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I Am Sam
Sign in to save2001 film directed by Jessie Nelson
OverviewAI-generated
I Am Sam is a 2001 American drama film directed by Jessie Nelson. The movie features Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dakota Fanning, and Dianne Wiest in the cast. Marshall Herskovitz, Edward Zwick, and Richard Solomon produced the film through Bedford Falls Productions. The narrative is set in Los Angeles and addresses the subject of autism. The original language is English.
The film has a runtime of 132 minutes and was rated PG-13. It was distributed by New Line Cinema and Netflix in video on demand format. The production budget was 22,000,000. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. It holds an IMDb rating of 7.6 and a Metascore of 28.
Synthesized by Vinony from 45 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, TMDb, OMDb, IMDb. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Film · TMDB
7.6Sam, a neurodivergent man, has a daughter with a homeless woman who abandons them when they leave the hospital, leaving Sam to raise Lucy on his own. But as Lucy grows up, Sam's limitations as a parent start to become a problem and the authorities take her away. Sam convinces high-priced lawyer Rita to take his case pro bono and in turn teaches her the value of love and family.
Cast
- Sean Penn as Sam Dawson
- Michelle Pfeiffer as Rita Harrison Williams
- Dianne Wiest as Annie Cassell
- Dakota Fanning as Lucy Diamond Dawson
- Richard Schiff as Mr. Turner
- Loretta Devine as Margaret Calgrove
Themes
- mentally disabled
- foster parents
- lawyer
- pro bono
- social services
- coffee shop manager
- pizza hut
- children's book
- locked door
- child custody
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Ratings
IMDb
7.6/10
160,859 votes
Rotten Tomatoes
35%
Metacritic
28/100
- Year
- 2001
- Runtime
- 132 min
- Genres
- Drama
- Rated
- PG-13
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 8 wins & 12 nominations total
via OMDb · IMDb
Key facts
- Directed by
- Jessie Nelson
- Written by
- Kristine Johnson Jessie Nelson
- Produced by
- Jessie Nelson , Richard Solomon , Edward Zwick , Marshall Herskovitz
- Starring
- Sean Penn Michelle Pfeiffer Dianne Wiest Dakota Fanning Richard Schiff Doug Hutchison Loretta Devine Laura Dern
- Cinematography
- Elliot Davis
- Edited by
- Richard Chew
- Music by
- John Powell
- Production company
- The Bedford Falls Company
- Distributed by
- New Line Cinema
- Release date
- December 28, 2001 ( 2001-12-28 ) (limited) January 25, 2002 (wide)
- Running time
- 132 minutes
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Budget
- $22 million
- Box office
- $97.8 million
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- film
- Genre
- trial film
- Country of origin
- United States
- Original language
- English language
- Main subject
- autism
- Director
- Jessie Nelson
- Cast member
- Kimberly Scott
- Composer
- John Powell
- Producer
- Richard Solomon
- Production company
- Bedford Falls Productions
- Cinematographer
- Elliot Davis
- Narrative location
- Los Angeles
- Filming location
- Los Angeles
- Duration
- 127
- FilmAffinity ID
- 353635
- Distribution format
- video on demand
- Official website
- www.iamsammovie.com
Show 9 more facts
- publication date
- 2002-05-09
- film editor
- Richard Chew
- title
- I Am Sam
- nominated for
- Academy Award for Best Actor
- distributed by
- Netflix
- assessment
- Bechdel test
- review score
- 28/100
- capital cost
- 22000000
- box office
- 97818139
Sources (9)
via Wikidata · CC0
~8 min read
Encyclopedic overview
I Am Sam (stylized in all lowercase) is a 2001 American drama film co-written and directed by Jessie Nelson. It stars Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dianne Wiest, Dakota Fanning, Richard Schiff, Loretta Devine, and Laura Dern.
Nelson and co-writer Kristine Johnson researched the problems facing adults with intellectual disabilities by visiting the non-profit organization L.A. GOAL (Greater Opportunities for the Advanced Living). They subsequently cast two actors with disabilities, Brad Silverman and Joe Rosenberg, in key roles. The film's title is derived from the lines "I am Sam / Sam I am" of the book Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss, which is included in the movie.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “I Am Sam” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.