Synopsis

September 11, 2001 was an unusually warm day in New York. Will Jimeno, an officer with the Port Authority Police Department, was tempted to take a personal day to enjoy his hobby of bow hunting, but ultimately decided that he would go to work. Sgt John McLoughlin, a respected veteran of the PAPD, had been up for hours, a requirement of his daily, 1½-hour trek to the city. They and their colleagues made their way to midtown Manhattan, just like they did any other day. Only this wasn’t any other day. A team of PAPD first responders drove from mid-town Manhattan to the World Trade Center. Five men, including McLoughlin and Jimeno, went into the buildings and were trapped when the towers collapsed. Buried and pinned beneath slabs of concrete and twisted metal twenty feet below the rubble field, the injured men were two of only twenty, rescued alive after the collapse of the buildings.

What The Critics Say

"Stone is unapologetic in his tribute to these people, and to his credit generally doesn't allow any of his usual directorial ambition or stylistic excess to distract from it." Rob Thomas CAPITAL TIMES "Stone has delivered a beautiful, heartfelt and touching movie that celebrates the heroes of September 11th and will leave everyone in the audience with a lump in their throats and a few tears in their eyes." Willie Waffle WAFFLEMOVIES.COM "World Trade Center carries a gigantic emotional impact and seeds a bed of uplifting pride for the people of our nation." Frank Wilkins REELTALK MOVIE REVIEWS "This material could have played like a by-the-numbers docudrama. But the script, by newcomer Andrea Berloff, who worked with both couples to get the details right, has the sting of reality to work against any sugarcoating. For the rescue (the set was built in Playa Vista, California), Stone used medics and firefighters who were actually on the scene." Peter Travers ROLLING STONE "The movie does not confine itself to its trapped protagonists. Stone's reconstruction of the initial response to the attack, the disbelief, the mad dash of the rescuers to the disaster site, the desperate attempts to comprehend and get organized, is electrifyingly realized." Richard Schickel TIME MAGAZINE

"Where United 93 was a superb example of masterful storytelling, World Trade Center is a more conventional rendering. Some might have expected a more controversial angle from the director of films such as JFK and Natural Born Killers. Still, in its celebration of the human spirit, it is undeniably uplifting. Stone takes one of the most tragic events of this century and focuses on the hope, humanity and determination that also held sway amid the darkness." Claudia Puig USA TODAY "It manages to find the best in people in the worst of times. You gotta love that." Robert Roten LARAMIE MOVIE SCOPE "Despite my strong reservations, World Trade Center is strongly acted and has sequences of undeniable power. At its best it shares with Stone's finest work a feeling for the imminence of death and salvation." Peter Rainer CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR "This is the movie about which you will ask, "Am I ready for this?" And the answer should be, "yes." It is a movie about hope as much as it is a movie about loss." David Poland MOVIE CITY NEWS "The storytelling is admirable, the focus is just right for anyone who prefers, if they have to revisit that day after all that despair, to see something good come out of the whole mess." Mary F Pols CONTRA COSTA TIMES

