Paranoid Park (film)

Paranoid Park
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Gus Van Sant
Produced by	Charles Gilbert Neil Kopp
Written by	Gus Van Sant
Based on	Paranoid Park by Blake Nelson
Starring	Gabe Nevins Taylor Momsen Jake Miller Daniel Liu Lauren McKinney Scott Patrick Green
Cinematography	Christopher Doyle Rain Kathy Li
Edited by	Gus Van Sant
Distributed by	IFC Films
Release date	May 21, 2007 (2007-05-21) (Cannes Film Festival) October 24, 2007 (2007-10-24) (France)
Running time	84 minutes
Country	France United States
Language	English
Budget	$3 million
Box office	$4.5 million

Paranoid Park is a 2007 American-French drama film written and directed by Gus Van Sant. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Blake Nelson and takes place in Portland, Oregon. It stars Gabe Nevins as a teenage skateboarder who accidentally kills a security guard.

Van Sant wrote the draft script in two days after reading and deciding to adapt Nelson's novel. To cast the film's youths, Van Sant posted an open casting call on social networking website MySpace inviting teenagers to audition for speaking roles, as well as experienced skateboarders to act as extras. Filming began in October 2006 and took place at various locations in and around Portland. Scenes at the fictional Eastside Skatepark were filmed at Burnside Skatepark which was, like Eastside, built illegally by skateboarders.

Paranoid Park premiered on May 21, at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and was given a limited release on March 7, 2008. It grossed over US$4,481,000 from its $3 million budget. The film received mostly positive reviews; some critics praised the direction and cinematography in particular, though others believed the film to be overly stylized and slow paced. It won one Independent Spirit Award, two Boston Society of Film Critics awards and the Cannes Film Festival's special 60th anniversary prize.

Alex (Gabe Nevins), a 16-year-old skateboarder, rides a freight train clandestinely with a man named Scratch (Scott Patrick Green) whom he has just met at the Eastside Skatepark, known as "Paranoid Park". While the train is moving a security guard (John Burrowes) notices the pair, chases after them, and tries to get them off by hitting Scratch with his flashlight. During the melee, Alex hits him with his skateboard and the guard, losing balance, falls onto another track into the path of an oncoming freight train which cuts him in half. Alex tries to destroy some of the evidence. For example, he throws his skateboard into the Willamette River from the Steel Bridge, and when he arrives at his friend Jared's (Jake Miller) house, he showers and disposes of the clothes he had been wearing.