''Bill W.'' is a 2012

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...

directed by Dan Carracino and Kevin Hanlon, about

William Griffith Wilson William Griffith Wilson (November 26, 1895 – January 24, 1971), also known as Bill Wilson or Bill W., was the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). AA is an international mutual aid fellowship with about two million members worldwide ...

, the co-founder of

Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...

, and the first

feature length A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

documentary on Wilson.

Synopsis

The film includes interviews with several recovering alcoholics who are photographed in dark shadows to maintain their anonymity, and also makes use of dramatic reenactments to visualize key events in Wilson's life. Blake J. Evans portrays Wilson in the film.

Production

Making a film about the founder of an anonymous society presented the filmmakers with challenges. For example, by the time production began, there were few people still alive that knew Wilson, and it first appeared that there was very little visual material available on Wilson. The filmmakers were able to unearth little-seen archival footage and previously unpublished photographs of Wilson and the people in his life.

Release

The film opened on limited release in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

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' ...

on Friday, May 18, 2012. Prior to its theatrical release, ''Bill W.'' screened at the Cleveland International Film Festival.

PBS version and Emmy Award

An extensively re-edited and extended “director’s cut” version of the film (116 minutes) was aired on PBS starting in September 2016. This version of the film won an Emmy award in 2017.

Recognition

Critical response

On the

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the film received a 78% based on reviews from 18 critics. On

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 ...

it has a score of 78 based on 10 reviews. Ernest Hardy in his ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...

'' review described the film as "a loving, exhaustive, warts-and-all look at the man who spent years battling his own alcoholism before a spiritual experience in the hospital set him on the course to help others." Sheri Linden's review in the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' described ''Bill W.'' as "a thoroughly engrossing portrait of Wilson, his times and the visionary fellowship that is his legacy."

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave ''Bill W.'' three stars out of four, calling it "an assembly of styles. It incorporates such film footage of Bill as is available, and then uses actors to re-enact chapters in his story."

Partial cast

* Bill Wilson as himself (voice) *

Dr. Bob Robert Holbrook Smith (August 8, 1879 – November 16, 1950), also known as Dr. Bob, was an American physician and surgeon who founded Alcoholics Anonymous with Bill Wilson (more commonly known as Bill W.). Family and early life Smith was ...

as himself (voice) * Blake J. Evans as Bill Wilson * Chris Gates as

* Leila J. Babson as

Anne Smith Anne or Ann Smith may refer to: People In arts and media *Anne Smith (silversmith) ( 1770s), English silversmith *Ann Eliza Smith (1819–1905), American author and patriot *Anne Mollegen Smith, American magazine editor and writer *Anne Smith ( 195 ...

* Julia Schell as Lois Wilson * Laura Kauffmann as Martha Deane * Tim Intravia as Edwin “Ebby T.” Thacher * Rachel Lynn Jackson as Ruth Hock * Dennis Lowell as Hank Parkhurst * Ron Nagle as Bill's Grandfather * Max Owens as Young Bill Wilson * Lenore Pershing as Henrietta Seiberling * Norman Shultz as Father Ed Dowling * Francis Stallings as Kathleen Parkhurst * Catherine Hogan as Waitress *

Bill Weeden Bill Weeden (born August 8, 1940) is an American film and stage actor, comedy writer, and songwriter. Early life Weeden was born on August 8, 1940, in Melbourne, Florida He graduated from Yale University in 1962. Film and television career Weed ...

as Financier

References

External links

Official Site
*
''Bill W.'' documentary at CIFF (audio segment with partial transcript)
from

WKSU-FM WKSU (89.7 FM) is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to serve Kent, Ohio, featuring a public radio format. Owned by Kent State University and operated by Ideastream Public Media, WKSU's primary signal encompasses the Akro ...

{{Alcoholics Anonymous 2012 films 2012 documentary films American biographical films American documentary films Documentary films about alcoholism Biographical documentary films Films shot in Ohio 2010s English-language films 2010s American films