''SLCPunk!'' is a 1998 American
comedy-drama
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 ...
film written and directed by
James Merendino
James Anthony Merendino (born January 11, 1969) is an American film director and screenwriter who is best known for directing the 1998 film ''SLC Punk!''.
Life
Merendino was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, and moved to Salt Lake City, Utah whe ...
. The film centers around Steven "Stevo" Levy, a college graduate and
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
living in
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
during the mid-1980s.
''SLCPunk!'' was chosen as the opening-night feature at the 1999
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
.
Merendino created the film based on his experience growing up in Salt Lake City. Although the film is not autobiographical, Merendino has said that many characters were based on people he knew.
Plot
The film outlines the daily life of a punk named Stevo in
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
,
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
in the fall of 1985. Stevo's best friend, "Heroin" Bob, is also a punk. The nickname "Heroin" is ironic, as Bob is
afraid of needles and actually believes that any drug (with the notable exception of alcohol and cigarettes) is inherently dangerous.
Stevo and Bob go from party to party while living in a dilapidated apartment. They spend much of their time fighting with members of other subcultures, particularly
rednecks
''Redneck'' is a derogatory term chiefly, but not exclusively, applied to white Americans perceived to be crass and unsophisticated, closely associated with rural whites of the Southern United States.Harold Wentworth, and Stuart Berg Flexner, '' ...
. Stevo has a casual relationship with a girl named Sandy, while Bob is in love with Trish, the manager of a
head shop
A head shop is a retail outlet specializing in paraphernalia used for consumption of cannabis and tobacco and items related to cannabis culture and related countercultures. They emerged from the hippie counterculture in the late 1960s, and ...
.
The two of them are shaped by their experiences with their parents. Stevo's parents, now divorced, are former hippies who are proud of their youthful endeavors; however, Stevo is revolted by what he perceives as their "selling out" by becoming affluent
Reagan Republican
The Reagan coalition was the combination of voters that Republican Ronald Reagan assembled to produce a major political realignment with his electoral landslide in the 1980 United States presidential election. In 1980, the Reagan coalition was p ...
s, which they lamely try to justify. Stevo's grades are excellent, and when his father sends an application to
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States.
Each class ...
and Stevo is accepted, he nevertheless rejects it because of his beliefs. By contrast, Bob's father is a mentally ill alcoholic who mistakes his son and his friend for
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
operatives and chases them away with a shotgun when they visit him on his birthday.
Stevo begins to see the drawbacks of living the punk life. Sean, a fellow punk, was a drug dealer who once attempted to stab his mother while under the influence of an entire 100-dose sheet of acid; in the present, Stevo finds him
panhandling on the street with some obvious mental issues.
While Stevo understands that his relationship with Sandy is casual, he is still enraged when he discovers her having sex with another man and savagely beats him, later loathing himself because his action contradicts his own belief in
anarchism
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessa ...
. His social circle also begins to drift away, as his friend, Mike, leaves Salt Lake City to attend the
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...
. Soon after, Stevo attends a party and falls in love with a rich girl named Brandy, who points out that his clothing and hair are fashion as opposed to true rebellion. Rather than being offended, Stevo takes the criticism thoughtfully, and they passionately kiss.
At the same party, Bob complains of a headache (induced by
Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet () were an English new wave band formed in Islington, London, in 1979. Inspired by the capital's post-punk underground dance scene, they emerged at the start of the 1980s as the house band for the Blitz Kids, playing "European Da ...
's "
She Loved Like Diamond
"She Loved Like Diamond" is a song by the English new wave band Spandau Ballet, released on 11 January 1982 as the third single from what would be their second album, ''Diamond''. The music video and cover art for the single focused on the sexua ...
" playing on a stereo), and is given
Percodan
Oxycodone/aspirin (trade name Percodan) is a combination drug marketed by Endo Pharmaceuticals. It is a tablet containing a mixture of 325 mg (5 grains) of aspirin and 4.8355 mg of oxycodone HCl (equivalent to 4.3346 mg of oxycod ...
, which he consumes with alcohol after being told the pills are simply "vitamins" that will help his headache. The accidental
drug overdose
A drug overdose (overdose or OD) is the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities much greater than are recommended. kills him in his sleep. When Stevo discovers Bob's body, he breaks down completely. At the funeral, he appears with a shaved head and changed clothing, having decided he is done with being a punk. He plans to go to Harvard, and earlier narration suggests that he eventually marries Brandy. He notes in his closing narration that his youthful self would probably kick his future self's ass, wryly describing himself as having been ultimately just another
poseur
A poseur is someone who poses for effect, or behaves affectedly, who affects a particular attitude, character or manner to impress others, or who pretends to belong to a particular group. .
