Taglines: If you don’t believe in the existence of evil, you’ve got a lot to learn.
Apt Pupil movie storyline. A local high school boy, Todd Bowden, discovers Nazi war criminal Kurt Dussander living in his neighborhood under the assumed name Arthur Denker. Rather than turn Dussander over to the authorities, Todd makes a strange deal where Dussander will tell him “what it felt like” during the Holocaust of World War II in exchange for Todd’s silence. Todd becomes an “apt pupil” of the horror stories Dussander tells and the two enter into a bizarre relationship of mixed hate and friendship culminating when Todd helps Dussander cover up a vicious murder.
Apt Pupil is a 1998 American thriller film directed by Bryan Singer and starring Ian McKellen and Brad Renfro. It is based on the 1982 novella of the same name by Stephen King. In the 1980s in southern California, high school student Todd Bowden (Renfro) discovers fugitive Nazi war criminal Kurt Dussander (McKellen) living in his neighborhood under the pseudonym Arthur Denker. Bowden, obsessed with Nazism and acts of the Holocaust, persuades Dussander to share his stories, and their relationship stirs malice in each of them.
The novella was first published in King’s 1982 collection Different Seasons. Producer Richard Kobritz sought to adapt the novella into a film during the 1980s, but two actors he invited to play Dussander died. When filming began in 1987, a loss of financing led to the production being shut down. Forty minutes of usable footage existed, but production was never revived.
In 1995, when rights to the novella returned to King, Bryan Singer petitioned the author for an opportunity to adapt the novella. With King’s support, Singer filmed Apt Pupil with McKellen and Renfro in Altadena, California, in 1997. The director shortened the novella’s storyline, reduced its violence, and changed the ending. Singer called Apt Pupil “a study in cruelty” with Nazism only serving as a vehicle for the capacity of evil.
During the $14 million production, a lawsuit was filed by several extras who alleged that they were told to strip naked during a shower scene, but the lawsuit was determined to be without merit. The film was released in the United States and Canada in October 1998 to mixed reviews and made under $9 million. The main actors won several minor awards for their performances.
Apt Pupil (1998)
Directed by: Bryan Singer
Starring: Ian McKellen, Brad Renfro, Joshua Jackson, Michael Reid MacKay, Mickey Cottrell, Ann Dowd, Heather McComb, David Schwimmer, Katherine Malone, Grace Sinden
Screenplay by: Brandon Boyce
Production Design by: Richard Hoover
Cinematography by: Newton Thomas Sigel
Film Editing by: John Ottman
Costume Design by: Louise Mingenbach
Set Decoration by: Jennifer Herwitt
Art Direction by: Kathleen M. McKernin
Music by: John Ottman
MPAA Rating: R for scenes of strong violence, language and brief sexuality.
Distributed by: TriStar Pictures
Release Date: October 23, 1998
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