Taglines: Sometimes good people do evil things.
A Simple Plan movie storyline. Based on Scott B. Smith’s bone-chilling 1993 novel, A Simple Plan is a bit of a departure for horror film director Sam Raimi. Instead of flying eyeballs and dancing corpses, A Simple Plan is a taut crime thriller in the vein of Joel Coen’s Academy Award-winning Fargo.
Set during the white winters of Minnesota, this story tells the eerie tale of Hank and Jacob Mitchell (played by Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton) who, along with a buddy, find a downed single-engine plane buried in the snowy woods. Inside it is a decaying pilot and a bag carrying four million dollars in one-hundred-dollar bills. The men decide to hide the money until spring when the snow is melted and the plane is found. If no one notices the missing money at that time, they will split it and live a wealthy new life.
A simple plan, right? Wrong. Much like Humphrey Bogart’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, things can only get worse, as distrust and greed creep into the minds of the principals. They find it difficult to decide which one gets to hold the money — and even more impossible to keep from dipping into the stash until spring. And so on. It also becomes increasingly tough to keep a secret of this magnitude. And if all this doesn’t get moviegoers’ brains working, it seems there are suspicious characters in town who just may be able to link them to the plane, forcing the more dangerous and bloody question of what to do with those people and how to cover their tracks.
A Simple Plan is a 1998 American neo-noir crime thriller film adapted by Scott B. Smith from his 1993 novel of the same name. Directed by Sam Raimi, it stars Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton and Bridget Fonda. Set in rural Minnesota, A Simple Plan follows brothers Hank (Paxton) and Jacob Mitchell (Thornton), who, along with Jacob’s friend Lou (Brent Briscoe), discover a crashed plane containing $4.4 million in cash. The three men go to great lengths to keep the money a secret but begin to doubt each other’s trust, resulting in lies, deceit and murder.
Development of the film began in 1993 before the novel was published. Mike Nichols purchased the film rights, and the project was picked up by Savoy Pictures. After Nichols stepped down, the film adaptation became mired in development hell; during the troubled pre-production, Ben Stiller and John Dahl turned down opportunities to direct the film.
After Savoy closed in November 1995, the project was sold to Paramount Pictures, and financed by Mutual Film Company, which provided a budget of $17 million. John Boorman was hired to direct, but scheduling conflicts led to his replacement by Raimi. Principal photography began in January 1998 and concluded in March after 55 days; filming took place in Wisconsin and Minnesota. The score was produced and composed by Danny Elfman.
A Simple Plan premiered at the 1998 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was met with critical acclaim. The film’s appearance at the festival preceded a limited release in the United States on December 11, 1998, followed by a general release in North America on January 22, 1999. It underperformed at the North American box office, grossing $16.3 million.
Reviewers praised various aspects of the film’s production, including the storytelling, performances and Raimi’s direction. A Simple Plan earned multiple awards and nominations, among them two Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Thornton) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Scott B. Smith).
A Simple Plan (1998)
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Starring: Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, Bridget Fonda, Brent Briscoe, Chelcie Ross, Becky Ann Baker, Peter Syvertsen, Gary Cole, Marie Mathay, Joan Steffand
Screenplay by: Scott B. Smith
Production Design by: Patrizia von Brandenstein
Cinematography by: Alar Kivilo
Film Editing by: Arthur Coburn, Eric L. Beason
Costume Design by: Julie Weiss
Set Decoration by: Hilton Rosemarin
Art Direction by: James F. Truesdale
Music by: Danny Elfman
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: December 11, 1998
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