''Ask the Dust'' is a 2006

romantic drama Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

film based on the 1939 book ''

Ask the Dust ''Ask the Dust'' is the most popular novel of Italian-American author John Fante, first published in 1939 and set during the Great Depression era in Los Angeles. It is one of a series of novels featuring the character Arturo Bandini as Fante's al ...

'' by

John Fante John Fante (April 8, 1909 – May 8, 1983) was an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his semi-autobiographical novel ''Ask the Dust'' (1939) about the life of Arturo Bandini, a struggling writer in Depre ...

. The film was written and directed by

Robert Towne Robert Towne (born Robert Bertram Schwartz;''Easy Riders, Raging Bulls'' by Peter Biskind page 30, 1999 Bloomsbury edition November 23, 1934) is an American screenwriter, producer, director and actor. He started with writing films for Roger Corm ...

Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), known professionally as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Gol ...

(with

Paula Wagner Paula Kauffman Wagner (born Paula Sue Kauffman) is an American film producer and film executive. Her most recent credits include the film ''Marshall'' starring Chadwick Boseman, Kate Hudson, Sterling K. Brown, and Josh Gad as well as the Broadw ...

and

Cruise/Wagner Productions Cruise/Wagner Productions, also abbreviated as C/W Productions, was an American independent film production company. It was founded by actor Tom Cruise and his agent Paula Wagner in July 1992. Wagner had been representing Cruise for eleven years b ...

) served as one of the film's producers. The film was released on a limited basis on March 17, 2006, and was entered into the

28th Moscow International Film Festival The 28th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 23 June to 2 July 2006. The Golden George was awarded to the Swedish film '' About Sara'' directed by Othman Karim. Jury * Andrzej Żuławski (Poland – Head of the Jury) * Alexei Uchite ...

. It was filmed almost entirely in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

with the use of stages to portray

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Plot

The story is set during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, specifically around the time of the

1933 Long Beach earthquake The 1933 Long Beach earthquake took place on March 10 at south of downtown Los Angeles. The epicenter was offshore, southeast of Long Beach, California, on the Newport–Inglewood Fault. The earthquake had a magnitude estimated at 6.4 , and a m ...

. Camilla (

Salma Hayek Salma Hayek Pinault ( , ; born Salma Valgarma Hayek Jiménez; September 2, 1966) is a Mexican and American actress and film producer. She began her career in Mexico with starring roles in the telenovela ''Teresa'' (1989–1991) as well as the ...

) is a fiery, beautiful Mexican café waitress who aspires to make something of herself and give her and her future children a place and chance in the world. Arturo (

Colin Farrell Colin James Farrell (; born 31 May 1976) is an Irish actor. A leading man in projects across various genres in both blockbuster and independent films since the 2000s, he has received numerous accolades including a Golden Globe Award. ''The I ...

) is a struggling writer who comes to

Bunker Hill, Los Angeles Bunker Hill is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. It is part of Downtown Los Angeles. Historically, Bunker Hill was a large hill that separated Downtown Los Angeles from the western end of the city. The hill was tunneled through at Sec ...

to start his writing career. Though he falls in love with Camilla, he does not marry her. Later, Camilla is infected by

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

and leaves Arturo without informing him. When Arturo finds her, she is about to die and he promises to marry her, but Camilla dies and Arturo writes a novel dedicated to Camilla. Arturo writes a dedication in one of his books to her and throws it into the sand.

Cast

Production

The rights to the novel once belonged to

Mel Brooks Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began h ...

, though he let them lapse. Towne met Fante in the 1970s. This meeting led to his interest in the project. Despite finishing the script in the early 1990s, he couldn't find financial backing from a studio. During this time, Farrell's role was originally set to be played by

Johnny Depp John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Award ...

but he dropped out. Later

Val Kilmer Val Edward Kilmer (born December 31, 1959) is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer found fame after appearances in comedy films, starting with ''Top Secret!'' (1984) and ''Real Genius'' (1985), as well as the military action film ...

accepted the role and also dropped out. Another delay was Hayek initially rejecting the role to avoid being typecast as a Mexican immigrant. She accepted the role after eight years. Part of the film was shot at

Pinelands High School Pinelands High School is a public English medium co-educational high school situated in Forest Drive, Pinelands in the city of Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It was opened in July 1952 and the founding principal was Jac ...

(

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

), on fields modified to simulate a Los Angeles scenery. Scenes were also filmed at the very popular Sun City Resort in South Africa, specifically using the man-made beach at the Valley of Waves water park, for a romantic night-swim scene.

Critical reception

The film received negative to mixed reviews from critics. The review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported that 35% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 104 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Though Hayek is luminous, Farrell seems miscast, and the film fails to capture the gritty, lively edginess of the book upon which it's based."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

reported the film had an average score of 58 out of 100, based on 33 reviews.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ask The Dust (Film) 2006 films 2006 romantic drama films American romantic drama films German romantic drama films Cruise/Wagner Productions films 2000s English-language films English-language German films Films about race and ethnicity Films about writers Films based on American novels Films based on works by John Fante Films directed by Robert Towne Films set in 1933 Films set in the 1930s Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in South Africa Films about interracial romance Films with screenplays by Robert Towne Films scored by Ramin Djawadi Films scored by Heitor Pereira Films produced by Tom Cruise 2000s American films 2000s German films