Max (2002/I)

Director:

Menno Meyjes

Writer (WGA):

Menno Meyjes (written by)

Release Date:

8 May 2003 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

Art + Politics = Power

Plot:

A film studying the depiction of a friendship between an art dealer named Rothman and his student, Adolf Hitler.

Plot Keywords:

Art | Adolf Hitler | Art Dealer | Artist | Public Speaking

Awards:

2 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

John Cusack	...	Max Rothman
Noah Taylor	...	Adolf Hitler
Leelee Sobieski	...	Liselore von Peltz
Molly Parker	...	Nina Rothman
Ulrich Thomsen	...	Captain Mayr
David Horovitch	...	Max's Father
Janet Suzman	...	Max's Mother
András Stohl	...	NCO
John Grillo	...	Nina's Father
Anna Nygh	...	Nina's Mother
Krisztián Kolovratnik	...	Nina's Brother
Peter Capaldi	...	David Cohn
Yuliya Vysotskaya	...	Hildegard
János Kulka	...	Mr. Epp
Katalin Pálfy	...	Mrs. Epp
Kevin McKidd	...	George Grosz
Heather Cameron-McLintock	...	Ada Rothman (as Heather Cameron)
Joel Pitts	...	Paul Rothman
Tamás Lengyel	...	Franz
Attila Árpa	...	Wilhelm
Daisy Haggard	...	Heidi
Gábor Harsai	...	Waiter
Paul Rattray	...	Hans
Derek Hagen	...	Fritz
Caroleen Feeney	...	Saleslady
Mike Kelly	...	Herr Wulf
Ben O'Brien	...	Herr Eichinger (as Ben O'Brian)
Agnes Becsei	...	Singing Girl
Tibor Soltenszky	...	Antique Dealer
Kerric Macdonald	...	Heckler in Courtyard
Matt Devere	...	Freikorps Thug
Judit Hernádi	...	Frau Schmidt
Kerry Shale	...	Dr. Levi
Heather Hermant	...	Mrs. Levi
László Borbély	...	Erich
Peter Linka	...	Soldier in Courtyard
László Görög	...	Someone in Crowd
Andor Tímár	...	Ritter von Lieberfelt
John Rado	...	Organizer (as Janos Rado)
Tamás Puskás	...	Sidewalk Cafe Owner
Pandora Colin	...	Max's Sister-in-Law
Rabbi Robert Frohlich	...	Rabbi
Róbertne Bánky	...	Puppeteer
Miklós Dörögdy	...	Puppeteer
Mariann Kovács	...	Puppeteer
Péter Bognár	...	Puppeteer
István Erdös	...	Puppeteer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Whitelock	...	Radio Announcer (uncredited)

Directed by
Menno Meyjes

Writing credits (WGA)
Menno Meyjes		(written by)

Produced by
Andrea Albert	....	co-producer
Sidney Blumenthal	....	associate producer
Damon Bryant	....	co-producer
John Cusack	....	associate producer
Jonathan Debin	....	executive producer
Andras Hamori	....	producer
François Ivernel	....	executive producer
Lacia Kornylo	....	associate producer
Cameron McCracken	....	executive producer
Tom Ortenberg	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Dan Jones

Cinematography by
Lajos Koltai

Film Editing by
Chris Wyatt

Casting by
Nina Gold

Production Design by
Ben van Os

Art Direction by
Tibor Lázár

Set Decoration by
Ágnes Menyhárt

Costume Design by
Dien van Straalen

Makeup Department
Manyi Almássy	....	additional hair stylist
Manyi Almássy	....	additional makeup artist
Ildikó Aradi	....	second assistant hair stylist
Ildikó Aradi	....	second assistant makeup artist
Katalin Bakács	....	additional hair stylist
Katalin Bakács	....	additional makeup artist
Mara Bócz	....	additional hair stylist
Mara Bócz	....	additional makeup artist
Judit Endrényiné	....	additional hair stylist (as Judit Endrényi)
Judit Endrényiné	....	additional makeup artist (as Judit Endrényi)
Mariann Hufnágel	....	additional hair stylist
Mariann Hufnágel	....	additional makeup artist
Katalin Jakots	....	key makeup artist: John Cusack
János Jánosi	....	additional hair stylist
János Jánosi	....	additional makeup artist
Andrea Juhasz	....	first assistant makeup artist
Éva Kolontáry	....	hair stylist
Nóra Koltai	....	additional hair stylist
Nóra Koltai	....	additional makeup artist
Ildikó Makk	....	hair stylist (as Ildiko Makk)
Balázs Novák	....	additional makeup artist
Éva Szalai	....	additional hair stylist
Éva Szalai	....	additional makeup artist
Mónika Szatmári	....	additional hair stylist
Mónika Szatmári	....	additional makeup artist
Klára Takács	....	additional hair stylist (as Takács Klári)
Klára Takács	....	additional makeup artist (as Takács Klári)
Ancsa Tesner	....	additional hair stylist
Ancsa Tesner	....	additional makeup artist
Anna Tesner	....	additional makeup artist
Kati Tomola	....	makeup supervisor
Melinda Tompa	....	additional hair stylist
Melinda Tompa	....	additional makeup artist

