The Negotiator
| The Negotiator | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | F. Gary Gray |
| Produced by |
David Hoberman Arnon Milchan |
| Written by |
James DeMonaco Kevin Fox |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Graeme Revell |
| Cinematography | Russell Carpenter |
| Edited by | Christian Wagner |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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140 minutes |
| Country | Germany United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $50 million |
| Box office | $49.1 million |
The Negotiator is a 1998 American action thriller film directed by F. Gary Gray, and stars Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey as two hostage lieutenants.
Lieutenant Danny Roman (Samuel L. Jackson), a top Chicago Police Department hostage negotiator, is approached by his partner Nate Roenick (Paul Guilfoyle) that according to an informant (whom he refuses to name), members of their own unit are embezzling large sums of money from the department's disability fund, for which Roman is a board member. When Roman goes for another meeting, he finds Roenick murdered seconds before other police arrive, pinning Roman as the prime suspect.
Matters only get worse for Roman when Internal Affairs investigator Terence Niebaum (J. T. Walsh), whom Roenick's informant suspected of involvement in the embezzlement, is assigned to investigate the murder. After the gun that killed Roenick is linked to a case Roman had worked on, Niebaum and other investigators search Roman's house and discover papers for an offshore bank account with a deposit equal to one of the amounts of money embezzled. Roman is forced to surrender his gun and badge and his colleagues are doubtful of his protests of innocence. With embezzlement and homicide charges pending, Roman storms into Niebaum's office and demands answers about who set him up. When Niebaum refuses to answer, Roman takes Niebaum, his administrative assistant Maggie (Siobhan Fallon), police commander Grant Frost (Ron Rifkin), and two-bit con man Rudy Timmons (Paul Giamatti) as hostages.
With the building evacuated and placed under siege by his own CPD unit and the FBI, Roman issues his conditions: locating Roenick's informant and summoning police Lt. Chris Sabian (Kevin Spacey), the city's other top negotiator. Roman believes he can trust Sabian because he negotiates for as long as possible, sees tactical action as a last resort, and being from another precinct eliminates him as a suspect in the disability fund scheme. Sabian clashes with the CPD but is given temporary command of the unit after they hastily attempt a breach that goes poorly, resulting in additional officers becoming Roman's hostages.
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