comedy drama film
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
directed by William Ryan and starring William Sadler and
Alessandro Nivola
Alessandro Antine Nivola (born June 28, 1972) is an American actor. He has been nominated for a Tony Award and an Independent Spirit Award and has won a Screen Actors Guild Award, a British Independent Film Award (BIFA), and the Best Actor Award ...
. It was the last film to be written and produced by John Hughes before his death.
Premise
A small-town troublemaker (
Alessandro Nivola
Alessandro Antine Nivola (born June 28, 1972) is an American actor. He has been nominated for a Tony Award and an Independent Spirit Award and has won a Screen Actors Guild Award, a British Independent Film Award (BIFA), and the Best Actor Award ...
), directionless and alienated, ends up spending a night in a jail cell, where he and the police chief ( William Sadler) engage in a battle of wills and wit.
Alessandro Nivola
Alessandro Antine Nivola (born June 28, 1972) is an American actor. He has been nominated for a Tony Award and an Independent Spirit Award and has won a Screen Actors Guild Award, a British Independent Film Award (BIFA), and the Best Actor Award ...
Brooke Langton
Brooke Langton (born November 27, 1970) is an American actress. She had significant guest roles on the NBC series '' Friday Night Lights'' and on ''Life'', in which Langton played a district attorney. She found early success on '' The Net'' (19 ...
as Lise
*
Norman Reedus
Norman Mark Reedus (born January 6, 1969) is an American actor best known for starring as Daryl Dixon in the AMC horror drama series '' The Walking Dead'' (2010–2022). He also starred as Murphy MacManus in the film ''The Boondock Saints'' (19 ...
as Danny
*
Karen Sillas
Karen Sillas is an American stage and film actress.
Early life
The daughter of a Greek father and a Swedish mother, Sillas was born in Brooklyn. She graduated from the Acting Conservatory of the State University of New York at Purchase.
Car ...
as Donna
* Richard Hamilton as Ed
Production
Writer/producer John Hughes originally offered the ''Reach the Rock'' script to director
Chris Columbus Christopher Columbus was an explorer born in Genoa, Italy.
Christopher Columbus or Chris Columbus may also refer to:
People
* Chris Columbus (musician) (1902–2002), American jazz drummer
* Chris Columbus (filmmaker) (born 1958), American direc ...
at the same time he offered him ''
Home Alone
''Home Alone'' is a 1990 American Christmas comedy film directed by Chris Columbus and written and produced by John Hughes. The first film in the ''Home Alone'' franchise, the film stars Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Hea ...
''. Columbus opted to direct the latter.
The soundtrack featured a compilation of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
-based
post-rock
Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation w ...
artists, among them
Tortoise
Tortoises () are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin: ''tortoise''). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like oth ...
The Sea and Cake
The Sea and Cake is an American indie rock band with a jazz influence, based in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
The group formed in the mid-1990s from members of The Coctails (Archer Prewitt), Shrimp Boat (Sam Prekop and Eric Claridge), a ...
and
John McEntire
John McEntire (born April 9, 1970 in Portland, Oregon) is an American recording engineer, producer, drummer and multi-instrumentalist, based in Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of both Tortoise and the Sea and Cake.
McEntire started playing dr ...
. It was released on
Hefty Records
Hefty Records is an independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois (United States). Founded in 1995 by John Hughes III,Havana 3am.