The Story: In the elite private school of Palmetto Grove,"O" Odin James (Phifer) is the only black student. He is an NBA hopeful, possessing the talent to go straight from high school to the pros. O is also dating the prettiest girl in school, Desi Brable (Julia). They are the envy of all their friends - having found a love that is deep, honest and pure. O's best friend, Hugo (Hartnett) is on the same basketball team and the son of Coach Duke Goulding (Sheen). Hugo has been asked by his father to look out for O, but, in reality, Hugo is seeking to destroy the very person he pretends to befriend. As his jealousy of O increases, so does Hugo's determination to bring him down. He has a plan, a dark scheme to destroy O and using every conceivable, wicked ploy, he may just do it.
 
(Director) Nelson's aim was to "make the violence of the movie very jarring and realistic and not at all glorified like the way you see violence in horror movies and things like that" "It was actually hard (playing the role of Desi) because she's not like me at all � well, I think there are aspects of me that come out in that character, but Desdemona is so trusting and loving, and she forgives Othello so easily that it's easy to really judge her" "You want to always play the aggressive characters, the ones who stick up for themselves�or at least I do, because you're inspired to be that way yourself! So to play a passive character is harder because you feel like, Oh God! Why is she doing this? She's doomed!" On filming in South Carolina - "...we lived in a hotel, and we were all pretty much on the same floor. We bonded a lot. Josh, Rain Phoenix, Mekhi and Andrew (Keegan)... we'd have one day off a week, and we'd all hang out with each other" "I do really like Shakespeare a lot, but I also think - like a lot of other people who have short attention spans � that the adaptations and the way you can show that Shakespeare is so timeless is much more interesting to me than seeing an old-fashioned version"
Did You Know? The film finished production in the spring of 1999, however the original release date coincided with the Columbine High School shootings in the US. The release was postponed due to O's themes of violence and murder in a high school setting Mena Suvari was considered for the role of Desi Director Tim Blake Nelson is also an actor, and appeared as "Flight Captain" in Hamlet with Julia Andrew Keegan (Michael in O) also appeared in 10 Things I Hate About You with Julia
Alternate poster/cover art used for overseas release:
Visit the original distributor Lions Gate Films site where you can view the trailer |
