Driven
Encyclopedia
Driven is a 2001 film directed by Renny Harlin
and starring Sylvester Stallone
, who also wrote and produced. It centers on a young racing driver's effort to win the ChampCar World Series (since merged with IndyCar
). Prior to production of the movie, Stallone was seen at many Formula 1 races, but he was unable to procure enough information about the sport due to the secrecy with which teams protect their cars, so he decided to base the film on the ChampCar World Series.
Jimmy's winning is also angering former champion Beau Brandenburg who decides he's not doing very well this year because of his fiancee Sophia. He breaks up the engagement and he immediately starts winning again.
As Brandenburg returns to form, Bly's wheelchair-using team owner Carl Henry is concerned that Bly is becoming more prone to driving errors. He sees parallels to his former Joe Tanto, who he convinces to come out of retirement to mentor Jimmy. Joe agrees and is brought in to replace Jimmy's teammate, Memo Moreno. To complicate matters, Joe's ex-wife Cathy Heguy is now married to Memo, the driver that Joe replaced.
Joe 's comeback race is extremely close, with Jimmy leading and Brandenburg a close second. Jimmy can't seem to pull away from him so Carl orders Joe to pit and holds him there until the leaders are about to come by. At the last second, Joe leaves the pit just in time to block out Brandenburg, allowing Jimmy to win the race. However, Jimmy's brother/manager takes a dislike to Joe's mentoring and tries to break their contact. Meanwhile, Joe urges Brandenburg not to break off his relationship with Sophia because she is beginning to get involved with Jimmy and causing him to lose focus on raceday.
At a party in Chicago, where the prototypes of next years cars are being introduced, Brandenburg gives Sophia her ring back and they are together again. She apologizes to Jimmy but he is so upset that he takes one of the new cars and races it out of the convention center. Joe hops into another of the new cars and chases him down the streets of Chicago.
Carl decides that bringing back Joe isn't successful so he reinstates original driver Moreno.
The next race is a road course in Germany and it's another close one with Jimmy and Brandenburg fighting it out for first. Bly needs one more win to take the championship, and so Moreno is instructed to protect Bly's race. Cathy gets on the radio and convinces Memo to ignore those instructions, and as a result he collides with Bly in a horrific crash that sends him flying through the air and crashing into a lake on the far end of the course. Jimmy does a quick u-turn and drives his car to the lake and dives in after him. Brandenburg does the same and the two of them rescue Memo.
Carl, angered by Jimmy's decision to stop and rescue Moreno instead of fighting on for the championship, decides to replace Jimmy with Brandenburg for the next season and negotiates a deal with Jimmy's brother who will now represent Brandenburg. With Memo now hospitalized, Joe is racing again as Jimmy's teammate. It looked like Jimmy wouldn't be able to race due to an ankle injury but Carl finally decides to clear him for the race. Demille tries to get Brandenburg to sign the new contract but he rips it up.
At the final race of the year in Detroit, Jimmy and Brandenburg are contenders for the championship. In the final laps Joe has taken the lead but by avoiding an accident, goes flying through the air, lands safely but damages his axle. He can't block for Jimmy now and the two leaders pass him on the final lap. It's neck and neck coming down to the finish. Jimmy is starting to have a mental lapse, but then he hears Joe's words of wisdom and in a long slow motion sequence, we see Jimmy beating Brandenburg by just a few inches as Joe crosses in third while doing donuts in his now out of control car. Jimmy is the new champion and he, Tanto and Brandenburg, celebrate together on the podium drinking champagne.
Montoya, Gugelmin & Blundell lent their car and helmet likeness to Brandenburg, Tanto and Bly respectively (Blundell's helmet being suitably changed from an "MB" logo to "JB").
, attending the 1997 Italian Grand Prix
and stating his goal in a press conference. However the plan to base the movie on F1 was dropped.
The film was filmed primarily in Toronto
, Canada
in the summer of 2000 as well as at a variety of worldwide races which were sanctioned by CART
. In Driven, the German race took place on a road course, but in fact, the CART race is on an oval.