Production Management
Andrea Barzsó	....	assistant unit manager
Csaba Benedek	....	unit manager
John Nabereznyj	....	post-production supervisor
György Sánta	....	unit production manager
Gábor Szántó	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gábor Gajdos	....	first assistant director
Kerric Macdonald	....	second assistant director
Csilla Szigeti	....	second assistant director
Tamás Vass	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Balázs Bajnok	....	construction crew
Victor Barabás	....	construction crew
István Berkes	....	construction crew
Béla Blazsej	....	props
Attila Budavári	....	construction crew
Attila Budavári	....	construction manager
László Bukor	....	construction crew
István Cicze	....	construction crew
Jane Clark	....	storyboard artist
Judit Csák	....	assistant art director
Miklós Diá	....	construction crew
Zoltán Hardy	....	property master (as Zoltán Hardi)
Richárd Tamás Janó	....	construction crew
Róbert Jász	....	stand-by constructor
Attila Kertész	....	construction crew
Tamás Kiss	....	construction crew
András Korein	....	construction crew
Géza Kotán	....	construction crew
Péter Kovács	....	construction manager
Mándor Kreidl	....	props
József Kudron	....	construction crew
Rajmund Kuszkó	....	storyboard artist
Antal Lakatos	....	construction crew
László Mohovics	....	props
László Molnár	....	assistant property master
Tamás Monori	....	props
Pál Ferenc Nagy	....	props
József Ócsai	....	props
Gábor Paul	....	construction crew
Zsolt Pocsai	....	construction crew
Imre Popovics	....	construction crew
Tibor Rigó	....	construction crew
Miklós Roszoka	....	construction crew
Zsolt Sajgó	....	assistant construction manager
Zoltán Sárközi	....	construction crew
Ferenc Simiglai	....	construction crew
Ferenc Simiglai	....	painter
András Sule	....	construction crew
Lajos Surányi	....	construction crew
Eszter Szabó	....	painter
Tamás Szabó	....	construction crew
Krisztina Szilágyi	....	draft person
János Szivák	....	construction crew
Tamás Tamási	....	assistant set decorator
Károly Turzai	....	construction crew
Péter Újvári	....	props
Karin Van Der Werff	....	assistant to production designer
Todd Van Hulzen	....	artwork coordinator: pre-production
Csaba Vásári	....	stand-by constructor

Sound Department
Fred Brennan	....	dialogue and adr editor
Fred Brennan	....	supervising sound editor
Steph Carrier	....	sound re-recording mixer
Kathy Choi	....	assistant dialogue editor
Sue Conley	....	adr editor
Colin Cooper	....	adr mixer
Colin Cooper	....	adr recordist
Stacy Coutts	....	assistant sound re-recording mixer
Eliot Crackower	....	control room operator
Roderick Deogrades	....	sound effects editor
Frederic Gibert	....	adr recordist
Barry Gilmore	....	adr editor
Martin Gwynn Jones	....	assistant sound effects editor
Garrett Kerr	....	dialogue editor
Thomas Kodros	....	sound consultant: Dolby (as Thomas G. Kodros)
Goro Koyama	....	foley artist
Andy Malcolm	....	foley artist
Anna Malkin	....	foley recording assistant
Ron Malligers	....	foley mixer (as Ron Mellegers)
David McCallum	....	sound effects editor
Bogi Móricz	....	post-production sound recording coordinator
György Simon	....	boom operator
Gábor Sipos	....	boom operator
István Sipos	....	production sound mixer
Lou Solakofski	....	sound re-recording mixer
Ted Swanscott	....	adr mixer
Jane Tattersall	....	sound effects editor
Paul Virostek	....	sound effects recordist
Don White	....	foley recording mixer
Rebecca Wright	....	foley mixer assistant
David Yonson	....	adr recordist

