In 1998, New Line Cinema brought us the brutal,
hard-hitting tragedy American History X. The film starring Edward Norton
portrays the savage world of skinhead neo-Nazi gang culture in California in
the late 90’s and the horrific ideas that it represents. The movie gained cult
status and has been ranked at #33 on IMDb’s Top 250 list.
The story is loosely based on the life of Frank Meeink, a
reformed white supremacist who was arrested at age seventeen for the armed
kidnapping of a rival gang member and spent three years in prison in Illinois.
During his prison time, Meeink found common ground with African American
inmates and after a brief return to his old life upon his release, he found he had
grown past his prejudice and turned to lecturing against white supremacy, hate and
violence in schools.
The story explores the warped logic and values rampant in
neo-Nazi culture, following white supremacist gang leader Derek Vinyard
(Norton) and his battle against his own vicious ideology. After shooting dead two
African American men he catches breaking into his car, Vinyard is sentenced to
three years in prison, during which time he experiences a new perspective as he
befriends black inmates and is victimised and violently attacked by white ones.
His younger brother Danny, played by Edward Furlong (Terminator 2),
begins to walk the same line, under the venomous influence of neo-Nazi kingpin
Cameron Alexander (Stacy Keach) and is acting out at school. After Danny turns
in an essay arguing for Adolf Hitler as a civil rights hero, his teacher Doctor
Sweeney (Avery Brooks) assigns him a new project; to write a piece reflecting
on how his life was affected by the events leading to his brother’s incarceration.
American History X began shooting in March 1997 with
a production budget of $10 million. The project started under the direction of
music video and commercial director Tony Kaye with a screenplay by David McKenna
(Blow, S.W.A.T.). After Joaquin Phoenix turned down the role of Derek Vinyard
on the grounds that the film’s subject matter was too intense, the part was
offered to Edward Norton, against the wishes of the director. Norton accepted
the job for around a fifth of his usual ‘$1m per film’ rate and even passed on
a role in Saving Private Ryan to make time for shooting which was later offered
to Matt Damon instead. Norton shaved his head and piled on an astounding
twenty-five pounds of muscle for the role, as well as spending hours in makeup
before each of several topless scenes perfecting his Nazi brand tattoos. He was
rewarded with an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his efforts and his
outstanding performance in the film.
Some famous filming locations were also briefly used in the
movie. Sharper-eyed viewers may recognise the diner towards the end of the
movie frequented by the Vinyard Brothers, as Johnie’s Coffee Shop on Wilshire
Boulevard, L.A., the very same diner from The Big Lebowski, City of
Angels and the opening scene from Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 cult classic, Reservoir
Dogs. Danny Vinyard is seen attending Venice High School, California, the
set of TV series Glee and 1978’s definitive movie musical Grease.
The controversy began during post-production when two
director’s cuts were rejected by New Line. Editor Jerry Greenberg was drafted
in to collaborate with Norton on the third and final cut. Director Tony Kaye
was outraged with the final edit claiming it completely changed the film’s tone
and message and attempted to disassociate himself with it altogether. He tried
invoking the so-called ‘Alan Smithee pseudonym’, a device used by the Director’s
Guild of America to replace a director’s name in the credits when they are able
to prove that their creative control over a project has been overthrown. One
condition for the support of the DGA in matters such as these is that a director
must not publicly disparage the project which Kaye had already done on several
occasions and as such, his request was denied. 
After Kaye heard that the film was to be premiered at the
Toronto Film Festival, he immediately boarded a plane from Germany to protest
the release and force festival organisers to pull the film from the line-up. He
filed a $200m lawsuit against New Line Cinema demanding that his name in the
credits be changed to ‘Humpty Dumpty’ as a protest. The lawsuit was crushed
shortly afterwards. Executives at New Line had tried to call a meeting with
Kaye to calm the situation. Kaye responded in the form of an eccentric stunt,
arriving at the meeting with a priest, a rabbi and Buddhist monk he hired to
support his case. Kaye created a documentary about the fiasco with New Line and
the DGA entitled Humpty Dumpty, but it was never released. His
relationship with Hollywood remains fairly rocky to this day and he wouldn’t
finally agree to watch the released cut of the film until 2009. His real name
is still on the credits.
American History X remains a cult classic with a fascinating
plot and an even more fascinating behind-the-scenes production story. The
brutal reality of racism and gang culture makes for an emotional rollercoaster
of a movie. At some points, the film is downright disturbing and upsetting, but
it is a reflection of the awful truth; an ideology that has repeatedly led to
the worst atrocities in human history. It’s a fantastic watch but do approach
with caution. It’s not an experience to be taken lightly!
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