Story of movie Fruitvale Station :
Fruitvale Station is a 2013 American biographical drama film written and directed by Ryan Coogler. It is Coogler's first feature film and is based on the events leading to the death of Oscar Grant, a young man who was killed in 2009 by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle at the Fruitvale district station of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in Oakland.
| Fruitvale Station | |
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Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Ryan Coogler |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Ryan Coogler |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Ludwig Göransson |
| Cinematography | Rachel Morrison |
| Edited by |
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Production company | Significant Productions |
| Distributed by | The Weinstein Company |
Release date |
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Running time | 85 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $900,000 |
| Box office | $17.4 million |
The film stars Michael B. Jordan as Oscar Grant with Kevin Durand and Chad Michael Murray playing the two BART police officers involved in Grant's death, although their names were changed for the film. Melonie Diaz, Ahna O'Reilly and Octavia Spencer also star.
Fruitvale Station debuted at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for U.S. dramatic film. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival where it won the award for Best First Film. The film was released in theaters July 12, 2013.
Screenplay
The film depicts the story of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old from Hayward, California, and his experiences on the last day of his life, before he was fatally shot by BART Police in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009. The movie begins with the actual footage of Oscar Grant and his friends being detained by the BART Police at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland on January 1, 2009, at 2:15 a.m. right before the shooting.
The film shows Grant and his girlfriend Sophina arguing about Grant's recent infidelity. It later shows Grant unsuccessfully attempting to get his job back at the grocery store. He briefly considers selling some marijuana but in the end, decides to dump the stash. Grant later attends a birthday party for his mother, Wanda, and agrees to take the BART train to see fireworks and other New Year's festivities in San Francisco since she is worried about him driving.
On the return train, Katie, a customer at the grocery store where Grant used to work, recognizes Grant and calls out his name. This causes a former inmate (during Grant's days in jail) to notice Grant and a fight breaks out. The BART police respond to the scene. Grant is among the passengers the BART police attempt to arrest. While being restrained by officers Caruso and Ingram, he is shot in the back by Ingram. He is rushed to the hospital, where he dies in surgery.
Title cards at the end describe the aftermath: Grant's killing sparked a series of protests and riots across the city and that the incident was recorded by several witnesses, either by cell phone or video camera. The BART Police officers involved were fired and "Ingram" (the officers' names were changed) was later tried and found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, claiming he mistook his gun for his Taser, and served an 11-month sentence. There is also footage of a gathering of people celebrating Grant's life on New Year's Day 2013 with the real-life, older Tatiana (Grant's daughter) standing among them.
- Michael B. Jordan as Oscar Grant III
- Melonie Diaz as Sophia Mesa
- Kevin Durand as Officer Caruso (based on Tony Pirone)
- Chad Michael Murray as Officer Ingram (based on Johannes Mehserle)
- Ahna O'Reilly as Katie
- Octavia Spencer as Wanda Johnson,
- Trestin George as Brandon
- Thomas Wright as Tim
- Keegan Coogler as Cato
- Kenny Grimm as Jason
- Jemal McNeil as Cephus
- Julian Keyes as Kris
- Banica Rodrigeuz III as Vanessa
- Ariana Neal as Tatiana Grant
- Marjorie Crump-Shears as Grandma Bonnie
- Michael James as Carlos
- Steven C. Johnson as Dayrl
- Alejandra Nolasco as Officer Salazar
- Alessandro Garcia as Officer Sanchez
- Marvin Greene as Mr. Mason
- Laurel Moglen as Mrs. Mason
- Victor Toman as Emi
- Herman Tsui as Marcus
- Liisa Cohen as Tenisha
- Darren Bridgett as Peter
- Caroline Lesley as Steph
- Lucena Herrera as Rose
- Brian Richardson as Lead Surgeon
- Razon Tramble as Nurse
- Maya Tapia as Mariana
- Destiny Ekwueme as Chantay
- Nassir Zughayer as Sammy