Special Effects by
Gábor Balogh	....	special effects
János Berki	....	special effects (as Janos Berki-Berkenye)
Furedi Csaba	....	special effects technician (2002)
Paul Denomme	....	visual effects executive producer
Attila Erczkovi	....	special effects
Gabor Kiszelly	....	special effects technician
Gyula Krasnyánszky	....	special effects (as Gyula Krasnyanski)
Ferenc Ormos	....	special effects supervisor
Iván Pohárnok	....	prosthetics
Ferenc Sárik	....	special effects
György Solymosi	....	special effects
László Takács	....	special effects
Ferenc Török	....	special effects
Attila Varsányi	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Jeff Baker	....	technical supervisor
Ian Britton	....	digital compositor
Drake Conrad	....	scanning and recording
Graham Cunningham	....	lead 3D artist: Calibre Digital Pictures
Peter Denomme	....	visual effects producer: Calibre Digital Pictures
Mark Fordham	....	lead matte artist
Rick Hannigan	....	project coordinator
Felix Heeb	....	scanning and recording
Noel Hooper	....	lead digital compositor/supervisor
Ariel Joson	....	digital artist
Gerry Legros	....	visual effects producer
Diana Madureira	....	production coordinator: Cine-Byte
Andrew Nguyen	....	digital matte artist
Anthony Paterson	....	visual effects supervisor: Calibre Digital Pictures
Chris Ross	....	digital opticals effects
Rick Saulnier	....	visual effects coordinator
Matt Schofield	....	matte artist
Mark Tureski	....	digital opticals effects
Rainy Venne	....	roto/rig removal
Allan Walker	....	matte artist

Stunts
Zoltán Bodor	....	stunts
László Imre	....	stunts
Levente Lezsák	....	stunt performer
Domonkos Pardanyi	....	stunts
Erzsébet Szloboda	....	stunts
Béla Unger	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Gyula Balogh	....	electrician
Csaba Bankhardt	....	electrician
Balázs Bélafalvy	....	camera operator (as Balázs Bélafalvi)
Gyorgy Berghoffer	....	electrician (as György Berghoffer)
Zsolt Büti	....	generator operator
Attila Csabai	....	camera loader: second camera
Dániel Decsi	....	video assistant
István Decsi	....	focus puller
József Dene	....	focus puller: second camera
Egon Endrényi	....	still photographer
Károly Gál	....	best boy (as Gaál Károly)
György Garami	....	electrician
Ákos Gulyás	....	assistant camera
Zoltán Halmágyi	....	electrician
Árpád Horváth	....	camera loader: second unit
Gábor Inczédy	....	electrician (as Inczédi Gábor)
János Kiss	....	grip
Tamás Krausz	....	electrician
Gabor Laczkó	....	grip
Zsigmond Molcsan	....	grip (as Zsigmond Molcsán)
Tamas Nyerges	....	Steadicam operator
Gábor Oláh	....	grip
Tibor Oláh	....	camera loader
Pal Paluch	....	grip
Attila Szûcs	....	crane operator
Attila Szûcs	....	grip
Rudolf Takacs	....	gaffer (as Rudolf Takács)
András Tóth	....	key grip
József Trombitás	....	best boy

Casting Department
Deirdre Bowen	....	casting: Toronto
Zsolt Csutak	....	casting: Hungary
Sándor Dénes	....	extras casting
Mali Finn	....	casting: Los Angeles
Tamara Gillon	....	casting assistant
Tamás Kertész	....	extras casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Andrea Bényi	....	dresser
Andrea Friebert	....	dresser
György Homonnay	....	wardrobe supervisor
Marie-Therese Jacobse	....	assistant costume designer
Péter Kincs	....	dresser (as Peter Kincs)
Gabi Komoróczy	....	dresser
József Lender	....	dresser
Andrea Nárai	....	assistant wardrobe master
Móni Simkó	....	dresser
Dóra Szóke	....	dresser
Nelli Szolnoki	....	dresser
Zoltán Trubel	....	dresser
József Varjú	....	dresser

Editorial Department
Juliane Brown	....	post-production assistant
Kenn Elliott	....	final colorist
Chad Glastonbury	....	negative cutter
Chris Hinton	....	color timer
Chris Petrenko	....	post-production assistant
Catherine Rankin	....	negative cutter
Viola Regéczy	....	color timer
Jay Steckel	....	post-production assistant
Ron Wisman Jr.	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Christopher Austin	....	conductor
Christopher Austin	....	orchestrator
Ben Foskett	....	music preparation
Dan Jones	....	score mixer
Oliver Ledbury	....	orchestrator
Dénes Rédly	....	assistant recording engineer
Jonathan Stokes	....	music recording engineer
Wayne Swingle	....	music editor
Attila Tõzsér	....	score mixing engineer