The film premier took place at Grauman's Chinese Theatre
, with several CART competitors driving and demonstrating pit stops in modified Champ Cars down Hollywood Blvd.
; with 1999 film Deep Blue Sea
and 1996 film The Long Kiss Goodnight
.
consensus saying "Underdeveloped characters, silly plot dynamics, and obvious CG effects." When Jay Leno
appeared as a guest critic on the television show Ebert & Roeper, both Leno and Richard Roeper
described Driven as the worst car film ever made, and a terrible depiction of auto racing.
It also earned seven nominations at the 22nd Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst Screen Couple (Burt Reynolds and Sylvester Stallone) and twice for Worst Supporting Actor (Reynolds and Stallone), with Estella Warren "winning" Worst Supporting Actress (also for Planet of the Apes
)
Renny Harlin
Renny Harlin is a Finnish-American film director and producer. He is best known for Die Hard 2 , Cliffhanger , The Long Kiss Goodnight and Deep Blue Sea...
and starring Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone
Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
, who also wrote and produced. It centers on a young racing driver's effort to win the ChampCar World Series (since merged with IndyCar
IndyCar
IndyCar is the trade name of an American-based open-wheel auto racing sanctioning body. IndyCar sanctions three racing series, the premier IZOD IndyCar Series with its centerpiece Indianapolis 500, and developmental series Firestone Indy Lights and the U.S...
). Prior to production of the movie, Stallone was seen at many Formula 1 races, but he was unable to procure enough information about the sport due to the secrecy with which teams protect their cars, so he decided to base the film on the ChampCar World Series.
Plot
Mid-season, rookie driver Jimmy Bly has already won 5 races. His brother/business manager Demille is seen to be more concerned with working out endorsement deals and press engagements than racing, putting tremendous pressure upon Jimmy.Jimmy's winning is also angering former champion Beau Brandenburg who decides he's not doing very well this year because of his fiancee Sophia. He breaks up the engagement and he immediately starts winning again.
As Brandenburg returns to form, Bly's wheelchair-using team owner Carl Henry is concerned that Bly is becoming more prone to driving errors. He sees parallels to his former Joe Tanto, who he convinces to come out of retirement to mentor Jimmy. Joe agrees and is brought in to replace Jimmy's teammate, Memo Moreno. To complicate matters, Joe's ex-wife Cathy Heguy is now married to Memo, the driver that Joe replaced.
Joe 's comeback race is extremely close, with Jimmy leading and Brandenburg a close second. Jimmy can't seem to pull away from him so Carl orders Joe to pit and holds him there until the leaders are about to come by. At the last second, Joe leaves the pit just in time to block out Brandenburg, allowing Jimmy to win the race. However, Jimmy's brother/manager takes a dislike to Joe's mentoring and tries to break their contact. Meanwhile, Joe urges Brandenburg not to break off his relationship with Sophia because she is beginning to get involved with Jimmy and causing him to lose focus on raceday.
At a party in Chicago, where the prototypes of next years cars are being introduced, Brandenburg gives Sophia her ring back and they are together again. She apologizes to Jimmy but he is so upset that he takes one of the new cars and races it out of the convention center. Joe hops into another of the new cars and chases him down the streets of Chicago.
Carl decides that bringing back Joe isn't successful so he reinstates original driver Moreno.
The next race is a road course in Germany and it's another close one with Jimmy and Brandenburg fighting it out for first. Bly needs one more win to take the championship, and so Moreno is instructed to protect Bly's race. Cathy gets on the radio and convinces Memo to ignore those instructions, and as a result he collides with Bly in a horrific crash that sends him flying through the air and crashing into a lake on the far end of the course. Jimmy does a quick u-turn and drives his car to the lake and dives in after him. Brandenburg does the same and the two of them rescue Memo.
Carl, angered by Jimmy's decision to stop and rescue Moreno instead of fighting on for the championship, decides to replace Jimmy with Brandenburg for the next season and negotiates a deal with Jimmy's brother who will now represent Brandenburg. With Memo now hospitalized, Joe is racing again as Jimmy's teammate. It looked like Jimmy wouldn't be able to race due to an ankle injury but Carl finally decides to clear him for the race. Demille tries to get Brandenburg to sign the new contract but he rips it up.
