Gridlock'd

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Gridlock'd
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Vondie Curtis-Hall
Produced by	Michael Bennett
Written by	Vondie Curtis-Hall
Starring	Tupac Shakur Tim Roth Thandie Newton
Music by	Stewart Copeland
Cinematography	Bill Pope
Editing by	Christopher Koefoed
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	January 29, 1997
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Gridlock'd is a 1997 film starring Tupac Shakur, Tim Roth, and Thandie Newton. It was the directorial debut of Vondie Curtis-Hall, who also wrote the story and screenplay. The film's opening was relatively low, despite critical acclaim for its powerful and gritty substance. Its opening weekend netted $3,603,049 and it finished finally at only $5.5 million. The film paid tribute to star Tupac Shakur who had been murdered several months before the film's release.

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Tagline
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Plot

Set in Detroit, Heroin addicts Spoon and Stretch decide to kick their habit after their best friend and bandmate, Cookie, overdoses on her first hit. Throughout a disastrous day, the two addicts dodge police and local criminals while struggling with an apathetic government bureaucracy that bars their entrance into a rehabilitation program.

[edit] Cast

Actor	Role
Tupac Shakur	Ezekiel 'Spoon' Whitmore
Tim Roth	Alexander 'Stretch' Rawland
Thandie Newton	Barbara 'Cookie' Cook
Charles Fleischer	Mr. Woodson
Howard Hesseman	Blind Man
John Sayles	Cop #1
Eric Payne	Cop #2
Tom Towles	D-Reper's Henchman
Tom Wright	Koolaid
Lucy Liu	Cee-Cee
Richmond Arquette	Resident Doctor
Billie Neal	Medicaid Woman #1
Elizabeth Peña	Admissions Person
Vondie Curtis-Hall	D-Reper

[edit] Production

Gridlock'd marked the directorial debut of actor Vondie Curtis-Hall. He wrote the screenplay in 1993 and based it on actual life experience as a junkie during the 1970s.^[1] Much like the characters in the film, Hall and a friend sought treatment for their addiction only to be told that it would take weeks to get admitted into rehab.^[1] He sent actor Tim Roth the screenplay while he was making Rob Roy.^[1] Roth was drawn to the project because of the humor in the screenplay as he remarked in an interview, "Normally, you'd work through a screenplay and say, 'We'll have to change that and that and somehow try to make it work,' but here the dialogue was always dead-on."^[2] Hall met Roth and convinced him to do the movie. Tupac Shakur auditioned for his role, got it and then met Roth.^[1]