Transportation Department
Sándor Panyi	....	transportation captain

Other crew
Attila Bánhalmi	....	production assistant
Kinga Baranyai	....	production secretary
Aileen Bell	....	post-production accountant
Réka Benyovszký	....	assistant: Mr. Meyjes
Eva Borsos	....	assistant accountant
Early Boyd	....	assistant: Mr. Hamori
Catherine Charlton	....	dialogue coach
Doug Dearth	....	assistant: Mr. Cusack
Gergely Fülöp	....	set production assistant (as Gergö Fülöp)
Linda Gamble	....	unit publicist
Tamás Guba	....	location manager (as Tamás Guba)
Ágota Kovács	....	production coordinator
Balázs Kovács	....	crowd marshall
Judit Kovács	....	assistant accountant
Sarolta Lentzki	....	animal handler
Tamás Maros	....	location manager
Lindsay McCracken	....	assistant: Mr. Cusack
Bogi Móricz	....	assistant: John Cusack, Budapest
Rozália Oláh	....	production accountant
E. Andrew Pecs	....	production accountant (as Andrew Pecs)
István Pocsai	....	set production assistant
Leonard B. Rosman	....	legal services
Richard Szabó	....	security HOD
Esther Szasz	....	interpreter
Balázs Szekeres	....	production assistant
Beatrix Szombati	....	assistant to executive producer
Gabriella Winkler	....	script supervisor
Susanna Wyatt	....	head of physical production: Pathé Pictures

Thanks
Consuelo Accetti	....	thanks
Jeff Berg	....	thanks
Cassian Elwes	....	thanks
Mark Horowitz	....	thanks
Ken Kamins	....	thanks
Zsolt Kézdi-Kovács	....	thanks
John Lieberman	....	thanks
István Mikó	....	thanks
Gaby Morgerman	....	thanks
Sándor Pozsgay	....	thanks
János Reichenberger	....	thanks
Julia Rosenberg	....	thanks
Arthur Schneier	....	thanks
Jozsef Schweitzer	....	thanks (as Professor Rabbi Jozsef Schweitzer)
Eli Selden	....	thanks
Richard Soames	....	thanks
Trudie Styler	....	thanks
Gustâv Zoltai	....	thanks

Production Companies

• AAMPI Inc.
• Aconit Pictures
• Alliance Atlantis Communications
• Bioskop Film
• Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit (CPTC) (with the participation of)
• Film Council
• H2O Motion Pictures
• JAP Films
• Natural Nylon II
• Pathé Pictures International

Distributors

• A-Film Distribution (2003) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Toshiba Entertainment (Japan) (theatrical)
• A-Film Home Entertainment (2003) (Netherlands) (video)
• Alliance Atlantis Motion Picture Distribution
• Hollydan Works (2003-????) (Serbia and Montenegro) (DVD)
• Lions Gate Films
• Pathé Distribution
• Pyramid (Russia)
• Versus Entertainment (2007) (Spain) (all media)

Special Effects

• Calibre Digital Pictures
• Cine-Byte Imaging
• Multifilm Special Effects

Other Companies

• 4MC  video services
• Appeal to Conscience Interfaith Coalition  thanks
• Association of Hungarian Jewish Communities  thanks
• Edit Hire Post Production Services  AVID editing facilities
• Fearless Film and Video Corporation, The  video services
• Film Council  made with the support of
• Footsteps Post-Production Sound  foley re-recorded at
• Future Post  adr recording facilities
• Kodak  motion picture film supplied by
• Magyar Államvasutak (MÁV)  thanks (as MÁV - Hungarian Railways)
• Moving Picture Company (MPC)  digital video services
• People of Budapest, The  thanks
• Sixt Rent-a-Car  thanks
• Sydney Apartment Hotel  thanks
• Tattersall Casablanca  sound editing facilities

Also Known As:

Hoffman (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

Hungary | Canada | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | Netherlands:12 | Singapore:NC-16 (original rating) | Singapore:PG (edited for re-rating) | USA:R | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Company:

AAMPI Inc.

Trivia:

To help get this controversial movie financed, producer/star John Cusack took no salary for acting in the lead role.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The family gathers to listen to the reports of the Armistice Agreement Terms on a radio. However, broadcasting in Germany didn't start until 1923 and was strictly experimental and limited before that. This scene took place in 1918.

