''American Gun'' is a 2005 American

crime drama Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

film produced by Participant Productions, IFC Films, IFC First Take, and Spirit Dance Entertainment. It was written in 2001 by Steven Bagatourian and Aric Avelino and directed by Avelino as his directorial debut. Avelino attended

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

and made the film with many LMU alumni, including producer Ted Kroeber. The film took two and a half years to finance. The central idea came from a " Column One" article in the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''. In addition, the writers were influenced by a friend from the

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

school district who related stories about how students brought guns to school, not to use them on campus, but because of the dangerous neighborhoods they live in or walk through to attend classes. Avelino was very appreciative of the directorial advice of

Forest Whitaker Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor, filmmaker, and activist. His accolades include an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Best Actor Award at the ...

, one of the film's producers. The first actress attached to the project was

Marcia Gay Harden Marcia Gay Harden (born August 14, 1959) is an American actress. Her accolades include an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and nominations for four Primetime Emmy Awards. Harden's breakthrough came in 1990 with the Coen brothers' film '' Miller's ...

Premise

''American Gun'' centers around three stories dealing with the results of gun use: an inner city school principal, a single mother, and an A student who works at her family's gun shop.

Cast

– Janet Huttenson *

– Carter *

Donald Sutherland Donald McNichol Sutherland (17 July 1935 – 20 June 2024) was a Canadian actor. With a career spanning six decades, he received List of awards and nominations received by Donald Sutherland, numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award ...

– Carl Wilk * Lisa Long – Sandra Cohen * Arlen Escarpeta – Jay * Chris Warren Jr. – Marcus * David Heymann – Producer * Chris Marquette – David Huttenson * Amanda Seyfried – Mouse *

Nikki Reed Nikki Reed is an American former actress and entrepreneur best known for her role as Rosalie Hale in ''The Twilight Saga (film series), The Twilight Saga'' (2008–12). Reed rose to prominence when she co-wrote and starred in the psychological ...

– Tally * Joseph Kell – Security Guard *

Tony Goldwyn Anthony Howard Goldwyn (born May 20, 1960) is an American actor, singer, producer, director, and political activist. He made his debut appearing as Darren in the slasher film '' Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives'' (1986), and had his breakthr ...

– Frank *

Rex Linn Rex Maynard Linn (born November 13, 1956) is an American actor. He is best known domestically for playing the role of Sgt. Frank Tripp in the CBS drama '' CSI: Miami'' and more recently for playing Kevin Wachtell in the television series ''Bet ...

– Earl * Kevin Phillips – Reggie * Davenia McFadden – Felicia *

Linda Cardellini Linda Edna Cardellini (born June 25, 1975) is an American actress. In television, she is known for her starring roles in the teen drama ''Freaks and Geeks'' (1999–2000), the medical drama ''ER (TV series), ER'' (2003–2009), and the thriller ...

– Mary Ann Wilk * Schuyler Fisk – Cicily *

Michael Shannon Michael Corbett Shannon (born August 7, 1974) is an American actor. Shannon received two Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nominations, for '' Revolutionary Road'' (2008), and '' Nocturnal Animals'' (2016). He received Screen Actors Guil ...

(as Michael J. Shannon) – Jerry * Charles Duckworth – Connie * Todd Tesen – Barry *

Melissa Leo Melissa Chessington Leo (born September 14, 1960) is an American actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and two Critics' Choice A ...

– Louise * Gary Paul Clark – Supervisor * Ali Hillis - Gun Shop Patron *

Garcelle Beauvais Garcelle Beauvais (, formerly Beauvais-Nilon; born November 26, 1966) is a Haitian-American actress and television personality. She is best known for her starring roles in the sitcom ''The Jamie Foxx Show'' and the crime drama series ''NYPD Blue' ...

(as Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon) – Sarah

Reception

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website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 39% based on 31 critic reviews, with an average rating of 5.30/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Despite its intriguing premise, this earnest anti-gun polemic is too melodramatic to resonate." According to

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which compiled 14 reviews and calculated a weighted average score of 48 out of 100, the film received "mixed or average" reviews.

Distribution

According to boxofficemojo.com, ''American Gun'' took in $24,098 in a limited release from one to six theatres in a little over 10 weeks in theatres from March 22 – June 1, 2007. It was featured on the IFC program '' First Take''.

Awards

Independent Spirit Awards The Independent Spirit Awards, originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards, and later as the Film Independent Spirit Awards, are awards presented annually in Santa Monica, California, to independent filmmakers. Founded in ...

Nominations
22nd Spirit Awards ceremony hosted by Sarah Silverman - full show (2007) , Film Independent on YouTube
/ref> **Best Feature, Ted Kroeber, producer. **Best Male Lead,

. **Best Supporting Female,

References

External links

* *
LMU alumni
press release about the movie.
American Gun official site

IFC "First Take"
{{School shootings in the United States 2005 films 2005 crime drama films American crime drama films American independent films 2000s English-language films Films set in Chicago Films shot in Chicago IFC Films films Participant (company) films 2005 directorial debut films 2005 independent films 2000s American films English-language independent films English-language crime drama films