- Wanda Johnson as Mrs. Stacy
- Christina Elmore as Ashae
- Tamera Tomakili as Lauren
- Chris Riedell as Joe
- Denzel Worthington as Darius
- Charmaine Davis as Regiser Nurse
- Jonez Cain as Danae
- Jasmin Bristow as Karen
- Chris Mocorro as Donald
- Robert Ajlouny as Officier Newsom
- Noah Staggs as Officier Davidson
- William T. Bayley as Male Paramedic
- Jennifer Nicole as Female Paramedic
- Joey Oglesby as Daniel Cale
- Lola Preza as Cale's Girlfriend
- Levi Zavala as Cale's Son
- Jason Garcia as Cale's Friend
- William Armando as Cale's Friend
- Tristan Gray as Cale's Friend
- Ruben Rivera as Cale's Friend
- Kassandra Cesar]m as Eilly
- Israel Cesar as Angelo
- Tatiyana Gomez as Lala
- Noah Zavala as Issac
- Maleah Nipay-Padilla as Alena
Development
Ryan Coogler was a graduate student at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts when Grant was shot on January 1, 2009. Following this event, Coogler expressed his desire to make a film about Grant's last day, "I wanted the audience to get to know this guy, to get attached, so that when the situation that happens to him happens, it's not just like you read it in the paper, you know what I mean? When you know somebody as a human being, you know that life means something." Coogler met John Burris, the attorney for the Grant family, through a mutual friend, and also met with and worked with Grant's family.
In January 2011, Forest Whitaker's production company was looking for new young filmmakers to mentor. Coogler met Head of Production, Nina Yang Bongiovi, and showed her his projects. Shortly after, he had a meeting with Whitaker, who decided to support Fruitvale. Coogler met with advisers of Sundance Screenwriters Lab. He developed the script with the help of Creative Advisors Tyger Williams, Jessie Nelson and Zach Sklar. The film received funding from the Feature Film Program (FFP) and the San Francisco Film Society.
Coogler had Michael B. Jordan in mind to play the role of Grant before writing the script. In April 2012, Jordan and Octavia Spencer joined the cast. Spencer also received a co-executive producer credit as she directly participated in funding the film and contacted investors when a deal was lost during the filming. Notable investors included Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help, a bestselling novel adapted as a successful film, for which Spencer won an Oscar. In April 2012, Hannah Beachler signed on to serve as the film's production designer.
Filming
Fruitvale Station was shot in Oakland, California, for 20 days in July 2012. Scenes were shot at and around the Bay Area Rapid Transit platform where Grant was killed. BART agreed to let the crew film at the Fruitvale BART station for three four-hour nights. Most of the platform scenes were shot over the course of two nights (with another night dedicated to the sequences on the train that led up to the police confrontation). San Quentin State Prison served as a filming location for a flashback scene with prisoners featured as extras. The film was shot in Super 16 mm format using Arriflex 416 cameras and Zeiss Ultra 16 lenses.
The film includes actual amateur footage of the shooting, which Coogler initially against using. He said, "I didn't want any real footage in the film. But you sometimes have to take a step back. Being from the Bay Area, I knew that footage like the back of my hand, but more people from around the world had no idea about this story. It made sense for them to see that footage and see what happened to Oscar, and I think it was a responsibility that we had to put that out there."
Soundtrack
The musical score to Fruitvale Station was composed by Ludwig Göransson. Also a USC graduate, Göransson said of the scoring process: "Ryan and I talked a lot about how sound design was going to have a huge role in the movie and very early on I got sent the actual sound recordings of the Bart Train. I manipulated the train sound and made it almost feel like a dark ambient synth sound and I used it almost throughout the whole Bart platform scene. The other element in the score is lots of layered and manipulated guitars sounding almost like haunting pads." Coogler added: "One thing that we always wanted to be conscious of with the score, was to make sure that it always felt organic. A lot of the film would play without score, so Ludwig made sure that whenever we brought score in came out of sounds in the environment." A soundtrack album, Fruitvale Station: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, was released digitally on September 24, 2013 and on CD October 15, 2013 through Lakeshore Records.
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