Quotes:

Art patron/friend of Max's: So if art, as an object, is dead, why is everything so expensive?
Max Rothman: Otherwise nobody would buy it.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Cinemania: I anodos kai i ptosi tou Nazismou" (2008)

Great........

First impressions can be deadly. Promises broken can cause real pain. Watch what you say and do because you never know who's watching. As a mainline protestant I believe that man, while he may strive to be good is essentially evil. `The road to hell is paved with good intentions,' if you will. I believe jealousy, greed, and avarice are very much a part of the human condition and its only through the grace of God we are not lost.

I say this to illustrate a point. MAX is the story of two men, each on a quest to do something good. Each has a noble goal and yet both end up on a collision course with History. The first man is Max Rothchild (John Cusak, High Fidelity) a German Jew who has just returned from WWI missing an arm. He has settled back into his comfortable life of wealth and prosperity, with his beautiful wife (Molly Parker, Kissed) and his beautiful children. He has a mistress (Leelee Sobieski, My First Mister), and is a chain smoker. He probably drinks more than he should as well. He is also unable to do what he really loves, which is paint, so he does the next best thing. He becomes an art dealer. If he cannot create art why not discover the next great artist.

The other man is Adolph Hitler (Noah Taylor, Almost Famous) a German, who has returned from the war with nothing. He lives in the army barracks because he cannot afford a home for himself. He follows the rules and is straitlaced. He will not smoke. He does not drink (not even coffee) and he loves his country, a German all the way. But he does long to be a great artist.

One day these two men start a relationship. It is amicable if strained. Max takes Hitler under his wing. Trying to get him to open up and embrace his art. Hitler becomes fed up and is dragged away from his art by the army. They have given him the platform he's always wanted, and with this platform Hitler begins to rail against the Jews, and those that threaten the great country that is Germany. In the end this one man is forced to chose between art and power. Real history tells us what decision he made.

MAX is a fictional account of the early life of one of history's most evil men. But what I really liked about it is that it makes an attempt to get to heart of why people make the decisions that they do. Why did German nationalism lead to violence and genocide? Why do some people who are tested by pain survive and thrive, and others can be in the same place and become bitter? Why and what turned Hitler himself into a monster? Did he have a run in with a Jew that broke a promise or treated him like crud? All these questions come to mind and MAX tries to come to gripes with them.

What I also like about this movie is it has no hero, but allows you as the audience to be empathetic to these men. Maybe Hitler has a point. Maybe he has the right the feel put upon by the world. Why, when he plays by the rules, does he live in the gutter, while a fast talking, hard drinking, chain smoking, adulterer has a warm bed? It would make me mad too and doesn't jealousy make us do some pretty drastic things.

Writer/ first time Director Menno Meyjes (The Seige `Screenplay') has crafted a compelling and challenging story. The film makes a monster into a human being, not by praising him but by asking the one question we all ask, why? It doesn't begin to editorialize on what Hitler became, but presents us with a man who can make the right decision or walk down the wrong road. Of course we can never change the past, but we can try to find out where it all went wrong.

John Cusack does a marvelous job of painting the picture of a good guy with a great heart, but too many flaws. There is a great scene near the end of the film where his wife confronts him with his adultery. Max never once says he's sorry, and I don't think his wife expects him too. But she loves him too much to run away. Will Max change his ways, maybe?

Noah Taylor's Hitler has the perfect nuance. On one hand he's a bottled up ball of rage about to explode, on the other he's this wide-eyed dreamer looking for a shot. This is the hardest kind of part to play because the audience already comes in with the picture of what and who Hitler is, and not who he is at this moment. While he is an object of scorn, and rightly so. You can and must empathize with him, or the performance is lost. Taylor plays the right chords, and it works.

My favorite scene in the films comes as Hitler is giving a speech about the supremacy of the Aryan race and Germany in a local bar and nobody is paying attention to him. Except one kid. Later in the film Hitler is giving a similar speech to a room of about a hundred people and guess who's sitting there. That single kid has turned into hundreds. An idea, no matter how wrong and misguided, has power. It reminds me of those KKK rallies, they show on the local news. Sure hundreds show up to berate these people, but if one person hears and is mad at the world, they can be easily swayed. Makes you think, that maybe what we say and do can have an effect on the people around us.

MAX was my favorite film from last year and rightly so. It's bold, controversial, and asks a lot of questions, other films haven't. But mostly it's a human story about two men and their unlikely friendship. It's about striving to do what's right and it's about the power of art. It's about propaganda and politics--Hero's and madmen. MAX is a great film. ***** (Out of 5)