The Lazarus Project
| The Lazarus Project | |
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DVD cover
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| Directed by | John Patrick Glenn |
| Produced by |
David Hoberman Todd Lieberman Travis Adam Wright |
| Written by |
John Patrick Glenn Evan Astrowsky |
| Starring |
Paul Walker Linda Cardellini Piper Perabo Malcolm Goodwin Tony Curran Bob Gunton Lambert Wilson |
| Music by | Brian Tyler |
| Cinematography | Jerzy Zielinski |
| Edited by | Fred Raskin |
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Lazarus Project (formerly known as The Heaven Project) is a 2008 American drama/thriller film directed and written by John Patrick Glenn. It stars Paul Walker as Ben, a former criminal who gets a second chance at life and mysteriously ends up working at a psychiatric hospital.Piper Perabo, Linda Cardellini, Malcolm Goodwin, Tony Curran and Bob Gunton also star in the film, which was released on DVD on October 21, 2008.
Ben Garvey, a reformed criminal, loses his job because of his criminal background. His brother Ricky comes to visit after being released from jail and convinces him to commit a robbery of gold dust from a laboratory. The heist goes horribly wrong, and Ricky and two others are killed. Sentenced to death, Ben gets a visit from his wife and daughter; Ben tells his daughter that he's not coming back. He then goes and prepares himself for the lethal injection. Ben is presumably put to death, but is next shown hitching a ride from an unknown man who asks if he's the new groundskeeper of a nearby psychiatric hospital in a small Oregon town. Ben is told that he has been given a second chance from God and to begin work as a groundskeeper at the local mental hospital. Ben wants to go home but is denied and as time goes on, and with a wife and daughter he left behind, he wonders whether he has truly cheated death or if he has become part of a far more sinister scientific plan for both him and the other inmates at the hospital.
The title refers to the New Testament character Lazarus. In chapter 11 of the Gospel of St. John, Lazarus is raised from the dead by Jesus after having been entombed for four days. Otherwise, nothing in the film's plot parallels the New Testament story; in fact, the film's protagonist rebels against those who "raised" him from the dead, something inconceivable for the character Lazarus.
Written and directed by John Patrick Glenn in his directorial debut, production was originally slated for September 2005 with Mandeville Films but was ultimately delayed. Production finally began in March 2007 with filming beginning on April 27, 2007 in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. The film script refers to several small Oregon towns, Mount Angel, Silverton, and Dundee. Only Mount Angel and Silverton are close enough for the lead character to walk between them at 4 miles apart. Dundee, Oregon is not close to either Mount Angel, or Silverton. While these towns are referred to in the movie none of the filming was done there.
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