The Paperboy (2012)

The Paperboy is a 2012 American crime drama film co-written and directed by Lee Daniels and based on Pete Dexter's 1995 ...

The Paperboy is a 2012 American crime drama film co-written and directed by Lee Daniels and based on Pete Dexter's 1995 novel of the same name. The novel was inspired by a true story. It follows Miami reporter Ward Jansen who returns to his hometown in Florida to investigate a murder case involving a death row inmate. The film stars Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman, David Oyelowo, John Cusack and Macy Gray. {full_page}

The film was produced by Daniels, Hilary Shor, Avi Lerner, Ed Cathell III, and Cassian Elwes. It premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival on May 24, 2012 and October 5, 2012 worldwide. It grossed $102,706 in its opening weekend and $3.8 million worldwide, against a budget of $12.5 million, making it a box office bomb. Despite its mixed reviews, Kidman's performance drew Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations.

Anita, the former maid of the Jansen family, recounts the events of the summer of 1969 when Ward Jansen, an idealistic reporter, returned to his hometown of Lately, Florida, to investigate the events surrounding the 1965 murder of a violent local sheriff. Hillary Van Wetter, a swamp-dwelling alligator hunter and small-time criminal, is on death row for the murder. Ward and his colleague, Englishman Yardley Acheman, investigative reporters with The Miami Times, plan to help exonerate him. Some evidence against Van Wetter was "lost", which Ward and Yardley plan to expose as redneck injustice.

Alabamian Charlotte Bless had fallen in love with Van Wetter, though they have not met, only exchanging correspondence. She arrives in Lately, determined to prove his innocence so they could marry. Charlotte requested the help of Ward and Yardley who then hired Jack, Ward's younger brother, as their driver.

Ward has mixed feelings about returning home to his estranged father, W.W., who runs Lately's local newspaper. The brothers dislike their divorced father's latest girlfriend, Ellen. Jack works as a paperboy for his father's business after having been expelled from college, ending his collegiate swimming career. His only real friend is Anita, who helped Ward raise him after their mother left.

Jack proclaims his love to Charlotte, giving her his mother’s ring, but she repeats that she is devoted to Van Wetter.

Van Wetter is initially hostile to the reporters. Contrary to the romantic portrayal he had painted of himself in his letters to Charlotte, he reveals himself to be racist, sexist, and crude. After Van Wetter tells them his alibi, the Jansens travel to meet Van Wetter's Uncle Tyree. Tyree, who lives in pitiful conditions in the middle of the swamp, is initially reluctant to admit his own crime to save his nephew's life, but finally admits that they were away the night of the murder, stealing sod from a golf course in Ormond Beach.

Yardley and Charlotte visit the golf course to verify the story. Yardley claims to have found the developer who bought the stolen sod, saying that the man requested anonymity, so refuses to disclose his name even to Ward. Yardley goes back to Miami to start writing the article.

Suspicious of Yardley's motives, Ward decides to check Ormond Beach himself, with Jack and Charlotte in tow. On the way Ward gets drunk at a bar and approaches a black man. During the night, Charlotte and Jack hear alarming sounds and run from their rooms. They find the black man, with several others, viciously beating Ward. Ward is admitted to hospital.

Jack goes to Miami, hoping to convince Yardley not to publish the unproven "facts" with Ward’s name as co-reporter. During the confrontation, Yardley reveals he's actually an American pretending to be English to escape discrimination. He also reveals he had given Ward sexual favors in the past, which was the beginning of Ward's self-loathing infatuation with black men. Jack does not resent Ward for being a homosexual, but for keeping it a secret from him.

The article is published and Yardley leaves for New York with a book deal. Van Wetter obtains a pardon, and Charlotte goes to live with him in the swamp. Months later she is unhappy with his abusive behavior and sends a letter to Jack telling him she made a mistake and plans to reunite with him at his father's wedding. Jack does not receive the letter until the wedding reception, smuggled to him by Anita, who was fired from the Jansen household and knew that Ellen did not intend to pass the letter to Jack.

Charlotte is not at the wedding. Jack leaves to rescue her, joined by Ward, who has revealed that the anonymous developer does not exist, undercutting Van Wetter's alibi. Jack and Ward find that Van Wetter has killed Charlotte rather than let her attend the wedding. A fight ensues and Van Wetter kills Ward, while Jack dives into the swamp and evades him all night. The next morning he retrieves his loved ones’ bodies and boats away.

Anita concludes by recounting that Van Wetter was convicted for the murders of Ward and Charlotte and sent to the electric chair. Jack later saw his mother at Ward's funeral. He would never get over Charlotte.

Cast

Nicole Kidman as Charlotte Bless 

Scott Glenn as W.W. Jansen 

Ned Bellamy as Tyree Van Wetter 

Nealla Gordon as Ellen Guthrie

Matthew McConaughey as Ward Jansen 

Zac Efron as Jack Jansen 

David Oyelowo as Yardley Acheman 

Macy Gray as Anita Chester 

John Cusack as Hillary Van Wetter

Origin Wikipedia.....