At the final race of the year in Detroit, Jimmy and Brandenburg are contenders for the championship. In the final laps Joe has taken the lead but by avoiding an accident, goes flying through the air, lands safely but damages his axle. He can't block for Jimmy now and the two leaders pass him on the final lap. It's neck and neck coming down to the finish. Jimmy is starting to have a mental lapse, but then he hears Joe's words of wisdom and in a long slow motion sequence, we see Jimmy beating Brandenburg by just a few inches as Joe crosses in third while doing donuts in his now out of control car. Jimmy is the new champion and he, Tanto and Brandenburg, celebrate together on the podium drinking champagne.
Cast
- Sylvester StalloneSylvester StalloneMichael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
as Joe Tanto - Burt ReynoldsBurt ReynoldsBurton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
as Carl Henry - Kip PardueKip PardueKevin Ian "Kip" Pardue is an American actor and model, best known for his roles in the films Remember the Titans, Driven, The Rules of Attraction, and Thirteen....
as Jimmy Bly - Stacy EdwardsStacy EdwardsStacy Edwards is an American actress.Edwards was born in Glasgow, Montana, the daughter of Patty and Preston Edwards, who was an Air Force officer. She grew up all over the world, from Guam to Alabama. At 18, she received a scholarship to the Lou Conte Dance Studio in Chicago and began her...
as Lucretia Clan - Til SchweigerTil SchweigerTilman Valentin "Til" Schweiger is a German actor, director, and producer.He is one of Germany’s most successful filmmakers. Since 1968, when the FFA started counting, no other German actor has drawn more people to the cinemas. He runs his own production company, Barefoot Films, in Berlin.-Early...
as Beau Brandenburg - Gina GershonGina GershonGina L. Gershon is an American film, television and stage actress, singer and author, known for her roles in the films Cocktail , Showgirls , Bound , Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back , Face/Off , The Insider , Demonlover , Category 7: The End of the World , P.S...
as Cathy Heguy - Estella WarrenEstella WarrenEstella Dawn Warren is a Canadian actress, former fashion model, and a former synchronized swimmer. Her swimming career includes time on the National Canadian Team including 3 national titles. Her work in modeling is known through publications such as Sports Illustrated as well as working for...
as Sophia Simone - Cristián de la FuenteCristián de la FuenteCristián de la Fuente Sabarots is a Chilean-American actor.-Early life:De la Fuente was born in Santiago, Chile, as the only child of chemist Hugo de la Fuente and Adriana Sabarots, a homemaker of French descent...
as Memo Moreno - Robert Sean LeonardRobert Sean LeonardRobert Sean Leonard is an American actor, who has regularly starred in Broadway and off-Broadway productions. Since 2004 he has played the role of Dr. James Wilson on the TV series House...
as Demille Bly - Jacques VilleneuveJacques VilleneuveJacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve, , is a Canadian musician and automobile racing driver. He is the son of the late Formula One driver Gilles Villeneuve, and is the namesake of his uncle...
as himself (cameo) - Jean AlesiJean AlesiJean Alesi is a French racing driver of Italian origin. His Formula One career included spells at Tyrrell, Benetton, Sauber, Prost, Jordan and most notably Ferrari where he proved very popular among the tifosi...
as himself (cameo) - Juan Pablo MontoyaJuan Pablo MontoyaJuan Pablo Montoya Roldán is a Colombian race car driver known internationally for participating and winning in Formula One and CART race competitions. He has enjoyed great success. Currently, he competes in NASCAR, driving the #42 Target Chevrolet Impala for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing in the Sprint...
as himself (cameo) - Mark BlundellMark BlundellMark Blundell is a Formula One, sports car, and CART racing driver. He was a Formula One presenter for the British broadcaster ITV until the end of the 2008 season when the TV broadcasting rights switched to the BBC....
as himself (cameo) - Roberto MorenoRoberto MorenoRoberto Pupo Moreno , usually known as Roberto Moreno and also as Pupo Moreno, is a racing driver from Brazil. He participated in 75 Formula One Grands Prix, achieved 1 podium, and scored a total of 15 championship points. He raced in CART in 1986, and was Formula 3000 champion before joining...
