Wayward Son
Encyclopedia
Wayward Son is an America
n film
drama
about justice and redemption in rural Georgia
during the Great Depression, starring Harry Connick, Jr.
and Pete Postlethwaite
.
), who is released from a prison work camp in Louisiana
, 1936, after being wrongly imprisoned for eleven years. He heads back to Georgia, only to find that most people are keen to keep him down. He begins working for a plantation owner (Walton Goggins
) and rents a shed from a farmer (Pete Postlethwaite
) with two daughters (Patricia Clarkson
and Vinessa Shaw
). After witnessing the murder
of a black worker at the hands of a drunken white racist boss, Jesse is forced to prove his innocence
, so injustice will not happen again.
including Mansfield
and the Southeastern Railway Museum
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
n 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...
drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
about justice and redemption in rural Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
during the Great Depression, starring Harry Connick, Jr.
Harry Connick, Jr.
Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr. is an American singer, big-band leader/conductor, pianist, actor, and composer. He has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top 60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with...
and Pete Postlethwaite
Pete Postlethwaite
Peter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE, was an English stage, film and television actor.After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr...
.
Plot
The movie tells the story of a southern man, Jesse Banks Rhodes (Harry Connick, Jr.Harry Connick, Jr.
Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr. is an American singer, big-band leader/conductor, pianist, actor, and composer. He has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top 60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with...
), who is released from a prison work camp in Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, 1936, after being wrongly imprisoned for eleven years. He heads back to Georgia, only to find that most people are keen to keep him down. He begins working for a plantation owner (Walton Goggins
Walton Goggins
Walton Sanders Goggins, Jr. is an American actor best known for his roles on the FX Networks series The Shield and Justified, portraying Detective Shane Vendrell and Boyd Crowder, respectively. He is also known for his character roles in the films Miracle at St. Anna and Predators...
) and rents a shed from a farmer (Pete Postlethwaite
Pete Postlethwaite
Peter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE, was an English stage, film and television actor.After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr...
) with two daughters (Patricia Clarkson
Patricia Clarkson
Patricia Davies Clarkson is an American actress. After studying drama on the East Coast, Clarkson launched her acting career in 1985, and has worked steadily in both film and television. She twice won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in Six Feet Under...
and Vinessa Shaw
Vinessa Shaw
Vinessa Elizabeth Shaw is an American actress and model. Shaw has starred in numerous motion pictures since the early 1990s, and is probably most well known for her performances in Disney's 1993 Halloween film Hocus Pocus, Ladybugs, the 2006 remake of Wes Craven's horror picture The Hills Have...
). After witnessing the murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
of a black worker at the hands of a drunken white racist boss, Jesse is forced to prove his innocence
Innocence
Innocence is a term used to indicate a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, sin, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence refers to the lack of legal guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime.-Symbolism:...
, so injustice will not happen again.
Settings
Production of the film began Oct. 26, 1998 in Nashville. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117481541.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 The movie was filmed at various locations in GeorgiaGeorgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
including Mansfield
Mansfield, Georgia
Mansfield is a city in Newton County, Georgia, United States. The population was 392 at the 2000 census. As of the 2004 census, the city had a population of 476.-Geography:Mansfield is located at ....
and the Southeastern Railway Museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
.
Cast
- Harry Connick, Jr.Harry Connick, Jr.Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr. is an American singer, big-band leader/conductor, pianist, actor, and composer. He has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top 60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with...
- Jesse Banks Rhodes - Pete PostlethwaitePete PostlethwaitePeter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE, was an English stage, film and television actor.After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr...
- Ben Alexander - Patricia ClarksonPatricia ClarksonPatricia Davies Clarkson is an American actress. After studying drama on the East Coast, Clarkson launched her acting career in 1985, and has worked steadily in both film and television. She twice won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in Six Feet Under...
- Wesley - Vinessa ShawVinessa ShawVinessa Elizabeth Shaw is an American actress and model. Shaw has starred in numerous motion pictures since the early 1990s, and is probably most well known for her performances in Disney's 1993 Halloween film Hocus Pocus, Ladybugs, the 2006 remake of Wes Craven's horror picture The Hills Have...
