JERICHO, NY, December 19, 2002 — From elation to despair, the drug experience has been a consistent thread in American cinema since the earliest days of film. Directed by DGA nominee Bruce Sinofsky (PARADISE LOST), HOLLYWOOD HIGH uncovers the story of drugs as an ever-present fixture of the American experience, explored and exposed through Hollywood's lens.
Premiering February 18 at 10 PM ET/PT on AMC, HOLLYWOOD HIGH explores how drug addiction is portrayed in film, from campy midnight movies like REEFER MADNESS, to the blunt brutality of REQUIEM FOR A DREAM. AMC's original one-hour documentary lays bare the seductive highs and rock bottom lows of addiction and the drug trade, which is a continuing source of inspiration for writers and filmmakers.
Featuring original interviews with filmmakers including John Waters (PINK FLAMINGOS), Penelope Spheeris (THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, WAYNE'S WORLD), Jim Jarmusch (NIGHT ON EARTH) and Oliver Stone (THE DOORS, PLATOON), writers such as Hubert Selby Jr. (REQUIEM FOR A DREAM) and Stephen Gaghan (TRAFFIC), and actor Willem Dafoe (SPIDERMAN, AFFLICTION), HOLLYWOOD HIGH examines how drug use in the movies has evolved over the last 60 years. Whether it is glamorizing or condemning drugs, recent movies illustrate both sides of addiction. The documentary also shows how the drug trade and the war on drugs were chronicled in films like SCARFACE and TRAFFIC.
Though the earliest presentation of drugs in the movies were limited to cautionary tales like REEFER MADNESS and THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM, which showed Frank Sinatra's character doing heroin, movies in the '60s and '70s rejected that dusty premise and wove tales of free-spirited nonconformists into films like EASY RIDER, UP IN SMOKE and FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH.
The notion that drugs had no downside began to wane as films like LESS THAN ZERO and DRUGSTORE COWBOY revisited the darker side of addiction, how it robs the user of all dignity and perspective, and often leads to ruin and death. But, as John Waters points out, during that time, drug addiction never seemed more glamorous.
In Darren Aronofsky's REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, Alison Maclean's JESUS' SON, Jerry Stahl's autobiographical PERMANENT MIDNIGHT and Steven Soderbergh's TRAFFIC, the wages of the drug war, fought both within and without, are not nearly as pretty, but offer a rather stark picture of the struggle between too much and not enough.
An AMC original production, HOLLYWOOD HIGH is directed by Bruce Sinofsky and produced by Michael Bonfiglio of @ Radical Media. Jessica Falcon is the executive producer for AMC.
AMC is a 24-hour, movie-based network, dedicated to the American movie fan. The network, which reaches over 83,000,000 homes, offers a comprehensive library of popular movies and an increasingly visible, critically- acclaimed, slate of original programming that is a diverse, movie-based mix of original series, documentaries and specials. AMC has more than doubled its original programming over the past 3 years and garnered many of the industry's highest honors, including seven Emmy awards. AMC is "TV for movie people."
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