as himself (cameo) - Kenny BräckKenny BräckKenny Bräck is a race car driver from Sweden. Until his retirement from racing, he competed in the CART, Indy Racing League and the IROC series. He is the winner of the 1999 Indianapolis 500 and the 1998 driving champion of the Indy Racing League. He survived one of the racing sport's biggest...
as himself (cameo) - Tony KanaanTony KanaanAntoine Rizkallah Kanaan Filho, commonly known as Tony Kanaan is a Brazilian race car driver of Lebanese heritage. Kanaan won the 2004 Indy Racing League IndyCar Series championship driving Andretti Green Racing's 7-Eleven sponsored car, winning three times in his Honda-powered Dallara...
as himself (cameo)
Montoya, Gugelmin & Blundell lent their car and helmet likeness to Brandenburg, Tanto and Bly respectively (Blundell's helmet being suitably changed from an "MB" logo to "JB").
Production
Stallone had originally intended to make a film based on Formula OneFormula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
, attending the 1997 Italian Grand Prix
1997 Italian Grand Prix
The 1997 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on September 7, 1997. Jean Alesi, starting from pole position, led the race until the halfway stage; however, David Coulthard, who had jumped from sixth on the grid into third place coming out of the first corner, got ahead of...
and stating his goal in a press conference. However the plan to base the movie on F1 was dropped.
The film was filmed primarily in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in the summer of 2000 as well as at a variety of worldwide races which were sanctioned by CART
Champ Car
Champ Car was the name for a class and specification of open wheel cars used in American Championship Car Racing for many decades, primarily for use in the Indianapolis 500 auto race...
. In Driven, the German race took place on a road course, but in fact, the CART race is on an oval.
The film premier took place at Grauman's Chinese Theatre
Grauman's Chinese Theatre
Grauman's Chinese Theatre is a movie theater at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. It is on the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame.The Chinese Theatre was commissioned following the success of the nearby Grauman's Egyptian Theatre which opened in 1922...
, with several CART competitors driving and demonstrating pit stops in modified Champ Cars down Hollywood Blvd.
Box office
The film was a commercial failure, and grossed only $32 million against a $72 million budget. This poor performance ended a modestly successful recovery from director Harlin's critical also financial failure, Cutthroat IslandCutthroat Island
Cutthroat Island is a 1995 action adventure film directed by Renny Harlin. The film stars Geena Davis, Matthew Modine, and Frank Langella. The film received mixed reviews from critics and was a major box office bomb: listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest box office flop of...
; with 1999 film Deep Blue Sea
Deep Blue Sea
Deep Blue Sea is a 1999 science fiction horror film that stars Thomas Jane, Saffron Burrows, LL Cool J, and Samuel L Jackson. The film was directed by Renny Harlin and was released in the United States on July 28, 1999.- Plot :...
and 1996 film The Long Kiss Goodnight
The Long Kiss Goodnight
The Long Kiss Goodnight is a 1996 action thriller film starring Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson, written by Shane Black and directed by Renny Harlin.-Plot:...
.
Critical response
The movie received poor reviews, with Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
consensus saying "Underdeveloped characters, silly plot dynamics, and obvious CG effects." When Jay Leno
Jay Leno
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
appeared as a guest critic on the television show Ebert & Roeper, both Leno and Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper is an American columnist and film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times and now a co-host on The Roe Conn Show on WLS-AM...
described Driven as the worst car film ever made, and a terrible depiction of auto racing.
It also earned seven nominations at the 22nd Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst Screen Couple (Burt Reynolds and Sylvester Stallone) and twice for Worst Supporting Actor (Reynolds and Stallone), with Estella Warren "winning" Worst Supporting Actress (also for Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes (2001 film)
Planet of the Apes is a 2001 American science fiction film, based on Pierre Boulle's novel and a remake of the 1968 film of the same name. Tim Burton directed the film, which stars Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan, Paul Giamatti, and Estella Warren. It tells the...
)
External links
- Driven.co.uk UK Motoring Magazine.