The "Tribes"
The film features several cliques presented as tribes. The film focuses primarily on the punk tribe, but includes several others as well:
*
Punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
s: Stevo, Bob, Sean, Megan, and Mike belong to this tribe, although Mike does not dress the part. The punks are rivals of the
mods,
nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
and
rednecks
''Redneck'' is a derogatory term chiefly, but not exclusively, applied to white Americans perceived to be crass and unsophisticated, closely associated with rural whites of the Southern United States.Harold Wentworth, and Stuart Berg Flexner, '' ...
.
*
Mods: Mods wear suits and ties, and they ride scooters. They are generally the rivals of the punks, but the character John the Mod acts as a diplomat who freely moves between the tribes.
*
Redneck
''Redneck'' is a derogatory term chiefly, but not exclusively, applied to white Americans perceived to be crass and unsophisticated, closely associated with rural whites of the Southern United States.Harold Wentworth, and Stuart Berg Flexner, '' ...
s: Rednecks are rural Utah folk who wear trucker caps and flannel, and drive around in big trucks. Punks hate them for their conservative views.
*
Neo-Nazi
Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...
s: Neo-Nazis are
white power skinhead
White power skinheads, also known as racist skinheads and neo-Nazi skinheads, are members of a neo-Nazi, white supremacist and antisemitic offshoot of the skinhead subculture. Many of them are affiliated with white nationalist organizations and ...
s who wear pseudo-military fatigues and Nazi armbands. Punks and mods are shown to hate them.
* The
heavy metal Guys: They have long hair and flannel. Not much else is known about them, except that Stevo explains that they are predatory toward the new wavers.
*
New wavers: They are people who dress like
new romantic
The New Romantic movement was an underground subculture movement that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The movement emerged from the nightclub scene in London and Birmingham at venues such as Billy's and The Blitz. The New ...
s and are said to be the least threatening of the tribes. They are described as being "the new
hippie
A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...
s." Every tribe is predatory to the new wavers.
Cast
*
Matthew Lillard
Matthew Lyn Lillard (born January 24, 1970) is an American actor. His early film work includes Chip Sutphin in ''Serial Mom'' (1994), Emmanuel "Cereal Killer" Goldstein in ''Hackers'' (1995), Stu Macher in ''Scream'' (1996), Stevo in ''SLC Punk ...
as Steven "Stevo" Levy
** Christopher Ogden as young Stevo
*
Michael Goorjian
Michael Andranik Goorjian (born February 4, 1971) is an American actor, filmmaker, and writer. Goorjian won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Special for his role as David Goodson in the television film ''David's ...
as "Heroin" Bob
**
Francis Capra
Francis Capra (born April 27, 1983) is an American actor. He has played the roles of Max Connor in ''Kazaam'', and Eli "Weevil" Navarro in the TV series ''Veronica Mars''.
Personal life
Capra attended Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School ...
as young Bob
*
Jason Segel
Jason Jordan Segel ( ; born January 18, 1980) is an American actor, comedian, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Marshall Eriksen in the CBS sitcom '' How I Met Your Mother'', as well as for his work with director and ...
as Mike
*
Annabeth Gish
Anne Elizabeth "Annabeth" Gish (born March 13, 1971) is an American actress. She has played roles in films ''Shag'', ''Hiding Out'', '' Mystic Pizza'', ''SLC Punk!'', ''The Last Supper'' and ''Double Jeopardy''. On television, she played Special ...
as Trish
*
Jennifer Lien
Jennifer Anne Lien (born August 24, 1974) is an American former actress known for playing the alien Kes on the television series '' Star Trek: Voyager.''
Early life
Lien was born August 24, 1974, in Illinois, the youngest of three children, a ...
as Sandy
*
Christopher McDonald
Christopher McDonald (born February 15, 1955) is an American film, television, theatre and voice actor.
