Michael Clayton [Blu-ray]

Director: Tony Gilroy

Overview

Michael Clayton (George Clooney) handles all of the dirty work for a major New York law firm, arranging top-flight legal services and skirting through loopholes for ethically questionable clients. But when a fellow "fixer" decides to turn on the very firm they were hired to clean up for, Clayton finds himself at the center of a conspiratorial maelstrom. Once an ambitious D.A., Clayton is now a shell of his former dynamic self, thanks to a divorce, an unfortunate business venture, and astronomical debt. Though he longs to leave the cutthroat, ethically dubious world of corporate law behind, Clayton's poor financial situation and devotion to firm head Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack) leave him little choice but to remain on the job and tough it out. Meanwhile, litigator Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) finds her entire company's future hinging on the outcome of a multi-billion-dollar settlement overseen by Clayton's friend, star lawyer Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson). When Edens snaps and decides to blow the whistle on the questionable case, sabotaging the defense, Clayton must decide between his loyalty and his conscience.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/19/2008
UPC:	0085391176244
Original Release:	2007
Rating:	R
Source:	WARNER HOME VIDEO
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:00:00
Sales rank:	3,394

Special Features

Additional scenes; Commentary by writer/director Tony Gilroy and editor John Gilroy

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

George Clooney	Michael Clayton
Tilda Swinton	Karen Crowder
Tom Wilkinson	Arthur Edens
Sydney Pollack	Marty Bach
Michael O'Keefe	Barry Grissom
Denis O'Hare	Mr. Greer
Ken Howard	Don Jeffries,Composer
Julie White	Mrs. Greer
Tom McCarthy	Voices,Walter
Austin Williams	Henry Clayton
Remy Auberjonois	Fifth Year
Wai Chan	Chinese Dealer
Alberto Vazquez	Actor
Brian Koppelman	Player #2
Jennifer Van Dyck	Ivy
Frank Wood	Gerald
Richard Hecht	Auctioneer
Bill Raymond	Gabe Zabel
Sharon Washington	Pam
Amy Hargreaves	Interviewer
Susan Pellegrino	Secretary
Rachel Black	Actor,Maude
Matthew Detmer	Todd
John Douglas Thompson	Jail Guard,Jail Guard
Merritt Wever	Anna
Brian Poteat	Deposition Lawyer
Christopher Mann	Lieutenant Elston
Danielle Skraastad	Bridget Klein
Jonathan Walker	Del,Del
Cynthia Mace	Wendy
Michael Countryman	Evan
Robert Prescott	Mr. Verne
Terry Serpico	Mr. Iker
Kevin Hagan	Raymond Clayton
David Lansbury	Timmy Clayton
Heidi Armbruster	Anna's Sister
Edward Furs	Milwaukee Captain
Katherine Waterston	Third Year
John Gerard Franklin	Corrections Officer
Alberto Vasquez	Player #1
Jason Strong	First Year
Pun Bandhu	Fourth Year
David Zayas	Detective Dalberto
Pamela Gray	Cindy Bach
Andrew Sherman	U/North
Julia Gibson	Stephanie Clayton
Se?n Cullen	Gene Clayton
Susan Egbert	Michelle
Paul Oquist	Caddy
Douglas McGrath	Jeff Gaffney
Gregory Dann	Cop
Cathy Tomlin	Cop #2
Sam Gilroy	Copy Kid
Maggie Siff	Attorney #1
Sarah Nichols	Barry's Assistant
Susan McBrien	Jean
Jordan Lage	Partner
Neal Huff	First Associate
Paul Juhn	Second Associate
Mike Scelza	Poker Consultant
Blake Neely	Conductor

Technical Credits

Tony Gilroy

Tony Gilroy	Screenwriter
Steve Samuels	Producer
Sydney Pollack	Producer
Jennifer Fox	Producer
Kerry Orent	Producer
George Clooney	Executive Producer
Steven Soderbergh	Executive Producer,Producer
Anthony Minghella	Executive Producer,Producer
James Holt	Executive Producer,Producer
Christopher Goode	Producer
Spencer Armajo	Special Effects
Michael Barosky	Sound Effects,Sound/Sound Designer
Michael Barry	Sound Effects
David Boulton	Sound Effects
Kenton Jakub	Sound Effects
Bobby Johanson	Sound Effects
Chris Barnes	Stunts
Robert Kummert	Key Grip
Gene Harrison	Stunts
John Duvall	Key Grip
Norman Douglass	Stunts
Gary Martone	Key Grip
John E. Mack	Stunts
Ellen Chenoweth	Casting
Joanne Lamstein	Stunts
Don Hewitt	Stunts
Alex Kharlamov	Sound/Sound Designer
Michael Brooks	Sound/Sound Designer
Alan Meyerson	Sound Mixer
Clay Duncan	Sound/Sound Designer
Mel Wesson	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Tony Gilroy's elegantly structured script for Michael Clayton offers a series of plot developments and character details that don't build so much as accumulate in the viewer's mind, until a thunderously entertaining final scene -- the kind of confrontation an old-time Hollywood mogul might call a "corker" -- pays them all off in a thrilling verbal face-off. As a first-time director, Gilroy maintains a steady, measured pace. His style serves his low-key but involving script, quietly adding layers to the characters while moving the plot along. The first-rate editing juggles timelines in the best possible way, allowing events to have a much different meaning when you see them a second time. George Clooney gives another first-rate performance as Clayton, a man who can keep his clients' lives in order, but not his own. We know, because he is so good at his job, that he will figure out how to get himself out of the seemingly impossible position he gets himself into when his closest friend, an older attorney at the firm, has a mental breakdown while defending a chemical company facing a multi-million-dollar class-action suit. As the friend, Tom Wilkinson gets to deliver all of the film's colorful monologues. Unafraid to recall Peter Finch's performance in Network, Wilkinson offers a realistic portrait of manic depression while also reveling in the florid theatricality of his character's expansive orations. He manages to be simultaneously over-the-top and realistic -- as well as sympathetic. Tilda Swinton, shot in a way that lets the audience know how Gilroy feels about corporate functionaries, makes for an original adversary -- her obsessively detail-oriented character is the one most in over her head. Sydney Pollack, a woefully underappreciated actor, not only hits every note he is asked to play, but gives the film even more credibility as an updated '70s paranoid thriller simply because of his presence. Midway into the film, Gilroy stages a murder that offers a grueling commentary on the cold-blooded efficiency of modern corporate life. The murder happens close-up. It is hands-on, bloodless, and mechanical, leaving the viewer with an unshakeable sense of unease. The act happens as simply and with as much understatement as everything else in the movie; Gilroy feels no need to punctuate his material with either ominous music or lingering shots of outraged faces. The director never indicates to his audience how horrible what we are seeing is, he takes it for granted that we have the humanity to be appropriately shocked. This is what Gilroy gets very right throughout the film -- he trusts his audience. He repays that trust with that grandly entertaining final scene, where he finally lets the audience release all of the emotions he has kept efficiently bottled up for two hours.