The Pursuit of Happyness

Directed by Gabriele Muccino
Produced by Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, James Lassiter, Steve Tisch

Written by Steven Conrad
Narrated by Will Smith
Starring Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Thandie Newton, Brian Howe, Dan Castellaneta

Music by Andrea Guerra
Cinematography Phedon Papamichael
Editing by Hughes Winborne
Studio - Relativity Media, Overbrook Entertainment, Escape Artists

Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date(s) - December 15, 2006

Running time - 117 minutes
Country - United States
Language - English
Budget - $55 million
Box office - $307,077,300

The Pursuit of Happyness is a 2006 American biographical drama film based on Chris Gardner's nearly one-year struggle with homelessness. Directed by Gabriele Muccino, the film features Will Smith as Gardner, an on-and-off-homeless salesman-turned stockbroker. Smith's son Jaden Smith co-stars, making his film debut as Gardner's son Christopher Jr.

The screenplay by Steven Conrad is based on the best-selling memoir written by Gardner with Quincy Troupe. The film was released on December 15, 2006, by Columbia Pictures. For his performance, Smith, was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Actor. The unusual spelling of the film's title comes from a sign Gardner saw when he was homeless. In the film, "happiness" is misspelled as "happyness" outside the daycare facility Gardner's son attends.

Plot

In 1981 San Francisco, Chris Gardner (Will Smith) invests his family's savings in portable bone-density scanners which he tries to demonstrate and sell to doctors. The investment proves to be a white elephant, which financially breaks the family and as a result, his wife Linda (Thandie Newton) leaves him and moves to New York. Their son Christopher (Jaden Smith) remains with his father. While downtown trying to sell one of his scanners, Chris meets Jay Twistle (Brian Howe), a manager for Dean Witter and impresses him by solving a Rubik's Cube during a short cab ride. Chris does not have enough money for the cab fare and flees into a subway station where he barely escapes the cab driver but loses one of his bone scanners in the process. This new relationship with Twistle earns him the chance to become an intern stockbroker.

Despite arriving there unkempt and shabbily dressed due to being arrested the previous day for unpaid parking tickets and Chris didn't have enough time to make the appointment on time, Chris is offered the internship. Chris is further set back when his bank account is garnished by the IRS for unpaid income taxes, and he and his young son are evicted. As a result they are homeless, and are forced at one point to stay in a bathroom at a subway station. Motivation drives him to find the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church, which has a homeless shelter primarily for single mothers and their children. The church's owner does not let him stay due to the fact that it is for women and children, although she tells him about a local church that also provides shelter, but has very limited space. Due to demand for the limited rooms, Chris must frantically race from his internship work early each afternoon in order to land a place in line. Chris finds the bone scanner that he lost in the subway station from a demented man who believes it to be a time machine and it is now damaged, but Chris finally repairs it.

Disadvantaged by his limited work hours, and knowing that maximizing his client contacts and profits is the only way to earn the one paid position that he and his 19 competitors are fighting for, Chris develops a number of ways to make phone sales calls more efficiently. He also reaches out to potential high value customers, defying protocol. One sympathetic prospect takes him and his son to a San Francisco 49ers game. Regardless of his challenges, Chris never reveals his lowly circumstances to his co-workers, even going so far as to lend one of his bosses five dollars for a cab, a sum he can't afford.

Concluding his internship, Chris is called into a meeting with his managers. His work has paid off and he is offered the position. Fighting back tears, he rushes to his son's daycare, hugging him. They walk down the street, joking with each other and are passed by a man in a business suit (the real Chris Gardner in a cameo). The epilogue reveals that Chris went on to form his own multi-million dollar brokerage firm.

Cast

• Will Smith as Chris Gardner
• Jaden Smith as Christopher Gardner Jr.
• Thandie Newton as Linda Gardner
• Brian Howe as Jay
• Dan Castellaneta as Alan Frakesh
• James Karen as Martin Frohm
• Kurt Fuller as Walter Ribbon
• Takayo Fischer as Mrs. Chu

Production

Development

Chris Gardner realized his story had Hollywood potential after an overwhelming national response to an interview he did with 20/20 in January 2002. He published his autobiography on May 23, 2006, and later became an associate producer for the film. The movie took some liberties with Gardner's true life story. Certain details and events that actually took place over the span of several years were compressed into a relatively short time and although eight-year-old Jaden portrayed Chris Jr. as a five year-old, Gardner's son was just a toddler at the time.

Casting

Chris Gardner reportedly thought Smith, an actor best known for his performances in action movies, was miscast to play him. However, he said his daughter Jacintha "set him straight" by saying, "If Smith can play Muhammad Ali, he can play you!"

Filming

Gardner makes a cameo appearance in the film, walking past Will and Jaden in the final scene. Gardner and Will acknowledge each other; Will then looks back at Gardner walking away as his son proceeds to tell him knock knock jokes.

Music

Varèse Sarabande released the soundtrack on January 9, 2007, which included sixteen tracks.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/

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