McDonald is best known for playing the villainous professional golfer Shooter McGavin in the 1996 comedy ''Happy Gilmore''. Other notable ...
as Mr. Levy
*
Devon Sawa
Devon Edward Sawa (born September 7, 1978) is a Canadian actor. Sawa began acting when he was a teenager and appeared in several films in the 1990s including '' Little Giants'', ''Casper'', '' Now and Then'', '' Wild America'', ''Idle Hands'', a ...
as Sean the Beggar
*
Adam Pascal
Adam Pascal (born October 25, 1970) is an American actor, singer, and musician, known for his performance as Roger Davis in the original 1996 cast of Jonathan Larson's musical '' Rent'' on Broadway, the 2005 movie version of the musical, and the ...
as “Mod” Eddie
*
Til Schweiger
Tilman Valentin Schweiger (; born 19 December 1963) is a German actor, voice actor and filmmaker. He runs his own production company, Barefoot Films, in Berlin.
Early life
Schweiger was born in Freiburg, West Germany, to two teachers. He grew ...
as Mark
*
James Duval
James Edward Duval is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the Gregg Araki ''Teenage Apocalypse'' film trilogy—'' Totally F***ed Up'', ''The Doom Generation'', and '' Nowhere''. His other notable roles include Miguel in ''Independence ...
as John the Mod
*
Summer Phoenix
Summer Joy Phoenix (née Bottom) is an American actress. She is the youngest sibling of actors River Phoenix, Rain Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, and Liberty Phoenix.
Early life
Phoenix was born in Winter Park, Florida. Her mother, Arlyn Sharo ...
as Brandy
Production notes
The film was shot in an aggressive, highly kinetic style, with sweeping crane shots, fast dolly moves, and jump cuts.
Most of the film was shot on location in Salt Lake City, with a scene taking place in
Evanston, Wyoming
Evanston is a city in and the county seat of Uinta County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 12,359 at the 2010 census. It is located near the border with Utah.
History
Evanston was named after James A. Evans, a civil engineer for th ...
. Numerous scenes took place in locally well-known areas:
* The high school, which Heroin Bob calls "Southeast High", is
West High School near downtown Salt Lake City.
* The scene where Heroin Bob chastises Stevo for using acid takes place at
Presidents Circle
The University of Utah Circle, also known as Presidents Circle, is located on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 as a Historic districts ...
at the
University of Utah
The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...
.
* Stevo introduces the "poseurs" and gives his "Who Started Punk Rock?" speech at the now-defunct Cottonwood
Mall
Mall commonly refers to a:
* Shopping mall
* Strip mall
* Pedestrian street
* Esplanade
Mall or MALL may also refer to:
Places Shopping complexes
* The Mall (Sofia) (Tsarigradsko Mall), Sofia, Bulgaria
* The Mall, Patna, Patna, Bihar, India
* M ...
in Holladay, Utah. Sean's "women's clothing" job interview takes place inside a Cottonwood Mall storefront.
* Stevo and Sandy drop
acid
In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a sequ ...
at
Memory Grove Park, a
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
memorial park.
* Many exterior street scenes occur just north of the Frank E. Moss Federal Courthouse in the downtown area. The scene where Stevo and Sandy run into Sean begging was shot on Market Street. You can see The Felt and Boston Buildings in the background. Sean is standing in front of the old Odd Fellows Building which currently houses The Dennis Group Engineering consulting at 26 W Market Street. Trish’s head shop was on the 200 block of E 300 S. The Broadway Plaza at 250 E 300 S is visible when Mark walks in.
* The ECP concert was shot at the old Deseret News Paper Mill at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon, posing as The SLC Indian Center.
* The scenes depicting Heroin Bob's funeral were shot inside and outside The
Cathedral of the Madeleine
The Cathedral of the Madeleine is a Roman Catholic church in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was completed in 1909 and currently serves as the cathedral, or mother church, of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. It is the only cathedral in the ...
. The cathedral is located just east of downtown Salt Lake City.
* The apartment where Stevo and Heroin Bob live was the Big D Construction building, across from Pioneer Park.
* The store where they bought the "Wyoming Beer" is 'Porter's Fireworks and Liquor' on the outskirts of Evanston.
Soundtrack
# "
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" -
The Suicide Machines
The Suicide Machines are an American punk rock band formed in March 1991 in Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. During the course of their career, the band has released seven full-length albums on the labels Hollywood Records, Side One Dummy Records and ...
(originally performed by
Lynn Anderson
Lynn Renée Anderson (September 26, 1947 – July 30, 2015) was an American country singer and television personality. Her crossover signature recording, "Rose Garden," was a number one hit in the United States and internationally. She charte ...
)
# "Sex and Violence" -
The Exploited
The Exploited are a Scottish punk rock band from Edinburgh, formed in 1979 by Stevie Ross and Terry Buchan, with Buchan soon replaced by his brother Wattie Buchan. They signed to Secret Records in March 1981,[I Love Livin' in the City
"I Love Livin' in the City" is the first single by the punk rock band Fear. It was originally released in 1978 on the Los Angeles-based Criminal Records.
