The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
| The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Peter Care |
| Produced by |
Jodie Foster Jay Shapiro Meg LeFauve Todd McFarlane (Animation) |
| Screenplay by |
Jeff Stockwell Michael Petroni |
| Based on |
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys by Chris Fuhrman |
| Starring |
Emile Hirsch Kieran Culkin Jena Malone and Jodie Foster |
| Music by | Marco Beltrami |
| Cinematography | Lance Acord |
| Edited by | Chris Peppe |
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Production
company |
Egg Pictures
Initial Entertainment Group |
| Distributed by | THINKFilm |
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Release date
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Running time
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104 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $12 million |
| Box office | $2,036,599/> |
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys is a 2002 independent comedy-drama film directed by Peter Care and based on a 1994 semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel by Chris Fuhrman. The film stars Emile Hirsch, Kieran Culkin, Jena Malone, Jodie Foster, and Vincent D'Onofrio.
The film is about a group of Catholic school friends in the Southern United States in the 1970s who engage in a series of pranks and general mischief. The boys also collaborate on a comic book they call The Atomic Trinity. Interspersed within the film are segments of animated footage based on the comic book.
Fuhrman died of cancer before completing the final revision of the novel. The film is dedicated to his memory.
Set in the 1970s in the rural South, the film follows the lives of protagonist Francis Doyle (Emile Hirsch), and three of his friends, Tim Sullivan (Kieran Culkin), Wade Scalisi (Jake Richardson), and Joey Anderson (Tyler Long). The four boys all attend a private Catholic school named St. Agatha's, which they detest. The boys experiment with smoking and drinking, obsess over girls, and play pranks on their teachers, such as stealing their school's statue of St. Agatha and keeping it in their clubhouse. The four friends dedicate much of their time to a comic book of their own creation titled The Atomic Trinity in order to escape the monotony and avoid the difficulties in their own lives.
After receiving a love note from Francis, which was actually written by Tim, Margie Flynn (Jena Malone) becomes a major character in the film and weaves her way into the lives of these four friends. She and Francis have an obvious connection that progresses into much more. At times, Francis must choose between his friends and Margie, which causes the group of friends to fall apart. The boys' lives are also translated into segments of animation based on the characters of The Atomic Trinity: Brakken, The Muscle, Captain Asskicker, and Major Screw; Nunzilla, based on their peglegged, overly repressive Catholic school teacher Sister Assumpta (Jodie Foster); and Sorcerella, based on Margie Flynn.
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