The Inside Story Hot on the heels of "United 93" comes another film on 9/11, Oliver Stones "World Trade Centre", which tells the tale of two Port Authority Police Officers, John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno who kept each other alive as they lay buried beneath twenty feet of rubble at the site of what was once the World Trade Centre. They achieved this by talking about their families, their lives on the force, their hopes, their disappointments. The film also chronicles the improbable search by a determined accountant and ex-Marine from Connecticut, Dave Karnes, who found the two officers that night, and then the dozens of firemen, policemen, and paramedics who rescued them over the next grueling twelve hours. Karnes by the way rejoined the Marines and served two tours of duty in Iraq. "Will and I feel an obligation to all those men that we lost that day," says Port Authority Police Department Sgt John McLoughlin. "Through us, we’re able to get the story out of all those men that sacrificed themselves that day. There is no doubt in my mind that the filmmakers wanted to show honor and respect to those who perished too." "John and me, we’re down to earth people, we’re just regular American families," says Jimeno, "but a lot of regular Americans were doing the best they could that day. I am very honored to represent that." "World Trade Center", is directed by three-time Academy Award ® winner Oliver Stone, who says that from the moment he read Andrea Berloff’s screenplay, he knew this was a story that he wanted to tell. "Andrea Berloff’s screenplay is one of the best that’s ever come to me out of the blue; I guess like that day. It walloped me, and many others, with its emotion and simplicity," says Stone. "It hit this horrific event in a way I had not seen before, in a way that deeply personalized it for me," says Stone. Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher have produced other true stories, including "Erin Brockovich", the film which saw actress Julia Roberts rewarded with an Academy ®, Golden Globe, BAFTA, L.A. Film Critics Association and Broadcast Film Critics Association, National Board of Review and Screen Actors Guild Awards. "The story of John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno and all the people who helped rescue them is just one story from 9/11, but it shows the larger story of how on a terrible, tragic day, people risked everything to help each other. We must remember that," Shamberg notes. "It appealed to us because it is about heroism in the sense that it reveals the best in humanity as people came together to help each other," Sher adds. One thing all the filmmakers agreed on is that the storytelling had to be accurate. "I’ve always felt that we were entrusted with this story by the real people; John and Will and Donna and Allison," says Shamberg."So it was our responsibility to be as authentic and accurate as possible at all times. We had to get it right." Being authentic meant authenticity shooting as much of the film as possible on location in New York City. "The story of what happened on that day is also a story of the city of New York," says producer Moritz Borman. "To be honest to that and the people of the city, there was never any question; we would chronicle what happened as truthfully as we could, and part of that meant we would film in New York." "It was reinvigorating to go back to New York and work with policemen and firemen, and working men and women," says New York native Oliver Stone. "Everyone seemed to go out of their way; particularly the Port Authority, which became our base in New York." Stone says directing "World Trade Centre" gave him an opportunity to explore the themes that have defined his career. "To treat 9/11 in this way, deeply personal, exact, austere, challenged me," says Stone. "We tried to make as realistic a film as possible: two men, buried in the middle of those towers, for 24 hours. What makes a person live? What makes him survive these horrible circumstances?" "They probably would’ve died if they hadn’t been able to communicate with each other, or experience the memories of their families. I believe, in the end, they survived because of these deeply personal and spiritual reasons." Many in the audience will quickly realize the power of that statement as they watch "World Trade Centre" unfold on the big screen. his film is not a political statement. It is a tale of human endurance, strenght, emotion and the will of two men to survive against massive odds. "Although my politics and John and Will’s may be different, it didn’t matter; we all got along. I can make a movie about them and their experiences because they went through something that I can understand. Politics does not enter into it", Stone says. "It’s about courage and survival." Michael Shamberg recalls, "Initially, I saw this film as the biggest canvas we could work on because everyone has an emotional connection to this material; everyone remembers that day. But Oliver sees it as a small, intimate story, which is a fascinating take on the material and completely correct. In looking at the story of John and Will that way, it isn’t a flat retelling of 9/11; the film, for me, weaves reality with spirituality." Academy Award ® winner Nicolas Cage and rising young actor Michael Peña play Jim McLoughlin and Will Jimeno respectively."I was at the point in my life where I really wanted to try to apply my abilities as an actor to something with meaning, something that could help people in some way," Cage explained. "I was taken by how the human spirit emerged so positively in the screenplay. As devastating as 9/11 was, this story depicts something positive coming out of that incredible well of sadness." Michael Peña remembers reading the script and thinking, "There is no way someone like Will Jimeno exists. Will has a line where he says that his whole life, he always wanted to be a cop, and I thought it was just a cliché. Then I met the guy and the first thing he said to me was, ‘I gotta tell you, I wanted to be a cop my whole life – that was the only thing I wanted. He is the real deal. I talked to his family, his friends, and the people who saved him, and they all talk about his ability to go through so much pain and still find the humor in it. Even at his darkest depths, he managed to keep his spirits up. It was a real honor to meet him, let alone to play him." But "World Trade Centre" isn't just about those two Port Authority Police Officers. It's also about their wives who had to endure the unknown. Were their men on the site that day. If so had they managed to escape. If not, where were they. And above all else, would they ever see them again? "She told me that being the wife of a cop, she learned not to go to that negative place; that until she heard differently, everything was fine," says actress Maria Bello who plays Donna McLoughlin. "She’s the wife of a policeman and the mother of four children, so she’s not sappy and definitely in control. Alongside that strength, she also has a real lightness and joy, almost a softness about her. The film gives a sense of her moments alone during that terrible period when she was waiting for news of John, where she’s keeping it together but having all these flashes of memories of the man she loves. We see both sides of Donna, her perseverance and her gentleness." Maggie Gyllenhaal, who plays Allison Jimeno, remembers reading Andrea Berloff's screenplay for the first time. "I read the script on an airplane and I cried probably three or four times," Gyllenhaal says. "Sitting on that airplane, reading the script, a very public place to read something like this, I felt very emotional and vulnerable. I was so moved by it, which is unusual for me. My mom is a screenwriter and I really value scripts, so I don’t often find a script that moves me as completely as this one did." The Verdict "Olive Stone has ensured "World Trade Centre" doesn't become a political statement. It isn't as gritty as "United 93" and feels at times to be quite understated in its delivery. Never the less it is worth seeing. Those who witnessed the television footage and the aftermath of that terrible day will never forget the horror of what happened and this true story of two Port Authority Police Officers, trapped under twenty feet of rubble, will bring the memories of September 11th 2001 flooding back again. A solid 3 1/2 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "WORLD TRADE CENTRE" stars .......
Nicolas Cage ["Matchstick Men", "National Treasure", "Lord of War", "The Weather Man" and "The Wicker Man"]; Michael Peña ["The United States of Leland", "Crash" and "Million Dollar Baby"]; Maria Bello ["The Cooler", "Assault on Precinct 13", "A History Of Violence" and "Thank You for Smoking"]; Donna Murphy ["The Astronaut's Wife", "Center Stage", "The Door in the Floor" and "Spider-Man 2"], Armando Riesco ["25th Hour", "Garden State", "National Treasure" and "The Perfect Catch"] and Maggie Gyllenhaal ["The Secretary", "Mona Lisa Smile", "Happy Endings" and "Monster House"] as Allison Jimeno.
"WORLD TRADE CENTRE" was .......
directed by Oliver Stone ["Wall Street", "Born on the Fourth of July", "Natural Born Killers", "U Turn" and "Any Given Sunday"]; screenplay by Andrea Berloff ["Domestic"]; production design by Jan Roelfs ["Gattaca", "The Astronaut's Wife" and "S1m0ne"]; director of photography by Seamus McGarvey ["The Hours", "Along Came Polly" and "Sahara"]; original music by Craig Armstrong ["The Bone Collector", "Moulin Rouge!", "The Magdalene Sisters", "Love Actually" and "Ray"]; cotume design by Michael Dennison ["Mona Lisa Smile" and "The Chronicles of Riddick"] and set decoration by Beth Rubino ["Terminal Velocity", "The Cider House Rules", "Something's Gotta Give" and "The Interpreter"]. Run Time 125 minutes Rated M [AUST] Copyright ©2006 - Paramount Pictures - All Rights Reserved Tower Photos Copyright ©2006 - George Weld - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2006 - Impact Internet Services & The Movie Pages - All Rights Reserved