Background
"I Love Livin' in the City" was re-recorded twice: once during the group's unre ...]
" -
Fear
Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. Fear causes physiological changes that may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear ...
# "1969" -
The Stooges
The Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, also known as Iggy and the Stooges, was an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave ...
# "Too Hot" -
The Specials
The Specials, also known as The Special AKA, are an English Two-tone (music genre), 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall (singer), Terr ...
# "Cretin Hop" -
Ramones
The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...
# "
Dreaming" -
Blondie
# "Gangsters" - The Specials
# "Kiss Me Deadly" -
Generation X
Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western world, Western demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years a ...
# "
Rock N' Roll" -
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. The original line-up consisted of singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise. MacLise w ...
# "Gasoline Rain" - Moondogg
# "
Mirror in the Bathroom
"Mirror in the Bathroom" is a single by British ska band the Beat released as a single in 1980 from their debut album ''I Just Can't Stop It''. It reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart and consequently was their highest charting release in ...
" - Fifi (originally performed by
The English Beat
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
)
# "Amoeba" -
The Adolescents
The Adolescents are an American punk rock band formed in Fullerton, California in 1980. Part of the hardcore punk movement in southern California in the early 1980s, they were one of the main punk acts to emerge from Orange County, along with ...
# "
Kill the Poor
"Kill the Poor" is a song by Dead Kennedys, released in October 1980 on Cherry Red Records as the band's third single, with "In-sight" as its B-side. The song is a scathing satire of the elite who if given the chance, would wipe out the impover ...
" -
Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California, in 1978. The band was one of the defining punk rock, punk bands during its initial eight-year run.
Dead Kennedys' lyrics were usually political in nature, sa ...
# "Look Back and Laugh" -
Minor Threat
Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1980 in Washington, D.C. by vocalist Ian MacKaye and drummer Jeff Nelson. MacKaye and Nelson had played in several other bands together, and recruited bassist Brian Baker and guitaris ...
Eight Bucks Experiment, the band portraying fictional English band ECP, were featured on a European release of the soundtrack. The three songs they recorded live for the punk concert scene were sent back to the band after filming. They self-released the songs on the ''One Of These Days'' EP through their Blue Moon Recordings label website.
Release
Box office
The film premiered in the United States at the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
on January 22, 1999.
It received a
wide release In the American motion picture industry, a wide release (short for nationwide release) is a film playing at the same time at cinemas in most markets across the country. This is in contrast to the formerly common practice of a roadshow theatrical re ...
on April 16, 1999, grossing $36,218 on its opening weekend and amassing a total domestic gross of $299,569 by the time it left theaters.
Critical reception
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
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 ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 61% on 33 reviews, with an average rating of 5.6/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Merging anarchic spirit with straightforward melodrama, ''SLC Punk'' is a hit-and-miss odyssey of youthful rebellion elevated by Matthew Lillard's dramatically potent star turn."
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 ...
assigned the film a weighted average score of 50 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
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 ...
of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' gave the film three-out-of-four stars, praising Lillard's performance and writing that the film offers "a little something there for all of us".
Janet Maslin
Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...
, writing for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', called the film "likable for its outlandishness, less so when it shows a self-important streak". Dennis Harvey of ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' called it "energetic but poorly structured", writing that the film "doesn't quite grasp how its slick, flashy package undermines any actual punk cred".
Nathan Rabin of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' wrote that "''S.L.C. Punk!'' takes a potentially fascinating subject and reduces it to a mawkish compendium of film-festival clichés". David Luty of ''
Film Journal International
''Film Journal International'' was a motion-picture industry trade magazine published by the American company Prometheus Global Media. It was a sister publication of ''Adweek'', '' Billboard'', ''The Hollywood Reporter'', and other periodicals.
H ...
'' wrote a mostly negative review of the film, stating that it "cannot quite reach the richer depths it grasps for, because it doesn't have the material to support the large dramatic distance Stevo has to travel".
Sequel
In April 2013, director
James Merendino
James Anthony Merendino (born January 11, 1969) is an American film director and screenwriter who is best known for directing the 1998 film ''SLC Punk!''.
