Light It Up (film)
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| Light It Up | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Craig Bolotin |
| Produced by | Kenneth Edmonds and Tracy Edmonds |
| Written by | Craig Bolotin Forest Whitaker |
| Narrated by | Robert Ri'chard |
| Starring | See Cast |
| Music by | Usher Raymond Brandy Norwood |
| Cinematography | Craig Bolotin |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) |  November 10, 1999 December 11, 1999 January 7, 2000 February 2, 2000 February 17, 2000 September 19, 2000 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | Domestic: $79,432,979 Worldwide: $192,791,827 |
| IMDb profile | |
Light It Up is 1999 Drama film starring Grammy-winning R&B singer, Usher Raymond, Rosario Dawson, Academy Award-winning actor, Forest Whitaker, and an ensemble cast. The film was written and directed by Craig Bolotin, and written by Forest Whitaker, and produced by Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and record producer, Kenneth Edmonds and his wife Tracy E. Edmonds. The film was released on November 10, 1999 and rated R by the MPAA for content, crude humor and violence.
Tagline: they don't want to be heroes, they just want to be heard.
Contents |
[edit] Plot Summary
The film starts off in an inner city-neighborhood in Queens, New York, the events are narrated by Zacharias 'Ziggy' Malone (Robert Ri'chard), who introduces his former classmates/friends at Lincoln High School: Lester DeWitt (Usher), who lost his father, Hard-working Latin/African-American student Stephanie Williams (Rosario Dawson), who is ignoring Lester due to the fact that she does not want to go steady with him. Other characters include gangster/thug Rodney (Fredro Starr) who gets into fights with other students, rebellious classmate Lynn (Sara Gilbert) who is already a couple of months pregnant, and Rivers (Clifton Collins Jr.), a close friend of Lester and Ziggy.
The film later introduces Police officer Dante Jackson (Forest Whitaker) as he tries to arrest Lester after a misunderstanding, and Ken Knowles (Judd Nelson), a kind, warm-hearted teacher whose class covers significant 20th century events. When the classroom's windows are broken by rocks, Mr. Knowles takes them to the principal's office, where Principal Allen Armstrong (Glynn Turman) tells Knowles to take them "anywhere".
Since there is no space any where in the school, Knowles and the kids go to a local diner, where a robbery takes place. Knowles confronts the robber, who was a former student that dropped out of school. Principal Armstrong is infuriated by what Knowles has done, and puts him on administrative leave. Lester, Stephanie and Ziggy are at the main office as Knowles leaves the school. Stephanie is disgusted that Principal Armstrong has ignored that he told Knowles to "take the class anywhere", Stephanie and Lester are suspended from school and Principal Armstrong calls in Officer Jackson to remove all of them. Ziggy decides to leave but Officer Jackson restrains him. This event is witnessed by other students at the school and soon everything turns into a small riot.
Lester tries to resist Officer Jackson and loses, but Ziggy picks up Officer Jackson's dropped gun and says "he [Ziggy] cannot go home." Officer Jackson tries to restrain Ziggy but gets accidentally shot in the leg as he grabs for his gun. Principal Armstrong tells school security to call an ambulance and the NYPD in order to arrest Ziggy. Lester then grabs the gun and orders everyone to evacuate the school. This finally forces the NYPD detectives to come in, led by Detective Audrey McDonald (Vanessa Williams) as a negotiator.
Still waiting after a couple of hours, the group continues to hold Officer Dante Jackson against his will. Lester tells Dante about his how his father (Robert Lee Minor) was gunned down during a wrongful arrest. In the next few scenes, Rivers, Lynn, Rodney, Ziggy, Stephanie, and Lester are all becoming infamous across New York City, as they are exposed and identified on such networks such as BET, NBC, NY1 and CBS.
Debate continues as the events taking place, and the classmates suffer the loss of Ziggy, who is killed on the school's roof while trying to save Lester's life. However, the narrator tells about what happened to the kids: Lester has gone off to a city college, Stephanie went to New York University[citation needed], Lynn had her baby boy and is never from again, Rodney starts becoming a Muslim, Rivers is drafted to the Military, Officer Jackson testified what happened at the school, and Mr. Knowles still teaches history.
[edit] Setting
Although Light It Up was set in the inner city of Queens, the film was mostly shot at The Aubudon Prep High School in Chicago, Illinois, adding realistic sets to turn into Queens, As of 2008, critics and film viewers are unaware if the film was actually shot in Queens or Hollywood.[citation needed]
[edit] Cast
- Usher Raymond as Lester DeWitt
- Forest Whitaker as Officer Dante Jackson
- Rosario Dawson as Stephanie Williams
- Robert Ri'chard as Zacharias 'Ziggy' Malone/The Narrator
- Judd Nelson as Mr. Ken Knowles
- Fredro Starr as Rodney J. Templeton
- Sara Gilbert as Lynn Sabatini
- Clifton Collins Jr. as Robert 'Rivers' Tremont
- Glynn Turman as Principal Allen Armstrong
- Vanessa L. Williams as Detective Audrey McDonald
- Robert Lee Minor as Lester's father (flashback)
Rosario Dawson was not Craig Bolotin's first choice to play Stephanie Williams, other celebrities auditioned for the role as Stephanie: Brandy, Mya, Reagan Gomez-Preston, Tatyana Ali. and Grammy Award-winning R&B singer, Mary J. Blige auditioned for the role as Detective Audrey McDonald.[citation needed]
[edit] Reception
Light It Up was released on November 10, 1999; bringing in just under $6,000,000 at the domestic box office (slightly less then half its production budget). [1]