- Cordelia - Walton GogginsWalton GogginsWalton Sanders Goggins, Jr. is an American actor best known for his roles on the FX Networks series The Shield and Justified, portraying Detective Shane Vendrell and Boyd Crowder, respectively. He is also known for his character roles in the films Miracle at St. Anna and Predators...
- Afemo Omilami - Horace
- David Pickens - Warden
- John Bennes - Lawyer
- Stacie Richards Dail - young crying woman
- David de Vries
- Michael GastonMichael GastonMichael Gaston is an American film and television actor. He played agent Quinn on the show Prison Break. He appeared as Gray Anderson on the CBS drama series Jericho. He also appeared in the first season of The Sopranos as a compulsive gambler in trouble with Tony...
- Edgar - Rodney L. James - George
- Laura Sametz - Mrs. Blessing
- Ron Clinton SmithRon Clinton Smith-Filmography:*Life as We Know It *Lottery Ticket * The Joneses *Hallmark Hall of Fame *The Family That Preys * The Mist *We Are Marshall *Broken Bridges *One Tree Hill*Warm Springs...
- Vernon - Haviland Stillwell - Lila
- Judson Vaughn - station manager
- Tim Ware - foreman
Trivia
- Wayward Son has in October, 2006, a number of screenings at the Heartland Film FestivalHeartland Film FestivalThe Heartland Film Festival is a film festival held each October in Indianapolis, Indiana. First held in 1992, its goal is to "recognize and honor filmmakers whose work explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life."In May 2007, Heartland...
. http://www.heartlandfilmfestival.org/2006/movie_view.aspx?id=278
- As research for his role as Jesse Banks Rhodes, Connick spent two days in solitarySolitary confinementSolitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...
at the Louisiana State PenitentiaryLouisiana State PenitentiaryThe Louisiana State Penitentiary is a prison farm in Louisiana operated by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. It is the largest maximum security prison in the United States with 5,000 offenders and 1,800 staff...
Angola, even wearing leg irons and handcuffsHandcuffsHandcuffs are restraint devices designed to secure an individual's wrists close together. They comprise two parts, linked together by a chain, a hinge, or rigid bar. Each half has a rotating arm which engages with a ratchet that prevents it from being opened once closed around a person's wrist...
during his stay. http://www.prisonactivist.org/pipermail/prisonact-list/2000-September/003126.html
- Wayward Son was first called Letters From a Wayward Son.
- Patricia Clarkson and Vinessa Shaw's roles as Wesley and Cordelia, had reportedly been designated for Embeth DavidtzEmbeth DavidtzEmbeth Jean Davidtz is an American-born actress who spent much of her early life in South Africa.-Early life:Davidtz was born in Lafayette, Indiana, while her father was studying chemical engineering at Purdue University. Her parents, John and Jean, later moved to Trenton, New Jersey, and then...
and Tara ReidTara ReidTara Donna Reid is an American actress. Reid has acted on television shows such as Saved By The Bell: The New Class, Days of our Lives, California Dreams, and Scrubs....
.
- Screened at the Toronto Film Festival in September 1999.
- Produced by: Cary Brokaw/Avenue Pictures Productions http://www.avepix.com/pr11.html, Maccabee Productions, Steve Tisch Company
- International rights will be licensed by Arthur Kananack & Associates (AKA Movies) http://akamoviesinckananack.visualnet.com/
- This movieFilmA 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 delisted at $0 on April 29, 2002 since the stock was wrapped, but had no distribution. - Letters From A Wayward Son, Wayward Son Productions http://www.waywardson.net/ 1998: Budget $4.5 million http://www.ozonline.tv/Georgia/Oz/Oz7-5/featuresidebar.shtml
- An interview where the director Randall Harris discusses the film with Harry Connick Jr., including a few clips from the movie are featured at the Film-Fest: Issue 3 - Toronto DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0500201/ - Animal Actors http://www.animal-actors.com/pressrelease.htm supplied talent on horseback, horses, mules, rattlesnakes, bloodhounds, and German shepherds.
Awards and nominations
- Crystal Heart Award 1999, to producer Cary Brokaw. At the Heartland Film FestivalHeartland Film FestivalThe Heartland Film Festival is a film festival held each October in Indianapolis, Indiana. First held in 1992, its goal is to "recognize and honor filmmakers whose work explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life."In May 2007, Heartland...
.