Life
Merendino was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, and moved to Salt Lake City, Utah whe ...
announced that a sequel to ''SLC Punk!'' titled ''
Punk's Dead
''Punk's Dead'' (also known as ''Punk's Dead: SLC Punk 2'') is a 2016 American comedy-drama film written and directed by James Merendino. It is a sequel to the 1998 film ''SLC Punk!'' and was released on February 11, 2016.
Set 19 years after t ...
'' would begin filming later in the year and would be released in 2014 with most of the original cast reprising their roles. The film was successfully funded by an Indiegogo campaign launched on October 27, 2013, and completed on January 15, 2014. Merendino said of the sequel, “I made ''SLC Punk!'' when I was a kid, and accordingly, the story is naive, and, as just a coming of age story, not finished. The characters are facing big questions, 18 years later, as outsiders, punk rockers… What relevance do they have in a world where all statements have already been made? In the years since I made ''SLC Punk!'', it has found a rather large and supportive following who have been very kind to me. So in making a sequel, I feel I owe it to those people to really do it right."
In May 2014, the film was announced to be shooting in June, with its cast officially announced to include
Devon Sawa
Devon Edward Sawa (born September 7, 1978) is a Canadian actor. Sawa began acting when he was a teenager and appeared in several films in the 1990s including '' Little Giants'', ''Casper'', '' Now and Then'', '' Wild America'', ''Idle Hands'', a ...
,
Michael Goorjian
Michael Andranik Goorjian (born February 4, 1971) is an American actor, filmmaker, and writer. Goorjian won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Special for his role as David Goodson in the television film ''David's ...
,
Adam Pascal
Adam Pascal (born October 25, 1970) is an American actor, singer, and musician, known for his performance as Roger Davis in the original 1996 cast of Jonathan Larson's musical '' Rent'' on Broadway, the 2005 movie version of the musical, and the ...
and
James Duval
James Edward Duval is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the Gregg Araki ''Teenage Apocalypse'' film trilogy—'' Totally F***ed Up'', ''The Doom Generation'', and '' Nowhere''. His other notable roles include Miguel in ''Independence ...
returning as Sean, Heroin Bob, Eddie and John the Mod, respectively, with
Ben Schnetzer
Benjamin Schnetzer (born February 8, 1990) is an American actor. He was nominated for two British Independent Film Awards for his performance in the film ''Pride'' (2014).
Early life
Schnetzer was born and raised in New York City, the son of a ...
appearing as Heroin Bob's son, Ross,
Machine Gun Kelly
George Kelly Barnes (July 18, 1895 – July 18, 1954), better known by his pseudonym "Machine Gun Kelly", was an American gangster from Memphis, Tennessee, active during the Prohibition era. His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thomps ...
as Crash, and
Hannah Marks
Hannah Marks (born April 13, 1993) is an American actress, writer, and director. She played Amanda Brotzman on the television series '' Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency''.
Early life
Hannah Marks was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of R ...
and
Sarah Clarke
Sarah Clarke (born February 16, 1972) is an American actress, best known for her role as Nina Myers on '' 24'', and also for her roles as Renée Dwyer, Bella Swan's mother, in the 2008 film ''Twilight'', Erin McGuire on the short-lived TV sho ...
portraying the female leads. Also in May,
Matthew Lillard
Matthew Lyn Lillard (born January 24, 1970) is an American actor. His early film work includes Chip Sutphin in ''Serial Mom'' (1994), Emmanuel "Cereal Killer" Goldstein in ''Hackers'' (1995), Stu Macher in ''Scream'' (1996), Stevo in ''SLC Punk ...
and
Jason Segel
Jason Jordan Segel ( ; born January 18, 1980) is an American actor, comedian, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Marshall Eriksen in the CBS sitcom '' How I Met Your Mother'', as well as for his work with director and ...
, who starred in the original film announced through social media that they would not be reprising their roles.
Comic book adaptation
In 1998 ''SLC Punk!'' was adapted into a comic book, illustrated by
Dean Haspiel
Dean Edmund Haspiel (born May 31, 1967 in New York City) is an American comic book artist, writer, and playwright. He is known for creating Billy Dogma, The Red Hook, and for his collaborations with writer Harvey Pekar on his ''American Splendor'' ...
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References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:SLC Punk
1999 films
1990s coming-of-age comedy-drama films
American coming-of-age comedy-drama films
Films set in Salt Lake City
Films set in 1985
Films set in the 1980s
Films shot in Salt Lake City
American independent films
Punk films
Sony Pictures Classics films
Films directed by James Merendino
Films shot in Wyoming
Films adapted into comics
1998 independent films
1990s English-language films
1990s American films