Gridlock'd's strength lies in its two leads. Shakur made the cut and one of the most important aspects of the film had been established.
"Normally you'd work through a screenplay and say, 'We'll have to change that and that and somehow try to make it work', but here the dialogue was always dead-on." And with Roth on board, Hall auditioned actor/rapper Tupac Shakur who really wanted to do the film. For Roth, it was the script that attracted him to the movie. Initially, Roth was not interested in doing the film but Hall met and convinced him to do it. Hall sent the script for Gridlock'd to actor Tim Roth while he was working on Rob Roy (1995). But it was also the drug of the '70s, when I was doing it." Much like the two main characters in his film, Hall and a friend sought treatment for their addiction only to be told that it would take weeks for them to get admitted into a program.īut Hall kicked the habit, paid his dues an actor, and cashed in some favours to get this personal project off the ground. Hall wrote the screenplay for Gridlock'd in 1993 and based it on his actual experience with drug addiction in the 1970s. Gridlock'd marks the directorial debut of Vondie Curtis Hall, an actor by trade who has appeared in such films as Die Hard 2 (1990), Broken Arrow (1996), and in a regular spot on TV's Chicago Hope. The ultimate irony is that Stretch and Spoon want to do the right thing but their attempts are constantly thwarted at every turn by overburdened social workers that are too burnt out to care. Instead, it comes across as a very stylish social satire-a strong indictment against the US health care system and their welfare programs. Now, this may sound like the makings of a moralistic film, but Gridlock'd refuses to fall into this trap. The only problem is that not only are they constantly given the runaround, hassled, and turned away by government workers, but an evil and very persistent drug dealer (Curtis Hall) and his henchman are also pursuing them. "Do you ever feel like your luck's run out, man? Lately, I've been feeling like my luck's been running out." These lines take on a rather eerie significance when you realize that Shakur was killed shortly after this film finished shooting.Īnd so, the two struggling musicians make a New Year's resolution: to go into rehab and get off drugs for good. This intimate brush with death forces Spoon to face his own mortality. The film begins on New Year's Eve as Spoon's girlfriend, Cookie (Thandie Newton) overdoses on heroin. But it's not going to be that easy as the duo run into bureaucratic red tape at every turn. "This is gonna be a fucking nightmare day, I can just feel it." These rather prophetic words are spoken by Stretch (Tim Roth) as he and his best friend, Spoon (Tupac Shakur) start the day trying to kick their drug habit in the film Gridlock'd (1997).
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