Finding Forrester (2000)

Family isn't always what you're born with— sometimes it's the people you find, sometimes it's the people who find you. From Oscar®-nominated director Gus Van Sant comes Finding Forrester, an uplifting story about the unusual dynamic between an isolated author and the confident teenager who changes his life.

Through their unique, occasionally contentious alliance, Jamal navigates a new world outside of the South Bronx home he shares with his loving mother and brother. Forrester is Jamal's unlikely guide on his journey into the strange, strait-laced academic community in which he must now prove himself as a writer.

"Forrester brings out Jamal's intelligence, and Jamal brings Forrester back into life," says Rob Brown. "They need each other in a way they never imagined."

"This is just fantastic," says Connery, "the idea of an aging, cranky character becoming the mentor and friend of a young boy, a black teenager."

Forrester's apartment, full of dusty stacks of classic tomes and the furious sound of a clicking typewriter, quickly becomes the place where the two writers meet, laugh, argue, learn and dedicate themselves to the one thing that irrevocably binds them together— love for the written word. Under Forrester's tutelage, Jamal injects new passion into his work and enters the school's writing contest. Forrester, alongside his youthful protégé, finds himself reawakening to the outside world he's shut out for 40 years.

Ultimately, both men defy the assumptions they initially made about one another, assumptions about race and age, history and ability.

"This is a great event for Jamal," Brown says. "No one has ever read his work with a critical eye before Forrester. It's like a dream, having someone he respects taking him seriously as a writer."

But the integrity of their friendship, as well as each man's loyalty, is tested when a charge of plagiarism is leveled against Jamal by autocratic Professor Crawford (Oscar®-winner F. Murray Abraham). Jamal's academic and athletic future is jeopardized when he is left alone to defend himself against the powers-that-be at the school.

It comes down to a moment of truth for both men: for Jamal, a choice between following his dream or betraying a friend, and for Forrester, a decision to remain closed off or to look at the world through new eyes. "You need to know that while I knew so very early that you would realize your dreams," Forrester later writes to Jamal, "I never imagined I would once again realize my own."

Finding Forrester, a Columbia Pictures presentation, is a Laurence Mark Production in association with Fountainbridge Films, directed by Gus Van Sant and produced by Laurence Mark, Sean Connery and Rhonda Tollefson. The film is executive produced by Dany Wolf and Jonathan King. The original screenplay is by Mike Rich. The creative team includes director of photography Harris Savides, production designer Jane Musky, editor Valdis Oskarsdottir and Academy Award®-winning costume designer Ann Roth. Oscar®-winner Anna Paquin, Busta Rhymes, Zane Copeland, Jr., Fly Williams III and Michael Nouri round out the cast. Finding Forrester is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for brief strong language and some sexual references.

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