John Q
| John Q. | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Nick Cassavetes |
| Produced by |
Mark Burg Oren Koules |
| Written by | James Kearns |
| Starring |
Denzel Washington Robert Duvall James Woods Anne Heche Kimberly Elise Ray Liotta |
| Music by | Aaron Zigman |
| Cinematography | Roger Stoffers |
| Edited by | Dede Allen |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
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Release date
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Running time
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116 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $36 million |
| Box office | $102,244,770 |
John Q. is a 2002 American crime film starring Denzel Washington and directed by Nick Cassavetes. The film tells the story of John Quincy Archibald (Denzel Washington), a father and husband whose son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and finds out he is unable to receive a transplant because HMO insurance will not cover it, before he decides to hold up the hospital and force them to do it.
The film co-stars Kimberly Elise, Robert Duvall, Anne Heche, James Woods and Ray Liotta. The film was shot in Toronto,Hamilton, Ontario, and Canmore, Alberta, although the story takes place in Chicago. Shooting took place for 60 days from August 7 to November 3, 2000.
A woman is driving dangerously down a winding road, recklessly passing cars until she comes upon a slow moving Mack truck. As she goes to pass, her car is clipped by a truck going in the opposite direction, then slammed full-force by the Mack, killing her. (This is used to set up the plot of the film.)
Meanwhile, John Quincy Archibald and his wife Denise witness their young son Michael collapse at his baseball game and take Michael to the hospital. After a series of tests at the hospital, John is informed by Dr. Raymond Turner and Rebecca Payne, the hospital administrator, that his son has an enlarged heart and will need a heart transplant to live. The procedure is very expensive: $250,000 (at a minimum), with a down payment of $75,000 (30%) required to get Michael's name on the organ donor list. John tells them he is insured, but after looking through his policy, they tell him that because the company he works for dropped John from full-time to part-time, his health insurance has been changed, and the new policy does not cover the surgery, which leaves John and Denise to raise $75,000 on their own. The family tries to raise the money but are only able to come up with a third of the necessary payment. The hospital tires of waiting and releases Michael; Denise urges John to do something. Unwilling to let his child die, John walks into the hospital ER with a handgun, gathers eleven hostages, and sets demands: his son's name on the recipient list as soon as possible or the hostages die. The hostage negotiator, Lt. Frank Grimes, stands down to let John cool off.
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