmography:* Producing Parker as Dr...
... Guard Morales - Stephen Lee Wright ... Visiting Room Guard
- Tommy ChangTommy ChangBorn and raised in Kyong Ki Do, South Korea, Master Tommy Chang is a Korean-Canadian world-renowned 7th degree Taekwondo instructor and Grandmaster, actor, stunt performer, stunt coordinator and producer. With over 35 years of training and experience in Taekwondo, Master Chang also trained...
... Junior Guard